April 6, 2022
Major League Baseball: Covering All Bases
Sandy Alderson
President, New York Mets
Greg Dobbs, Introducer, and Sandy Alderson
Minutes of the 27th Meeting of the 80th Year
President Stephen Schreiber called the meeting to order. Ruth Miller read the minutes for the previous week’s meeting. Guests (and their hosts) included Harriet Klein (Ferris Olin), Ann Schmidt (Rob Coghan) and Bruce Alpert (Greg Dobbs), who were welcomed by the president. One hundred seventeen members attended the meeting via Zoom.
President Schreiber led a moment of silence in honor of Old Guard Member, William Gear, who died recently.
Stephen also alerted members to our next social get together on May 17 from 9:30-11:30 at the Springdale Golf Club. He further reminded members that we would begin a trial of in-person attendance at some meetings at Springdale in the coming months.
The speaker at our April 13th meeting will be David Herman, MD, FACP, Infectious Disease Specialist, who will speak on “Princeton Hospital’s Covid Experience.”
Greg Dobbs introduced the speaker, Sandy Alderson, president, New York Mets. Mr. Alderson attended Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. Before pursuing a baseball executive career, he served as a Marine in Vietnam and practiced law. Currently president of the New York Mets, he previously served as general manager, leading the Mets to the 2015 World Series. Prior to that, he was an executive of the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, and the Commissioner's Office of Major League Baseball.
Alderson began his talk describing the changes he had seen in over his forty years in baseball, pointing out that baseball has changed organically rather than as a conscious decision made by the sport itself. This was juxtaposed with the NFL and NBA where much of the change has been driven by specific decisions by the leadership of those sports. He believes that the game has concentrated on efficiency more than entertainment, and that the failure of baseball to take the same initiative for change as the other sports has been detrimental.
He joined the A’s as an attorney knowing very little about the running a baseball team. When he assumed the general manager job, he hired the first analytics person on the A’s. Describing baseball as being driven by data, he pointed out that when he began in the 1980s, there was very little data available, but the concept was fairly simple. The more runs you score vs. the fewer runs you give up is very predicative of victories. This focus on run differential has evolved through the availability of more data in the last 40 years, but the run differential concept is the same and used by every team today. With data driven decisions, the game plan is predetermined. The only variable is execution. Most at bats today result in a walk or a strike-out because batters are waiting it out to get on base with a walk. The game has now one strategic option. By changing the rules we can present more options and make the game more entertaining.
He identified his first team, the Oakland A’s as the first team to embrace analytics in the late 1980s. Yet they kept their approach quiet until it was exposed in the 2003 book Moneyball. This book created a revolution in all teams from top to bottom, showing owners that baseball as a business was not much different from other core businesses, focusing on the economic benefits of profit and loss, but baseball also provided the psychic benefit of winning.
Revenue that used to be driven largely by ticket sales, sponsorships, and food/beverage sales has now been overtaken by broadcast revenues. This new revenue stream began when the Yankees created the first regional sports network. This broadcast phenomenon has evolved beyond regional and national network coverage, as streaming has become very attractive – Apple, YouTube, and Peacock networks all have contracts with Major League Baseball.
Alderson went on to say that by not taking advantage of international appeal, baseball has missed an opportunity. He was instrumental in getting baseball to the Olympics, but this exposure was short-lived, as baseball refused to send their best players during the MLB season and participation waned. He highlighted another improvement he initiated when the two separate league umpire crews were combined into one and a uniform strike zone was established and then taught with the use of technology.
In summation of his presentation, he reiterated his belief that calculated changes are needed to keep baseball relevant. In answering a question, he agreed with an Old Guard member’s suggestion that baseball has been on a downward spiral for over a decade. Confirming that analytics are here to stay, he called for changing the current predictable focus on profit and efficiency, to return to a focus on entertainment and diversity
In a spirited Q&A session he touched on mega contracts, the role of character in contract decisions, and the economic challenge of having farm teams.
Respectfully submitted,
Larry Hans
President Schreiber led a moment of silence in honor of Old Guard Member, William Gear, who died recently.
Stephen also alerted members to our next social get together on May 17 from 9:30-11:30 at the Springdale Golf Club. He further reminded members that we would begin a trial of in-person attendance at some meetings at Springdale in the coming months.
The speaker at our April 13th meeting will be David Herman, MD, FACP, Infectious Disease Specialist, who will speak on “Princeton Hospital’s Covid Experience.”
Greg Dobbs introduced the speaker, Sandy Alderson, president, New York Mets. Mr. Alderson attended Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. Before pursuing a baseball executive career, he served as a Marine in Vietnam and practiced law. Currently president of the New York Mets, he previously served as general manager, leading the Mets to the 2015 World Series. Prior to that, he was an executive of the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, and the Commissioner's Office of Major League Baseball.
Alderson began his talk describing the changes he had seen in over his forty years in baseball, pointing out that baseball has changed organically rather than as a conscious decision made by the sport itself. This was juxtaposed with the NFL and NBA where much of the change has been driven by specific decisions by the leadership of those sports. He believes that the game has concentrated on efficiency more than entertainment, and that the failure of baseball to take the same initiative for change as the other sports has been detrimental.
He joined the A’s as an attorney knowing very little about the running a baseball team. When he assumed the general manager job, he hired the first analytics person on the A’s. Describing baseball as being driven by data, he pointed out that when he began in the 1980s, there was very little data available, but the concept was fairly simple. The more runs you score vs. the fewer runs you give up is very predicative of victories. This focus on run differential has evolved through the availability of more data in the last 40 years, but the run differential concept is the same and used by every team today. With data driven decisions, the game plan is predetermined. The only variable is execution. Most at bats today result in a walk or a strike-out because batters are waiting it out to get on base with a walk. The game has now one strategic option. By changing the rules we can present more options and make the game more entertaining.
He identified his first team, the Oakland A’s as the first team to embrace analytics in the late 1980s. Yet they kept their approach quiet until it was exposed in the 2003 book Moneyball. This book created a revolution in all teams from top to bottom, showing owners that baseball as a business was not much different from other core businesses, focusing on the economic benefits of profit and loss, but baseball also provided the psychic benefit of winning.
Revenue that used to be driven largely by ticket sales, sponsorships, and food/beverage sales has now been overtaken by broadcast revenues. This new revenue stream began when the Yankees created the first regional sports network. This broadcast phenomenon has evolved beyond regional and national network coverage, as streaming has become very attractive – Apple, YouTube, and Peacock networks all have contracts with Major League Baseball.
Alderson went on to say that by not taking advantage of international appeal, baseball has missed an opportunity. He was instrumental in getting baseball to the Olympics, but this exposure was short-lived, as baseball refused to send their best players during the MLB season and participation waned. He highlighted another improvement he initiated when the two separate league umpire crews were combined into one and a uniform strike zone was established and then taught with the use of technology.
In summation of his presentation, he reiterated his belief that calculated changes are needed to keep baseball relevant. In answering a question, he agreed with an Old Guard member’s suggestion that baseball has been on a downward spiral for over a decade. Confirming that analytics are here to stay, he called for changing the current predictable focus on profit and efficiency, to return to a focus on entertainment and diversity
In a spirited Q&A session he touched on mega contracts, the role of character in contract decisions, and the economic challenge of having farm teams.
Respectfully submitted,
Larry Hans