JotCast | FanGraphs Book Club - The Only Rule Is It Has To Work

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Sam

10:00

One of the guys on the team got a DUI, and we didn't mention it, because it didn't make any sense at the time. In retrospect, it turned out to be a really significant detail of character and we probably should have.

Paul Swydan

10:00

Would've fit in the part about your palms being sweaty.

Sam

10:00

I went back to Sonoma both of the next two summers, probably 10 games total. It's fun to go back. Captain Morgan, the surly bench coach, won't look at me. Or Theo.

Ben Lindbergh

10:00

It's far for me, and I haven't been back. I really miss it. Aside from the exhaustion and constant anxiety, it was a pleasant summer. My wife was there and we had a cute little house. It was very different from city living

Jeff

10:01

Hi Sam and Ben- you guys got me through a lot of miles on the road. Hands down my favorite podcast to listen to when running. Thought about shedding a tear at episode 1,000 of EW. Question: Ultimately, what is the legacy of your book? Is it the effect on future baseball front offices and organizations? Is it in how fans can better understand the tug-of-War between analytics and traditionalists? Something else?

Sam

10:01

He would get somebody on the visiting team to put him on their guest list so he could go to games without giving Theo money. And then he'd sit in the primo wine-garden seats, even though those weren't where his tickets were. Titan.

Ben Lindbergh

10:01

Well, now-wife. Back then she was my girlfriend (slash chauffeur, because I didn't have a driver's license, which was quite a handicap in California)

Sam

10:02

(The owner sold after 2016, and Theo quit after 2017, and I'll probably never go back. Though Ben and I are still listed as special assistants to the GM on the web site)

THE TOWN RECOGNIZES ME BEN

Ben Lindbergh

10:02

http://www.stompersbaseball.com/frontoffice/

10:03

We haven't done anything for the Stompers in years, but I hope they never remove us

Paul Swydan

10:03

Hah they are!

10:04

That's awesome.

Ben Lindbergh

10:04

We're like George in Seinfeld when he worked for Play Now and wouldn't leave

Sam

10:04

Jeff: I don't know. I have to think about that. Mostly, I think it's a book about relationships, and I hope we told a story about the humanity on both sides of day-to-day conflicts, and that that story makes people who read it feel slightly better about the world and maybe slightly less certain about themselves.

Mike O

10:05

Sam, do you know Ben thinks your beard is scraggly ?

Sam

10:05

There are probably better answers than that but I'd want to think about the question for longer

Scraggly? Scraggly usually implies a lack of fullness, right? My beard is stiff and wiry but it is thick af

Paul Swydan

10:06

Yup. Scraggly: (of a person or animal) thin and bony.

Ben Lindbergh

10:06

I hope the fact that the book turned out to be less about numbers and more about people means it will hold up a bit better

Sam

10:06

I am scraggly. My beard takes my lunch money, though.

Ben Lindbergh

10:07

If it were just about us trying out cutting-edge techniques, it would already be out of date

Sam

10:07

I just want people to read it and find a friend somewhere in it!

Ben Lindbergh

10:07

As it is, it's more about a mindset and a place and a story

Sam

10:08

The other book model I had in mind was Roughin' It, by Mark Twain, btw. But just because I happened to be reading it at the time.

(But sense of place)

5 Run Homer

10:08

Ben: who would you choose to play you and Sam in the movie adaptation?

Paul Swydan

10:08

Has to be asked!

Sam

10:08

wait, why does Ben get to answer that?

I have the better answers!

Paul Swydan

10:08

You can answer too, Sam. :-)

Sam

10:09

Ben would be played by Sam Esmail. I would be played by Kate McKinnon.

wait! Sorry,

Sam Esmail is the CREATOR of Mr. Robot, I meant to say Rami Malek

Ben Lindbergh

10:10

I think I've read too many EW Facebook threads on this topic to answer originally

Paul Swydan

10:10

Well, what's your favorite EW answer?

10:11

For the record, I think Kate McKinnon would make an EXCELLENT Sam.

Ben Lindbergh

10:12

I forget all of them. But whatever I answered would probably be an answer I stole from someone else. There's someone everyone always says would be me, and now I forget who. I will say that Tig Notaro reminds me of Sam

Paul Swydan

10:12

Nice.

Couple observations real quick before we go.

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