At this time of year in this part of the world, the Major League Baseball season is drawing to a close. As in many major sports leagues, a few wealthy teams with long histories and passionate fans (as in Boston and New York) frequently dominate the standings and headlines, but the margin between the very best and the merely mediocre is not at all large. Because of this, every one is constantly looking for an edge in the game.
One such way hitters can gain an edge in baseball is if pitchers "tip" their pitches. Tipping pitches is like having a "tell" in poker; basically the pitcher, through some small difference in how he holds the ball, positions his body, etc., gives away what kind of pitch he is throwing to the batter. In a game where the margin for error is so small, a pitcher's deception is important and basically telling a hitter what kind of pitch is coming provides a huge advantage to opposing hitters.
The Boston Red Sox have a pitcher named Paul Byrd who was tipping his pitches by tapping his glove during his delivery when he threw a fastball, and not when he threw a curveball. The most interesting part of the story to me was how the Red Sox, a rich organization with great coaches, enormous resources dedicated to videotape analysis of their games and their opponents, etc. found out: a fan on a fans' discussion board identified the "tip," videotaped it, and posted it to YouTube and the "Sons of Sam Horn" discussion board. Representatives of the Red Sox, who monitor this board, saw the tape, reached out to the author, and voila: when Paul Byrd pitched Friday night, he changed his delivery to correct this problem.
The lessons in this story for me were:
1. When people are passionate about something, they will invest their own effort in improving it, even if it officially belongs to your business.
2. As a steward for your business, you ignore experts outside your formal organization at your peril.
3. Channeling that passion and expertise into something constructive for your business can be hugely valuable.
This week's Mass Technology Leadership Council meeting, featuring Paul Gillin's insights on leveraging social media in your marketing strategy, couldn't come at a better time.
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