SportsTrax – the little mobile device that (almost) could

In 1994, the Toronto Blue Jays introduced a revolutionary concept: SportsTrax, a mobile device that gave you more-or-less real time updates on all games the Jays played. Using the same technology as an LCD pager, it would display runners on base and, of course, outs, inning, runs, hits and errors. If you turned the sound up, it would even cheer, boo and jeer plays as they happened. TV ads for it featuring Cito Gaston and BJ Birdy aired on TSN.

Manufactured by Motorola, it really was a cool idea. At a time when the internet was more novelty than necessity, real-time information about sporting events was hard to come by; either you watched on TV (if the game was even broadcast; most major cities only had one sports channel in those days), sat glued to the radio, or waited until the next day and read about it on the sports page.

Under the hood, SportsTrax was actually pretty primitive: a new startup called “Sports Teams Analysis Tracking Systems” (perhaps you’ve since heard of them; STATS, Inc, anyone?) hired people to watch the games, and then input what they’d just seen to Motorola’s satellite uplink.

The Blue Jays were (very) early adopters; for 149.00 you got unlimited data (Motorola estimated that it would be about 3 years ’til the little guy was outpaced by newer technologies) for the life of the device.

So why didn’t it catch on? Well, for one thing, 149.00 was a lot of money 25 years ago. I, with a young family, certainly couldn’t have justified the expense. Motorola projected sales of 50,000 in the first year; I’d be surprised if they managed 10% of that.

The other thing that happened was the NBA. Motorola wanted to bring their technology to pro basketball. When talks broke down, they went ahead anyway and, in 1996, David Stern & Co. sued.

“The National Basketball Association v. Sports Teams Analysis Tracking Systems, aka STATS, Inc.” (now more commonly referred to as NBA v. Motorola) became a landmark intellectual property rights case in American sport.

The NBA asserted that Motorola’s product constituted a live broadcast and, as such, was proprietary information, only available to licensed broadcasters (you’ve all heard the blurb during every sports broadcast).

Motorola and STATS contended that the data they were providing was just factual information, available to anyone. Blow-by-blow game accounts were available the next morning in every newspaper; SportsTrax just sped up the process.

Though a lower court granted an injunction, in 1997, the NY State 2nd Circuit appellate overturned it, finding that, “(1) Sports Trax is not a substitute for the product offered by the NBA — being at the game or watching it on television — and (2) there was no “free-riding” because STATS and Motorola expended their own resources to collect the factual information (broadcast to the public via television or radio) which they then disseminated.” In this case, SportsTrax’ primitiveness helped it survive.

Of course, by 1997, SportsTrax was pretty much obsolete, anyway. More and more families now had internet connectivity, and new TV sports channels were springing up  (seemingly) every week.

The corollary here is that these initial forays into this brave new world forced sports leagues to meet new technologies and platforms head on; in 2000, Major League Baseball started Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM), to oversee all online and mobile applications. After some initial teething problems, BAM generated US$620 million in revenues for its member clubs in 2012.

That said, every time that you see a crawler showing live updates of one sport while you’re watching another, you can (indirectly) thank Motorola’s fight with the NBA.

 

Launch Me Out to the Ball Game

Gregg Zaun has made much of the “new” Rogers Centre, but since he hardly ever posts to his blog, I figured I’d help him out a bit on mine.

The area formerly known as Windows restaurant.

For the uninitated, what’s happened is this; Windows, the restaurant that hung over centre field, and that was once a showpiece amenity for SkyDome, has been declining in popularity for several years. In order to get some of that appeal back (and to make it look like something other than a big empty restaurant smack-dab in the middle of the ballpark), Rogers brass decided to take all the glass out and convert it into a general admission, standing & sitting party area à la the Home Run Porch at Progressive Field. An admirable idea, to be sure, and one the younger fans (i.e. the ones who come to a ballpark to party) seem to be quite taken with.

Workers removing all that pesky glass.

The issue, however, is that removing all that glass seems to have done something to the game on the field.

SkyDome/Rogers Centre has always been a hitter’s park, not as extreme as some, but definitely built for the bat. I’ve seen park factors as high as 113 for the building over its existence; in layman’s terms, that means one could reasonably expect to see 13% more offense there than at a theoretically “average” Major League ballpark. 13 seems awfully high to me; Baseball Prospectus, whose numbers are universally respected, has Rogers Centre listed at an average of 103 for the past three seasons – a hitter’s park, but not terribly so.

Though it’s really too early to gather meaningful statistical data for this year (park factor, bercause it’s based on an average of all Major League ballparks, is a moving target; it literally changes with every game played), it seems that the ball is jumping off the bat in Toronto. In the first six games there have been  47 (!) extra-base hits, including 23 home runs. Add to that, the number of seemingly catchable fly balls that have dropped in for hits; Melky Cabrera, especially, seems to be taking some funky routes to fly balls; is it because  it’s hard to get a good read, or are the pitchers missing their spots by that much, or is the ball suddenly caught in some sort of jet stream that makes it change trajectory?

The one that really made me wonder was hit on opening day; R. A. Dickey gave up what looked like a routine flyball to Asdrubal Cabrera, and it kept going, and going, and going…and wound up being a two-run home run. Dickey just shook his head, and so did I.

Again, this represents an extremely small sample size, and they haven’t played one game with the lid open yet – it’s been too cold. But flyball pitchers (Mark Buehrle, for example) should be at least a little concerned. You’d hate to see Toronto get into that situation where free agent pitchers instruct their agents not to return your calls.

I don’t think there’s any suggestion that Toronto’s ballpark with the roof closed is functioning as a giant Tupperware container, where the ball changes its flight path every time someone opens an outside door on the 200 level. At this point, it’s just something to keep an eye on. I think we may review this topic sometime around the All-Star break.

Turf Me Out to the Ball Game

“I don’t know. I’ve never smoked the stuff”. – Tug McGraw, on artificial grass.

Just before the baseball season began, I happened across an interview with Paul Beeston on TV. One of the topics, which has been discussed for a couple of years now,  was replacing the artificial turf in the Rogers Centre with real grass which, Beeston assured us, was contemplated “for either the 2015 or 2016 season”.

I reflected on this a little bit, and realized that the SkyDome (as it was called when it was built) and the Florida Suncoast Dome (as it was called when it was built) are the only two Major League ballparks that still have an artifical playing surface. Of course, the FSD is now better known as Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.

This is particularly amazing when you consider that every single Major League ballpark built between 1970 and 1991 was constructed with an artifical playing surface. Though that might seem like sacrilege from this perspective, you have to remember that this was the first generation of modern sports stadiums (I’m pretty sure the Colosseum in Rome was publicly funded) which were built with taxpayer’s money. Prior to that, each team owned its own ballpark.

With the enormous (or so it seemed at the time) public expenditure involved, each building had to be an all-purpose facility that could be utilized up to 200 mights a year; housing not just 81 baseball home games, but the local NFL team, and rock concerts, and tractor pulls, and politcal conventions, and whatever other use local promoters could dream up.Thus, the justification for using an artificial surface was essentially, “we need to be able to switch quickly between events, and having a playing surface you can swap out is the only way to do that”.

The Astrodome

The history of artificial turf is roughly thus: when Major League Baseball expanded to South Texas in 1962, it discovered that Texas heat and ravenous insects weren’t conducive to the grand pastoral game – more than once, a game had to be called on account of bugs. Judge Ray Hofheinz, the team’s principal owner, had an answer in his back pocket – the Harris County Domed Stadium. Move the game indoors (R. Buckminster Fuller had already assured Hofheinz that you could enclose an area the size of a ballpark, “provided you didn’t run out of money”), crank up the a/c , and “Play ball!”.

They installed a sprinkler system for the turf, and placed Lucite panels in the ceiling to let in sunlight. However, when it became apparent from the first game that the clear panels made flyballs impossible to see, they were painted over. As the paint dried, the grass died.

Assistant GM Tal Smith was sent to find a solution. Monsanto, as it turned out, had been working  on an artificial playing surface for some time, intending it to be used for high school and college fields; institutions who couldn’t afford to resod their grass fields after every rainy, muddy game. A deal was struck; the team got their turf and, in exchange, Monsanto got the free publicity. Because Houston was home to NASA’s Mission Control Center, and everyone in the US was space-struck at the time, the team (originally the Colt .45’s) became the Astros, the Harris County stadium became the Astrodome, and Monsanto’s fake grass became AstroTurf.

Then the dominoes started to fall; new facilities in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Montreal, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Diego, St. Louis & Toronto all had artificial turf. It changed the way the game was played – speed became king. Punch-and-Judy hitters learned that they could chop the ball off the infield and leg out a base hit; infielders learned that they could skip the ball off the turf on a throw to first and actually get it there quicker.

Incidentally, this is why I get such a chuckle out of people who say, “I’m a baseball purist. I like natural grass. And bunts. And stolen bases. And the hit and run.” The running game was one helluva lot more of a sound strategy on AstroTurf. If you like natural grass, you should like the Earl Weaver brand of baseball – pitching, defense and the three-run home run!

One other oft-ignored point about artificial turf is that it does nothing for the comfort of the occupants of the stadium. Aside from the injury concerns of players working on what is essentially thinly-carpeted concrete, it’s no better for the fans. On a hot day, natural grass will absorb the CO₂ exhaled by the fans and release cooling oxygen into the atmosphere. Artificial turf just acts like a giant mirror and reflects the heat back into the stands.

Ballparks built in the early part of 20th century were mostly retired in the late 50’s and early 60’s, having a lifespan of around 50 years. The AstroTurf generation started to be replaced in the early part of this century, sometimes barely 30 years after construction. And, of course, now that they’d had a taste of public money, it was very difficult to wean teams away from the teat – they were a “public institution” (albeit privately owned), after all, and a source of civic pride.

Camden Yards

Was it of necessity that teams needed new ballparks, or was it fashion? In the 70’s, new ballparks were moving to the suburbs, following the fans. In the late 80’s, starting with SkyDome, stadia started moving back downtown, becoming centerpieces of urban renewal projects. Then Camden Yards in Baltimore came along, and the floodgates opened; every team had to have a retro-style ballpark, with modern amenities, right downtown. The public funding was usually disguised in the form of a lottery or consumption tax (hotel taxes were popular – locals don’t stay in downtown hotels, right? Let the out-of-towners pay for it).

So what of the three remaining turf-era ballparks? Kansas City got real grass in 1995, courtesy of legendary Superbowl groundskeeper George Toma. That leaves the two domes. The  Trop is, I think, stuck with an artificial surface – the roof doesn’t open, and even with the best team in the AL East, they don’t draw enough fans to convince anyone to build them a new ballpark; besides, the building they play in is barely 20 years old. So, the Rogers Centre is it;  the last turf park that doesn’t need to be. Let’s hope it changes. Soon.

the real first sign of spring is…Jerry Howarth

So baseball season is upon us again. Because I am regarded as something of an expert (God knows why; I’ve always thought “baseball expert” to be something of an oxymoron) by friends and relations, I am always asked at this time of year, “How’s Toronto gonna do?”

Who loves ya, baby?

For the last decade or so, the answer has seemed so obvious, I’ve considered having this T-shirt made to save wear & tear on the ol’ voicebox. For those who had a more thorough grasp of the situation, my answer would be more along the lines of  “they’ve made some decent moves in the offseason, and should be good for 85 – 90 wins, but that just ain’t gonna do it in the American League East.”

Which, in turn, brings us to this year. The Red Sox are coming off a gawdawful season in which nothing seemed to go right, the Yankees are aged and injured, and the Orioles seem to have had a bad case of horseshoes last year and are likely to come back to the pack. Only the Rays, with a deep, versatile roster and a manager who is rapidly becoming legend (à la Earl Weaver or Tony LaRussa), seem to have maintained the status quo.

This leaves the Toronto Blue Jays (notice how I never say our Toronto Blue Jays. I don’t work for the team, nor do I own shares in the team.  That said, I’m pretty sure my Rogers bundle bill has helped pay for a few free agents in its time).

The Blue Jays have had another offseason where they have made some big, big moves to get star players (C’mon, stop acting like this is the first time since 1993. Remember Roger Clemens? Jose Canseco? A.J. Burnett? B.J. Ryan? Frank Thomas?), and would seem to be legitimate contenders in what may no longer be baseball’s toughest division.

How do we explain Rogers’ sudden magnaminity in 2013? Changes in the way baseball shares revenue between teams, primarily. In the past, Major League Baseball has been accused of subsidizing teams that were doing little to improve their on-field product and, regardless of the veracity of that opinion, new rules were quietly put in place to change those optics.

Toronto is, according to MLB, a “have” franchise; in fact, it’s the fourth-largest single-team market in the Major Leagues. To quote from the above Fangraphs article, “Beginning in 2013, big-market teams will forfeit an increasing percentage of revenue-sharing proceeds. The forfeited funds will be shared among the high-performing teams, in proportion to their Performance Factors.” So, in simpler terms, for large-market clubs, “losing now costs you money”.

Will it all work out for Toronto? Well, first and foremost, it took major cajones on both sides of the table to make those deals. Toronto didn’t rob anyone; they gave up stud prospects to get the players they did. Roll the clock back to 1987; Detroit trading John Smoltz for 11 starts of Doyle Alexander looked good at the time, but how did it work out, on balance? You just don’t know. Alex Anthopoulos’ legacy is, to this point, the guy who was never afraid to roll the dice. Those were the best deals to be made, and he made them, no regrets.

Jose Reyes is the guy I look forward to seeing most. However, he’s been sidelined 11 times in his career with hamstring problems. He played 160 games last year, but it’s been suggested his defense seemed to regress somewhat, and this year will be the first time he’s had to play 81 home games on turf.

What about the other teams in the division? I’m sorry, the Rays are still the class of the bunch. The Rod Sox can’t possibly be worse, but they are using Mike Napoli as a first baseman, who the Jays had in the 2011-12 offseason, and never once considered as a replacement for Adam Lind. The Orioles are going to have to, I think, relinquish their glass slipper to one of the ugly stepsisters, but they do have arguably the best player in the division (Adam Jones) and a serious Rookie of the Year prospect (Dylan Bundy). The Yankees are, well the Yankees. You can never bet against them doing something special, even if they just tread water until they get everyone back. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with A-Rod; there will be enormous pressure on him to retire the whole time he’s rehabbing, to relieve the Yankees of some of  the US$114 million (!) they still owe him over the next five years.

And the Jays? Well, we’ll just have to see. But I’m not having that t-shirt printed this year.

The REAL first sign of spring…

Yes, the first real sign of spring happens today – pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training. It’s a good thing!! Another couple of weeks and we’ll be able to hear the dulcet tones of Jerry Howarth calling games in the warm Florida sun. Hoo boy!!