Great Ideas in Baseball Series 2/2 – Stat Geek Night

Bring your pocket protector, calculator, abacus, or computer, we’re going to re-frame statistics in baseball, at least for a night. Stat Geek Night — or whatever you want to call it — would be great on so many levels.

Here’s the premise: for just one night, statistics at Dodger Stadium would be shown not in home runs and RBI’s, pitcher wins or ERA. Instead, the scoreboard will prominently display OPS, WRC+, WHIP, FIP, XFIP, and WAR.

Here’s my thinking. Over a week ago, Buster Olney fired this tweet off.

Tell you what, @TheRainDelay21, create a 140-character tweet fully explaining WAR and I'll use it. Ready, set… go!

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) August 13, 2015

Olney’s defense for not using stats like WAR and other advanced stats is that the readers don’t understand it.

Dustin Nosler, co-host of the Dugout Blues podcast and former guest on the Fansmanship Podcast responded and basically won the Internet for that night.

@Buster_ESPN @Bay_of_Puigs @atk825 Fair, but you could also attach useful links such as this one to help educate. http://t.co/Am7azMPfI5

— Dustin Nosler (@DustinNosler) August 13, 2015

But I digress. The idea here is for a baseball team who embraces all information available to advance the conversation about the game of baseball through direct education of people who consume the game.

Pamphlets could be handed out. Apps could be advertised. Baseball-Reference.com and Fangraphs.com could sponsor the night.

I’m telling you, it would be a hit. And it would be a public service.

What do you think? Is it a good idea?