Effectively Wild Episode 1796: Major League Biasball

Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about Rachel Balkovec becoming the first female manager in affiliated ball, Genevieve Beacom making her pro debut in Australia, and other women breaking baseball boundaries, then (13:20) conclude their “Measuring the Unmeasurable” series about studying difficult-to-quantify aspects of the sport by bringing on Rob Arthur of Baseball Prospectus and Rockies catcher AJ Lewis to discuss Rob’s research into racial bias in scouting and player promotions, the lack of Black catchers in MLB, AJ’s catching career and experience with inner-city baseball programs, ways to promote African-American participation in baseball, the demands of playing catcher compared to playing other positions, and more. Then (48:27) they talk to Shakeia Taylor about a recent study about the demographics of MLB managers, the unique nature of Dusty Baker, her reporting about the “Selig Rule,” ways to improve front-office diversity (and the different types of diversity), the impact of sabermetrics on hiring decisions, what MLB could learn from other leagues, the catcher-to-manager pipeline, and her SABR interview series.

Audio intro: Tommy Tutone, “Rachel”
Audio interstitial: Son Volt, “Catching On”
Audio outro: A Tribe Called Quest, “Mind Power”

Link to Times story about Balkovec
Link to Beacom debut video
Link to Beacom video interview
Link to article about Beacom
Link to Sara Goodrum news
Link to Jaime Vieira story
Link to story about Becky Hammon
Link to Rob on bias in player promotions
Link to Rob on Black catchers
Link to Claire Smith on Black catchers
Link to Jared Diamond on Black catchers
Link to story about AJ
Link to story about Rockies signing AJ
Link to story about Moller
Link to AJ’s Instagram
Link to AJ’s Twitter
Link to Ben and Rob on scouting bias
Link to Bryant’s list of Black catchers
Link to Bryant on Maxwell
Link to story on Black player percentage
Link to Rob on manager demographics
Link to Shakeia’s website
Link to Shakeia’s feature
Link to Selig Rule change story
Link to Global Sport Institute study results
Link to “Rediscovering America’s Pastime”
Link to study on Black player drain
Link to story on youth baseball cost
Link to Ballpark Figures series

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