SSTN Interviews Joel Bradley

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Today I share my interview with Joel Bradley author of Death By Data.

Please tell our readers a little about yourself and your new book.

I'm a former international scout with the Baltimore Orioles from 2012-2018 under the direction of Dan Duquette. My coverage was the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia.  Prior to scouting, I was a licensed futures professional and high school English teacher, which is an oxymoron considering I'm from Texas, lol. I pitched the idea of a book that would be a modern baseball conversation centered around the overuse of data analytics to Summer Game Books, and was excited they accepted my book idea. 

What do you most enjoy about writing?

I most enjoy the ability to use words to paint images for readers. It's a challenge to search for the right word to convey meanings and expressions of the human condition.

Are there any new projects you are working on?  

I'm working on two projects: Does Tommy Have a Gun? A book that explores the relationship between velocity and arm injuries in baseball.

And, Swipe Wright. a fictional dark comedy that drills into online dating. In that story, Frank Wright is suddenly cast into the choppy seas of modern dating after his 18-year marriage ends. Wright is wrong in postmodern courting America.

Both of those books sound great. Please let me know when they are published!

Why are people so drawn to baseball and its stories, legends, and people?

I'll quote from the book - "Baseball history is a great reminder that the game tracks the advances and declines of our society; it mirrors our culture closely. The simple takeaway is that baseball shapes us, and we shape baseball."

What is your favorite baseball book? (You can list as many as you wish.)

The American Diamond: A Documentary of the Game of Baseball by Branch Rickey with Robert Riger

The Mental ABC's of Pitching by H.A. Dorfman

Baseball Photography of the Deadball Era by Jim Chapman and

The Hustler's Handbook by Bill Veeck.

Outside of baseball, what is your favorite book and/or who is your favorite author?  (You can list as many as you wish.)

Web of Debt by Ellen Brown

This Difficult Individual, Ezra Pound by Eustace Mullins

Sexual Suicide by George Gilder

When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Sucession by Charles Adams.

There's a lot of talk about baseball needing to be "fixed."  Is baseball broken?  If you were the Commissioner of Baseball what change(s) (if any) would you make to the current game?

The overuse of data analytics in player recruitment, development, and in-game decision making has created serious cracks in the game. In place of changing the rules, baseball needs to make better players, ie. 7-Player Baseball (which I explain and discuss in the book, and in its own book as well.)

I love to talk about the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Which former Yankee most deserves to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Roger Clemens

What is the greatest baseball movie of all time?  (Yes, you can list a few!)

Sandlot;

Elmer the Great (1933)

Field of Dreams

What is your favorite baseball memory?

Walking into Turnpike Stadium in 1967 to watch the Dallas/Ft Worth Spurs and Rusty Staub play (my first pro game). Striking out 10 hitters my freshman year in college.

Please share anything else you'd like with our audience.

LET'S PLAY TWO!

Thank you Joel. This was a pleasure! Continued good luck to you. Please stay in touch.