More than ever before, baseball is consumed with measuring performance, enlisting all sorts of new and wonkishly obscure categories with such acronyms as FIP and WAR joining old standbys like RBI and ERA. Author Lonnie Wheeler, who has penned the autobiographies of Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Bob Gibson, is not opposed to the new metrics, but with “Intangiball” he elects to focus on the intangibles that can easily be overlooked amid the stat tsunami. By speaking with many players, managers, and executives, he examines the importance of things like hustle, grit, and chemistry that he finds often are what make the difference for the most successful teams.
Here’s an excerpt from Intangiball:
“The fact is that good chemistry will never trump a club’s or player’s basic aptitude for playing ball. But it contributes to that capacity. When one teammate’s answer matches another’s question, when one’s intensity shames another’s indifference, when one’s imagination snaps another’s tedium. chemistry has occurred. A dimension has been added. Somebody has been enhanced.
“Good chemistry is when two squad members cross-pollinate in such a way as to bring out the best in at least one of them. It’s when the habits, personality, and general example of Player A have a positive effect on Player B and, better yet, on players B through V. When a team’s entire alphabet fits together in that way, giving and taking, mixing and matching to make winning words and lyrical phrases, that’s when you’ve got some poetry going on.”
