Let’s take a look into Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run against Dennis Eckersley from a hitting plan and approach perspective and find out what went on behind the scenes to make that magical moment happen.
Mel Didier (a Dodger’s advanced scout at the time) put together a scouting report on the Oakland A’s – the Dodger’s opponent in the 1988 World Series.
THE SCOUTING REPORT
According to Didier, “We put the scouting report for Oakland together. It was me, Jerry Stephenson & Steve Boras. We stayed up until 5 o’clock in the morning and came back Thursday afternoon and finished and polished it up and made it like a little booklet. Tommy Lasorda (Dodger’s manager) had a workout Friday before Game 1 and said he wanted us to present their reports to the players”.
Didier continues, “I had scouted the pitchers in the scouting report”.
According to Didier, “…when I gave my report, the last thing I said was about Eckersley. The players were sitting down against the wall and I pointed the the left-handed hitters. PODNUH, LET ME TELL YOU THIS, I said, ‘If Eckersley gets you at 3-2 and there’s a runner at second base or third base and it’s the tying or winning run, Eckersley will throw you a back door slider on 3-2. Don’t forget that because that’s what, he will do as sure as I’m standing here breathing’”.
Dennis Eckersley relieved Dave Stewart for the Oakland A’s in the 9th inning. Eckersley said later, “I know Dave wanted to finish the game; most starters do, but why not go with the closer?” “Slam dunk, right? C’mon. You cannot second guess that”.
Sure enough, in the first game it happened. Bottom of the 9th, with gimpy pinch-hitter Kirk Gibson coming to the plate.
Vin Scully, TV announcer says, “And look who’s coming up. All year long, they looked to him to light the fire, and all year long, he answered the demands until he was unable to start tonight with two BAD LEGS …. With two outs, you talk about a roll of the dice, this is it”.
GIBSON would say in an interview later:
“I remembered what our scouting report said. It said that at 3-2, Eckersley throws a back door slider. Mel Didier had told me going into the Series, “PODNUH, AS SURE AS I’M STANDING HERE BREATHING, YOU’RE GOING TO THROW ME THAT 3-2 BACKDOOR SLIDER.”
Vin Scully, “When he hit the home run, naturally, I let the crowd go bananas. I didn’t say anything for over a minute, and then I said, “In a year that had been so improbable, the impossible has happened.” It was the most theatrical home run I had ever seen. You looked on stage and he wasn’t there, and suddenly he appears on stage and the crowd erupts. He’s limping, and then suddenly he hits the home run. The whole thing was theater. It was perfect theater”.
GIBSON’S TWO-STRIKE APPROACH
EXAMPLES OF INFORMATION IN SCOUTING REPORTS
HAPPILY EVER AFTER
Lots of time and work and expertise goes into compiling a scouting report. The key is providing ACCURATE INFORMATION. It’s true that the hitter has to execute the plan and deserves all the credit for hitting the home run; but the probability of success increases dramatically when the hitter is given accurate information about what pitch to expect in certain situations.
Like artists, some evaluators are better than others. You can possess the most expensive radar gun or state of the art computer system yet still go about scouting with differing opinions —quantifying the information and data to give your players the best chance for success and ultimately having a direct impact on the player’s performance is the goal.
Coaches derive a special pleasure from watching a game and seeing their ideas unfold on the field. Sometimes others appreciate the impact of the input and sometimes not so much. Two examples, after the Yankees beat the Braves in the World Series, owner George Steinbrenner gushed about the role the scouts played in the outcome, “they deserve a bow”. Versus Marge Schott’s (owner of Cincinnati Reds) comment on her scouts after they won, “all they do is watch games”. Most good, competitive teams understand the importance of good scouting reports and invest the time, money and resources to get the best, most accurate information possible to give their players the best chance for success.
Mel Didier (1926-2017) was a legendary MLB scout, executive in more than 60 years in professional baseball; he grew up in Baton Rouge, LA and had a storied career at LSU in football and baseball and signed with the Detroit Tigers.
He coached college baseball at UL for two seasons, 1981 & 1982; and I was fortunate to hear him tell some of his stories and get to be around his son, Skip, when he coached football and baseball at Northside High School in Lafayette, LA. Mel had a great ability to recognize talent, then work incredibly hard to develop “his” athletes into greatness and be able to win championships.
PURSUE EXCELLENCE & WIN THIS PITCH!