What baseball managers did do, on occasion, beginning in the early 1980s, was hire some guy who knew how to switch on the computer. But they did this less with honest curiosity than in the spirit of a beleaguered visitor to Morocco hiring a tour guide: pay off one so that the seventy-five others will stop trying to trade you their camels for your wife. Which one you pay off is largely irrelevant.
In the early 1980s, baseball managers began to engage with technology by hiring individuals skilled in operating computers. This approach was often motivated not by genuine interest in technology or analytics but rather as a coping mechanism for the overwhelming influx of opinions and requests from others in the organization. It was akin to a traveler in Morocco who chooses to hire a guide just to avoid dealing with the chaos of unsolicited offers and distractions from others.
This strategy of hiring a computer-savvy person became more about managing external pressures than fostering a culture of curiosity and innovation. The decision on who to hire was often arbitrary, as the primary goal was to silence the myriad voices clamoring for attention and ideas. Thus, technology and data analysis were integrated into baseball not as a strategic evolution but rather as a temporary fix to manage the complexities of the environment.
