Readings: Dollar Sign on the Muscle, Part II

Recently, in these pages, I made a case for a way of discussing books in a manner conducive to NotGraphs. You can read those exact words, if you want. Alternatively, you can just believe me when I say that the basic idea is to share lightly annotated passages and ideas from interesting baseball-related books.

The Text in Question
Dollar Sign on the Muscle: The World of Baseball Scouting by Kevin Kerrane

A General Statement About the Quality of This Book
It’s super high, the quality of the book. Reading it, I’m thinking to myself, “This is the best book I’ve ever read.” That I’ve only ever read three or so books, though, will definitely influence my opinion on this matter.

The Four Eras of Scouting
Kerrane provides what must be the first real historical analysis of scouting. He divides it into four main eras, as follows.

The Bird Dog Era (????-1919) was typified by talent being found via informal networks. The eponymous “bird dogs” were scouts who received a finder’s fee for player that were signed.

The Rickey Era (1919-1946) is so-called as it begins with Branch Rickey’s — then-GM of the St. Louis Cardinals — with Rickey’s implementation of the farm system. “In 1919,” writes Kerrane, “the Cardinals acquired controlling interest in teams at Houston and Fort Smith; by 1939 the Cardinal empire included thirty-two minor-league teams and about 650 players.”

The Bonus Era (1946-1965) was, at some levels, an extension of the Rickey Era, except for that scouting coverage had become more thorough, such that, instead of a single scout “discovering” a player, multiple scouts would all be vying for the attentions of a single signable player. It was, among other factors, the ever-increasing bonus costs that prompted Branch Rickey to break the color barrier.

The Draft Era (1965-Present) begins, logically, with the introduction of the amateur draft in 1965. As one might imagine, scouts weren’t particularly fond of the installation of the draft system, as it took from them some degree of autonomy and forced them to rely upon their organizations — and draft order — for player acquisition.

Three Other Curiosities
Here are three other things the curious reader will also want to know:

• Larry Sutton was the first full-time scout ever. He was hired in 1909 by the Brooklyn Dodgers.

• The notoriously sass-mouthed scout Cy Slapnicka of the Cleveland Indians, had a chance to, but did not, sign Lefty Gomez, on account of the latter’s gentleman’s parts. Of Gomez, Slapnicka said: “I saw [him] undressed in the clubhouse, and anybody who’s got a prick as big as he’s got can’t pitch winning ball in the major leagues.” Gomez was 189-102 for his career with 43.0 WAR per Baseball Reference.

• Al Campanis of the Dodgers — himself trained by Rickey — invented the 20-80 scouting system still widely in use.