The Annotated Francona

As I noted in these pages recently, one of the great pleasures of baseball is the amount of data it produces. Some of that is the sort of data that produces metrics like WAR; other of it, though, might be more appropriately apprehended by the softer sciences.

By way of explanation, allow me to introduce the reader to a work of art known as the Terry Francona Press Conference. While perhaps only an average baseballing tactician, Francona has distinguished himself as a sort of savant of personality management. Winning a lot, certainly, has helped subdue any would-be discontent among his ranks, but Francona has a way of making any issue seem manageable and human-sized — and nowhere is this more clearly on display than in his post-game press conferences.

Let’s watch the above-ly embedded one (from July 26th’s victory over the Royals) together and see what we see.

Note: please recognize that the author knows almost nothing of substance about any of the soft sciences — except, that is, for the name Claude Levi-Strauss, which he overheard once in conversation.

0:27: Observe the way Francona says “He just missed” — with the emphasis on the last word like that. My guess is, this is what scholars refer to as a “total combo package” of verbal and nonverbal communication. Francona is telling us the literal truth with his words, but is also suggesting — via the particular pronunciation of missed, via the quick nod of the head in concert with same — that he feels sympathy for starter Andrew Miller.

0:45: This begins a brief discussion of Dustin Pedroia as cleanup hitter (for Kevin Youkilis, who sat out). At 0:52 and 0:54 we see what can only be regarded as the smile of a proud father. At 1:01, after being asked about a certain fly ball Pedroia hit, Francona practices a sort of ritual humility, beginning his response with “You know, I don’t know…” He then proceeds, at 1:07, to make a sly comment about Pedroia’s disinclination to cut the chit-chat.

2:17: While discussing pitching coach Curt Young, Francona deftly compliments a member of his staff’s work ethic (“He’ll go watch every pitch like he always does”) while not only, once again, practicing a very conspicuous brand of humility, but also tacitly expressing his desire to aid the press in their work (“Then he’ll explain it to me, and I’ll be able to explain it to you better”).

Note: the full complement of Francona Press Conferences can be accessed here at MLB.com.