Can He Play?: A Look At Baseball Scouts and Their Profession

They dig through tons of coal to find a single diamond. They spend countless hours traveling miles and miles on lonely back roads and way too much time in hotels. Their front offices expect them to constantly pro- vide player reports and updates. So much of their time is spent away from family and friends, missing birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Their best friend is Rand Mc- Nally. Always asking the question, "Can He Play?" Such is the life of a professional scout.

Can He Play? collects the contributions of some 26 members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) on the subject of scouts, including biographies and historical essays. The book touches on more than a century of scouts and scouting with a focus on the men (and the occasional woman) who have taken on the task of scouring the world for the best ballplayers available. In "Can He Play?" we meet the "King of Weeds," a Ph.D. we call "Baseball's Renaissance Man," a husband-and-wife team, pioneering Latin scouts, and a Japanese-American interned during World War II who became a successful scout-and many, many more.

Table of Contents

Foreword, by Roland Hemond

Introduction, by Jim Sandoval

The Hall of Fame Looks at Baseball Scouts, by John Odell

1. IVORY HUNTERS

George Huff: Athletic Reformer and Speaker Discoverer, by Timothy M. Gay

Larry Sutton, by Jim Sandoval

Scouting Jack Doyle, by Neal Mackertich

Charles "Pop" Kelchner, by Ron Smiley and Jim Sandoval

Charley Barrett, The King of Weeds, by Jim Sandoval

Bob Quinn, Founder of the Farm System, by Craig Lammers

Charles Edward Chapman, Ph. D., Baseball's Renaissance Man, by Jim Sandoval

Cy Slapnicka, by Brian McKenna

Roy and Bessie Largent, Baseball's Only Husband and Wife Scouting Team, by Jim Sandoval

2. FIND THEM, HIDE THEM, AND SIGN THEM: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FARM SYSTEM

Development of the Yankees Scouting Staff, by Dan Levitt

Paul Krichell, by Dan Levitt

Bill Essick, by Dan Levitt

Gene McCann, by Jim Sandoval

Joe Devine, by Dwayne Kling

Tom Greenwade: Destined For the Hall-Of-Fame, by Jim Kreuz

Signing of Tony Lazzeri, by Fred Glueckstein

3. THE GOOD FACE

George Digby, interviewed by Ron Anderson

Broadway Charlie Wagner, by Bill Nowlin

Edith Houghton, by Shawn Selby

Ed Scott, interviewed by Ron Anderson

Al LaMacchia, by Dave King

Dario Lodigiani, by Irwin Herlihy

4. THE PLAYERS SPEAK

A Player's View of Scouts in the 1950s, by Dave Baldwin

Johnny Pesky, on signing with the Red Sox, by Bill Nowlin

"Waiting for the Call" - Fernando Perez, interviewed by Bill Nowlin

5. BASEBALL GOES INTERNATIONAL

Joe Cambria, by Brian McKenna

Alex Pompez: From the Rackets to Respectability; A Hall of Fame Scout, by Brian McKenna

Howie Haak, by Jim Sandoval and Rory Costello

Epy Guerrero, Super Scout, by Jim Sandoval

Bill Clark, Baseball's Leonardo Da Vinci, by Bill Nowlin

6. THE DRAFT ERA

Major League Scouting Bureau

An Intern's Perspective on the Draft, by Ben Jedlovec

Lou Gorman: "You Don't Win Without Good Scouts" / A GM Looks at Scouting, by Bill Nowlin

Sam Hairston, by Rory Costello

Jesse Flores, From Picking in the Fields to Picking Prospects, by Jim Sandoval

Gene Bennett, by Robert Sawyer

Bob Zuk, by John Klima

"Don't Get Too Domestic Out There" The Baseball Life and Insights of Herb Stein, by Lee Lowenfish

George "Hats" Omachi, by Bill Nowlin

7. CROSS CHECKING

National Cross Checking, by Gib Bodet

Topps Scouts Cards

8. ADVANCE SCOUTING

Every Game is a Road Game / Dana Levangie, by Bill Nowlin

Deacon Jones: The 26th Man on the Team, by Bill Nowlin

History of the Scout of the Year Program

9. SIGNING SCOUTS OF THE HALL OF FAMERS

10. SCOUTING SCHEDULES

Amateur Scout schedule, by Damon Iannelli / Southeast scouting supervisor, Colorado Rockies

Pro Scout schedule, by Leon Wurth / Milwaukee Brewers

Baseball Scouts in the Movies, by Rob Edelman