Whenever I think about the work in Lee Lowenfish’s new book, Baseball’s Endangered Species: Inside the Craft of Scouting by Those Who Lived It, I am always reminded of the scene from Moneyball where old battles with new:
In my conversation with Lowenfish, I referenced my own images of scouts from movies like The Stratton Story and The Pride of the Yankees, where Barney Wile (played by Frank Morgan) and Sam Blake (Walter Brennan), respectively, are the guys who beat the bushes and rely on tips to discover new talent. Other films that depict scouts such as The Scout and A Talent for the Game, are more far-fetched.
Lowenfish — whose previous books include the award winning Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman and The Imperfect Diamond: A History of Baseball’s Labor Wars — pays homage to the pioneers of that brotherhood in his usual through, educational, and entertaining manner. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, the New York Daily News, and New York Newsday, among many other publications and scholarly journals.
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