A Brief Nomar Interlude

Much has been written (probably best written here) by many of the demystifiers of baseball about Nomar Garciaparra's claim that "there's no statistic that measures heart." I'm not going to repeat any of the typical "stat haters are curmudgeons" stuff that others will do better. I want to talk about the statement though.

It's the kind of thing that doesn't bother me, really--but still really bothers me. Let me explain. I don't have any problem with people believing that stats don't measure everything in baseball. Look--I know that stats do more or less measure everything worth knowing in baseball. I believe that. I believe that guys like Will Carroll and Joe Sheehan and Nate Silver (when he did baseball) are really onto something. But if a guy wants to believe that baseball is a byzantine game that exists beyond all possible mastery (except for those that have played the game), fine. Here's what I'd equate it to: Religion. If you want to believe in God, you absolutely should. If you want to believe there's no evidence to suggest there's God, you absolutely should believe that. If you want to take that to the Richard Dawkins extreme and say that because there's no evidence to suggest there's God, believing in Him is superstition, that's fine too. So I have no problem with Nomar suggesting that he believes that there is something that stats don't measure that's essential to baseball. None whatsoever.

Let's put that aside. What I do have a problem with is him distorting language. This is a pet peeve. Distortions of language and thereby distortions of logic. Look--we all know what Nomar means when he says "heart." Or at least, we have an idea. But that's the problem. What does "heart" mean? Obviously it doesn't literally mean heart. As in that big muscle that pumps blood through your veins and arteries. But it doesn't exactly mean something else. It's not like "he's got lungs" means "he can sing well" or "she's got good brain means"...well let's leave that one aside. It's a general gesture that "heart" is supposed to represent. It KIND OF means "courage" but doesn't really (that's "guts"). It's just a metonymic construct wherein the "essence" of being (viz. "your heart") stands in for whatever people define as the essence of being in the sense of character (as opposed to physionomy).

So of course we don't have a stat to measure heart. There can't possibly be a stat to measure heart. It doesn't mean anything. The statement is utterly misleading. Nomar's not talking about "clutchness" or "winnerness" or "leaderness" or some unmeasurable thing that has a distinct meaning. He's blurring the lines for the sake of making a point.

Well, why does that bother me?

Let's return to religion. Two nights ago I saw Deepak Chopra debating against some equally moronic atheist about God's existence. Moronic atheist spouted Dawkins lines like he was quoting the book. Chopra talked condescendingly about how he had medical degrees. I call the atheist moronic because he seemed to be unable to do anything but spout platitudes and call names (I realize the irony of me calling someone moronic because they called names, but it's my damn blog! you know?). But Chopra's moronacy bothers me a lot more.

Both factions agreed that a complex motion of forces were required for the universe to have existed and continue existing. Chopra loudly and confrontationally insisted that that force must be God. When confronted with the possibility that that force might not be God he insisted "no not the man in the beard perhaps, but it is God if it is beyond our understanding."

Oh, really? It's this sort of post hoc argumentation that's sending discourse down the tubes. Look--Nomar, I don't disagree with you, per se. I get more about baseball from prose and ballgames than I do from baseball-reference.com (although I do spend a lot of time there). But you can't be pulling this bullshit.

Namely:

Nomar: "Stats don't show everything."

Stats: "Well what don't they show?"

Nomar: "HEART!"

Stats: "You mean courage? Well they show that Lou Gehrig played in every game of his career despite suffering from ALS at the end. And that Bob Gibson threw a number of complete games in World Series play!"

Nomar: "No that's courage. I'm talking about HEART!"

Stats: "Well, we can measure sac bunts, stolen bases, defensive efficiency, baserunning."

Nomar: "No that's doing the little things. I'm talking about HEART!"

Stats: "Well why don't you tell us what heart is? Then we can determine whether we could measure it."

Nomar: "It's HEART! And by definition you can't measure it!"

...and so on. Religion, baseball, heart? I feel like WP Kinsella. But Nomar brings that out in me.