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A baseball team is using the digg model to choose its starting lineups

chicagotribune.com — A minor league baseball team in suburban Chicago has opted to allow its fans make managerial decisions by voting online for tactics to be used by the team, as well as what positions players will be in and the team's batting order. Some very bizarre choices have been made by the fans proving some things are better left to the professionals.

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  • shackbar, on 10/12/2007, -9/+7The "wisdom of crowds" led to a 15-33 record:

    http://www.northernleague.com/statistics/?type=league

    but they're averaging 4200 a game:

    http://www.northernleague.com/statistics/?type=leaders&sub=attendance

    That's fourth in their league.
  • iFelix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+96I wonder if the top 30 fans are making all the choices???
    • elebrio, on 10/12/2007, -30/+4rofl!!!1
    • crawf061, on 10/12/2007, -4/+24Can we make Stephen Colbert the center fielder?
    • dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19You laugh, but I was watching a report about this very team on CBS Evening News last night, and one of the women they interviewed who was doing the voting mentioned that she voted over 30 times a day for her choices.

      I guess system gaming happens whether you're a bored nerd at work, or a bored housewife at home.
  • gxcdesign, on 10/12/2007, -14/+3fire the coaches
    • CAvenger, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2RTFA. This is the Team President's fault.
  • newtechfool, on 10/12/2007, -5/+28Ok. So by the logic of the title of this article, then US presidential elections are decided by digg model.

    I wonder if digg is getting royalties from Uncle Sam :-)
    • mage1129, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Finally, this means I can blame Dig ofr the death of Socrates.
  • ericksoncn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+43"digg model"? I suppose anything democratic is now a "digg model".

    NEWS FLASH TO THE CONSTITUTION!!! AMERICA NO LONGER A REPUBLIC!!!! AMERICA IS NOW A "DIGG MODEL"!!!!!
    • axiomata, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I know where we've been going wrong in Iraq all this time, we've been trying to give them democracy when we should be giving them the Digg Model ©Kevin Rose.
    • MOJIRA, on 05/17/2008, -1/+3When I read the title and then the story and realized this has nothing to do with digg I was so happy to see everyone else already said what I wanted to about digg not having founded democracy.

      And thank you for saying republic, because techincally, the US is NOT a democracy.
  • chris9902, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15next thing you know we'll choose who'll lead our country with a series of votes by people and whoever gets the most wins... it's going to change the world this digg thing.
    • jmhacc, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1That WOULD change the world, considering that Bush is the president but did not receive the popular vote
  • RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13This is kind of funny. How do they make sure that the opposing team doesn't decide to "vote" a few hundred times for specific batting orders...etc.?
    • tizz66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Are you implying there could be corruption in the 'digg model'? Don't be ridiculous!
  • bradjward, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This was in SI a week or so ago, on the last page by Reilly. He talks about how the players hate it, and how the opposing teams are using it so their catcher is in left field and their center fielder is at 1st, or whatever. Ridiculous!!!....ly funny.
  • MyKungFu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If by "digg model" you mean take credit for something that they didn't invent, then yes, they do use that model.
  • MarkHarrison, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2We elect a set of officials, and give them several years in which those elected representatives made all the decisions.

    This is very different from saying that everyone who wishes to vote, gets a vote in every single decision.

    Digg is far more like "Athenian democracy" - all the people in a certain demographic group (the intersection of "the rich" with "those who could be bothered") got to vote on the issues.

    The problem, as I see it, with the baseball model is that the OPPOSING fans get to vote as well, and they are incentivised to pick the WORST possible team.

    It would, to me at least, be very interesting to have a website for a sports team where only registered fans were allowed to vote on such decisions. I think that we might well find that THEY made decisions as good as the coaches when it came to "who plays where". (Obviously, a coaches role is much more than selection, though...)
    • jmhacc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How could you possibly prove that you were a fan?
    • jabelar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0A tattoo of the team name on one's forehead would be sufficient.
  • Bioshocker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Uh, nice headline and pointless Digg reference to get yourself on the front page. I look forward to hearing in November how "America is using the digg model to choose its new Congress members". Or perhaps we can be told how "American Idol is using the digg model to choose its competition winners".
  • hansamurai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Buried lame for calling a voting system a "digg model".
  • jlawson1, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2"Kevin Rose did not invent voting. Sorry kids."....

    No he just perfected it....
    • hansamurai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3So perfect that the algorithm for promoting articles was changed again yesterday? Don't be such a tool.
  • EAMUS1CATULI, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1WTF!! This is the dumbest idea to promote a product. The majority of the people don't have a clue on how create a line-up..ie..

    "An outfielder who often bats last is leading off. The second spot, usually reserved for a hitter who runs well and gets on base often, is occupied by a big catcher who does neither. The slugger who normally bats fourth is dropped to sixth."

    I hope they never win another game for treating baseball like its a ***** soap opera. Doing ***** like this degrades the sport and disrespects the true fans of the game. Everybody in upper management for this organization should be fired. This is ***** ridiculous.
  • Eccohawk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'm actually from Schaumburg and I think it's definitely an interesting concept if nothing else. I agree the title of the digg story was shameless in its attempt to get to the front page, but I'm still digging it for the story itself. I've been to a few Flyers games and it'll be intriguing to watch this unfold over the coming months. This was obviously done as a business decision moreso than any concerns the team has for winning (though i'm sure that'd be nice). This was all about bringing fans back, and the stadium hasn't been this full week after week for some time until this idea was put into play. More power to them. If it brings in money and keeps the fans happy, no matter whether they win or lose, then you've got yourself a winning hand. And if you want another real-life example that winning matters not, look at the Chicago Cubs. We've been saying 'wait til next year' so long it's tough to remember when it became the unofficial tag line, but their fans are some of the most passionate I've ever known and the stadium is alway packed. Here's hoping it works out for the Flyers as well.
  • cubs2234, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1the cubs could use this. and it probably wouldn't make much difference.
  • adampesa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Reminds me of when Phish played their audience in chess. One pair of moves at each show. Audience would vote their choice of next move and votes were tallied during set break. Check it out here:

    http://www.phish.net/faq/chess.html

    Sounds like it was slightly more successful than these lineups.
  • mcdvda, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The system is ruining the team. They've gone from first to last. The players hate playing there, the manager can't do anything or else he'll get fired. Teams that they're playing are voting so guys will play out of position... It's ruining the game... but they're still better than the cubs
  • kolop1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2 They post a bunch of useless Apple mac articles all over the dug out?
  • adkinsjm, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Old news, they have done this for a few months.
  • mikeazorin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1You know, I'm not really sure they are really following digg in this one. There's a little known thing called "Democracy" invented by the Greeks a little while ago?
  • legendary, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I live real close to the stadium, and this is a cool team. One of there games to fans got to start the first three innings on xbox and the players took over the rest of the game
  • SonicAD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You can vote on the lineup here: http://fanclub.msn.com/fanclub/poll
  • h3y0w4ssup, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0fail
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