Dorktown Fights For Mathematical Literacy
February 15, 2021 3:31 AM   Subscribe

In the latest edition of Dorktown, Rubenstein and Bois talk about when basic arithmetic failed baseball umpires, resulting in two strike strikeouts, three ball walks, and batters struck out on a count of 4 and 3. (SLYT)
posted by NoxAeternum (9 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
I mean, this video is probably great, and I know the creative process doesn't work this way, but I'd really prefer Jon to be working non-stop on 20021
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:47 AM on February 15, 2021 [4 favorites]


Someone tweeted out a remarkable example of this happening to the Brooklyn Dodgers. No date provided so I'm not able to see if there were any newspaper articles about it, but it shouldn't be too hard to find.
posted by Ampersand692 at 6:06 AM on February 15, 2021 [1 favorite]


Missing a number in a count, or mistakenly adding one, especially while there are a lot of other things going in that you are responsible for keeping track of, is more of an attentional error than a mathematical literacy issue. Like misreading a word on a roadsign while you are passing at speed and a bunch of other stuff is also going on that also requires your attention doesn't necessarily say anything one way or another about your reading literacy.
posted by eviemath at 6:57 AM on February 15, 2021 [3 favorites]


This must be a sign that Blaseball is returning soon.
posted by 3j0hn at 8:35 AM on February 15, 2021


"We don't need a sweatshirt! You're in San Diego and I'm in Hell!!"
posted by axiom at 10:45 AM on February 15, 2021 [5 favorites]


In more baseball Boisian news, the Seattle Film Critics Society has given their 2020 award for Best Documentary Feature to Bois' The History Of The Seattle Mariners.
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:13 AM on February 15, 2021 [8 favorites]


Like misreading a word on a roadsign while you are passing at speed and a bunch of other stuff is also going on that also requires your attention doesn't necessarily say anything one way or another about your reading literacy.

I am content to ascribe most of these to inattention - the zoom-out on just how much baseball happens is a pointed reminder that one-in-a-million chances can become regular - but the one at 13 minutes in where the umpires convene for three minutes and -still- erase a pitch from history is something else. What on earth was happening there?
posted by solarion at 4:42 PM on February 15, 2021 [3 favorites]


Frankly I'm amazed it doesn't happen more often. I've umpired many games in Little League, and there you even get to use a little clicker device to count balls and strikes. But then something weird happens out of the blue and five minutes later when you've untangled the mess you're trying to remember if you clicked before the weirdness happened. If you've got a partner umpiring on the bases, you can check, but odds are good that they missed it too.

It's a good thing that somebody's mom or dad will tell you, loudly and at great length from the bleachers, if you got it wrong.
posted by martin q blank at 8:28 AM on February 16, 2021 [5 favorites]


Mod note: comment removed -- if this isn't your jam it's fine to just move along to a post that is.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:56 PM on February 16, 2021 [1 favorite]


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