The Heroes Behind The Scene
By Al Doran

We all have our heroes in this sport but few know what really goes on behind the scenes at a major tournament like the ISCs so maybe its time to say a word or two about a couple of those unsung heroes that make this the premier event in men's club fastball.

For those lucky enough to have been at this most recent world tournament, or one like it, its clear that a lot of work went into planning and delivering it. Generally the host committee did a lot of the work that was necessary to deliver the event and of course the ISC has people who work along with them making sure that all goes well. From the parking lot attendants to the beer sellers, from the grounds crew to the announcers, everyone involved has a job where the can generally be seen. 

But let's talk about someone most do not get to see, but do see the results of his labours. The ISC Statistician. In this case, Mr. Gary Baughman of Cedar Rapids Iowa. Gary makes sure that everything that goes on on the field is properly recorded for statistical purposes and then produces it when needed to meet many purposes.

Most fans do not get to see the results of Gary's labours until the tournament is all over, when the stats are used to select MVP's and All World Teams, and eventually the stats appear in the ISC annual guidebook and on the ISC web site.

But this year Gary's work was made available several times a day via the ISC web site, with complete line scores for all 94 games. As well, the stats were rolled together to produce one monster file of batting and pitching statistics, which can be seen on the site, http://fastpitch-softball.com Without Gary, his software, and his small band of helpers, the most we would have seen would have been scores.

Gary's work begins long before the World Tournament. Gary has been training on brand new software this year, software that not only collects all the stats we need, but produces reports in html format, the internet language that enables us to put the results up on our web site. This is new software and in my profession of advising clients on which human resource software to use, this software would have never been put into the box yet, its not ready for the workplace. Software that is developed with a mix of DOS and Windows and released before its been road tested is a recipe for major headaches, and this particular software was all that. 

Luckily, as we all know, there are some pretty sensational people in our game and this week was no exception. I finally got to meet two regular contributors to Al's Fastball List, two well known ball guys who have wrestled with this not ready for prime time software before, Steve Kooser and Keith "Sparky" Clark. These two guys came to the rescue early in the week and spent an entire evening getting this wonky software to produce our html reports. Thanks guys!

Gary normally ends up at the ballyard a few days before any of our other colleagues and spends some time getting set up, and introduces himself to all the volunteer score keepers. Gary trains these good folks on how to use the software we are using. This year we had a computer in each announcer's booth. Gary shows them all the things they need to know about the paperwork and the computer set-up to make sure we collect stats consistently.

Gary's day is a long one once the tournament begins. He makes sure the score keepers are in place before each game and that the computers are working properly. After every game, Gary goes to the announcer's booth, collects the paperwork, and downloads the data from the computer used by the scorekeeper. In many cases this week there were problems with these downloads and Gary had to re enter entire games from scratch, using the regular score sheets. But to keep collecting the stats, EVERY game had to be recorded on the system. Gary's day usually ended long after the ball players and fans had cleared the park. He went home when the day's stats were all safely uploaded to his computer (and of course he had given us a copy of anything we needed for the web site for the day). Gary generally gave us a disk every four games this week during the real busy days, and after every game as we reached the end of the week. This is how we were able to upload the stats 3 to 4 times a day.

I do not know the names of the scorekeepers Gary worked with but he speaks highly of them, and the fact we cannot do without them. A great big thanks from us all. Some of the scorekeepers did double duty as announcers so maybe you did not see them, but you may have heard them. 

Gary's big day is always the last day, when all the stats have to be rolled together quickly to enable the ISC to pick the MVPs and All World Teams. This year Gary even got to announce the names of the winners at the closing ceremonies.

This is my way of saying a GREAT BIG THANK YOU TO GARY BAUGHMAN for all his hard work this week. We could not have kept the web site up to date without his help, and that of his scorekeeper helpers. Also behind the scenes was
Brent, my friend and Webmaster in Toronto. Brent has never seen a real live fastball game, but I think we have him hooked. He already has plans for 2001 where we can move the reports to the web even faster. Now all we need is a ballpark with a phone connection. I guess by now most of the fans know that we had no connection at the park this year, and that for three days we had no out lines from our hotel rooms at the Holiday Inn in St. Joseph. But thanks to the manager, George Pappas, we had full access to his office night and day and a toll free line. To make it clear, the Holiday Inn phone system was not to blame, George is having serious discussions with ATT right now about their "service". So much for deregulation of the phone industry.

Game reports and stats were placed on the ISC web site and wives, girl friends, parents, siblings, friends, and fans the world over were able to keep track of the games being played. We hope you have enjoyed it. We have bigger plans for 2001 and wait until you see Kitchener in 2002!

Al Doran
ISC Website Director