Dave
Baldwin is the only geneticist and only systems engineer
ever to play major league baseball. In Scientific American (May
2000), Steve Mirsky wrote, “Dave Baldwin… is
surely the only person to publish in the Proceedings of the
Entomological Society of Washington and to pitch for that
town's team.”
Pro baseball career (1959 -1974)
- Dave pitched for the Washington Senators, Milwaukee
Brewers, and Chicago White Sox. These and other
teams he played for are in the book Snake Jazz.
Off Season
- Dave earned a Ph.D. (genetics) and M.S. (systems engineering)
at the University of Arizona. Subsequently, he has been
a researcher, engineer, professional artist, and
contented retiree.
Stealing into the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Dave’s painting, “Fugue for the
Pepper Players,” graces the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum
and John Thorn’s book, Treasures of the Baseball Hall
of Fame, Vuillard, 1998.
Science & Baseball
- His articles have crept into the Harvard
Business Review (July/August 2001) and American Scientist (May/June
2005) and other diverse journals. Also, he contributed
a chapter to Biomedical Engineering Principles in Sports (Hung
and Pallus, eds., 2004).
- In 2000 Dave spoke at the Science of Baseball Symposium sponsored
by the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS). His
esoteric topic was the decision processes of baseball
managers.
Poetry
On the Air
- He talked about baseball and higher education, or lack thereof,
on the PBS “All Things Considered” radio
program in 2006.
- Dave appeared on the Scientific American podcast
in March, 2007, to discuss his atypical career
and the weird Japanese pitch, the gyroball.
- He was interviewed on ESPN (“Outside
the Lines”) in the spring, 2007, once again about the gyroball (a
pitch Dave has never thrown).
- On Comcast, and MLB telecasts,
Dave discussed what the batter sees or not as the
ball leaves the pitcher’s hand.
Affiliations
- Dave belongs to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)
and the International Society of Experimental Artists (ISEA).
LINKS
Baseball sites:
Judy Van Sickle Johnson's baseball blog:
http://watchingthegame.typepad.com/my-blog/
Engineering Professor Terry Bahill’s baseball web site:
http://www.sie.arizona.edu/sysengr/baseball/index.html
Physicist Alan Nathan’s comprehensive Physics of Baseball web site
http://baseball.physics.illinois.edu/index.html
National Baseball Hall of Fame:
http://baseballhall.org
The baseball statistics goldmine of Retrosheet:
http://www.retrosheet.org
Society for American Baseball Research (SABR):
http://www.sabr.org/
Gabriel Schechter’s baseball blog:
http://charlesapril.com/
Jimmy
Scott’s baseball blog:
http://www.jimmyscottshighandtight.com/
Other sites:
Greg Howell’s reflective blog:
http://greghowellblog.blogspot.com/
Dave Baldwin’s art:
http://www.alkydair.com
A description of Dr. Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400062751
Four-time All-Star George Case (see Photo Gallery) made a historic
documentary of American League players in 1939-1946. For
the DVD:
www.timelessbaseball.com
Steve Mirsky's podcast interview with Dave Baldwin
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/b922a2b0-e7f2-99df-3985005fb523e886/
Steve Mirsky's column in Scientific American, about Dave Baldwin
http://www.alkydair.com/sciamerican.htm
Dave’s American Scientist cover article (with co-authors: A. Terry Bahill and Jayendran Venkateswaran) describing the pitch as seen by a hitter:
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/predicting-a-baseballs-path/1
Linda Besse’s wildlife paintings:
http://www.besseart.com/index.html
Go Yachats
http://www.goyachats.com
