Physical appearance and charm--however ill defined it might be--have a huge effect on how we perceive people. You make reference to the head cheerleader, but rarely is the head cheerleader the most classically beautiful girl in school. It is a social position reflecting appearance, personality, and ambition.
I am a research scientist and we claim to desire the best and brightest, but we are influenced by demeanor, contenance, and appearance just like everyone else. Historically, all endeavors are predisposed to believe a particular personality is needed to suceed in that field of choice. In the 40's there was significant social pressure among jazz musicians to use heroin. Is a manic disposition required to be a successful novelist? Do you need to be testosterone fueled missile to suceed in sports? What about finance? What about haute cuisine (I can assure you Jacque Pepin endured his series of hazing rituals)?
I believe talent finds the path to success, not historical archetypes, but who declares the winners? Generally the champions of the prior generation, which is one of the reasons why stereotypes are so powerful and hard to shake.
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Felix Hernandez? Like the scout says, pitchers aren't baseball players. The principle must not apply to pitchers. He looks great when he lets the ball go, however...
Funny thing, it happens for him when his hair is longer, though. And I ain't a long-hair kinda guy.
I'm sure that the picture above is one reason that I've never bought into Felix Hernandez as the spiritual Mariners descendant of Randy Johnson. Unfortunately, I can't rewire the primal part of my brain.
Here is the one serious paragraph, lost in the barren wasteland of this 3-part series: the best things we could do about the "Baseball Face" bias is to (1) be aware of it, and (2) work hard to overcome it. Jason Vargas is a good pitcher and Felix Hernandez is a great one.
This is one of the things that keeps Fangraphs in business against tools scouts who know more baseball than they do: Fangraphs is completely impervious to the Baseball Face trap. Considering MLB players as nothing more than lines of alphanumeric characters, they are mercifully free of biases which SOMETIMES go awry.
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James Paxton, like Jered Weaver, has an absolutely perfect Kentucky pitcher's face - if he weren't pitching, he'd be out plinking squirrels off tree branches at 50 yards.
Danny Hultzen has the great silver-spoon Ivy League pitcher's face. Mark all of the M's pheenom hurlers way up for their baseball faces.
Sudden thought. Do you think Zduriencik passed on Bauer and Rendon because of their 8x10 glossies?
Taijuan Walker has a sports face; you'd have to ask the Moneyball scouts whether he has a good girlfriend...
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Brandon League, you don't see many Sk8rBoi closers in the bigs, but am gonna have to say he pulls it off nicely. Once you've faced death in the Pacific Ocean multiple times, as all surfers have, what is a Travis Hafner home run going to do to you? YES, I'm serious.
The greatest thing about League is his pitch-count chart, 100% fastballs when behind and 100% splitters when ahead, and that comes from not caring whether you win or lose. As Kruk said, nothing matters more than life. Perfect closer's face and perfect closer's mentality.
Casper Wells, half of his features are baseball and half are no way. Overall am going to have to go with "minus" baseball face.
Jeff Clarke, that dude avoids putting his picture up here for a good reason. Think Joe Sheehan photo-morphed with David Ortiz.
Ichiro, the man is so blinkin' cool that he has only one name, that's how cool he is. And there are 140 different countries you can go to and get the name attached to a photograph. No surprise that he had the confidence to not only break the NPB hitting barrier, but win an MVP in his first year. We'll see if the face allows him to spit at age 37 or whether all baseball faces drift quietly into that good night.
Mike Carp, his homies call him "the Rat" and is that a baseball face? Hmmmmmm....
There comes a point in sports at which you look not dorky, but sort of ferocious. If you get nicknamed for your face, you've got to call that a baseball face.
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Tom Wilhelmsen's face is way past "wired" on to "a suspect in four states." Have you ever seen this guy live on camera?! ::chills::
Which is one of the reasons that I can't imagine the 2012 Seattle Mariners without him. He gets a captain's C on his shirt from me.
Cheers,
Dr D
Comments
Physical appearance and charm--however ill defined it might be--have a huge effect on how we perceive people.
I remember one psych study at UW ... people would step back in front of an elevator door, or cut somebody off, based on nothing more than whether they were wearing a coat and tie or not. The measured difference was huge.
Good-looking (or impressive) people go through life having people step back and letting them go first :- )
I believe talent finds the path to success, not historical archetypes, but who declares the winners? Generally the champions of the prior generation, which is one of the reasons why stereotypes are so powerful and hard to shake.
Who knows how many Little League squads the good-looking kids make, because of the subconscious impression factor ...
How much extra coaching... how many times they were given the benefit of the doubt ...
Don't think anybody's whining. But there may be some objective reality behind the idea that MLB players are better-looking than the general population...
And some reality behind the idea that if you're good-looking, then the confidence, the sense of belonging, gets you over some humps you might not otherwise have crossed...
...and it dovetails nicely with another thought that was banging around in my head a few weeks ago...
Prior to Fielder signing with Detroit I got to wondering about "the face" of the Mariners and if Fielder could be that "face". Have you ever taken a good look at Fielder? That is a face that would frighten kids and old people! He may have a "baseball face", but what he doesn't have is a face that is welcoming, inviting, reassuring, and so on.
For that reason alone I support Jack's tepid attempts to land the swarthy Fielder.
All go, no show ...
I have one major counter-argument to this line of thought:
http://www.posters.ws/images/359722/benito_santiago_studio_portrait_phot...
YYYAAAAAAHHHHHHHRRRRGG!!!! That's one ugly mug. :)
the Dennis Rodman of baseball, Don Mossi, a HOF candidate in the all-ugly-MLB-team category.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6816/donmossikc.jpg
This image is his 1965 Topps baseball card.
Interesting series of musings, Doc. A few names from the past with comments about their faces:
Rick Monday (pretty boy, but deadly serious on the field)
George Foster (just an odd-looking guy, but unexpected power. Aaron-like power in his wrists)
Ron Cey (I wish Smoak had the hard edge to his down-home country boy look that Cey did)
Don Drysdale (strapping country boy look that took on a movie star quality once he became a celebrity in tinsel town)
Roberto Clemente (a fierce passion to prove his superstar-dom)
Richie Allen (don't cross paths with HIM in a dark alley)
Rollie Fingers (I mean, c'mon, you expect me to take you seriously with THAT stache? Oh yeah. Definitely)
Dave Stewart (The Stare. Just don't open your mouth and talk, Dave, or fear will be overcome by ROTFL)
Reggie Jackson (Brash, trash talk street look, the kind that when things come to a head, you do NOT want be an opponent)
That picture you showed of Felix made me think of that iconic photo of Billy the Kid. Check the eyes, they're killer eyes. He's letting batters know that he's throwing a leathal weapon somewhere around where they're going to be standing and he OWNS the inside of the plate.
good catch Jokestar -
As far as faces that only a mother could love :- ) ... funny thing, though, the only problem is the ears and nose. His eyes, chin, and the shape of his face all look fine to me...
Dave Stewart. Great call. There's a guy whose face matches his personality 101%.
Also agree particularly with your calls on Clemente, Drysdale and Allen. We need a separate category for "faces that match personalities." To me, Justin Smoak would lead the M's here...