“ Do you see anything? ” Orioles assistant general manager Sig Mejdal asks me, looking out a second-floor window in Camden Yards’ iconic brick warehouse. Mejdal scans the empty green seats behind home plate, some 450 feet away. He’s trying to point out what is essentially a medium flatscreen-TVsized black square known as “The TrackMan.” “It should be right near the press box,” Mejdal says. He’s talking about the now-ubiquitous professional baseball technology that records data on every pitch thrown in every game. “I think it’s there,” he says, squinting as mid-winter sunrays shine down from the upper deck.
If you know anything about this man’s eclectic professional background, you know the irony of this situation. In his first job out of college 30 years ago, Mejdal worked as an engineer for Lockheed Martin, tracking satellite-carrying rockets in orbit from a windowless, secure control room at a U.S. Air Force base. Many moons later, at 54, he is at his latest stop on a pioneering 15-year-long journey at the forefront of baseball’s continued data-friendly revolution. And now he can’t find his own tracking machine. “Anyway, imagine a big black box up there,” he continues with a chuckle before making his broader point about how the technology has influenced the national pastime. “It has revealed information about the pitch that the human being just couldn’t pick up with our senses.”
Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Baltimore magazine.
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Denne historien er fra April 2020-utgaven av Baltimore magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Man With a Plan
The eternal optimism of Thibault Manekin.
SHOWER POWER
Locals let rain gardens soak up the storm.
THE SOFA QUEEN
Stuffed & Tufted’s Samantha Kuczynski relishes being the new face of upholstery.
The Starting Gate
At long last, plans are underway for a new “Home of the Preakness.”
CLEANING UP CITY HALL
Baltimore is the second most corrupt federal jurisdiction in the country. Can a city with our history be reformed?
THE HOMECOMING
For one family, it was time to start living in their house, not just existing there.
SUGAR RUSH
Baltimore gets a fresh batch of home-grown bakeries——and the line forms here.
GAMECHANGER SANDRA GIBSON
Executive Director, SNF Parkway Theatre & Maryland Film Festival
FROM THE GROUND UP
A new build gives a couple a house that finally feels like them.
AFTER GLOW
KEY HIGHWAY