MLB managers depicted with Chernoff faces -- TLR has a giant head

Link to the NYTimes article here.

Okay, so if I grasp the concept correctly, this very smart man who is paid to do very smart things decided to represent the managers of baseball through faces with features that change according to the manager's tendencies. Chernoff faces, as they are apparently called by people in the know.

(click the picture for the big version)

No, the scientists behind the whole thing don't think they're revolutionizing baseball analysis -- from what I understand, the purpose of the experiment is to see if there are similarities that jump out from statistical data when it is portrayed in a way that is more easily related to. Yes, the managerial tendencies here depicted are often heavily dependent on player quality. Just put away the cynic for a second.

Here's what the article has to say about LaRussa:

The St. Louis Cardinals’ Tony La Russa, known as a constant tinkerer, had his National League-leading 150 different batting orders (in 162 games) translate into an elongated head and wider eyes.

First of all, holy crap, that's a lot of different batting orders. Talk about your mixing and matching. Yikes.

Second, I love that Tony just ended up with a gigantic head. I'm not one of the huge TLR detractors, but the guy does clearly think highly of himself (or is extremely confident in his decisions -- however you want to spin it) and him having an enormous dome cracks me up. If you don't want to spin it that way, then at least admit that TLR is a big personality and he deserves to have a giant Chernoff face.

The article also points out Pinella's scowl, Torre's serene expression, and Bochy's realistically cartoonish head shape as amusing results, for what it's worth (I think Torre looks a little too jolly myself). And personally, I think that one of the coolest aspects of the whole article was this:

"People think of managers as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ but there’s little evidence usually about what these guys actually do and what their styles may be," said Dr. Wang, 37, who wrote his master’s thesis at the University of Chicago on Markov models of baseball lineups. "And in numerical form it’s pretty overwhelming. You’re not sure what the standards are, which numbers are high or low."

That's a man who knows how to enjoy his education. Funny, they don't let me write very many papers on baseball in school...

Just  a little fun. You can turn that inner cynic back on now.