
It's all about the stats: What politics and baseball have in common
CBC
In his final column as host of The House, Chris Hall talks with three political strategists to examine the intersection between two of his favourite subjects: politics and baseball.
There's a saying that life imitates art. But for my money, there's another comparison that's equally true. Politics imitates baseball.
Here's the pitch.
Politics and baseball are filled with tradition. There are a lot of rules; some are written, and some really just time-honoured traditions.
Today, both are becoming more reliant on modern-day metrics — data and statistics — to attract new supporters, and to win.
In baseball, those stats help managers decide when to deploy the infield shift, or put an extra person in the outfield to prevent the best hitters from getting on base.
In politics, the numbers tell campaign managers which ridings to visit and which campaign promise to promote. They know how many swing votes are available in each voting district. Parties keep data banks that tell them which address is home to a supporter, and which is home to a voter who might be convinced to join their side.
So it's not surprising that many politicians and their strategists are also baseball fans.
There is a powerful connection between running the bases and running a campaign, according to Anne McGrath.
"I think that all campaigns are, or strive to be, data-driven now," said McGrath, the NDP's national director and a veteran of both federal and provincial campaigns.
"It is the key in politics. You have to find the people who support you and get them out to vote. So you have to know who they are and know where they are and know what they care about."
McGrath was a die-hard fan of the Montreal Expos. The club moved years ago to Washington and she's still not over it. But McGrath sees a lesson in the move, about the importance of not just maintaining a fan base, but finding ways to get new ones to the ballpark.
"You do have to know who your base is and you have to expand it. You have to bring more people in. And you have to do it in a way that is attentive to changing demographics and changing ways of communicating with people and getting people interested and involved and motivated," she explained.
Jason Lietaer grew up reading baseball box scores and waiting impatiently for the weekend newspaper that included the stats for every American League player, including members of the hometown Toronto Blue Jays.