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Sam Walker Interview
By Chris McDonnell
2/22/2006
In 2006 Chris “Big Dawg” McDonnell, while at Big Dawg Baseball, got an advanced copy of “Fantasyland” from the publisher a couple months before they released the book. Captivated by the first real novel written about an actual fantasy baseball league, Chris read the entire book in one weekend. After finishing the book, Chris was fortunate enough to be able to get in touch with author Sam Walker via email and was able to conduct the interview that you will read below. Since conducting this interview, Sam’s has been able to enjoy greater success with Fantasyland than he could have imagined and was eventually lucky enough to be able to celebrate a Tout Wars Championship too. Knowing Sam, it’s hard to say which one meant more to him!
A brief synopsis of Fantasyland – Having never participated in a fantasy baseball league before, Walker decided to join the nation’s top experts league, Tout Wars. Fantasyland follows his efforts to win the league title
Big Dawg Baseball: How long have you been at your current position at the Wall Street Journal?
Sam Walker: Eight years. Five as a columnist. All of it covering sports.
BDBB: If you weren’t a sportswriter, what profession would you like to try?
SW: I’d be an auto critic. Seriously. I see a typical week shaping up like this— fly to Italy, pick up a Ferrari F430, bomb around the countryside like a maniac for three days, do a little sightseeing, drink a bunch of wine, then fly home and write an article about bombing through the Italian countryside in a Ferrari F430. That sounds like a pretty decent job.
BDBB: What are your 3 favorite books on baseball not authored by Sam Walker?
SW: I’ll give you five. The first is Moneyball, although I think it’s actually a brilliant business book wearing a baseball disguise. Others, in no particular order, are The Natural, Lords of the Realm, Ball Four, and the first baseball book I ever read— The Ron LeFlore Story.
BDBB: When you first asked to be included in Tout Wars, did you know it was for the purpose of writing this book?
SW: I knew I wanted to play in Tout Wars and write a book about it, but I decided not to start lobbying for an invitation until I had a publisher lined up. I thought it was only fair for the Touts to know, going in, that I’d be bringing my notepad and writing down everything they said.
BDBB: A lot of us who play fantasy baseball started playing because we love baseball and enjoy working with numbers. You stated that you started playing because, “I was so caked with baseball muck.” So would you say that you started playing fantasy baseball because you wanted to enjoy baseball again?
SW: Baseball’s always been my favorite sport, but there was this nasty stretch of about three years where it seemed like every story I wrote was about steroids or bloated contracts or the various adventures of Bud Selig. By the time the ALCS came around in 2003, I realized it was taking a toll on me. Remember when Aaron Boone hit that home run to beat the Red Sox in Game 7? A few minutes after that, I got pushed through the crowd in the Yankees clubhouse until I literally bumped into Boone. He had a bottle of champagne in one hand, a can of beer in the other and this crazy-ass grin on his face. It was a pretty surreal moment, but while it was happening all I could say to myself was “Dude, please don’t dump that champagne on my head.” The excitement was totally lost on me and that’s when I knew I had to do something to ditch my cynicism and reconnect with the game. I decided to play Rotisserie because all the Roto players I knew were like methadone patients—they couldn’t care less about anything but the outcome of the next pitch in the next game. If terrorists had blown up Fenway Park during a home run trot by Manny Ramirez, these guys would all be thinking the same thing: Does he still get credit for the run? Basically, I wanted a glass of whatever the hell these guys were drinking.
BDBB: Going into the draft, what was your confidence level?
SW: Absurdly high. Over the top. I really thought I had it all figured out. I wouldn’t have admitted it at the time, but I thought I was the certain champion.
BDBB: On page 44, you said, “If I can combine the best of the numbers with the best of traditional scouting, there’s no way I can lose.” During this venture, you had two assistants. Sig was your stats guy and Nando was your personal information guy. Who was more valuable?
SW: Big Dawg! You’re going to get me in trouble, here. The truth is that either one of these guys would have done better in Tout Wars on his own than he did by working with me. One of the truths of baseball management, I think, is that you have to have principles, whatever they are, and that if you want to reap the benefits of these principles you have to stick to them no matter how badly things are going. My problem was that I tried to use the best elements of Sig and Nando and ended up with a mixed bag that wasn’t very useful. To answer your question, I’d say Nando was more valuable. Not because I thought his scouting insights were better than Sig’s numbers—but because I think I overestimated the value of baseball player intelligence and underestimated the value of just knowing how to play Roto. Nando is a brilliant fantasy baseball “player” and I should have listened to him more on tactical stuff.
BDBB: You mentioned that your wife noticed you were louder once the season started. What other changes did your wife notice in you once you started playing fantasy baseball?
SW: I got a lot funnier in her eyes, though it was mostly unintentional. She noticed that I did a little more drinking than usual and stopped paying attention to the kinds of small details that I used to be obsessed with. On a typical morning I would forget to feed the dog, miss the deadline for sending in the credit card payment and leave my keys in the front door. But the biggest difference was the way I looked—sort of like death on “simmer.” Between the late games on the West Coast, the traveling, the endless channel-surfing and all those arguments with Sig and Nando, I looked pretty ragged. I remember her looking at me and saying things like “Hey, you shaved!” like it was a major achievement.
BDBB: How did your participation in TOUT wars affect your marriage?
SW: Wait, am I married….? Just kidding. The saving grace is that my wife actually works in book publishing, so she had some idea how scary first-time authors can be. But even so, she’d never seen anything like this. On a positive note, I think she was happy to see me doing something I was passionate about. But the load that all this put on her was unbelievable. She not only took over all the household affairs, but she actually found an apartment and MOVED us while I was out in California watching ballgames. It helped me realize two things: first, that I married a really remarkably wonderful and capable woman. And second, that I’m going to be making this up to her for a while. Maybe forever.
BDBB: Everyone always comments how differently you watch sports once you start playing fantasy. What were some of the biggest differences you noticed?
SW: It gave me a whole new set of pet peeves. Sportscasters who can’t pronounce player names—what’s the deal with that? Situational hitting by my players made me nuts. And after I wound up with Mariano Rivera as my closer, I was shocked to find myself occasionally CHEERING for the Yankees. But the main difference was that I could turn on a game, any game, and immediately find some compelling reason to watch. I wrote in the book that most years, I would have had to be stricken with rubella to watch five entire baseball games in April. But as soon as I started playing Roto, I was frustrated that I couldn’t watch five games in April at the same time.
BDBB: What is a greater thrill: The birth of your first child or watching a game where two of your starting pitchers are facing each other?
SW: Come on now, Big Dawg. It’s obviously the kid. Of course, if both my pitchers had shutouts going into the ninth with 16 punchouts apiece? Hmmm….. Still the kid.
BDBB: A fantasy baseball season is made up of many decisions, some of which we regret. Some we regret because of unforeseen circumstances like injury. Others, we make out of desperation, emotion, or a lack of brain cells. Considering all of the informed decisions you made during the 2004 season, which one do you regret the most?
SW: The gaffe that cost me a shot at the title was getting stuck with Sidney Ponson at the auction, but I wouldn’t consider that “informed.” My biggest miscalculation was trading Curt Schilling in July for Jorge Posada, a box of linguine and a pair of bar coasters or something like that. I had a chance there to really beef up my offense with a stud hitter, but instead I tried to fill some holes to make my roster look more balanced. I was more interested in the illusion of having a “complete” team than making a serious run in RBI.
BDBB: During the season you walked up to Brad Radke after a game and said, “Don’t take offense, but I may have to trade you.” Although we do sometimes feel an emotional attachment to our fantasy players, most of us don’t know our fantasy players personally. Did you feel it was an advantage for you to have a personal relationship with the members of your fantasy team?
SW: On a competitive level, it was a wash. Sometimes it gave me really useful insights, other times it caused me to jump to conclusions that weren’t supported by the numbers or even the scouts. But personally, I wouldn’t trade it. Knowing these guys a little bit and having a running conversation with them about the season was one of the most rewarding things I’ve done as a writer. It made playing Rotisserie excruciating at times, but gave me some unforgettable memories. I don’t want to give anything away, but that moment with Jacque Jones at the end of the season still gives me chill bumps. Wow.
BDBB: You mention, in great detail, the various enterprises of your Tout wars competitors. Which one of them do you think stands to gain the most from this book?
SW: Wait, somebody’s going to GAIN from this book???? To be honest, I have no idea. Since he won the league that year, I’d hope Trace Wood gets the recognition he deserves. He’s a brilliant scout and a great strategist and he’d be an asset to a Major League team. But most of these guys were already going places in life when I started writing this. They’ll all do fine.
BDBB: When you were talking about the effects the fantasy season was having on you physically and emotionally, it was similar to the guy in “Supersize Me.” On page 231, your doctor asks you, “Have you been under a lot of stress?” What physical toll did the season have on you?
SW: I blew out my back. I’d never had any trouble with it before, but I think the constant travel and the unexpected stress and the hundreds of hours hunched in my desk chair put me over the edge. They gave me a big bottle of Vicodin for the spasms, but I hardly took any of it because I was worried about making some dumb trade while I was amped up. Friends who saw me during the worst of the season would always make a crack about the dark circles under my eyes or the pasty complexion. I actually lost weight, but that’s because I’d be too engrossed by the evening games to remember to eat dinner. The following winter when it was all over, my wife and I spent two weeks in the Caribbean and I slept 12 hours a day the whole time. I’ve never been that tired before.
BDBB: You never make mention of your “9 to 5” job at the Wall Street Journal during the season. Did you keep all of your obligations to the Journal during the season? If so, how did your participation in Tout Wars affect your work?
SW: I tried to keep up my column for a while. I wrote it biweekly for a few months, but pretty soon I knew that the only way to keep it going was to start dogging it, and I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I took a full leave of absence in May and didn’t come back for a year. People who write books in their spare time are superhuman. I couldn’t have done it.
BDBB: You asked Randy Winn if he would draft himself if he had a Rotisserie team. Professional athletes are known for being cocky. We’ve all heard players say, “You have to believe you’re the best.” What percentage of major league players do you think would draft themselves on their own Rotisserie teams?
SW: Not as many as you think. There’s a huge number of ballplayers, including Randy Winn, who are serious fantasy players. The league discourages them from playing fantasy baseball (for obvious reasons), but almost every clubhouse has a fantasy football league. By playing FF, I think these guys know that no matter what kind of season they might have individually, it would still be dumb to draft themselves too early just for the sake of appearing “confident.” Most of these guys want to win at whatever they do, so they’d approach fantasy more like you and I do.
BDBB: You use a lot of obscure references and analogies. It is reminiscent of a Monday Night Football broadcast during the Dennis Miller years. Complete this analogy for me: Fantasyland is to Moneyball as . . .
SW: The Spanish Inquisiton is to Woodstock. That’s the best I can do. The thing is, both books are grounded by the serious baseball issues and debates of the time, but Michael Lewis’s book is a lot edgier. It’s more black-and-white in its worldview and, I think, a lot more upsetting to people who don’t agree with the ideas he describes. My book was organized around some serious themes and I hope it will have an impact on the way people think about baseball, but it was really an excuse to overindulge on the game, act like a total nut, and get involved in something that’s a lot bigger than all of us.
BDBB: You returned to Tout Wars in 2005 after writing the book and won the American League title. Is there a lesson in there?
SW: When it looked like I might actually win, everything else ground to a halt. It was a huge thrill. I’m still not sure if I can compete in Tout Wars every year at a high level, but this was immensely satisfying. I think a lot of my research from the previous season carried over to help me and I did make a few moves I’m proud of. I targeted improving pitchers with low WHIPS, stockpiled middle infielders and made sure most of my players had 20-HR potential. I made a couple great trades and one really dumb one. But looking back on it, the most important move I made was having a baby in May. I drafted a pretty good team and once Gus came along, I had no time to screw it up.
BDBB: Your publisher, Viking, gave me an advanced copy of your book. Last week, I gave you access to Big Dawg Baseball. As far as baseball information sites go, what review would you give Big Dawg Baseball?
SW: I like facts. I don’t like navigating through a bunch of pablum to get to these facts. Big Dawg sets it all out there in an uncluttered way with relevant data and solid analysis. From what I’ve seen, the Dawg isn’t afraid to make some bold predictions, either. I noticed that you’re projecting 180 strikeouts for Josh Beckett in 2006. That’s good stuff. I give it two paws up.
BDBB: Thanks a lot for your time Sam. Good luck with the book.