LIVING THE LIFE: ADVANCING THE CAUSE WEIDEMAIER'S SCOUTING REPORTS INVALUABLE FOR DODGERS.Byline: Tony Jackson
Anthony (Antonio) Jackson, best known as Tony Jackson Staff Writer VERO BEACH Vero Beach (vēr`o), city (1990 pop. 17,350), seat of Indian River co., E Fla., on Indian River (a lagoon and part of the Intracoastal Waterway); founded c.1888, inc. 1919. , Fla. - The first thing you need to know about Mark Weidemaier is that he has an estimated 4 million Marriott points. The second thing you need to know is that he hasn't had a girlfriend for the past two years. Those two facts are inexorably linked. ``I consider myself a hired gun hired gun Forensic medicine A popular term for a physician, lawyer or other highly paid expert who is not a regular employee of a particular enterprise, whose services are paid only as long as necessary; the term is an analogy from the use of mercenaries to fight ,'' said Weidemaier, the Dodgers advance scout for the past seven years. ``I'm not in this job to support a family. I like to think I outwork other guys. I try to stay a step ahead.'' The price for that extra step is high. Weidemaier is known in the business as one of the game's most dedicated scouts, a guy who has sacrificed all aspects of his personal life out of a sheer sense of responsibility to the job, the club and, perhaps most of all, the lifestyle. Most organizations employ vast scoutings staffs, but most employ only one full-time advance scout. His job is to stay a week ahead of his own club's schedule, attending whatever series is being played by the team his club will play a week or two later. He is watching every player on that club, trying to notice tendencies, strengths to stay away from, weaknesses to exploit, ways certain players are being utilized by the manager, peculiar habits a player might have, pitch patterns he might follow too often. An advance scout's calendar year begins with six weeks of down time, but that is only after he attends organizational meetings in October (if his team isn't in the playoffs), the general manager's meetings in November and the winter meetings in December. All that is followed by about four weeks of spring training, after which he takes the last couple of weeks of camp to visit the first two or three teams on his club's schedule. From there, it continues all the way to late September, with, if he's lucky, a handful of days at home over the next six months that if strung together might add up to two or three weeks. All for the sake of producing a voluminous packet of information that is presented to the manager and coaching staff before each series. This is known as the advance scouting report. ``A lot of times, we'll get on a plane, and people will be scouring scouring characterized by scour. scouring disease a colloquial name for secondary nutritional copper deficiency. those things until the plane lands,'' said Dodgers manager Grady Little William Grady Little (born March 30, 1950 in Abilene, Texas) is a manager in Major League Baseball. He guided the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2003, and has been manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2006. , whose brother Bryan For the United States Representative from Washington, see James W. Bryan. For the Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, see James William Bryan. James Alexander Bryan, known as Brother Bryan is the advance scout for the Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The White Sox are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the White Sox have played in U.S. . ``We'll put the information together with the personnel we have and decide where we want to position our players and how we want to pitch certain guys.'' That report, then, is vital to a club's chance of success over a long season. Which in turn means the advance scout - a guy who gets virtually no public recognition - is among an organization's most important assets. ``When you drive down the street and see a guy tarring a roof in 90-degree weather, or you see a guy taking tickets at a Chicago Transit Authority
Jauss attended school at Amherst College, where he was a roommate to future Red Sox G.M. Dan Duquette. , who was Boston's advance scout the past four seasons. ``But you are by yourself a lot. There are no home games. You try to take advantage of back-to-back series and of a good coaching staff that can do a few things and front-office people that will allow you to have a day here and there.'' How important is Weidemaier to the Dodgers? Well, when former manager Jim Tracy
Colletti graduated from East Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Illinois and Northern Illinois University. Colletti began his Major League Career in 1982 with the Chicago Cubs. - who knew Weidemaier but had never worked with him - quickly came up with a salary increase to make sure the organization didn't lose one of its most treasured assets. ``I knew he was a very hard worker, and I knew he knew what he was looking at,'' Colletti said. ``I didn't need to have worked next to him to know that.'' Little, who was Boston's manager during Jauss' first two years as the Red Sox advance man, will have an added advantage with both Weidemaier and Jauss at his disposal. Jauss is the man generally credited with authoring the advance reports that helped the Red Sox go 11-3 in the 2004 postseason, winning their first World Series since 1918. Tony Jackson,(818) 713-3675 tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Dodgers advance scout Mark Weidemaier was recently wooed by the Pittsburgh Pirates This article is about the baseball team. For the National Hockey League team, see Pittsburgh Pirates (NHL). For the National Football League team (1933–1940), see Pittsburgh Steelers. . Chris Stanford/Getty Images |
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