Googler's blog post makes obvious point that can't be made too often
In a post yesterday on The Official Google Blog, ex-Major League pitcher Jeffrey Austin, who now works at Google, tells the story of a guy who knew nothing about baseball but, relying on online search to get a crash course, won a $1 million prize for “pitching” the first perfect game on the video game MLB 2K11.
It’s an interesting story even if you’re not into baseball.
And, it prompted me to look up Austin’s pitching resume, which makes clear why he has a new career. (Later I learned that he was the No. 4 overall pick in MLB’s 1998 amateur draft, which means he was an elite college player.)
That search also reminded me of having looked up the records recently of another couple of pitchers. The first was Allen Ripley, who pitched for the Red Sox, Giants and Cubs in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
Ripley and I both attended North Attleboro High School, but he’s six years older than I am and we’ve never met.
However, I did meet the second pitcher — Walter Ripley, Allen’s father — during a number of ill-advised poker games when I was young. I remembered that ol’ Walt was also an ex-ballplayer, but never bothered to look him up, primarily because in those days there was no Internet on which to do it. Now there is, so the other day I did the search:
Walt Ripley pitched exactly two games — four innings total — for the Red Sox in 1935. That was his career in the big leagues.
I told a friend about this discovery and the friend said, “Hey, he was Moonlight Graham.” And if you don’t understand the reference, you’re probably no more of a baseball fan than the guy who won the $1 million in the video game.
Googler Austin’s point in his post was that you can pretty much learn anything using online search. A self-serving point if you work at Google, to be sure, but it’s also one that I find myself appreciating more every day … and I try not to take it for granted.
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