FoxTrax: Edifier, Clutterer Or Some Other Big Word?

The New York Times has a long story today about the "space-needy data" and "edifying nature" of FOX'S FoxTrax, that thing that Fox introduced for the World Series, which tracks the speed, curve and location of each pitch. The NYT is crazy about the device, and we agree that, done properly, it's a welcome addition.

But — and we don't mean to be cretins here — but we're not necessarily convinced this thing, you know, works. We know it's supposed to chart when the ball crosses the plate and not when it hits the catcher's glove, we get that. But, we dunno ... doesn't it look, like, way off to the rest of you? Like, balls obviously way off the plate show up as strikes — though they're not called as such — and vice versa? Is that just us? We had planned on bitching about this yesterday, but this is as much a news peg as we need.

If you don't like it, by the way, all you have to do is wait for Tim McCarver to say, "this FoxTrax is fantastic, it'll be around forever!" It won't make it to Game 4.

This Graphic Edifies Rather Than Clutters [NY Times]