Cubs manager Joe Maddon is on to something, as usual

OK, maybe he isn’t always, as we learned late in the World Series.

But that’s a story for another day.

Today’s story comes courtesy of The Washington Times, where Maddon hits the number right on the head in a conversation with writer Thom Loverro.

First, the article’s lede: “Baseball’s rock star was in town last week for the baseball winter meetings and stopped by a youth baseball event at Gallaudet University.”

Baseball’s rock star? You’re thinking Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout or one of the game’s hot, new, young shortstops.

Then you glance back at the headline: “Maddon: Use ‘Moneyball’ stats to teach math, reach young fans.”

At 62, Joe Maddon’s mind is still whirring. Something always rattles around up there. It’s a place where ideas go to percolate.

This time Maddon added Old Math, New Math and Baseball Math to come up with Maddon Math.

The line is that sports writers emerge after being promised there won’t be any math.

Then we’re overwhelmed by numbers: Batting averages, shooting percentages, goals-against per game, yards per pass attempt, tickets distributed minus no-shows …

I have tried to keep up with all of those to compensate for not being able to calculate earned run averages.

When I was a kid, we all knew that Babe Ruth held major-league records of 60 home runs in a season and 714 for a career.

Now I think Barry Bonds owns both those records, but I have trouble recalling how many homers he hit to set them.

So why would kids care about baseball numbers?

Most don’t, which is where Maddon Math comes into play. He wants it instituted in classrooms around America.

“I’d like to see fantasy baseball in schools and make it

part of math class,” Loverro quoted Maddon as saying.

Maddon added that prior to spring training, he and others in baseball would talk to students via Skype about constructing a team.

“It leads to a draft day for this group as kids get together and put together a team,” Maddon said. “Incorporate it as part of math class with sabermetrics on a daily basis.”

Students would build teams in spring, follow their players in summer and return to school in time for playoffs in autumn.

Fortunately, schoolkids already are smarter than I am. I don’t know how to play fantasy sports and don’t understand advanced analytics.

But for a long time I have had this idea that baseball statistics would be a great learning tool in math.

I learned growing up that 1-for-7 was .143 (a Cubs hitter’s average) and 3-for-7 was .429 (an opponent’s average against Cubs pitching).

Man, have the Rizzos and Arrietas ever changed that equation the past couple of seasons.

I didn’t learn how to figure out percentages at Avondale grammar school. I learned how to from the sports pages.

But it would have been easier back in my day if math teachers included baseball in their lesson plans.

Joe Maddon said of his idea, “I think there are legs there, I really do … the numbers in baseball are so fascinating … make it part of math class.”

But he added, “I’ve put it out there before, but no one has listened.”

Keep banging the drum, Mr. Rock Star, and some day someone will hear you.

mimrem@dailyherald.com