By Jim Henneman

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- It has been said baseball scouts are the backbone of every organization, but for more than a century, they have been anonymous, generally recognized and appreciated only by close friends and families. They belong to a fraternity that is as unique as it is close-knit.

They are members of the 1 percent club. For every 100 players they see, they might sign one. For every 100 they sign, maybe one will make the big leagues. For every 100 that make it that far, perhaps one will make it to the Hall of Fame.

They strive for excellence in an industry that is judged by failure. Make no mistake, when it comes to searching for talent, there are many more misses than hits. Maybe that's the reason the baseball community has been slow to recognize not only the important role scouts fill in a complex game, but their accomplishments as well.

All that changed here earlier this month, when the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum opened an exhibit titled "Diamond Mines," which serves the dual purpose of honoring the tireless work of those in the profession while also honoring those whose peers have singled them out in the Professional Baseball Scouts Association and the Scout of the Year Foundation.

(From left to right) Dan Jennings, Miami Marlins vice president of player personnel; Linda Perreira, director of player personnel of the San Jose Giants; Erik Strohl, Hall of Fame senior director of exhibitions and collections; Roberta Mazur, executive director of the Scout of the Year Foundation; Joe Klein, executive director of the Atlantic League; Roland Hemond, Arizona Diamondbacks special assistant to the president and CEO; John Odell, Hall of Fame curator of history and research; Hall of Famer Pat Gillick; and Jeff Idelson, president of the Hall of Fame, cut the ribbon to open the Diamond Mines exhibit. (Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

The title of the exhibit no doubt stems from the term "looking for a diamond in the rough," but it might just as easily have been coined "Needles in a Haystack," because that's closer to an accurate description of a baseball scout's assignment.

Hall of Famer Pat Gillick, who started his career as a left-handed pitcher in the Orioles' minor league system, is perhaps the perfect example of the grassroots baseball product. After his fastball, by his admission, came up a little short, Gillick started his front-office career in the Houston Astros' minor league department. He later headed the Yankees' farm system before becoming general manager of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays, who won two World Series titles during his tenure; the Orioles; the Seattle Mariners; and the Philadelphia Phillies.

It's doubtful that anyone appreciates the work of scouts more than Gillick, who makes an interesting comparison.

"It's like going to a Broadway play," Gillick said. "You know and see the actors providing the entertainment, but you don't know anything about those working backstage, the directors or producers. There's always been a mystique about scouting, about what scouts do, and I think this exhibit will not only be interesting for the fans, but a great honor for so many of the wonderful people who came before us, and for the future. It's not something you do for the money, because it's not a high-paying profession. They do it for the love of the game."

Hall of Famer Pat Gillick takes part in a symposium about scouting and player reports, with a copy of of a report on him as a player displayed in the background. (Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

The exhibit itself is unique and innovating. It is slated to stay for at least two years, but with the advent of even more data, it is hoped that it will become an ongoing visit. There currently are more than 12,000 scouting reports covering 400 scouts and 4,000 players -- almost half the number who have appeared in the big leagues since 1952.

The Society for American Baseball Research provided data linking more than 11,000 current and former major leaguers for Diamond Mines, along with the names of their recommending and/or signing scouts.

This is the first time that information has been available to the public, and the hope is that more reports will become available. With the registry of major league players changing constantly, there is hope the exhibit will be ongoing.

Many scouts have donated reports and souvenirs of their profession, and there is an interactive feature that will enable fans to look up reports by visiting the database at scouts.baseballhall.org and entering the name of either a player or scout.

In addition to scouting memorabilia, featuring three-dimensional artifacts such as radar guns and stopwatches, the exhibit provides an insider's view of the essential link between the amateur and professional games. It also recognizes winners of the Scout of the Year award dating back to 1984, when it was first instituted. The late Jim Russo, long recognized as the Orioles' "Superscout," was instrumental in starting the foundation, established for those in the fraternity who needed aid. It is now run by Dennis Gilbert, a former player agent who funded the program at its inception, while Roberta Mazur is the executive director of the Scout of the Year program and the person credited the most with keeping alive the dream of Hall of Fame recognition.

Baltimorean Joe Klein, former GM of the Rangers, Indians and Tigers and now executive director of the independent Atlantic League, is a member of the foundation's board.

"We do what we can to help," Klein said, "but it's Roberta who puts in the time and effort to make this thing work."

Roland Hemond, former Baltimore Orioles general manager and current special assistant to the president and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks (Derrick Hall), and Roberta Mazur, executive director of the Scout of the Year Foundation (Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum)

For most of those connected with the scouting fraternity, this recognition at the Hall has been a labor of love for a quarter century. Not that anyone could ever accurately describe the life of a baseball scout -- the term itself is something of a generic catchphrase to describe those who spend a lifetime searching for talent good enough to succeed in a business that most often features failure.

First and foremost, a scout is an evaluator. But he or she must then also be a reporter, a writer, an orator, a salesman -- and sometimes even a spy. Evaluating how a player, generally 18-21 years old, will develop is dicey at best.

The scout has to put his or her evaluation on paper into a report that starts with numbers and is translated into words, spoken in degrees that might range from confidence to uncertainty, which is where salesmanship comes into play.

If a scout has confidence in a player, really has confidence in him, especially if there are some conflicting reports, he or she better be ready to sell that confidence, not only to the scouting director, but the general manager as well.

"I always liked to hear what a scout had to say rather than just read it," Gillick said. "A lot of times you can tell more by the sound of his voice than by the report itself."

In other words, the words have to equal the numbers.

As for that role of spy, part of a scout's job is to find out as much about a player's background as possible, which can involve a little underground work. In other words, although characters themselves are not necessarily overlooked, character is an important part of the evaluation equation.

"As the saying goes: 'We don't want to invite any ants to the picnic. Enough will show up on their own,' " said Dan Jennings, director of minor league operations and assistant to the GM of the Miami Marlins.

All things considered -- the low success rate, less-than-ideal working conditions, excessive travel, more-than-occasional criticism, moderate pay -- the life of a baseball scout might be classified as a thankless task. Don't bother to tell them. Being stubborn is another of the job qualifications. 

Jim Henneman can be reached at JimH@pressboxonline.com.

Issue 185: May 2013