By: Eric Parker
Eric Parker lives in Seattle and has been teaching Tableau and Alteryx since 2014 He's helped thousands of students solve their most pressing problems. If you have a question, feel free to reach out to him directly via email. You can also sign up for a Tableau Office Hour to work with him directly!
My Seattle Mariners fandom was cemented in the 1990s watching Ken Griffey Junior, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Joey Cora, Alex Rodriguex and others tear up the American League. Some of my fondest and earliest memories are attending games at the Kingdome with my dad.
Getting ready to rake for the Milwaukee Brewers of the North Issaquah Little League in 1998.
Baseball fans probably remember 1998 as the year that Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’ long standing record of 61 home runs in a single baseball season. The race to beat that home run record was largely a two-man affair between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. However, I had high hopes for my hometown hero Ken Griffey Junior (the analytical model in my head was simple; my favorite player will win). He finished third in home runs that year behind McGwire and Sosa.
Source: https://marinersblog.mlblogs.com/classic-mariners-games-ken-griffey-jr-hits-56th-home-run-in-1998-92b404b0d3b6
It’s funny the things that come back to you as you get older. I remember staying up as late as my parents would let me to watch Mariners games. Generally they would send me to bed before the game ended, so it wasn’t until the next day that I could learn what happened.
Because those were the days before high-speed home internet, I remember rushing home from school so I could look through that morning’s newspaper to check out the statistics in the sports section. I wanted to see how Griffey was holding up and if I missed anything big after I got sent to bed!
Source: https://seattletimesstore.photoshelter.com/image/I0000BOynX7wP8.Q
Little did I know at the time that my career would someday be all about data, statistics and analytics. That home run race was just one of the early seeds that grew into my interests today.
What about you? Can you think of an event or season in your life that contributed to your interest in analytics?