Carl Hamilton is known as the Father of Video Coaching in Major League Baseball. He started with the Texas Rangers back in 1979. Prior to his long tenure in baseball, Carl was associated with law enforcement. He was a police officer, criminal investigator and worked in the security camera industry.
One day, Carl made a sales call to the Rangers, and they were really curious about his background and asked a lot of questions. They asked him if they wanted to help out, and of course, he said yes. Each year, they wanted more, and of course he would say “yes – even if he didn’t know how to use the technology”.
When Carl first started, there weren’t that many games that were being televised. So, one of his biggest tasks was to help run the scoreboard. They had this HUGE sony beta deck where they recorded the games if they were televised. They also had two buttons: one that would play the “lone ranger” song, another for the National anthem. Of course they would screw up and press the wrong button. The VCR was so heavy that 2 people had to hold it. After the game they would take the VCR down to the club house and play for the players.
Each year, the Rangers had the goal of improving their operations. During Carl’s 4th year, they had purchased 2 VCR’s and 2 TV’s. Carl actually came up with the idea of side by side comparison.
When Bobby Valentine became manager, he hired Tom House. Tom really started using video for the mechanics of pitchers. They would use high shutter cameras, and digitize swings and pitchers, and then come up with a 3 dimensional stick figure.
Carl Hamilton’s last year with the Rangers was Nolan Ryan’s first year. Nolan Ryan used video and prepared for his opponents by watching they face a pitcher that had a good curve ball.
Carl spent 10 years with the Rangers, and then heard that the Mariners were looking for a video guy. It was a huge decision moving from Arlington to Seattle. He started with the Mariners in 1990. The Kingdom had a very small video room. It had no ceiling and was nestled between the laundry and the weight room. The sounds from the dryers were terrible. Currently at Safeco, Carl has one of the nicest facilities in baseball.
Carl noted that some of the best players in Seattle history have been avid users of video. Edgar Martinez would watch every at bat, Alex Rodriguez would spend 2 hours a day, and Ichiro relies on video.
Carl Hamilton has always been committed to advancing the trade of video coaching. He went to the enhanced performance center in West Point. There, they use video prepare their troops for a war. They can duplicate the actual city, block etc to recreate the atmosphere.
Over the years, Carl has accumulated some stories traveling during the Major League Baseball season. Two different planes have caught on fire. One time in Boston during the late 90’s, they were going through the tunnel, and their bus caught on fire. Everybody had to be rescued. Dan Wilson saved one bus driver’s life by dragging him to different bus.
Favorites:
o Road City: San Diego, Chicago
o Hotel: Westin St. Francis, San Francisco
o Club House: Hard choice: Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Anaheim, Boston
PBVCA: Cullen, you come from a baseball family. Can you tell us about your playing experience.
McRae: I played at Manatee Community College for two years before transferring to Florida A&M University where I played second base.
PBVCA: When did you first see video being used in the club house?
McRae: I first saw video being used back in the 1980’s when my dad Hal played for the Kansas City Royals. Everything was VHS and teams didn’t spend nearly as much time using video to prepare for games.
PBVCA: Tell us about your experienced with the Marlins. How many years have you been with them?
McRae: This is my 12th season with the Marlins and 11th as video coordinator, spending one season as an assistant in the Marlins’ Season and Group Sales department
PBVCA: It seems like the Marlins always have the youngest team in the league. What is the normal learning curve on how to use video effectively and get the most out of it? How do you introduce players to your services?
McRae: I try and introduce myself to all new players in spring training and show them what the Marlins feature from a video standpoint. New players help me stay sharp because I have to continually adapt to different teams and systems.
PBVCA: What was the 2003 World Series like? Can you describe your work load and if there were any differences in how the players used video?
McRae: 2003 was great. It was nice being part of a winning organization. After we beat the Cubs in the NLCS I was breaking down video on the Yankees and Red Sox in preparation for the World Series.
Favorites:
• Road City: Chicago
• Ballpark: Kaufman Stadium
• Club house: 1. Tampa Bay, 2. Washington
• Road restaurants: Ron of Japan (best hibachi in the country) and International house of pancake(chocolate chip pancakes)
Check out McRae’s Video Room in Florida.
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PBVCA: Mark, tell us a little about your background. You’ve been all over the country, how did you get your start with the Royals?
Topping: I went to Buffalo State College in Buffalo, NY as a Broadcasting major. Worked my way up from smaller television markets to larger ones (Springfield, MO; Toledo, OH; Kansas City, MO; San Diego, CA), eventually landing at the Fox affiliate in San Diego. Got sick of the daily grind of TV news and moved back to Kansas City in 2001.
While shooting football games for a local sports station, a co-worker told me the Royals were looking for a video guy. I had no idea that this meant doing video coaching, etc. Thought it was probably something to do with production or game entertainment. Sent in a resume and got hired 3 days before opening day in 2003. Been doing this ever since.
PBVCA: In your 6 seasons with the Royals, what changes in technology have you seen?
Topping: The technology has changed a lot since 2003. The video room in KC had nothing more than a few old VCRs and monitors. Each player had his own tape, which I would pop into the VCR when it was their turn to hit or pitch.
By 2004, we started using a computerized system where we captured each clip onto a hard drive, but the video quality and efficiency wasn’t quite what we were looking for. By 2007, we upgraded our video system to BATS which was a major improvement. Now we can look up any of our player video (or opposing teams’ video) and data within a matter of seconds.
PBVCA: Have players used video differently? Have you seen any trends or applications of video change in the past couple of years?
Topping: Players are spending more time analyzing their opponents, using both video and data, compared with just a couple years ago when most of our video was used for mechanical analysis. One trend that comes to mind is the use of the portable hard drive. Most of our players and coaches now have their own hard drive, which I update every week or two with the latest video of both the Royals and our upcoming opponents. And, of course, video iPods have become a popular tool. (See Cullen McRae’s video on the Florida Marlins use of the Video iPod.)
PBVCA: The video room in KC had a make-over. Can you describe the changes. What is your favorite addition to the room?
Topping: We had a brand new video room built prior to the 2007 season. The changes were like night and day. Our old video room was a shoe-box with barely enough space for two or three players at a time. The new video room is much bigger. We have 5 video viewing laptops, 6 plasma TVs, along with several satellites and monitors in our video racks. There is plenty of space, including comfortable leather chairs and a sofa for the players to use while watching video.
My favorite addition to the room is our video switch controller. This is built into a few of the computers in the room, letting you route any source into any destination in the video room and even the clubhouse. It adds all kinds of versatility and makes my job a lot easier.
Check out Topping’s new pad in the image gallery below.
PBVCA: Can you give us some quick thoughts on your favorite road restaurants, ballparks, hotels, club houses, and city.
Topping:
- Restaurant: Da Mimmo’s Restaurant in Baltimore’s Little Italy neighborhood. Famous for their veal chop, this is an old-school Italian restaurant in one of my favorite neighborhoods in the American League. I go there every time we go to Charm City.
- Ballpark: Has to be Fenway Park. So historic and colorful. But Camden Yards is a close second.
- Hotel: The Renaissance Vinoy Hotel in St. Petersburg, with the Westin St. Louis high on my list too.
- Clubhouse: Tropicana Field, and Angel Stadium is number two.
- Favorite road city: Tie between Baltimore and Toronto.
PBVCA: Mark, thanks for your time. We look forward to catching up with you in the future.
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