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.

PBVCA: It’s nearing the all-star break, what are your plans?
McRae: I plan on spending time with my family in Colorado. Traveling with the team is great but it leaves my wife at home pulling double duty with our two kids.

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.

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.

The Professional Baseball Video Coordinators Association (PBVCA) presented the 2007 Pioneer Award to Hall of Fame inductee Tony Gwynn at the 2007 PBVCA Meetings — held in conjunction with the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville.

Mr. Gwynn, who was the keynote speaker at this year’s PBVCA Meetings, received the award at 3 PM on Wednesday, December 5 in the Lincoln E meeting room at the Gaylord Opryland Resort. His remarks to the Video Coordinators followed the award presentation.

This is the first time PBVCA has selected a recipient for the Pioneer Award. Mr. Gwynn, Head Baseball Coach at San Diego State, was selected due to his groundbreaking use of video, for both mechanical analysis and scouting his opponents, throughout his Major League Baseball career.

“On behalf of PBVCA, this is a well-deserved honor for a man who has basically led the way in using video in baseball,” said PBVCA President and Tampa Bay Devil Rays Video Coordinator Chris Fernandez. “Because of Mr. Gwynn’s foresight years ago, we as video coordinators are in the position where we are today and are very grateful to him because of that.”

Formed in December 2004, PBVCA is comprised of Video Coordinators from throughout Major League Baseball. Our objective is to elevate standards among all Video Coordinators, facilitate the exchange of information and technical advancements in the field of video coaching, and raise awareness of the role that Video Coordinators play within professional baseball.

We would like to congratulate him on his new position!

The Professional Baseball Video Coordinators Association (PBVCA) presented the 2006 Carl Hamilton Award of Excellence to Mike Hamilton and Brian Jones, Video Coordinators for the Colorado Rockies. The ceremony was held Thursday, December 7, 2006 at the Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando.

The award is given annually to the Video Coordinators who have demonstrated superior work in the field of video coaching. Hamilton and Jones developed an exceptional process for sharing video with players, coaches and front office staff using the iPod Video. The award is named in honor of Mike Hamilton’s father, Carl Hamilton, the Seattle Mariners Video Coordinator for the past seventeen years.

“I am very honored to receive this award,” said Mike Hamilton, “To have been voted for by your peers makes it special, and that the award has been named after my father makes it something I will cherish forever.” The 2006 season was Hamilton’s seventh season as Rockies Video Coordinator.

Jones added, “Being recognized by others in your profession is the most meaningful honor one could receive. I am excited about the advances of the PBVCA as a way of sharing new ideas and technologies throughout baseball.” Jones recently completed his fifth season as Rockies Assistant Video Coordinator.

Formed in December 2004, PBVCA is comprised of Video Coordinators from throughout Major League Baseball. Our objective is to elevate standards among all Video Coordinators, facilitate the exchange of information and technical advancements in the field of video coaching, and raise awareness of the role that Video Coordinators play within professional baseball.

PBVCA President Bob Chester, who is the manager of baseball video operations for the
Cleveland Indians, said that Hamilton was an easy choice to receive this honor because of “his commitment, years of service, and most importantly, his positive contributions to the role of video coordinator in Major League Baseball.” Chester says Hamilton first suggested that video coordinators should form an association to facilitate the exchange of ideas and technological advancements in the industry.

The association was formed in 2004 at the MLB Winter Meetings in Anaheim.  The association’s goals are to elevate professional standards among professional baseball video coordinators; facilitate the exchange of information and technological innovations; advance ethical procedures and quality techniques.

Hamilton joined the Seattle Mariners in 1990 as the team’s video coordinator.  He also served for 10 years as the video coordinator for the Texas Rangers.  Hamilton records all Mariners games and many other Major League games, and videotapes players during Spring Training and the regular season for scouting and training purposes.  He also produces instructional, motivational, training and highlight videos for all levels of the Mariners organization.

Prior to his 27-year career in baseball, Hamilton was a police officer, private security officer and a Marine Corps veteran.  He resides in Kent, WA, with his wife Betty Lou.  They have four adult children and seven grandchildren.  Hamilton’s son Mike is the video coordinator for the Colorado Rockies.