'The Sultan of Swat Stats'
By Jason Mackey
In 1981, as a nervous, 31-year-old rookie public address announcer for the Appalachian League's Johnson City Cardinals, Centreville resident David Vincent recognized the pitch that he'd eventually knock out of the park.That two-person press box seated Vincent next to Jimmy Smyth, who was both the local newspaper's sports editor and the Cardinals' official scorer, presenting a wide-eyed and inquisitive baseball nut with what became merely a stint in the minor leagues and a failed announcing career.
Vincent has since spun 800-plus games of minor league experience into a professional rawhide addition that includes a corner seat in a press box built for more than two. An employee of Major League Baseball, Vincent works as the official scorer for the majority of Washington Nationals' home games, a job he's held since baseball returned to the nation's capital in 2005.
“I'm pretty lucky,” admitted Vincent, 58, who started keeping his own scorebook as an 8-year-old. “I get to sit in a really nice seat, watch the game and get paid. I'd work every game if Major League Baseball would let me.”
But within the baseball community, Vincent's reputation doesn't revolve around whether something was a hit or an error. His real passion -- something he's written two of his three books about -- resides well beyond the outfield fence.
Vincent is considered the foremost expert on the history of the long ball, a bank of knowledge that often leaves media types, team executives and fellow members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) spellbound and slack jawed. He was even labeled by one of those media types, ESPN senior baseball writer Jayson Stark, as “The Sultan of Swat Stats,” forever linking Vincent to the legendary Babe Ruth.
“What Babe Ruth represented to the home run, David Vincent represents to home run research,” said Stark, who once called Vincent to find out how many players comprised the 250-pound/250-homer club. “He's got this tremendous passion for the sport, and a tremendous curiosity about all things home run-related.”
Vincent grew up in Waltham, Mass. and has a Boston Red Sox background on his laptop, which houses a database of every homer hit since 1871. His love for the game was born at Fenway Park, a place that he often returns to and where he was once allowed to work the human-operated scoreboard in left field.
In addition to earning degrees at the University of Massachusetts and Wichita State, Vincent also holds a doctorate of musical arts from the University of Miami, though he doesn't have much time for music anymore.
Vincent has one son, Tim, 30, from a previous marriage, and wed his current wife, JoLynne, on New Year's Eve in 2003 -- a date that didn't exactly happen by coincidence.
“When we got engaged, a lot of people were asking when we were getting married,” said JoLynne Vincent, with a sense of humor to surely rival her husband's. “My instant remark was, 'Well, we haven't decided yet but I can tell you one thing ... it will not be between March and October because I am not going to have my anniversary compete with baseball.”
Ever the steadying force, JoLynne added a laugh during about the only thing that sends a nervous twinge through the accomplished author, musician and historian. On Monday, Sept. 4, 2006, as Washington right-hander Ramon Ortiz carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning of an eventual 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, a jittery Vincent hoped for either a clean-cut single or nine consecutive strikes.
“I don't answer my cell phone during the game, but I looked at it and it was my wife,” Vincent said. “So I answered it and she said, 'Stay relaxed. Stay calm. You can do it.' It made me laugh because I was nervous and I answered, 'Thanks, you're making me more nervous than I already am.'”
Luckily or not, Cardinals shortstop Aaron Miles hit a no-doubt single to lead off the inning and spoil the no-hitter, leaving Vincent with the continued desire of seeing his first no-hitter at the major league level and an awfully funny story to tell.
But according to ESPN senior baseball writer Tim Kurkjian, there's another story that captures the true essence of David Vincent, a man who has helped so many in baseball without asking for a thing in return.
Kurkjian was scheduled to speak at a SABR convention in Dallas, and on Thursday, May 4, 1995 -- the night before the convention -- New York Mets catcher Todd Hundley hit a pinch-hit, extra-inning grand slam that came in the top of the 10th inning of a 5-1 road win over the Montreal Expos.
Aware of this feat's obscurity, the next day Kurkjian approached the first SABR member he saw at the convention, hoping to at least be pointed toward someone who could possibly put such an odd occurrence in proper perspective.
As it turned out, the man Kurkjian approached was Vincent, who so matter-of-factly pulled the list of pinch-hit, extra-inning grand slams from his breast pocket.
“It's almost like you can't ask David anything too stupid because he's so interested in any home run note that no matter what it is, he's going to help you out,” said Kurkjian. “Virtually every home run statistic that you ever really, really need ... he basically has right there in his breast pocket.”