[外電] The Mastermind--Theo Epstein(一)

[ookkla (虎)]

The Mastermind

出處 ESPN THE MAGAZINE

http://0rz.tw/CR1xu


作者 WRIGHT THOMPSON

文章很長，分作三篇，若翻得不好請見諒。
--

Theo Epstein walks to and from Wrigley, eats lunch in the empty bleachers and
wants Chicago to see the ivy turn red in October. The Cubs president may be
nearing middle age, but his love of the game is shining through more than
ever.

Theo Epstein從Wrigley Field球場走進走出，在空曠的露天陽台吃著午餐，希望能讓芝
加哥看到常春藤在十月轉紅的樣子。這位小熊總裁已經接近中年，不過他對球賽的熱愛越
發增長，更勝過往。


Theo Epstein's got a finger bleeding on his pick hand.

Theo Epstein拿著pick撥片的手指正淌著血。

There is blood on the strings and the fretboard, and he keeps hammering away
on Pearl Jam and Led Zeppelin covers. He's sitting on a small orange
amplifier, playing loud and fast. It's 1 in the morning in late August in the
Cubs' players lounge beneath Wrigley Field, and he's got a half-cocked smile
and his leg kicked out, about to do one more song before heading home. Pearl
Jam finished a show at Wrigley two hours ago and the beer buzzes are wearing
off. His wife, Marie Whitney, rolls her eyes at his rock star pose. She's
earned a Harvard degree, and killed a scorpion with a shovel, in a rented
spring training house, so she clearly doesn't take Theo's shit. Nobody here
does. The room holds a mix of Theo's friends from Yale, San Diego and Boston,
the people who've known him for 20 years, long before he became a boy wonder
now slipping into middle age. Some guys take turns at Pop-a-Shot or air
hockey, while a few sit in the big comfortable recliners and watch sports
highlights. Theo plays the opening riff to "Better Man." His friend Sean
leans into a microphone and starts to sing, and soon everyone in the room
joins him. Theo hits the chords hard as the chorus approaches, and his grin,
with the little gap between his teeth, makes him seem a lot younger than 42.

血漬沾染在琴弦與指版上，他坐在橘色的音箱上，持續演奏Pearl Jam與Led Zeppelin樂
團的主題曲，聲音越來越吵雜，彈速越來越快。這場景發生在一個八月下旬的凌晨一點，
小熊球員地下休息室裡，他露出半齒笑容，一腳往外伸，想要在回家前再表演一首曲子。
兩小時前，Pearl Jam樂團剛剛結束一場在Wrigley Field舉辦的秀。啤酒帶來的振奮情緒
逐漸消退，他的太太Marie Whitney看著Epstein的搖滾巨星pose。Marie擁有哈佛大學學
歷，在一個租賃的春訓住所曾用鐵鏟打死一支蠍子，所以，顯然她不在乎Epstein的耍帥
行為。事實上這裡的人也都不在乎。那個房間裡聚集著Theo來自耶魯大學、聖地牙哥還有
波士頓的朋友，這些人認識Epstein至少20年了，從Epstein成為人生勝利組到現在步入中
年。一些人跑去玩投籃機，或是空氣曲棍球機台，只有少數人坐在沙發上，看著電視上播
放的運動賽事highlights。Theo演奏了一段"Better Man"的前奏，他的朋友Sean靠著麥克
風開始唱歌，很快地，房裡眾人慢慢跟著一起唱。Theo刷著和弦伴隨合唱，他露出微笑，
那樣子讓他看起來比42歲更年輕許多。

It's been a really good night in a summer full of them. His favorite band
growing up was Pearl Jam, and today he watched the group play in what is
essentially his office. He managed to stay in his seats, Row 10, right in
front of the soundboard, until the first few bars of "Even Flow." Then he
worked his way to the front, almost getting his friends onto the stage at one
point, finally ending up in the pit. Twice a security guard shined a
flashlight at him to get him down from the riser he used to better see the
band. He held a beer cup in his teeth and cupped his hands behind his ears to
make the music louder. From time to time he turned around and looked at the
crowd, packed in every corner of the ballpark, bathed in the lights from the
stage.

跟他們聚在一起是個很棒的夜晚。Theo成長中最喜歡的樂團就是Pearl Jam，而今天看著
樂團在自己的辦公區裡表演。他坐在自己的位置上，第10排，就在音控台前方，直到
"Even Flow."前幾段曲調後，他慢慢擠過人群來到搖滾區前方，差點就把他的朋友推到舞
台上頭。最後，他終於來到舞台最前頭，警衛人員用手電筒閃光警告他們兩次，阻止他試
圖攀上舞台的意圖，他本想利用支架，可以更清楚地觀看樂團表演。他用嘴巴咬住啤酒杯
，把手掌彎成杯狀放在耳朵旁，好把音樂聽得更清楚。三不五時，他會回頭看看後方擠滿
球場每個角落的觀眾，每個人都沐浴在燈光之下。

Eddie Vedder came out for an encore wearing a Cubs jersey. He thanked the
team's management and "my great, great friend Theo Epstein." Theo's friends
patted him on the back, and Theo raised his hand high in the air and gave
devil horns as thanks. Three of Ron Santo's kids walked onto the stage.
Vedder said what a gift it was for him, a lifelong Cubs fan, to play Wrigley
Field during this magical season. Then he began strumming the song he wrote
about the team. Theo and his two friends put their arms around one another,
swaying to the music, and they all sang the chorus as loud as they could:
"Someday we'll go all the way!"

穿著小熊球衣的Eddie Vedder 走了出來演奏安可曲，感謝球隊的管理階層以及”我最好
，最好的朋友Theo Epstein。” Theo的朋友把他推向前去，Theo舉起手，並吹響口哨以
示意。三個Ron Santo的小孩走向舞台，Vedder 說，身為一個小熊的終生球迷，能在這麼
夢幻般的球季在此演唱，真是何其榮幸。然後開始隨意演奏他為球隊所寫的歌。Theo與兩
個朋友肩搭著肩，跟著音樂擺動，他們用最大分貝大合唱：”總有一天我們會順利到達目
的地！”

EPSTEIN WALKED HOME from the show through the dark streets of Wrigleyville
and Lakeview. He walks to work every morning too, whether it's the dead of
winter or Opening Day or the first playoff game. Most of the easy stroll from
his house to the ballpark is through a quiet neighborhood. When it's really
hot, kids on his corner set up a lemonade stand, 50 cents a cup. Most people
don't recognize him with his baseball hat pulled low, one of the most famous
sports executives in the country, the man who embraced the culture of
analytics to finally bring a title to the Red Sox. When he got that job, at
28, he was the youngest general manager in baseball history, and in the 14
years since, he's built a reputation as a kind of championship whisperer.

Theo Epstein在表演結束後走路回家，途中經過Wrigleyville和Lakeview的暗黑街道。無
論是嚴峻的冬日或是季後賽開幕戰，他每天早上也都是走路去上班。每一次信步從住家到
球場，都會經過安靜的鄰區。天氣熱的時候，孩子們會買一杯5角的lemonade stand。當
Theo把棒球帽拉低的時候，大部分的人都認不出他，認不出現任體育國度中最著名的行政
人員，那個擁抱數據分析文化的男人最終為紅襪帶來冠軍。當他拿到紅襪總管職位的時候
才28歲，是大聯盟棒球史上最年輕的總管。14年後，他建立了一種類似”冠軍希聲”的聲
望。

It's seven blocks to his office.

走到辦公室需要經過七個街區。

Inside there is a window separating the baseball operations world, run by
Theo, and the rest of the Cubs' business side. Sprawling formulas and
equations fill the glass, straight-up vector-calculus-looking madness, which
is exactly what everyone expects to see in Theo Epstein's office. Except it's
all a joke, just fake numbers dressed up with sines and cosines.

在那裡有一扇窗戶，隔離著Theo所創建的棒球國度與球隊的商業面。無窮盡的方程式寫滿
玻璃，一堆算式看上去非常瘋狂，這是人們期待要在Theo Epstein辦公室所看見的東西。
不過那全是笑話，都是一堆由三角函數拼湊的假數字。

 "It's meaningless," Theo says, laughing.

“這全都是沒意義的，”Theo笑著說。

Epstein knows how others see him, and he's self-aware enough to both
understand his reputation and mock it. His friends are always baffled at his
image as a cold exploiter of markets and inferior systems. One night this
summer, the owner of the team, Tom Ricketts, held court at a charity boxing
match and explained that few people are as different from their public
narrative as Theo: He gets painted as a quant, while his attachment to
baseball is actually deeply emotional. When the team is on the road, or
playing a home night game, he sometimes brings his lunch to Wrigley just to
eat in the empty bleachers. He loves how the ivy turns bright red at the end
of October, which most fans don't know because the team has never played in
Wrigley that late in the year. He loves the changing seasons, and quoting
both Dazed and Confused and Othello, and reading the Russian writers whose
dramas play out inside the psyches of their characters. He read Crime and
Punishment once in high school and again in college -- and he feels that
those kinds of internal struggles are authentic to his own, which isn't
against his environment (upper-class Jewish) or his station (intellectual
Brookline, Massachusetts) but rather against the things inside his own head,
cycles of guilt, passion and redemption. The main battle he fights is against
himself. "If I let my brain follow its path unfettered, it would be kinda
ugly," he says. "I learned simple mental health things: self-talk, breathing."

Epstein知道別人是如何看他的，他也自覺自己的名聲，並且嘲笑它。他的朋友總是對外
界給他冷酷地操弄市場機制和尋找規則漏洞的形象感到困惑。今夏的一個夜晚，球隊老闆
Tom Ricketts舉辦一場慈善拳擊賽，說道少有人像Theo一樣與自己的公眾形向不符：人們
視他作類似華爾街操盤手的人物，但他看待棒球其實是種深深的精神寄託。當球隊作客比
賽或打主場夜間賽，他會帶著午餐到Wrigley球場，只為了在空蕩蕩的板凳上坐著吃飯。
他喜歡每到十月尾聲球場牆面長春藤的紅色，但多數球迷並不知道這時節的長春藤會變色
因為往往球隊這時賽季早已結束。他愛季節變換，試著引用《Dazed and Confused》（齊
柏林名曲）和《奧賽羅》（莎翁名劇）來描述之。此外他也看俄國作家作品，其中劇情多
半來自角色內心掙扎。他在高中和大學各讀了一遍《罪與罰》，深刻感受到其中角色內心
掙扎和自己有異曲同工之處。少部分來自他上流社會猶太人出身和麻州高知識份子身分認
同，更多來自腦中自責、熱情與救贖的循環。他需要戰勝的一直是自己，「如果我讓我的
思緒不受干擾地持續，結果肯定是慘不忍睹。為了保持心裡健康，我學會了跟自己對話還
有深呼吸調整情緒。」

His public mission is simple and well-known: Break another curse. But
privately, he came to the Cubs for something personal and nearly as
important, which he doesn't talk about. In Boston, he lost control of his
obsession, the belief that a collective of people can do one thing better
than it's ever been done. At the very end, he became a shell of the person
who fell in love with the game, stress turning into physical symptoms, like a
neck that hurt so bad he couldn't turn his head more than a few degrees. His
friends saw how the job changed his face. That's what they talk about when
describing the cost Theo paid, how he looked different. "There is definitely
at times a hollowness to him that drives him," says one of his old Red Sox
co-workers. "There's some black pockets with him that are just dark. When
he's down, he goes to extremes."

他的公開任務是簡單且眾人皆知的：打破另一個奪冠魔咒。但私底下，他來到小熊隊其實
有很大的私人因素，且很重要的另一點是他一直沒有說明的。在波士頓，他對於自己瘋狂
執著失去控制，那是一種群眾覺得可以作得比過去更好的相信。到最後，他被喜愛棒球的
人包圍，壓力導致身體症狀，向是他的脖子受傷以至只能旋轉固定的角度。他的朋友看到
這份工作如何改變Theo。那是當他們談論Theo失去甚麼，或是看起來如何不同的時候會說
的。”確實有好幾次，空虛感驅使著他，”一位跟他在紅襪共事過的同事說，”他身體裡
有一些部分，是純粹黑暗的。當他低落的時候，情緒總是往最極端方向走。”

During the Red Sox's famous chicken-and-beer collapse, he couldn't sleep.
Staff members made jokes about waiting on the sun to rise, mocking their own
despair. But on a few bad nights, when things felt bleak, Theo would wander
the internet, lingering on macabre things like air traffic controller
recordings from plane crashes. He knew he needed to leave Boston, to start
fresh, no matter how the collapse made the exit look or feel. "I hated I was
seen as running from the collapse," he says, "but I guess on some level, I
was running from something."

就在紅襪著名的炸雞-啤酒事件崩壞後，他不能睡著。工作人員覺得東山再起是個笑話，
嘲弄他們自己的修復過程。幾個難熬的夜晚，當事情變得更糟，Theo會上網，在一些以死
亡為主題的事情上打轉，像是失事飛機的空調紀錄。他知道自己該離開波士頓，重新開始
，不管這次的離開讓人如何評價。”我厭倦我看起來像是從崩解中逃跑，”他說，”但我
猜在某種程度上，我是在逃離某些事。”

他來到芝加哥，希望能重建一支球隊，並且重建一部分的自我。

THE REBUILD IS nearly complete, and the marching order for the 2016 Cubs
baseball operations staffers is written on their conference room wall in huge
letters: Find Pitching. Over the past four years, they've assembled great
position players, trading for Anthony Rizzo and drafting Kris Bryant. While
they were planning for the future, the actual team stunk, losing 101 games in
2012. Epstein and his brothers-in-arms Jed Hoyer and Jason McLeod -- who all
have tiered job titles but operate as a politburo -- sat in their suite,
which has a bank of televisions and half a dozen remote controls scattered
about. While the big league Cubs got killed down on the field below, they
watched the Cubs of tomorrow dominate in the minor leagues on those TV
screens. Some nights, giddy about the future and about to go down into a
losing clubhouse, they had to remind each other: Don't act too happy.

重建就快完成了，小熊棒球事業部工作人員的需求就寫在會議室牆上：尋找投手。過去四
年，他們找到幾個很優異的球員，交易來Anthony Rizzo，選秀會挑選Kris Bryant。當他
們計畫未來的時候，球隊卻沉到谷底，在2012年吞下101敗。Epstein跟他的左右手Jed
Hoyer和Jason McLeod（他們的職位有不同階層，不過都是決策核心）坐在他們有諸多電
視與半打散亂遙控器的位子上。當大聯盟小熊隊被屠殺的時候，他們從電視上看著球隊的
未來統治著小聯盟。幾個夜晚，球隊未來閃亮與不斷輸球的現況令人眼花撩亂，他們必須
互相提醒：不要表現得太開心。

A season like 2016 is why Epstein got paid nearly $4 million a year to move
from Boston, bringing up two MVP candidates through the farm system and
getting seven players on the All-Star team. The Cubs have the best chance of
any team to win the World Series -- even if those odds aren't great. Theo had
his people run statistical models on their chances, and the answer was less
than 1 in 5.

一個像是2016年的球季，是Epstein為何拿著一年400百萬高薪並從波士頓到此的原因，從
自家農場體系培養出兩個MVP候選人，並有七個球員入選明星隊。儘管數據並不是領先很
多，但小熊擁有最大的機率贏得世界大賽。Theo讓手下去計算奪冠的統計模型，得到的數
字是小於1/5。

To make a real postseason run, the team needs to use the trading deadline to
find more pitching. And so Theo takes over a small space in the ticket sales
office for the last week of July, turning it into a war room. The first trade
brings reliever Mike Montgomery from the Mariners, a needed lefty. Less than
an hour later, Epstein heads to the South Loop for a party thrown by Joe
Maddon, and then across town for sushi. His friend and co-worker Colin
Faulkner drives. As they get into the car, a drunk Red Sox fan opens Theo's
door for him, ushering him into his seat while slurring out a thank-you for
2004. When Colin puts it in gear, Theo takes out his phone. Find Pitching.
It's 9 p.m. on a Wednesday.

為了季後賽作準備，球隊必須運用交易截止日去找到更多好投手。為此，在七月最後一週
，Theo運用一個售票辦公室的小空間，把他打造成戰情室。第一個交易是從水手隊帶來
Mike Montgomery，一個必要的左投。一個小時後，Epstein到South Loop參加一個Joe
Maddon舉辦的派對，再穿過城鎮去吃壽司。他的朋友與同事Colin Faulkner開車載著Theo
，當他們正要坐進車裡的時候，一個喝醉的紅襪球迷幫Theo打開車門，並且為2004年的冠
軍跟他道謝。當Colin坐進車裡，Theo接起電話。尋找投手。現在是禮拜三晚上九點。

"I gotta call our pitching coach real quick," he says.

“我必須快點打給我們的投手教練，”他說。

He dials Chris Bosio's number.

Theo撥打Chris Bosio的電話。

"Boz?" Theo says, followed by nearly two minutes of silence as Bosio
describes that night's Triple-A game. Colin drives south on Clark Street,
then underneath the El tracks, past the LaSalle-Van Buren stop, where a train
click-clacks overhead. They pass the Americana Submarine shop while Bosio
explains the situation: Veteran reliever Joe Nathan, trying to make it back
to the big leagues, is pitching what amounts to an audition in Triple-A. The
Cubs want him to stay down for another outing.

"Boz嗎" Theo問道，接著當Bosio花費接近兩分鐘的時間去描述那晚3A的比賽時，Theo沉
默以對。Colin將車開向南方，到Clark Street，然後在El tracks之下，穿過
LaSalle-Van Buren站，那裡火車克拉的聲音在頭頂。當Bosio解釋老將後援投手Joe
Nathan想要重返大聯盟情境的時候，他們行經Americana Submarine商店。小熊希望他在
3A多待一會。

"Just tell him one more," Theo says to Bosio. "If it's bad, we'll probably
cut bait rather than waste a roster spot. I think one more is fair."

“再一場吧，” Theo告訴Bosio，”如果表現不好，我們可能會終止這個實驗，而不是浪
費一個名額。我想這是公平的。”

Theo hangs up as Colin drives over Lower Wacker, turning to cross the Chicago
River. They're near the restaurant when Epstein calls assistant general
manager Shiraz Rehman to tell him what they've decided about Nathan. Rehman
doesn't answer, so Theo calls Scott Harris, who just turned 29, the youngest
one in the inner circle. These guys talk to each other more than they talk to
their families.

當Colin驅車經過Lower Wacker，Theo把電話掛上，轉向Chicago River交錯之處。正當
Epstein要打電話給助理總管Shiraz Rehman，告訴Rehman如何決議Nathan情境的時候，他
們已經快到餐廳了。Rehman沒有接電話，所以撥給即將年滿29歲，決策圈年紀最小的
Scott Harris。他們跟彼此對談多過於跟家人的對話。

"Hey, what's up?" Theo says. "Hey, I'm gonna conference Shiraz in ..."

“嘿，還好嗎” Theo說，”嘿，我把Shiraz加入對話”

He calls back Rehman, who picks up this time. "Shiraz," he says. "I got
Harris on too, who I called after you didn't answer. Harris, you there?"

Theo再次打給Rehman，這次接通電話了。” Shiraz,”他說，” Harris也在線上，你沒
接電話後我打給Harris。Harris你在嗎”

Shiraz apologizes. Theo laughs. "Nah," he says, "no problem."

Shiraz說不好意思。Theo笑了，說”沒關係，沒事兒。”

He pauses.

他暫停了一下。

"Well, dogs need to be walked."

“嗯…總是得要花時間去溜溜狗啦。”

He pauses again.

他又暫停了一次。

"Just a missed opportunity for a major league club trying to win the World
Series," he says.

“一支試著要贏世界大賽的球隊又錯失一次機會，”他說，

He laughs again, then leaves a final pause.

他又笑了一次，談話中的最後一次停頓。

"Nah, I'm just kidding," he says, although people who've worked for Theo say
his barbs always come with a little sharp, truthful edge. His point tonight
is pretty clear.

“剛剛只是開玩笑的，”他說，雖然曾為Theo工作過的人都說他的諷刺言論帶著種對事實
一針見血觀察。今晚這件事，他要表達的再清楚不過。

Pitching first, then the dog.

投手第一，狗第二。




(待續)


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推 s90523: 推推 翻的蠻順的啊 期待後續
推 sonnyissonny: 挖，他在紅襪後期精神壓力大到這麼恐怖噢，感覺好
→ sonnyissonny: 黑暗並快拖垮他了
推 ug945: 簡直是電影的絕佳題材阿
推 Sunrise2516: 推
推 Ktime: 推
推 triff: 離開襪襪也是好事
推 Roshiel: 冠軍戒指該給紅襪一個的
推 jeffctj: 辛苦了
推 newest: 推
推 Roshiel: 當年Theo交易到小熊時，紅襪不是想要些回報嗎??
→ Roshiel: 翻了下文章只提到小熊從紅襪拿到了Jair Bogaerts
→ Roshiel: 沒有提到小熊送誰到紅襪去
推 Roshiel: 找到了..小熊送Chris Carpenter去紅襪
推 h5426878: 推
推 TheoEpstein: 推
推 Hans14: Horse Whisperer, Championship Whisperer
推 faintbreeze: 拿著pick撥片的手指正淌著血 也寫的好電影情境