Name: Ron Shandler
Nickname: none
Job title(s): Editor and Publisher of BaseballHQ.com, Author of Baseball Forecaster
Full-time in fantasy? Yes, since 1994
Age: 52
Education: BBA Marketing, MBA Management Science, both from Hofstra University
Family status: Married, two daughters (17 and 19)
Favorite fantasy sport to play: Baseball
Favorite sport to watch: Baseball and hockey
Favorite team (any sport): New York Mets
All-time favorite athlete: Tom Seaver
Years playing fantasy: 26

I got my start in the fantasy industry when:
Started publishing the annual Baseball Forecaster in 1986.

Since then, my fantasy résumé includes:
Baseball Forecaster annual book (1986-present)
Baseball Forecaster monthly newsletter (1987-1998)
BaseballHQ.com (1996-present)
First Pitch Forum conference series (1994-present)
RotoHQ.com (established 2001)
Other books published: Forecasting Pitching Careers (1995), Pitchers Almanac (1997), Fantasy Baseball Workbook (1999-2000), Graphical Player (2005-2008), Minor League Baseball Analyst (2006-present), Baseball Injury Annual (2007)

Three questions

1. What was different about the information and methods you brought to light with the 1986 debut of Baseball Forecaster? How did your audience for that title change with the growth of fantasy?

Originally, it wasn’t all that different. My intent for the Forecaster was to provide a centralized source for readers to enjoy the works of many sabermetricians — Bill James, Pete Palmer, etc. — so I presented current data using their formulas and some of my own. Adding projected player rankings in 1988 is what opened up the fantasy market.

2. Many fantasy players and writers dream of working with a professional sports team, an opportunity you got and then walked away from. What about that job didn’t appeal to you? Would you consider another position in MLB going forward?

In 2004, after 11 years out of Corporate America, I was running a successful company. I was quite content with making my own decisions and the independence that goes along with that. Major league teams are run just like any other major corporation — endless bureaucracy, layers of decision-making, stunted communication channels, office politics, etc. I’d consider owning a team, but being an employee again? Not likely.

3. What is it about baseball and its numbers that draws you there rather than to other sports?

Baseball is divided up into easily measurable events, unlike most other sports where the action is more fluid. As such, the sport lends itself to more accessible analysis of individual performance. It also lulls us into believing we can create projections based on this data, which is why it was a natural for fantasy applications.

Bonus: In the Fantasyland film, we saw your disbelief at being met at your door by a trade-talking Jed Latkin. After that encounter, do you just let others in your family answer the door instead?

Ha! At 10:30 in the morning, I am typically the only one home. You can just imagine what it is like when you have a mile-long To-Do list sitting on your desk, and Jed Latkin and a cameraman show up at your door asking for a few hours of your time.

The annual Tout Wars auctions are taking place this weekend at Citi Field in New York, gathering many of the top minds from around the fantasy baseball industry.

The AL-only league — which sits at the center of the Fantasyland book and recent documentary — got things rolling Friday night. Before the group gathered at the home of the Mets, however, FSB.com asked them for some reaction to the movie. Specifically, we asked them each two questions, and here are the answers we got …

1. What do you think of the movie?

Mike Siano, MLB.com: I enjoyed the movie. I thought it stayed close to the overall theme of the book and clearly shined a light on the obsessive nature of Jed Latkin. I really liked the side interviews with people not associated with Tout who had a love or hate of fantasy baseball. It moved quickly and had some nice surprises.

Lawr Michaels, Mastersball.com: I like the movie.

Dean Peterson, STATS: As far as the movie goes, I enjoyed it. Showing the fanatic that Jed is makes the rest of us look a little more “normal.” I’m glad they were able to catch Jed getting hit with the ball at Wrigley. I was with him during that time — truly unbelievable a ball hitting him right on the forehead. Couldn’t have made that part up!

Nando Di Fino, The Wall Street Journal (who co-manages Sam Walker’s team): I think there should have been more focus on Jed’s apartment. That project haunted him for an entire season. But outside of that, I thought it was stellar.

2. How different is the league with and without Jed Latkin (the movie’s central character and 2008 AL-only Tout participant) involved?

Siano: Except for my cell not ringing as much I didn’t notice too much of a difference. Either way, I have 11 other people to compete with come Tout, so the fact Jed was or wasn’t there didn’t change my strategy or commitment. The season flies by so fast as it is, so I didn’t have time to stop and notice. No offense, Jed. You know you’re my boy.

Michaels (who sits on the board of the Tout Wars LLC): The league is not as frantic without jed (whom i like). It is more focused on winning, rather than the movie. Note that jed was not asked back for two reasons: 1) the whole deal was offered as a one-year shot, and 2) Tout is for writers and analysts within the industry. Jed is neither of those.

Peterson: The league without Jed is much quieter, and my mailbox (and voicemail box) are not full of trade offers. As Lawr and Ron said in the movie, when drafting a team from scratch, unless there is a big injury, I also see no reason to make a trade within the first couple months of the season.

Di Fino: When they didn’t let him back in to Tout, I grabbed him as a partner in the AARP league with all the founders that I play in. We make better allies than enemies!

Steve Moyer, Baseball Info Solutions: It played pretty much the same. Although it was considered a disgrace to lose to Jed. Not a big deal to lose (winning is a lot of everything goes right luck), but no one wanted to finish behind Jed.

——-

In other Fantasyland news, the folks behind the effort to extend the brand have started an internship program and are also seeking volunteers. Anyone interested can e-mail director Stephen Palgon.

With the Fantasyland movie hitting the Web last Friday, and the 2010 drafts for Tout Wars — the “expert” competition at the center of the tale — coming up this weekend, FSB.com thought it worthwhile to toss a few questions toward director Stephen Palgon.

Along with providing some insight into the creation of the documentary, Palgon mentioned plans to try to extend the Fantasyland brand to create an ongoing presence on the Web and in the fantasy industry. Here are our questions and his answers.

1. What is your background with fantasy sports?

I have played fantasy sports a bit, but mostly NBA fantasy. I did NFL fantasy in college and some MLB fantasy while I worked at ESPN but recently my focus has been on NBA fantasy.

2. What made you want to make this movie?

Several years ago I read an article about Sam Walker’s book Fantasyland and I found it very interesting and I thought that his approach to fantasy sports helped make the sport come alive and away from the numbers. Sam’s take is really what inspired the film because when I read the book I saw what could be a really dramatic documentary if we found a compelling character and followed them around for a season and they played the game in a similar fashion to Sam and went out and attempted to play fantasy baseball for real.

3. How did the Tout Wars folks respond to your proposal? Did it take any convincing?

I think that there might have been some brief hesitation from the Tout Wars players after Sam’s book. I think that some members of Tout Wars had some negative opinions of their portrayal in the book but after a little bit of conversation and letting them know what our goals were they came on board. I have to say that Ron Shandler has been incredible throughout the process, and since the film has been completed he has been a real champion of the film, which is something we are very grateful about.

4. How did you elicit applications for the “regular-guy” spot? What made you choose Jed Latkin?

The audition or application process was basically an online campaign. We posted on websites, got the word out through people we knew in the fantasy world and once the word got out the applications began pouring in and it was actually through this process that we began to realize even more how compelling this world was. We were hearing stories and learning about people that we never knew existed.

5. Other than funding, what were some particular challenges in making this movie? What went better than you might have expected?

One of the challenges was making sure we were picking the right spots and moments to follow and focus on. Of course you don’t want to miss anything but you can’t be filming 24/7, so we wanted to make sure we were there during the moments that were essential to the film. I think also the hard part is making sure you know which people to be following. It can be especially difficult when the drama is unfolding in front of you. I think one of the things that worked out better than expected was Jed. We really didn’t know what we would get from him. We knew what had a unique personality when we first met him, but we didn’t quite know the extent of it until we got off and running. And of course, having the camera in the right position when he got hit in the head with the ball was a moment I am very grateful for, Jed perhaps not so much.

6. Looking at the finished product, is there anything you wish you had done with the film that maybe didn’t end up fitting?

There are definitely more player scenes that we really liked but we wanted to be careful to not overdo this. I think that there are other very funny moments with Jed where he is simply talking about things that are somewhat mind boggling that I would’ve liked to include. I think that the other thing is that we definitely wish that we could’ve included some of the bigger names who play fantasy whether it be celebrities or politicians, etc but it just didn’t happen.

7. Would you want to play in a league with Jed?

I know that a lot of people look at Jed as the guy they WOULD NOT want in their league, but I think that playing against Jed could be fun. At least for a season. He is going to come at you from all angles and he is going to be the guy that you really want to beat. Jed is not mean spirited at all, he just really loves to play and is obsessed with it, but I don’t think he is out there trying to be a jerk.

8. What goals do you have for the film now that it’s out there? Any future plans relating to fantasy?

We definitely have some big goals related to this film and really view the book and film as just the initial parts of this journey. We are launching the Fantasyland brand which is going to be a website filled with daily video content that is dedicated to the lives of the people who play fantasy sports, the stories, the characters and everything about fantasy sports that isn’t about the numbers. We want to create a video fantasy Web network for this world that is unlike anything that is currently out there.

You can also find info on the Fantasyland Film Facebook and Twitter pages.

Let me start by saying this: I’ve never met Jed Latkin, but after watching Fantasyland, I feel pretty safe in saying I would not enjoy playing in a fantasy league with him.

Latkin is the central character in the feature-length documentary released Friday via Snagfilms.com and Hulu. The movie — inspired by Sam Walker’s 2007 book of the same name — finds Latkin selected from a group of applicants to fill one of 12 slots in the 2008 AL-only Tout Wars league.

He doesn’t come across as a bad guy in general, but Latkin does strike me as potentially one of the worst possible leaguemates — more annoying than the guy who goes dark after the draft and winds up with two disabled-list players sitting in his starting lineup by June.

Latkin epitomizes the obsessed fantasy player. He estimates that he averages 2-3 hours of sleep a night during baseball season. He stares intently at the computer as his wife is talking to him about getting everything together for their trip to the hospital to have twins. He sits in the living room of his in-laws and talks about how he could manage other teams in the league better than the owners currently doing so.

The really annoying part, though, is the trading. I love hitting the trade desk as much as most folks, but Latkin started making offers before people had left the draft site. He hounds leaguemates on the phone like a used-car salesman (which he’s compared to in the movie) about to lose his job. In the most extreme example, he shows up unannounced at the doorstep of Ron Shandler’s house — a mere 7-hour, 40-minute drive from his place in New York.

“That was the most freakin’ bizarre thing I’ve ever seen,” Shandler says after this Tout rookie spends probably a couple of hours trying to talk him into a trade for B.J. Ryan. Yeah, Latkin made a 15-hour round trip just because he wasn’t satisfied with Shandler’s e-mail answers to trade offers.

All that said, it’s not hard to see why the Fantasyland folks chose Latkin for the spot.

He’s a compelling character, somewhat in the vein of the famous Howard Stern trends we’re all familiar with. (You know: The average Stern fan listens for an hour and 20 minutes; average Stern hater listens for 2.5 hours — both because they want to hear what he’ll say next.)

It’s like that with Latkin. Some obsessive fantasy fans (at least those who can click away from FanGraphs long enough to watch) might be able to relate. The rest of us will probably have trouble believing the extent of his madness.

Fantasyland is well constructed and does a very nice job of playing up and playing off his fantasy eccentricities. My favorite segment cut back and forth between Latkin at a Tigers game and Sam Walker with his family at a park.

While Latkin has left his wife behind in New York with twin infants to go chat up some of his players at Comerica Park, Walker strolls from his place to a playground with wife and two kids. As Latkin slips deeper into depression with each fantasy failure for his team, Walker gives us lines like, “The nice thing about Jed … I feel a little bit more normal.”

This all becomes even more amusing when Walker finishes the season with the highest score ever recorded in an AL-only Tout league, while Latkin finishes somewhere toward the league’s middle.

I won’t give away any more details on the league standings, so as not to ruin the movie’s central plotline, though I will say that Latkin at least accomplished his stated pre-draft goal.

The key thing to take away from this documentary — especially if you’re not overly familiar with fantasy players — is that Latkin does not represent anywhere near the norm. There are certainly other players like him, but the large majority of us are relatively normal folks who just enjoy building teams and trying to beat our peers. Just look at the way this league of fantasy professionals reacts to the new guy.

And you should take something away from this movie, because it’s worth watching for anyone who’s into fantasy. Aside from the entertaining storyline at the center, the film is well packaged, with sidebars playing up aspects from the book (”Stories from Fantasyland“) and fun little quips such as the “fake but potentially true stats.”

When I first heard that a Fantasyland movie was on the way, I expected some sort of adaptation with an actor playing the part of Sam Walker. The documentary, however, proves that even when it comes to fantasy, reality can give us characters too strange to have been made up.