Einstein in the Dugout

In this novel, an IBM product, an AI-based CyberCube, corrects both pitchers and batter’s forms to dramatically increase performance.

Tired of losing baseball games, the Chairman of the Chicago Cubs contracts with IBM in install the CyberCube in Wrigley Field as the first commercial use of the product in a sports venue. The CyberCube uses a variety of sensors and videos to instantly compare a windup or a swing to the optimum in memory. A speaker projects the required corrective action until the system, controlled by a new language called “ARTI”, approves.

The impact on the team is immediate resulting in the Cubs dominating the other teams and eventually winning the World Series. The fan base dramatically increases to fill Wrigley Field, local pubs and wherever large-screen video screens are in the Windy City. With superior play comes superior profits. The owner decides to give back to the city by building a new Children’s Cancer wing at a local hospital. He also provides transportable CyberCubes to local high school’s boys and girls baseball teams.

The Major League investigates the system and finds no violations of the rules. As a result, the CyberCube is made available to the other teams, changing baseball and other sports forever.
In the end, a Monopoly-like game, called CyberCubic, is sold to the youth to learn critical skills for baseball and real life while applying a theory explained by Albert Einstein.