This was one I liked a lot. The readings and links showed us a world of ideas. There was so much you could do. I found some interesting information on social media, and my first attempt was essentially a glorified graph that tracked the number of Facebook and Twitter users by age and gender. It was pretty, and it got a point across, but it was very generic. It didn't do anything for me and, as such, no one ever saw it. Until now.
The World Series had ended, and an improbable champion was crowned. The St. Louis Cardinals had rallied from eight games back on September 1, 2011 to earn a playoff birth. The Cards stormed through two rounds of playoffs and into the World Series, where they beat the heavily favored Texas Rangers. Fittingly, the Cardinals' manager, Tony LaRussa, announced his retirement shortly after, ending a 33-year run as a major league manager.
LaRussa's career got me thinking. He's got to be in the Hall of Fame, winning three different world series titles, six pennants and earning manager of the year honors four times. So I created a graphic that would present an argument for his enshrinement into baseball's Hall of Fame. The finished product was a bit clunky; but keeping in mind how limited my design skills actually are, I was quite proud of it.
But it didn't really do it's job, did it? It told how great his career was, but there needed to be a comparative element to make it more effective. In the revised version, you've got LaRussa's career stats as compared to the two most recent managers elected to the Hall of Fame, Whitey Herzog and Dick Williams. As you can see, LaRussa's honors trump either Herzog or Williams and, as such, makes a better argument for his enshrinement.
