Thinking about Firsts

As someone who finds the advancements in AI and LLMs fascinating and confusing at the same time, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Firsts.

AI is the becoming the ultimate disruptor. We’re inundated with “first of its kind” breakthroughs regarding AI, its technology, and its potential. It feels like this is happening on a daily basis.

Just this week we heard about the first medical school to fully adopt AI in its doctor training. We also read about companies like Klarna and Duolingo $DUOL ( ▼ 1.72% ) possibly being the first to “go too far” with AI. (Prediction: Won’t be the last time we hear this).

AI is making a lot of firsts.

It’s May, and it’s baseball season. We’re now into the second month of a long summer ritual. I love baseball and in a lot of ways, I see baseball as the opposite of AI.

Maybe opposite is the wrong word, let’s go with antidote. The world moves at a fast pace, updates occur often, things change rapidly, and sometimes it’s difficult to keep up.

The more I read about AI the more I question if I’m using the correct model of ChatGPT. Do I need to switch to Grok 3? Who is Claude? Why aren’t I Vibe Coding more?

It’s borderline exhausting hearing about the new, new thing on a daily basis.

Baseball, on the other hand, is slow. It’s invented in another era, for a different time (and attention span).

But baseball is also relaxing, comforting. It takes us back to the simpler time of our childhoods. Maybe it reminds us of family who have passed, or friends we’ve lost touch with.

Baseball can be therapeutic and healing. It’s nostalgic.

In the spirit of this classic George Carlin bit: Baseball is slow. AI is fast.

But even baseball can surprise us with its version of “firsts”.

Major League Baseball, as we know it, has been around since the 1870’s. It was simply called the National League back then. The American League began at the turn of the century.

The first World Series was played shortly thereafter in 1903.

More than 240,000 regular-season MLB games have been played. More than 18 million at bats have occurred. More than 55 million pitches thrown.

I don’t need AI to tell me that’s a large data set.

So it’s safe to say that when something happens for the “first time” in an MLB game, it’s signifiant. In fact, with so many games played, its incredible that we haven’t seen everything yet.

In baseball, firsts are rare.

What’s more common, albeit still rare, is when a player or team achieves a feat that has previously occurred, simply not in a very, very long time.

For example, during a game in 2021, Shohei Ohtani became the first pitcher to start a game while leading the league in Home Runs since Babe Ruth did the same 100 years earlier, in 1921.

Ohtani is a remarkable player, and this was a remarkable achievement. But it had been done before.

It doesn’t take away from the significance, it’s just not a first. In baseball, we often hear “X is occurring for the first time since….”

His 50-50 season last year was, however, a first.

After so many games, and so many at bats, when something happens for the first time, it stands out.

Recently an MLB “first” occurred when Riley Greene of the (and my) Detroit Tigers hit two Home Runs in the 9th inning of a game against the Angels.

The top of the 9th is different from any other inning in the game. Often times the road team is facing a large deficit. The pitcher is typically “the closer”, he’s new, with a fresh arm. There is more pressure on batters to get on base. The stakes are amped.

Over 23,000 players have appeared in a Major League Baseball game. Yet only sixty-four have previously hit multiple Home Runs in the same inning. (Fernando Tatis Sr. with the most improbable). How small is this group? Really small.

Incredibly, none of those 64 players hit their multiple home runs during the 9th inning of a game.

It is estimated there have been over 1 million at bats in the top of the 9th, since the beginning of the MLB. However, less than 4,000 times have teams batted around the line-up in that half of the inning.

With so many games played and trips to the plate, there have been few chances for this to ever have occurred, which makes this first even more impressive.

Now I thinking, maybe baseball is just like AI. Both continue to amaze. Both continue to make firsts.

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