This week, ESPN’s groundbreaking “30 for 30” series explored the origins of one of the most popular internet activities – outside of Facebook and LOLcats. It attempted to re-enact the conditions under which “Rotisserie” baseball was created.

For the student or devotee of the game, baseball provides almost infinite legendary American tales. It has its heroes(the Babe, the Rajah, the Iron Man, or the Say Hey Kid), its goats (the Black Sox, Charlie Hustle, Big Mac, and the Billy Goat) and its share of historians and cultural custodians, whose job it is to chronicle present day feats that they might one day become the next generation’s legends.

Another name for these “cultural custodians” is Baseball Nerds. Baseball Nerds have existed as long as the players, and some haven even risen to prominence amongst the athletic demigods of the game. One writer and baseball historian rightfully dons the mantle as King of the Baseball Nerds, and until the 30 for 30 series, he had been languishing in semi-obscurity. This man is Daniel Okrent, the father of “Rotisserie” baseball, better known to laymen as Fantasy Baseball.

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Invented in 1979, it was the first completely engaging, ongoing game for fans of the national pastime. It provided the baseball fanatic a means to completely immerse themselves into the dark hobbyist’s womb of baseball statistics, trades, contracts, and futures markets. The proficient rotisserie baseball player has to be versed on the most obscure of baseball statistics for the most marginal of major league ballplayers.

The only hobbyist parallel that seems fitting is World of Warcraft (nouveau Dungeons & Dragons), with the caveat that baseball actually exists in the world. Imagine the level of obsession you associate with players of games like WoW, and then imagine that their games correspond to real life events.

It’s a world where the deeds of Orcs, Humans, and Elves were recounted in the Crusading section of your local newspaper. A world in which Shamans and Necromancers were called to testify in front of Congress for using unregistered runes on the battlefield. This is the level of interest and immersion possible in fantasy sports.

This meta-level game outside of a game has happily consumed the lives of an estimated 18 to 30 million people. It is an industry that takes in approximately $2 billion a year, and Mr. Okrent sees none of this money. So, let’s all cuddle up in front of the flickering video embed and watch the creation tale of the most obsessive activity known to sports fans. Perhaps, then, the internet at large will finally give the King of Baseball Nerds his due.

Originally posted on Technorati.

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