Before the mid-1980s, American-made automobiles had a reputation for having too many manufacturing errors that led to unreliable cars. The competition from Japan and Germany were producing vehicles with near zero-defects. That led General Motors and Ford to step-up technology, quality controls, and the use of robotics to cut down on the manufacturing errors.
Ford Motor Company hired Robert Cox, an outspoken New York advertising executive, who was behind the slogan, “Quality is Job 1” in the 1980s. It worked, and the Ford Taurus became the best selling vehicle. American-made cars had cut their error rates down to where their competitors were. What does any of this have to do with baseball? Cox learned as a left-handed pitcher in the Queens Alliance, a borough semi-pro league, that winning required great defense, and you had to limit the mistakes and errors. Reaching zero-defect from fewer mistakes would lead to higher sales, lowered expenses — and more profit which is the baseball equivalent of more wins.
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