Inside baseball is both a knowledge system and a belief system; and James, I believe, was the first to point out how comically prevalent its metaphors were:

Inside stuff is very big in sportswriting today. TV shows, newspaper columns and sometimes whole books are dubbed "Inside Baseball" and "Inside Football"; magazines run features called "Inside Pitch" and "Inside Corner" and promote "Inside Scouting Reports." A book appears called "High Inside," and months later, another follows called "High and Inside." The Society for American Baseball Research, an aggregation of dedicated outsiders outside of whom one can scarcely get, compiles a collection of research pieces into a book; this is called, of course, "Insiders Baseball."

James was satirist to this trend, before it showed up as the prevalent pattern--and a commonly used phrase--in political journalism:

Inside looks, inside glimpses, inside locker rooms and inside blimpses; within months we shall have seen the inside of everything that one can get inside of without a doctor's help, and now that I think about that I remember seeing a sample copy of a Las Vegas tout sheet that featured an "Inside Medical Report."

Today in politics, there's the CNN show, "Inside Politics." The Washington Times and the Seattle Times have columns with the same name. In exact parallel to the locker room crush, campaign reporters head for Spin Alley after the debate to interview the inside players, the same names and faces seen on pundit shows. Analysts like Nagourney call around to those players, and package the results as "Democrats say..."

The post-game interview is the ritual at the center of inside baseball. James doubted it had much information value. After all, the players knew the sportswriters' methods. (Just as political players know the ways of the press.) The foolish athlete gets into wars with the team writers and vows not to cooperate. "Silence, though, is but the ultimate weapon, the last line of defense," James wrote, "The first line of defense is the cliche."

How do you feel today Jim I'm optimistic I've always had good luck against Lefty Grove what did he throw you that you hit into the seats I think it was a breaking pitch that didn't break is this the biggest day of your life no this is just the first step we still have to win the series has Willie helped the team Willie has added a dimension to the team that we didn't have before and how about Frank Frank has adapted to his role well and hasn't complained at all about not being used more why did you fire Charlie I've the greatest respect for Charlie but sometimes a change just has to be made...

"An army of sentries encircles the game, guarding every situation from which a glimmer of fresh truth might be allowed to escape." James wrote. From his angle, the sportswriter is less interested in dispensing knowledge than in monopolizing analysis and discussion of the game. This is done by popularizing the sportswriter's cliches until they become the sound fans expect to hear.