Word: brito
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...three to Brock were all 94 m.p.h., all exactly 94 m.p.h.," sighs the Dodgers' Mike Brito, whose department this is, "and the one to Scioscia was just 92." He lurks behind the backstop, aiming a radar gun as purposefully as Clint Eastwood. "Straight change-ups 71, hard curves 78, soft ones 73," he mutters in review. "Ninety-mile-per-hour fast balls the whole game long, and his best stuff is waiting at the end. I'm telling you, this kid is amazing." A mustachioed Cuban in a white straw hat, Brito is the Dodger scout who discovered 17-year...
...which makes Brito's lab an unusual place to work. It is not hierarchical or internally competitive like most. Its workers are not strapped by anxiety. To work for her seems like fun. Her lab is. as virologist Max Delbruck once said, "a playground for serious children who ask ambitious questions...
...also unusual because it employs a large number of women in its projects. This may be accidental or it may be due to the fact that Brito looks to work with other women. But it is unusual. Biology after all is still (although less than other sciences) a male dominated profession...
...most uncommon is the fact that for five years. Brito's lab made very few mistakes. There are few deadends. few projects abandoned. few egos hurt. No wonder they're all happy...
Goodfield was fortunate to latch onto an exceptional lab at a productive time. But she depends too much on the flow of experiments, the blow-by-blow description of discovery to keep her book moving. There are no add personalities that stand out. no irreverant wits. Perhaps Brito's preference for "having quiet technicians and completely bland people around" really is wonderful. ("They don't notice anything wrong...They keep us all sane," Brito claims.) But this lack of funny incident, of weird quirks is what separates the book from other inside tours of biology, such as Horace Judson...