The Numbers Behind the Magic: Mike Dean’s Four-Decade Love Affair with NBC Statistics
⋅ History
How One Man’s Dedication to Every Hit, Run, and Record Preserves Tournament History
Ask Mike Dean about any NBC World Series game from the past four decades, and he can tell you who pitched, who won, and probably what the score was in the seventh inning. He’s not just remembering—he’s the one who recorded it.
Since 1984, Dean has been the NBC’s official statistician, spending 12-15 hour days in the press box during each tournament, tracking every hit, every run, every play. He’s also the NBC’s historian, its harmonica player for the national anthem, and the walking encyclopedia that tournament staff turn to when they need an answer. His Arizona home might be 1,000 miles away, but every summer for more than 40 years, Dean has made the pilgrimage to Wichita to do what he does best: make sure nothing gets forgotten.
More Than Just Numbers
By 2003, when the NBC World Series awarded Dean its annual Hap Dumont Trophy for 22 years of service to the tournament, he was taken aback. “I was genuinely surprised, that was the last thing I expected to turn up,” Dean recalls, “They award this annually and I know they give it to people who have done a lot for the National Baseball Congress over the years.” And if that was a surprise, being inducted into the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame in 2008 just about bowled him over.
More than two decades after that award, Dean still works 12-15 hours per day during each tournament, scoring dozens of games over two weeks. While he once slept in the press box or caught catnaps in the umpires’ room, he now allows himself occasional hotel breaks during the long days.
“It is important to me to maintain the history, and keep it as completely as possible,” he says. Beyond scorekeeping, Dean maintains NBC records, spending months in the offseason rebuilding incomplete files from the 1970s and 1980s through old newspaper box scores. “Trying to be someone who has helped the tournament is the one thing that I would like to say that I have been able to do in these 42-odd years.”
The Walking Database
Gary Goad, Dean’s longtime friend and NBC co-worker, described Dean’s encyclopedic knowledge in 2003: “If he got mad and walked out on this tournament, they’d be flat out screwed. He’s a walking IBM computer, he knows statistics for each player almost down to their shoe size.”
Current NBC tournament director Katie Woods doesn’t disagree with the assessment, “There is no one who knows more about the NBC than Mike,” she says, “Whenever I think of a question that might take me hours to find the answer, my first thought is ‘I bet Mike knows’. The NBC, and baseball in general, is so lucky to have Mike and his talent and passion for the game and our history.”
Dean’s meticulous record-keeping has revealed fascinating tournament insights over the years. In 1994, his detailed demographic research showed that Eureka, California, had the tallest team at 6-feet, 1.13 inches, while Madison, Wisconsin, had the heaviest club at an average weight of 190 pounds. Midlothian, Illinois, was the oldest team that year with an average age of 25 3/4 years, while the Hays Larks were the youngest at 19.68 years.
Technology has transformed Dean’s work over the decades. “Scoring and statistics-keeping in the NBC World Series has changed dramatically since this writer started scoring games in the tournament in 1984,” he wrote in 2001, noting the evolution from pencil and Scoremaster books to digital systems. Today’s software like Pointstreak and Gamechanger have continued that evolution, though Dean leaves newer tools like Trackman to others, focusing on scorekeeping and records.
From Grand Rapids to Arizona via Wichita
Dean’s NBC connection began with the Grand Rapids Sullivans. “I got into scorekeeping for the Sullivans in 1982. I kind of hung out at Kimble Stadium (in Wyoming, Mich.) during some games in 1981 but that didn’t grow into much,” he recalls. “But on a flyer the following summer I applied to be the statistician for the Super League that the Sullivans played in, and that really kicked things off.”
After resisting suggestions to visit Wichita in 1983, Dean finally made the trip in 1984. “When I came in 1984—Bob Sullivan had convinced me to travel with the group down to Wichita that year—I think I was just fascinated with the tournament, just kind of awe struck. I suppose that started the seed of a bond that I tried to maintain and keep in good repair.”
That bond has lasted over 40 years. Even after the Sullivans disbanded in the early 1990s, Dean’s summer trips to Wichita continued. He drove from Grand Rapids with Gary Goad as passenger that first year—the last time he drove himself to the tournament. Now his wife Rachelle handles the driving and has also been one of the NBC’s official scorers for the past 19 years.
“When we moved to Arizona there was never a thought about not coming to the NBC,” Dean says. “It’s been the highlight of my year to be able to come down to Wichita and spend time being involved.”
“As long as I’m able,” he said in 2003 when asked how long he’d continue. More than two decades later, that commitment remains unchanged.
The Harmonica Man
Beyond statistics, Dean has become known for his musical contributions to the tournament atmosphere. He performs “The Star Spangled Banner” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” on his harmonica, after picking up the harmonica on a whim in 1971 when he was 15-years-old for a contest through the local parks and rec department (he won a bike for his efforts). His harmonica playing has become as much a part of the NBC experience as the red, white, and blue bases.
“In 1982 for one of the State NBC competitions in Grand Rapids I played the National Anthem on harmonica,” Mike recalls; and the tradition was born.
Dean’s musical talents have even extended to international relations. When the Taiwanese national team participated in an exhibition series in 1989, Dean played the Taiwanese national anthem on a record player before the third game. “Everybody up there is saying, ‘Boy, is Mike screwed,'” Goad recalled. But Dean figured out the solution, flawlessly performing the anthem twice after hearing it just once.
Preserving Four Decades of Baseball History
Dean’s statistical work creates the foundation for the NBC Baseball Foundation’s historical preservation mission. Every game he’s scored since the early 1980s becomes part of the permanent record that researchers and historians study. His scorebooks are primary source documents spanning more than four decades of amateur baseball evolution.
The depth and consistency of Dean’s work create an unparalleled archive. From the 1980s through 2025, his documentation captures not just game statistics, but the broader story of how the sport, its players, and the tournament have changed over time. Including, as Mike dubbed it, “The Modern Wood bat Era” of the NBC after the tournament switched back from aluminum to wood bats in 2000 for the first time since the mid 1970s.
NBC Baseball Foundation supporters help maintain the tools and systems that enable this work with their donations—from scorebooks that record every at-bat to archival efforts that preserve decades of statistical records. These contributions ensure Dean’s meticulous record-keeping remains accessible to future generations.
A Living Archive
As Dean continues his remarkable run as the NBC’s institutional memory, his legacy extends far beyond the thousands of games he’s scored. He represents the continuity and attention to detail that has made the NBC World Series a premier amateur baseball tournament for nearly nine decades.
His four-decade commitment embodies the values that the NBC Baseball Foundation’s campaign seeks to preserve and support. Just as campaign donors help maintain the tournament’s iconic red, white, and blue bases, they also support the statistical infrastructure that Dean has built and maintained through decades of volunteer service.
From the 1980s through 2025, Mike Dean has been the constant thread connecting NBC’s rich past with its promising future. His work reminds us that baseball’s most important contributions often happen away from the spotlight, in press boxes and archive rooms, where dedicated individuals create the foundation that allows tournaments like the NBC to preserve their history and inspire future generations.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Dean represents the continuity that has made the NBC World Series successful for nearly nine decades. His four-decade commitment embodies values the NBC Baseball Foundation works to preserve—dedication to detail, respect for history, and belief that every game matters enough to be recorded properly.
From 1984 through 2025, Mike Dean has been the constant thread connecting NBC’s past with its future. His work happens away from the spotlight, in press boxes and archive rooms, where dedicated individuals create the foundation that allows tournaments to preserve their history.
Every number Dean has recorded tells a story. But Dean’s own story tells us something equally important: that passion and commitment create legacies that span generations and preserve the memories that define amateur baseball.
As the NBC continues into its tenth decade, Dean’s statistical legacy ensures that future researchers, players, and fans will have access to detailed records spanning nearly half the tournament’s entire history—all maintained by one person who found his calling in a press box in Wichita, Kansas.
For Dean, it’s a labor of love. “If you get an opportunity to do something that you love doing, do it with all your might. That’s the thing that I’ve tried to do.”
Supporting NBC’s statistical record-keeping and historical preservation through the Step Up to the Plate campaign ensures that the work of dedicated workers like Mike Dean continues. From $19.35 scorebook donations to larger contributions supporting historical research and archiving, every gift helps maintain the meticulous records that preserve NBC’s rich history for future generations.