Everyone knows that Kirk Gibson hit one of the most dramatic home runs in World Series history off of Dennis Eckersley in 1988. What everyone doesn't know is that Kirk had some help. The Dodgers' scouting report heading into the World Series stated that Eckersley normally would throw a slider on a 3-2 pitch to a left-handed batter. The report was correct, Eckersley threw the slider with the count full, Gibson hit the home run, and the rest is history. Our scouting reports actually called the pitch for Kirk.

	Kirk Gibson's two-run homer gave L.A. a 5-4 win over Oakland in Game 1 of the '88 World Series.

There are amazing situations like Gibson's home run which come out of every advance scouting report. As a player, you are consistently surprised at how accurate the information is. It's a little different now with interleague play, but if the two World Series teams haven't faced each other -- and the Yankees and Diamondbacks haven't -- the information in the advance scouting report is immeasurably important in the postseason. It reveals some of the mysteries.

A player feels like he is playing naked sometimes when he goes up against an opponent he is unfamiliar with. The game is so mental at the big-league level and it's also so much of a relationship between hitter and pitcher, team and opponent. The relationship says, "he's been getting me out on breaking balls, I need to make an adjustment. Now he's pounding me inside, I'm going to have to look for that." You develop this relationship within the game -- and it's not just ability vs. ability.

There is another facet of it, and it's completely different than any other baseball played on earth. From Little League to the minor leagues, the competition is constantly evolving or changing. But in the big leagues, you play the same guys 9-17 times per year, and they stay there sometimes for as many as 10 to 15 years. Long term relationships are developed.

Baseball at the major-league level adds a totally different layer to the game. You can beat people not only with ability, but with brainpower.

Strategy doesn't matter unless you can execute. But the correct strategy -- if you are executing slightly poorer than normal -- can give you better probability to win. Let's say I would typically throw a curveball to a certain hitter but the advance scouting report said, "Do not throw a curve in situation X." So instead I throw a fastball, and even if my fastball isn't quite as accurate on the inner half of the plate as I'd like it to be, I'd have more room for error because at least it's the correct pitch. If I had thrown the curve without the right information, I'd have to throw the perfect curveball because I'm throwing into the hitter's strength. The percentages are raised just because you have a little better information.

During the regular season, an advance scouting report would come in anywhere from five days to the day before a game. Often it was a cursory update from the last report seen on a particular team. On rare occasions the advance scout happens to be in the city his team is in, but usually they are out in front of the team and not seen in person. The report is basically just a piece of paper that includes breakdowns of different players, who's hot, who's not, tendencies, how to play guys, and maybe injuries that have crept up.

But when it's playoff time, the advance scouts come in and deliver the reports in person, and they don't just hand you a booklet. They deliver it verbally, going over and breaking down as many players as you want them to. Then they stay on the premises and travel with the team. On airplanes, at the hotel, during batting practice, they are always at their team's disposal if anyone has questions.

Guys often want or need to go over a particular player again, or they have specific questions about a matchup -- my particular stuff vs. a particular hitter, or wanting to make sure they understand the wording or emphasis on the report if they are not clear on what the scout was trying to describe. If there is something specific, an advance scout might be bold enough to go to the player and talk it through, but for the most part, they hang around and wait for the players to approach them.

I took complete advantage of my advance scouts -- totally, thoroughly picked their brains. It's a huge advantage to be able to talk to someone face to face instead of looking at a computer printout. You can hear the emphasis in their words and see in their eyes what they really believe. Especially if there is a comment that goes against the grain of what you would typically assume about a particular hitter. Reading the report and seeing an atypical piece of analysis, sometimes you can sort of understand how the scout came to that conclusion, but you wouldn't want to chance it in a big-game situation.

	Alfonso Soriano will use his instincts likely more than advance scouting reports.

But when you are able to talk to the scout, you can hear his passion. He can tell you the story about how he wrote the report right after seeing the player five games in a row. He'll say, "I know it's hard to believe, but this is what he does." Talking to the scout gives you the background on how the information was gathered, which is infinitely helpful.

Both the Yankees and the Diamondbacks will be very receptive to the details of advance scouting. Not one guy on either team plays strictly on ability. Both teams have a lot of veterans and a lot of smart baseball people who can apply the information from the advance scouts well.

Alfonso Soriano may use the scouting reports less than Derek Jeter or Paul O'Neill. Because Soriano is a rookie, one would think he'd need the reports the most, but it doesn't work that way. He has the least amount of that aforementioned long-term relationship, and therefore the least amount of data from his own personal experience. It's much easier to process the scouting information when you lay it upon experience.

There are so many layers of information in advance scouting reports that it is hard to grasp it all and pull it out in the midst of competition if it doesn't come naturally -- and the only way for it to come naturally is from exposure. Rookies rely more on their instincts.

The D-Backs are also a veteran club. Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson will be big scouting report guys, because even though they have dominant stuff and it looks like it's an ability match, these guys are very intelligent, baseball savvy pitchers that can locate their pitches. They are keenly aware of how to apply a scouting report. We'll see if it creates any drama this year.

Orel Hershiser, the 1988 NL Cy Young winner, played 18 seasons in the major leagues. He works as an analyst for ESPN's Wednesday and Sunday Night Baseball.