Will There Ever Be Another All-Star Game In Washington, DC?

The Washington Nationals did an about face in their 2013 Rule 4 draft last week. For several years GM Mike Rizzo has pursued an aggressive draft strategy in which the team spent well beyond MLB recommended signing bonuses. If you were looking for a continuation of the Nationals spendthrift ways, look again. Jake Johansen was [...]

Touring The Bases With…Billy Sample

The first major leaguer to come from James Madison University in Virginia, Billy Sample was drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 10th round of the 1976 amateur draft.  The second baseman started his professional career with the Rookie League Rangers of the Gulf Coast League and batted .382 with an outstanding .505 on-base percentage [...]

Kid Blogger’s Interview with Mets GM Sandy Alderson LIVE!!!!!

Hey baseball fans!  I have another interview for you. It is with Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson. I actually got to interview him live at his office in Citi Field and the video of the interview is on YouTube. So, please click here to see me interview Sandy. I’m not sure that you all know about Sandy’s [...]

Bill Deane’s Baseball Briefs

Inspired by Bob Davids’s “Baseball Briefs,” since the mid-1980s, I have compiled statistical and other tidbits of each baseball season, usually submitting them to BASEBALL DIGEST.  They typically publish some or all of them; my 2012 version (which they coincidentally entitled “Baseball Briefs”) appears in the current May/June issue.  Following are those which didn’t make [...]

Lee Elia’s Rant: 30 Bleepin’ Years Later

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT BELOW (SERIOUSLY) For those who are not familiar with the history of Chicago baseball it will likely come as a surprise to learn that there was a time when Wrigley Field was not so cool, fun, and controversial. Thirty years ago Wrigley was considered by most to be a baseball cemetery.  The [...]

The Daily Stream Saturday Version 4/20/2013‏

#BOSTON STRONG The Daily Stream — Saturday Version Hello fellow fisherman, it is time for The Daily Stream – The Saturday Version.  This week has been a fantasy week filled with mid level double starts and more than your fair share of bad pitching. Matt Cain owners, people that owned and started David Price, Brett [...]

Giving Away Outs to the Braves

It wasn’t the newly arrived Upton brothers that crushed the spirits of 120,000 fans that flocked to Nationals Park this weekend. No, it was a team effort. The Atlanta Braves beat the Nationals in every aspect of the game. They outscored Washington 18-5 for the three game series. After Friday night it never really seemed [...]

Misplaced Minor League Nomenclature

Many fans may not realize that the Frederick Keys, the Baltimore Orioles’ affiliate in the Carolina League who happen to be celebrating their 25th anniversary this season, are named for Francis Scott Key who is buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery across the road from the ballpark. This is because nothing that the Keys do promotionally [...]

The Daily Stream: 4/13/2013

Saturday is the day where streaming truly begins.  You have a good idea where you stand and what you need which makes risk taking a bit less risky and a bit more about pure desperation so lets get right into it. As I mentioned in yesterdays column, this week is unique because there have been [...]

She’s Not Pretty, But Has a Great Personality

I know pretty when I see it. There was lots of it last night at Nationals Park. But when my attention was drawn to the field where the Nationals beat the White Sox 8-7, well, let’s just say that when Davey Johnson described the Nationals’ win as “not pretty,” he was just being kind. It’s [...]

Are 1800s Innings Pitched Totals Valid?

Should the enormous innings pitched totals of hurlers in the nineteenth century be adjusted based on the distance thrown? In order to compare eras, let’s take a closer look at the progression of distances from the pitching “box” to home plate since 1876. 1876-1880: 45 feet 1881-1892: 50 feet 1893-2013: 60 feet 6 in In [...]

An Opening Act With A Bullet

Bryce Hapre and Stephen Strasburg made a compelling case on Opening Day to be considered the two best talents ever to play Major League Baseball in Washington, DC. Facing a depleted Miami Marlins roster, Stephen Strasburg seemed to hardly work up a sweat as he breezed through seven innings on eighty pitches without allowing a [...]

We Declare Peace on War

The 2013 Major League Baseball season begins Sunday night. In preparation for another exciting campaign, the founders at 60ft6in.com has introduced a new pitching metric called Pitcher Evaluation ACE (PEACE). This new tool compares each pitching season to the average historical season. The structure of PEACE is similar to Factor12. However, adjustments have been made to account for [...]

Springtimes Past and the Changes They Have Wrought

Watching Anthony Rendon play third base for the Nationals last week in Kissimmee, Florida reminded me of so many past Spring Training games. Osceola Stadium, where the Astros train in March each year, is one of my favorite places to watch major league baseball. It is the closest ballpark to Viera, FL where the Washington [...]

Brooklyn Dodgers, Jackie Robinson and the 1946 Pennant

I’m currently in the middle of reading a handful of Jackie Robinson/Branch Rickey/Brooklyn Dodger themed books. The reason being is that I am pumped to see the movie “42″ next month. After watching this trailer, how could you not get excited? Recently, one of the books went through Robinson’s 1946 season with the Montreal Royals [...]

Can You Over-hype the Nationals?

Bryce Harper has put on 10 pounds to hike his playing weight for 2013 to 230.  I remember Jim Callis at Baseball America coming on our podcast a few years ago and quoting some scouts who believe Harper will one day have more of an Adam Dunn footprint than a Mickey Mantle one.  I don’t [...]

My Top Five Baseball Families

Hey baseball fans!Matt Nadel here with another dose of baseball history. In today’s post, I will be telling you all who I think are the top five families in baseball history.  (Note that I originally posted this for Big Leagues Magazine, a really great online magazine that I write for. Hope you check it out.) Number [...]

An Interview with the First DH Ever

Hey baseball fans! I was recently invited to cover the AJHS Baseball Night charity event by Marty Appel, writer of Pinstripe Empire, one of my all time favorite Yankees biographies and baseball books! He also used to be the PR Director for the Yanks, so that’s also really cool. I will be interviewing Marty soon [...]

Off the Beaten Basepaths #5: Lefty Grove’s Home Town

Lefty Grove was born in the mountain town of Lonaconing, Maryland which is the focus of this installment of Off the Beaten Basepaths. Lefty was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1931 and his trophy resides in the George’s Creek Library in Lonaconing. It’s the only MVP trophy not in private hands or at [...]

Feel It! The Heart of a Good Baseball Town is Beating Once Again

Baseball is part of the historic and cultural mosaic. You cannot unwind it from the larger picture and in Washington, DC, the rebirth of baseball’s winning tradition here is intertwined with a larger transformation taking place all across the length and breadth of this city, our nation’s capital. There have always been tourists tramping around [...]

NJBM Kids’ Hot Korner: New Jersey Baseball Hall of Famers

Hey baseball fans! I just wanted to inform you all that I have started guest-writing for a cool website: New Jersey Baseball Magazine! It’s an online magazine that serves New Jersey, but focuses on baseball all over the country. My first article is about the three Hall of Famers who were born in New Jersey. It’s [...]

My Top Five Fall Classics In MLB History

Hey baseball fans! Today, I want to tell you about my favorite Fall Classics in baseball history!! My only rule is this: no World Series will be in this list that happened in the last ten years. So, let’s get it started with Number Five. Number Five: The 1954 World Series Matchup: Giants vs. Indians [...]

Heart and Soul

Nick Johnson finally hung up the spikes today, according to MLB Rumors. Only 34 years old, Johnson will be remembered as the backbone of the first Washington Nationals team in 2005, and to those of us who wore his name proudly on the back of our first Nationals jerseys, he was the heart and soul [...]

Vamos: Let’s Play Beisbol

Hey baseball fans! I decided to put up a blog in tribute to when baseball used to be played in the Olympics. Baseball is currently not an Olympic sport (it was last played in 2008), but I wanted to tell you guys about a pitcher from Cuba who dominated the Olympics every time he was [...]

Hall of Fame Voting – “If it Ain’t Broke, …”

On Jan. 9, 2013, it was announced that the baseball writers (BBWAA) had not elected anyone to the Hall of Fame.  This is the first time that this had happened since 1996. This result drew more attention than usual because two of baseball’s best players ever (Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens) were not elected because [...]

Whitey is Mighty

Hey baseball fans! Today’s post is about one of my favorite players of all time. He is one of the only Yankee pitchers in the Hall of Fame, and he is considered one of the greatest clutch pitchers of all time. Ladies and gentleman, Whitey Ford! Edward “Whitey” Ford was the best pitcher on the great [...]

Kid Bloggers Interviews Red Sox Legend Frank Malzone

Hey baseball fans!I have another fun interview for you today. This one is with Red Sox third base legend… Frank Malzone! I know that he’s not the most talked about person in baseball history, but he was really good in the 1950s and ’60s. Because he’s not that well known, let me tell you a little [...]

An Introduction to my passion for baseball: Monte Irvin and the lost baseball

I must have been about nine-years old when my dad took me on a very special car ride.   It proved to be a ride that introduced me to a new passion; one that made everything else in my young life seems irrelevant. More importantly it was “one on one” time with my father, the important type [...]

How I became friends with Wally Westlake

On April 18, 1947, the Pittsburgh Pirates had their home opener with the Cincinnati Reds at Forbes Field.  That morning, Elmer Hurte and his oldest son Bobby packed sack of chip-chopped ham sandwiches and a jug of iced tea.  With lunch in hand they rushed out the door to catch the streetcar from the North [...]

A Confession to my parents: I played sick to watch the 1967 World Series

As my mom says, “Bobby would always confess when he did something wrong, just not immediately after he did it.”    Well, I am at it again.  I have a confession.  Of course it is for something from over four decades ago.  But before I actually confess, let me provide some background to support my little [...]

Bo Knows

Football lost its luster for me long ago, but on Sunday I tuned in to watch the Redskins because frankly, Robert Griffin, III is just that special. Fast on his feet, and just as quick-wited, RG III has it all and he had Washington buzzing about a rebirth not just of football in this town, [...]

Uh Oh, It’s Oh

Hey baseball fans! Happy New Year!!  Anyway, for today’s post, I will be blogging about a baseball player who never played in the states, but is one of the most popular international baseball players of all time. Sadaharu Oh played for the Yomiuri Giants from 1959-1980 in the professional Japanese baseball league. He originally was [...]

Kid Blogger Interviews the President of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Hey baseball fans! I have another interview for you! This time, I interviewed National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum President Jeff Idelson! I talked to him a couple of days ago and he was a very nice and friendly guy. Click here to see the Hall of Fame’s website. Anyway, let me tell you a little [...]

Touring The Bases With…Sergio Romo

As some of you may know, I’ve had the opportunity over the last few months to contribute to “49ers Insider,” a digital magazine from the San Francisco Chronicle. Between this gig and my day job, it’s limited my time and energy to write for Baseball: Past and Present, though it’s given me something cool to [...]

A Glimpse of Eddie Mathews in 1989

In a 1991 book called Stolen Season, journalist David Lamb describes his solo journey by RV through the U.S. on a tour of the minor leagues in 1989. Lamb, a devoted fan of the Milwaukee Braves in the late ’50s as a boy in Boston, which the Braves had left a few years earlier, caught [...]

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