Poetic Justice

Following the winter meetings is like watching grass grow. Washington baseball fans are waiting anxiously to see whether Santa wraps Mark Buerhle up and places him in the Nationals stocking and if so, what else might there be under the tree. There is the issue of center field with so many options there that even [...]

2012 Milestones (And Beyond): Wins

Champagne has been quaffed in St. Louis, free agents have already begun signing with new teams (where have you gone, Jonathan Papelbon?) and the winter meetings are right around the corner.  Those of us who don’t live in tropical climes are looking for ways to stay warm as winter nears, and what better way to [...]

Multiple Hitting Streaks

While writing another article, I noticed that on April 18, 1931, Freddie Lindstrom and Mel Ott both extended long hitting streaks at the Baker Bowl, Lindstrom hitting in his 36th straight game there and Ott in his 29th straight. Of course, a hitting streak in a specific ball park is a rather obscure record and [...]

NORMALIZING NEGRO LEAGUE STATISTICS

Most baseball fans are familiar with the concept of ‘normalizing’ statistics. For MLB statistics, the most basic adjustment is to normalize for park effects. The simplest park normalization calculation takes the impact of a team’s park on runs scored then divides that number, either positive or negative, in half, and then that calculation is applied [...]

Bring Unto Me the Little Ranger Fans

Oh, somewhere in this fabled land the sun is shining bright. The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light. And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout. And that would be St. Louis, because around Arlington there are 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds who are now permanently scarred for life because their team [...]

His Game to Win

Tony LaRussa retires and Davey Johnson returns. It might seem that the trade off leaves the managerial ranks about the same, but there is a changing of the guard occurring in the leadership of Major League Baseball. LaRussa’s 33 years as manager is unequalled except by Connie Mack–whose 53 years in the dugout is one [...]

Baseball in a Starring Role

There is more than a small amount of pride in being an ardent baseball fan these days. The World Series was not only a success, but it garnered wide enthusiasm for the Cardinals from fans across the country who were rooting for the team over the long seven-game contest. It is that very ability of [...]

USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, NC

If you’re a “baseball tourist” as I am, you’re always on the lookout for interesting baseball sites whenever you travel. On a recent visit to Cary, North Carolina, I had the opportunity to tour the USA Baseball National Training Complex which was opened in 2007 and is owned by the Town of Cary. USA Baseball [...]

Fun With Retrosheet: Nelson Cruz Made Me Do It

Normally, I try to find someone else to blame for suggesting one of these posts, but this silly one is all mine. After noticing that Nelson Cruz had seven RBIs in the eleventh innings of Texas’ playoff series with the Tigers, I wondered what player had the most extra-inning HRs and RBIs in a season [...]

And your 2011 World Series Winner is…

About 30 years ago, Bill James introduced a prediction system that picked the World Series winner with 70% accuracy. He wrote about the system for Inside Sports magazine in 1982, then expounded on it in his 1984 Baseball Abstract. He developed the system in 1972 and it accurately predicted the World Series winner at a [...]

Blue Monday: a Bitter Expos Anniversary

“Blue Monday, how I hate Blue Monday” Fats Domino may have sung the words, but it took Expos fans to live the nightmare – and many of us still carry the pain. It was thirty years ago today when we – and by ‘we’ I mean every living, breathing, Expos fan in Canada – watched [...]

The Lighting of the Hot Stove

Perhaps the Hot Stove season does not commence until after the World Series. Or maybe it adds fuel to the fire. Either way there are instructive failures from last year to consider. There were Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth–just two of the biggest disappointments among the 2011 free agent class. Then at the summit is [...]

Fun With Retrosheet: League Leaders With the Fewest Games Played

Cliff Blau recently mentioned to me that Vince Barton led the NL in getting hit by pitches in 1931 despite playing only 66 games and wondered what were the fewest games for players leading their respective leagues in a hitting category. So since major league baseball returned to a 150+ game schedule in 1904 (and [...]

Fun With Retrosheet: Players With The Highest Percentage of Post-Season Homers

A quick one today: here are the players who have hit the highest percentage of their home runs during the post-season: Player First Last REG POST PCT Mickey Lolich 1963 1979 0 1 1.0000 Don Gullett 1970 1978 0 1 1.0000 Joe Blanton 2004 2011 0 1 1.0000 Paul Goldschmidt 2011 2011 8 2 .2000 [...]

Touring The Bases With…Durham Bulls GM Mike Birling

Mike Birling is the General Manager for the Durham Bulls located in Durham, North Carolina, in the International League. They have been an Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays since 1998. Their Stadium is Durham Bulls Athletic Park. (a) International League Champions 2002 – 2003 – 2009 Seamheads.Com: What was your first job working in [...]

First Division Finish

No, the Nationals are not headed for the playoffs, and yes, the smug fans up the coast will shake their heads in bemusement at the joy we share at finishing in the top half of the 30 Major League baseball teams. But remember and cheerish that grin, because the Nationals don’t just “hear that train [...]

Fun With Retrosheet: Come-From-Behind Batting Champions, An Update

John Pastier was wondering (among other things) about the record for the most days leading the league in batting average without winning the title. Here’s the list: Player Year LED DNL DNQ First Last Pete Reiser 1942 131 36 0 5-11 9-24 Lenny Dykstra 1990 125 37 10 5-11 9-14 Larry Walker 1997 124 57 [...]

Losing by Winning

Sunday afternoon, embattled starter A.J. Burnett, with his postseason life largely on the line, toed the rubber against the freefalling Boston Red Sox. Seven and two-thirds of an inning later, Burnett moseyed toward the Yankees dugout, having struck out six, allowed but two earned runs, and driven another nail into the quickly closing coffin surrounding the Red Sox season. With the capacity crowd on its feet loudly cheering his name, Burnett ambled to the bench with all the alacrity of Mo Vaughn heading to a salad bar, clearly trying his hardest to make that moment last forever.

The Yankees had clinched everything they possibly could, they had the Sox under their boots, and the quixotic Burnett had thrown a gem.

Unfortunately, for Joe Girardi, that’s the worst thing that could have happened.

Fun With Retrosheet: Come-From-Behind Batting Champions

Trent McCotter sent me a note yesterday pointing out that Matt Kemp has very nearly closed a recent 19-point gap in the NL batting race as part of his three-prong effort to capture the triple-crown. Which got us to wondering about the largest deficits overcome by batting champions. Since 1918, here they are: Days ToGo [...]

Fixing the Fall Classic

Baseball’s post-season starts in mere days, which means that so will the discussion concerning the waning interest in baseball’s post-season. Bud Selig’s answer is to give the public more of what it already finds dull. Adding a best two out of three wild-card round is most definitely déjà vu all over again. We do not [...]

Touring The Bases With…Norm Coleman

Norm Coleman is an actor, sports writer, inspirational speaker, humorist and photographer. He lives in Half Moon Bay, California. Jack Perconte:  When did your love of baseball begin? Norm Coleman: It began when I was ten years old living in Brooklyn. The year was 1946. My sister Louise, seven years older then me took me [...]

Touring The Bases With…Bob Lazzari

Bob Lazzari and I have become friends over the internet and he is one of those guys that you just immediately know that you would like. He is very thorough and interesting with his reporting and is a great writer. Bob has a way of writing that touches you and makes you reflect on your [...]

The Plot Thickens

Major League Baseball has often been charged with a lack of competitive balance serious enough to make pennant races predictable. It was as if the plot lines driving each season were as formulaic as a bad Hollywood script.  After reading the first few pages, you could tell the winners and losers without breaking a sweat. [...]

Touring The Bases With…Lexington Legends GM Andy Shea

Andy Shea is the General Manager for the Lexington Legends located in Lexington, Kentucky. They are in the South Atlantic League and have been an Affiliate of the Houston Astros since 2001. Their stadium is Whitaker Bank Park. (a) www.lexingtonlegends.com Seamheads.Com: What was your first job working in baseball? How did you obtain that job? [...]

Strasburg, Part Deux

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Labor Day in Baseball

It was Labor Day in DC and the Nationals bats were booming. It was a great day at the park. There was only one thing missing from the action and the celebrations, the Labor Movement or any mention of working Americans. There were two big ladder trucks from the DC Fire Department parked outside the [...]

Chasing History

Not long ago I was preparing for some podcasts and projected the stats of a handful of players to see what their final numbers might look like and how they would look stacked up against each other as well as others throughout baseball history.  Three of those players—Jacoby Ellsbury, Curtis Granderson and Justin Verlander—are definite [...]

Something Stirring Beneath the Surface

The younger set cannot remember one of the iconic pictures of my youth: Nikita Kruschev, Russian Premier and head of the original Axis of Evil in Moscow, angrily banging his shoe on the desk at the United Nations, screaming to the US envoy to the UN, “We Will Bury You!” It was the headline in [...]

Touring the Bases with…Garrett Totty

Garrett Totty is the Head Batboy for the Texas League Tulsa Drillers.   Garrett also plays catcher on his high school baseball team at Morris (Oklahoma) High School, where this past season he was teammates with Yankee’s 18th round draft choice Hayden Sharp. Seamheads:    Being a batboy on a professional team is probably something that many young [...]

Two and Half Hours with Chip Caray

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Atlanta Braves play-by-play announcer Chip Caray to talk about his career, his life experiences and how he goes about making the excitement of Atlanta Braves baseball come alive for millions of fans across the country.  Over a 7 day period I had the privilege of interviewing [...]

A Nationals Hot Sheet in the Offing

A young man called in to the “Outta the Parkway Show” on Friday night and wanted to know whether the Nationals are headed in the right direction and how long it will take before the Nationals are a competitive presence in baseball. How long before the Nationals run at the front of the pack? As [...]

A Death in the Family

Baltimore is the biggest small town in America. Everyone has a sense that they’re either related to, or that they know, most everyone else in town. We feel that way about the athletes who represent us as well, beginning with the old Baltimore Colts who lived in the city year-round and who worked regular jobs [...]

When Will Girardi Learn?

The Athletics and the Yankees endured quite an intense battle Tuesday night. The Yankees, after trailing 6-0 going into the eighth inning, scored five runs and ultimately lost by just one run. The game ended with the bases loaded and a fly ball just four or five feet shy of a walk-off grand slam. The [...]

Slugger Jim

Anyone who isn’t happy for Jim Thome probably also hates ice cream and loves velour. OK, I like the way velour looks on some people but it’s not in my wardrobe. What I do have in my closet is an abundance of Chicago White Sox items and one of the reasons I’m proud to wear [...]

Touring The Bases With…Fort Wayne TinCaps President and GM Mike Nutter

Mike Nutter is the President and General Manager of the Fort Wayne TinCaps located in Fort Wayne, Indiana. They have been an Affiliate of the San Diego Padres since 1999 and are in the Midwest League. They play at Parkview Field. (a) www.tincaps.com. Seamheads.Com: What are your responsibilities for the TinCaps? Mike Nutter: Lots of [...]

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