Psst… Wanna know a secret?

“Wanna know a secret? A lot of your heroes weren’t the men you thought they were. The reality of the game they played differs from your ideal picture too. OK, I guess that’s not really a surprise. But more often than not, histories paint romantic pictures of yesterday’s stars. Perhaps some childhood mischief or an […]

Half of ’09 All-Stars Return, Some in New Uniforms; As Incentive, Former Players Setting a Hot Pace

Fans anxiously awaiting Thursday night’s season openers in the Atlantic League can look forward to the return of half of last season’s 14-man All-Star team although seven of the eight managers may not be quite so happy that three of them will be wearing the uniform of the back-to-back championship Somerset Patriots. In addition to […]

Memories Of A Special Place

I know, it’s hard to believe–they’ve torn down the old Yankee Stadium; it’s still sinking in. It was called “The House That Ruth Built”–reduced to a pile of rubble while a new greed-fueled edifice graces the skyline just a few feet away. Ah, but they can’t haul away the many memories of a place that was […]

Deserved But Not Earned

I’m still bothered by a game I listened to on the radio when I was a kid. Thanks to http://www.retrosheet.org/, I know that I’ve been upset for nearly 48 years, so isn’t it about time I got this complaint off my chest? I was 11 years old the summer of 1962, and on June 5 […]

Whatever happened to finish what you start?

For some reason, I can’t get Joe Girardi’s comments about possibly pulling C.C. Sabathia in the late innings of his start against Tampa Bay on Saturday, April 10 with a no-hitter intact because of his rising pitch count out of my head.  I understand that high pitch counts, especially early on in the season, can […]

Some Stories About John Marzano

John Marzano died two years ago today at his home in Philadelphia. He’d spent his last three years as a player, 1996 through 1998, with the Seattle Mariners. To help remember him, here are some quotes and anecdotes from his time with the Mariners. With his fairly marginal status as a long-term backup catcher, Marzano […]

Rambling on About My Glory Days – Rambling & Wondering

I often get the comment from people, “I bet you wished you played now with the money players make these days.” It makes me dream, of course, but I really wonder if I would have even gotten a chance to play professional baseball in today”s game. I have attended quite a few minor league baseball […]

Touring the Bases With…Carlos May

Carlos May, brother of major league slugger Lee May, was selected 18th overall in the 1966 draft, which also featured Reggie Jackson, Gary Nolan, and Richie Hebner.  He spent parts of three seasons in the minors, batting .311 from 1966-1968, before making his big league debut on September 6, 1968 with the Chicago White Sox.  […]

Gibbons On Exceptional Hitting Streak, Tom Cochran Very Stingy On Mound

It is difficult to imagine anyone wielding a hotter bat than veteran Jay Gibbons, who is going to make it increasingly difficult for the Los Angeles Dodgers to keep him out of the major leagues if he maintains anything close to his current pace. After starting the season 1-for-9 in three road games for Triple-A […]

Major Leaguers Join Forces with Wounded Warrior Project to Support and Honor This Generation of Wounded Veterans

From MLBPA press release: – Proceeds from exclusive apparel line to benefit wounded warriors – – Major Leaguers contribute an additional $100,000 through the Players Trust – New York, NY (Monday, April 19, 2010) – Major League baseball players are honoring the sacrifices made by our nation’s wounded warriors by launching an exclusive line of […]

Jackie Robinson, Alex Rodriguez Picked by MSG Panel of Experts

Over the last few weeks, an MSG Network  panel of experts composed of Fran Healy, Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, former Cy Young Award winner Sparky Lyle, New York Magazine contributing editor and baseball aficionado Will Leitch, and executive vice president of the Elias Sports Bureau Steve Hirdt, have begun to build the ultimate […]

“Ball Talk: Baseball’s Voices of Summer”

I was recently sent a free copy of Kevin Bender’s DVD, “Ball Talk: Baseball’s Voices of Summer,” a 1989 documentary hosted by Larry King that “celebrates Hall of Fame-honored baseball announcing pioneers Mel Allen, Red Barber, Jack Brickhouse, Jack Buck, Curt Gowdy and Ernie Harwell…” I watched it on Saturday and it’s fantastic!  The film […]

Strasburg In Harrisburg: “When You Hear the Moos, You Know What to Do”

Yesterday I heard Stephen Strasburg throw eight pitches. By the time I realized I could listen to the game on the Internet and got myself connected, it was the top of the third inning in Harrisburg. Leading off the inning, New Britain Rock Cats’ catcher Alec Soto worked Strasburg to a three-two count, fouled a […]

Strasburg In Harrisburg: Altoona, April 11, 2010

Who is he? He’s a right-handed pitcher, picked first in the nation by the Washington Nationals in the 2009 draft. We know as much. He grew up in Santee, California, under his parents Jim and Kathleen Swett, and went to West Hills High School there. He then attended San Diego State University as a public […]

Growing Up Is About Letting Go

It happened earlier than it usually does. Being a fanatical Red Sox fan, there’s usually five to seven times each season when I will just throw up my hands (after throwing up) and boycott all broadcasts of my team for the indefinite future. They tend to come in June when the pennant races normally heat […]

A Small Town Tale: Phil Paine

When he was six or seven years old, my grandfather, Nelson Greene, who grew up to briefly pitch in the major leagues for the Brooklyn Dodgers, moved with his family from the Philadelphia suburb of Roxborough, to the small town of Lebanon, Pennsylvania. For the rest of his life, despite long periods of absence, Nelson […]

Duelo interligas en 1972 (A particular pitching interleague duel from 1972)

Un pitcher se dobla sobre el montículo del Estadio Municipal de Cleveland, luego de algunos movimientos laterales de su cabeza se pone de acuerdo con el receptor Ray Fosse. Otro serpentinero levanta el pié derecho y hace resonar la mascota de John Bateman en el Three River Stadium. En el dugout de los Indios alguien […]

Live It, Love it

For a few weeks now, things have been a little different for me.  I’ve had a spring in my step, a twinkle in my eyes, and a smile curling from the corner of my lips.  The grass has been greener, the sun shining brighter, and the pollen count off the charts. I’m in love, you […]

First Base Offers New Opportunity For Hodges

The beginning of a new season brings new opportunity. For players who had good years the previous season, it presents them with the opportunity to add to the success with another successful season. But for those that maybe struggled with their performance or with injuries, the turn of the page on the calendar to a […]

Been Down So Long

A scant year ago, Jim Bowden departed Washington, DC with the Nationals baseball team as ruined as his reputation.  Just as we tend to forget the desert at the first oasis, so the barren geography of hopeless losing was washed away this weekend as Matt Capps converted his first five save opportunities and up and […]

Granderson, Happ and Mauer to Receive Prestigious 2009 Players Choice Awards

From MLBPA news releases: Joe Mauer to be Presented Players Choice Award as 2009 AL Outstanding Player In Joe’s honor, the Players Trust contributes $5,000 each to the Catholic Athletic Association, Friends of St. Paul Baseball, Gillette Children’s Foundation and Highland Friendship Club New York, NY, Friday, April 16, 2010 … In a pre-game ceremony […]

Bluefish Lose All-Star Jesse Hoorelbeke, But Replacement Josh Phelps Has Better Power Numbers

It could not have been two weeks ago when we heard all-star first baseman Jesse Hoorelbeke and Bridgeport were in negotiation for the 32-year-old slugger to return for a fourth season with the Bluefish.  But news came down Thursday that both Jesse and younger brother Casey have signed to play with Fargo, ND of the […]

Real Baseball Fans

Yes, even though the game of baseball seems to be a shell of what it once was, many of us continue to be avid fans. Just WHAT constitutes a REAL fan? Well, you absolutely know you’re a TRUE baseball fan if: *you use pine tar to seal envelopes *you’re female and use burnt cork/eye black […]

It Ain’t Easy Raising the Dead: The Labors of Pirates’ GM Neal Huntington

In the 1980s, Pirate general manager Syd Thrift, an old Southern gentleman with a dry wit, looked at the rebuilding task in front of him and moaned, “It ain’t easy raising the dead.” Relatively speaking, Thrift’s task was a breeze.  He took over a team that had a winning record two seasons earlier, and was […]

Minor Happenings: White, Gardner Off To Great Starts

“Minor Happenings” is a weekly column which covers the important developments and news in the Indians farm system. While most of the information in this report is from my own research and through interviews I have conducted with organizational personnel, some information in this report is collected and summarized from the various news outlets that […]

Minor Happenings: Santana Shines In AAA Debut

“Minor Happenings” is a weekly column which covers the important developments and news in the Indians farm system. While most of the information in this report is from my own research and through interviews I have conducted with organizational personnel, some information in this report is collected and summarized from the various news outlets that […]

Yes, Considerable Similarity as 64 Teams Get Ready to Open the 18th Independent Season

Any new baseball season brings excitement, and while some of it has to do with the hope brought on by spring flowers and warmer days there also is the optimism that last year’s stinky bullpen will be better this time and that the hits will come at the most opportune time. We finally get to […]

Touring the Bases With…Tout Wars

Not long ago the Society For American Baseball Research (SABR) announced that it had partnered with Tout Wars, a fantasy baseball league founded in 1998 that pits the top fantasy baseball experts in the industry against each other.  On March 26, F.X. Flinn, a long-time member of SABR’s Board of Directors, awarded the very first […]

Meet the New Park Factors – Part II

[In Part I, we saw that traditional Park Factors do have a place in baseball—just not for measuring ballpark impact. In Part II here, we’ll mix some physics with home run trajectories to help us understand how a future system for rating ballparks might be designed. In Part III, we’ll see what this system might […]

Front Office Changes in Newark and Bridgeport Steal Some Attention Away From Early Camp Days

It is on the diamond where all of the outward attention is being focused these days around the Atlantic League, especially with all eight teams in action and shaping their rosters toward Opening Night just nine days from now.  Yes, the April 22 openers are that close.

House Looking To Have Stronger Season

On Sunday afternoon, left-hander T.J. House made his advanced Single-A debut in the Carolina League for the Kinston Indians.  He did not disappoint, going five strong innings where he allowed two runs on six hits and one walks, but most impressively had ten strikeouts. Depending on what publication you refer to House is a top […]

What’s with the whining about the length of games?

Okay, I realize I’ll be in the minority with what I am about to write but I just have to say it…

Why the hell does anyone care about the “average length” of Major League games?

Tales From a Minor League Bus

The 2010 minor league baseball season is underway and every minor league general manager has a deal in place with a bus company to move their team around from town to town and city to city during the upcoming season. With that in mind, I can only sit back, smile and laugh as I think […]

The Best Pitcher Not in Washington

The press in Altoona, PA were so thick they were sticking to the grill of your car, as Stephen Strasburg–who Keith Law calls Washington’s best pitcher–debuted in the Allegheny foothills.  The real best pitcher in Washington was in New York tossing a seven inning shutout against the Mets as Livan Hernandez crafted a masterpiece that […]

Jamie Moyer and Greg Maddux Playing for the Iowa Cubs in 1986

I don’t know how many people noticed on September 27, 2008, when Jamie Moyer and Greg Maddux, by posting wins over the Nationals and Giants, respectively, reached a combined 601 wins for their two careers. At the close of 2008, Moyer had 246 wins, and Maddux had 355 (Moyer added 12 more in 2009, but […]

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