Something Rotten in the State of Maryland

Mike Rizzo traded Matt Capps and Cristian Guzman for prospects and kept Adam Dunn.  His team and his fans are both happy and the team is playing hungry again.  Andy MacPhail failed to move Luke Scott or Ty Wiggington but hired Buck Showalter to make sense of it all.  Still, something in Baltimore just doesn’t […]

Unfortunately, I Was Right

In 2004, long-time Bay Area sports announcer Lon Simmons won the Ford Frick Award presented annually at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Cooperstown. From that moment, Jon Miller, who idolized Simmons since childhood from listening to him broadcast Giants games, began referring to Simmons as a “Hall of Fame announcer.” Miller, I was […]

Hometown Honors Fred Merkle With Plaque

Fred Merkle is again honored in his hometown of Watertown, Wisconsin. On July 22nd, 2010, Public Bonehead, Private Hero: The Real Legacy of Baseball’s Fred Merkle book author Mike Cameron, and Merkle Historian David Stalker met at Watertown’s Fred Merkle Field to donate a black granite plaque to Washington Park. In 2008, the baseball field […]

Back to the Future: The SPORT Magazine 1969 Major League All-Stars

While going through my old magazines (again) I saw an article from the July 1964 issue of SPORT titled “A Look Into the Future: The 1969 All-Star Team” written by John Devaney.  Devaney polled more than 50 big league managers, coaches, veteran players, writers and sportscasters to find the players whom they believed would be […]

Right On The Nose

My sainted father used to say that a pitcher should have the right to smack his fielders on the nose when they make errors that cost him runs or victories. I couldn’t argue then, and still can’t. Of course, it should work the other way, too. A team should be entitled to pummel any starting […]

Mighty Casey Has Struck Out (Again)

Less than two weeks ago, on Monday, July 12th, Matt Holliday, he of the $120 million, seven-year contract, participated in the Home Run Derby exhibition as part of the annual All-Star Game festivities at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. That same evening, some 1600 miles away from Anaheim, in Sutter, Illinois, 64-year-old Jimmy Qualls came […]

Part One: The Story Of The 1888-1889 New York Giants

March 8, 1888 was the day the New York Giants arrived in Jacksonville, Florida to begin preparation for the upcoming National League season. The team, entering its sixth year of play in professional baseball, was coming off an 1887 season which saw them finish 4th in the National League. There was, however, plenty of reason […]

George Steinbrenner Gets the Love He Always Wanted

There will be an outpouring of love and affection for George Steinbrenner today following the news that he died of a heart attack early this morning at 80. He would have liked that. Truth is, he lived for that. For all the bombast, the attention-getting rants, the mean-spirited attacks of his players and humiliating firings […]

All-Decade Single-Season Wins Above Replacement Team: A.L. 1901-1909

On July 1 I unveiled the All-Decade Single-Season Wins Above Replacement National League squad for the first decade of the modern era, so now it’s time to unveil the junior circuit’s team. Below is a list of the best seasons posted by American Leaguers at each position during the period from 1901-1909 based on Wins […]

Just How Good is Chipper Jones?

As Chipper Jones seems to be heading towards retirement at the end of the 2010 season, it would appear to be a good point at which to ask – Just how good a career has he had?  After all, he has played seventeen seasons for the same team (the Atlanta Braves) and was an All-Star […]

Not Yet The Year Of The Pitcher

Last week I was interviewed by a reporter for Bloomberg News who sought my views on whether 2010 is indeed the new “Year of the Pitcher.” Apparently some analysts have declared that to be the case, though the news hadn’t reached my neck of the woods until the reporter mentioned it. The reporter, a pleasant […]

Camden Yards: Minor League Heaven

BALTIMORE—The girl in the Orioles cape, beads and Mardi Gras mask painted black and orange was waiting six innings to dance her way onto the centerfield scoreboard cam, and here was her chance. The funny thing is that she wasn’t alone. Visiting Camden Yards again for the first time since its inaugural 1992 season—when I […]

Touring the Bases with…..Craig Wright

Craig R. Wright was the first of what today would be called a “Sabermetrician” to be hired by a major league baseball team. He was the primary author of “The Diamond Appraised” (1989), and with Texas Rangers play-by-play announcer Eric Nadel has done a radio pre-game show called “A Page from Baseball Past” since 1984. […]

Are Innings Limits Here to Stay?

If Hamlet had been a modern general manager in Major League Baseball instead of the tragic heir to the Danish throne, the doomed Dane would have morosely uncovered the reports on his young talented pitchers and mournfully deliberated: “To cap or not to cap, that is the question.” Innings limits have become ubiquitous as front […]

Around the American League With George Case: 1939-1946

A couple of weeks ago, I got to write the kind of story I love for my blog. The son of a former Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians outfielder named George Case emailed me to say he had a 37-minute DVD compiled from 8 mm color footage his dad shot of his career, which spanned […]

A Father’s Day Salute

I suppose this is the perfect time to thank my father for turning me on to baseball, for taking me to Fenway Park when I was a kid, and for not only teaching me how to play the game, but also how to appreciate the game.  I remember the time when I was younger when […]

1990 Baseball Predictions: How Did They Turn Out?

When I was a teenager February meant two things: the start of spring training  and my annual trek to the supermarket to load up on baseball preview magazines.  Back then, you could score a handful for about $15.  These days, at $8-$9 a pop (or even $12.99; I’m talking to you Maple Street Press), I […]

Time Marches On

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day ~William Shakespeare Time.  There’s no stopping it, no slowing it.  Whether you’re a Hall-of-Fame outfielder, a back-up infielder, or a middle school teacher, time inevitably marches on.  It slows us down, humbles us, and erodes away our natural athletic gifts. The […]

Mr. President: It’s Time to Let Bonds and Clemens Fade Away

Dear Barack, I know how big a sports fan you are, so I’m sure you saw yesterday’s court decision to throw out key evidence in the perjury case against Barry Bonds. Your prosecutors have not commented on whether they will continue to try the case or fold. So before they can decide to waste more […]

Washington Is a Baseball Town (Again)

At the top of the seventh inning the crowd began the chant, “Let’s Go Stras-burg” to the same cadence that fans in DC have grown tired of listening to from Philly, Dodger, Red Sox and just about anywhere fans.  But this chant was all DC and it grew and built.  “Let’s Go Stras-burg” the entire […]

Major League Baseball….in Altoona?

Altoona, Pennsylvania is the kind of place Bruce Springsteen sings about – a cold, gray blight, best experienced through the rear-view mirror at about 80 miles-an-hour.  When the Pennsylvania Railroad crumbled after World War II, Altoona crashed down right along with it.  Today, the garish lights of its endless chain restaurants and strip malls are […]

The Game That Changed Baseball History

I don’t have to tell you what happened last night. Armando Galarraga pitched a perfect game–according to the rules of baseball–but umpire Jim Joyce’s failure to apply Rule 6.05(j) [a batter is out if “after he hits a fair ball, he or first base is tagged before he touches first base”] on the 27th out […]

Strasburg in Syracuse Ninth Start: Getting Lost

His ninth start is a Monday late in May. I leave early in order to make friends with Syracuse. ‘Making friends with the city’ means getting good and lost on my way to a bookstore, and then driving in circles on three different routes from the bookstore to the ballpark. I see De Witt and […]

Baseball and Reality TV: A “Natural” Fit

The reality TV circuit has covered just about every genre of the entertainment industry imaginable. From singing and dance competitions, to former rock stars looking for love, to boxers looking to be contenders and so on, just about everything you can think of from an entertainment perspective has been covered. Everything that is except for […]

When Cheney Ruled Washington

It was a cool September evening in 1962 when 4,098 citizens exercised their right to assemble, in anticipation of an appearance by the representatives of the nation’s capital. Not surprisingly, John Kennedy was the first to take his turn, though he turned out to be a minor figure in the night’s long drama. Later, a […]

Hall of Fame Killers

Any Seamheads reader should know by now that there’s a lot of good information at baseball-reference.com. In particular, in the Play Index. For instance: in the last decade, Miguel Tejada led the majors with 223 groundball double play, 28 more than runner-up Paul Konerko. That is only one ground ball short of Jim Rice’s 224 […]

Strasburg in Syracuse: Start Two: Dwarfing, Part I

Ballplayers, they say, are superstitious; which doesn’t mean that everyone else isn’t, too. After Saturday’s interruption at Alliance Bank Stadium, I simply do not have the heart to drive back to the scene five days later. Through no fault of its own, the park is now a cursed site for me. I am at my […]

Meet the new Park Factors — Part III

Taming the Wind “This will be one of the most beautiful baseball parks of all time.”—Vice President Richard Nixon, 1960, opening day at Candlestick Park So many were fooled. Players, sports writers, and even future presidents were in awe of the new home of the San Francisco Giants. Mesmerizing visitors with its lush green grass […]

My Birthday Wish: Help Me Help My Friends

Tomorrow, May 3, 2010 I will have been on this earth exactly 43 years.  My friend Cassidy Anne “Addy” Hurt barely made it 18 months.  Though Cassidy and I never met, she’s a friend because her father, Tony, and mother, Raelynn, are friends.  When I first met Raelynn she was pregnant with Cassidy.  The next […]

Kevin Millar Is Returning to His Roots To Play a Week for the St. Paul Saints

Kevin Millar’s playing days are not over. “I am going to play a week with the St. Paul Saints,” the best player ever to start his professional career in Independent Baseball told a national audience on SiriusXM Radio one morning this week. The hosts on The Power Alley wanted to know if Millar was retired […]

One More Opening Day

Joe Shrode is a father, and a 19-year youth baseball coach. He is the author of “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son, and America’s Pastime.” BTL goes beyond balls and strikes, hits and outs, and wins and losses. It’s about relationships. To see excerpts, visit www.btlfatherson.blogspot.com. One recent Saturday morning, I took the field […]

Just How Good is Albert Pujols?

Would you believe that Albert Pujols is already one of the top twenty position players of the modern era (since 1920)?  In addition to that, he is the third best first baseman of the period – behind only Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx.  These are conclusions drawn from the CAWS Career Gauge. Bill James’ Win […]

Wanna have some fun? OOTP 11 Goes Deep

Hi, my name is Kevin and I’m an addict…and what I’m addicted to is Out of the Park Baseball 11 from OOTP Developments (www.ootpdevelopments.com). I realize now that admitting there is a problem is the first step toward solving the problem. It’s just that I don’t want to break my OOTP 11 addiction just yet […]

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 […]

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 […]

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