tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30126042010-04-23T13:13:26.686-04:00<b>A Baseball Journal by Jay Jaffe</b> I'm a baseball fan living in New York City. In between long tirades about the New York Yankees and the national pastime in general, I'm a graphic designer.Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.comBlogger1315125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-18456471990106974512010-04-23T11:36:00.005-04:002010-04-23T13:13:26.695-04:00

So this past Sunday I got up to Yankee Stadium for my first game of the season, where my friend Julie and I watched Dandy Andy Pettitte and the Yankees subdue the Rangers, 5-2. Given last year's ugly ticket drama, I'm pleased to report that we've moved up in the world. Last year, we were about four rows from Newark up in section 413 just beyond the infield down the right field line:This year,

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-14869002382071626032010-04-19T14:24:00.002-04:002010-04-19T16:32:52.829-04:00

What happens when a baseball outsider lands what seemed to be the job of her (yes, her) dreams, covering the two New York baseball teams as a beat reporter? What happens when that job is just as suddenly yanked away when her publisher goes through yet another regime change? Having crossed the line into professionalism, can she go back to enjoying the game as a fan? Those are a few of the big

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-59521590292542871582010-04-16T09:52:00.005-04:002010-04-16T12:03:57.094-04:00

A bit groggy here after a long week which began with a fun ballpark trip to a Baseball Prospectus event in Baltimore — one which included Orioles president Andy MacPhail, six BP authors, and XM Radio hosts Mike Ferrin and Grant Paulsen — and was capped by having stayed up past 2:00 AM on each of the past two nights watching the Dodgers and Diamondbacks battle into extra innings — a combined eight

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-35330403086670382402010-04-15T22:12:00.005-04:002010-04-15T23:13:07.900-04:00

Today marks the 63rd anniversary of one of the great days in American history, the day that Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier by taking the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. It's a day to pause a moment and reflect upon Robinson's immeasurable courage in battling racism, and the impact his bold success had on this country. From the integration of the military to the Civil Rights

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-77407143743327370522010-04-10T11:33:00.002-04:002010-04-10T11:39:21.124-04:00

I know I tweeted about this, but I forgot to post it here. Last Friday, Steven Goldman and I paid a visit to the WNYC studio in Tribeca and sat down for a 15-minute segment on "The Brian Lehrer Show." WNYC, for those not in the know, is a member station of National Public Radio and the largest public radio station in the US, while Lehrer is an award-winning host.Ours was a fun conversation, one

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-70076158724151571762010-04-09T16:52:00.002-04:002010-04-09T17:06:53.898-04:00

Malcolm McClaren, the Svengali behind the Sex Pistols, passed away on Thursday at the age of 64. McLaren's audacious promotion helped turn the Pistols into Public Enemy Number One in England during 1976, and he certainly bears a good deal of responsibility for popularizing punk as a fashion statement via his London boutique, SEX. But anyone who thinks McLaren was the inventor of punk as a musical

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-75043348378183388972010-04-09T12:40:00.003-04:002010-04-09T13:22:34.745-04:00

Keyed by Tim Kurkjian's observation that there are no currently active starting pitchers who are locks for Cooperstown, today's Prospectus Hit and Run is devoted to examining which active pitchers have the best shot, using both JAWS and more traditional credentials. Before digging into the names, consider the following:The Baseball Writers Association of America voters haven't elected a starter

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-69503447700999894352010-04-09T11:34:00.005-04:002010-04-09T12:08:33.675-04:00

Happy belated Opening Day! The season is underway, of course, and I've been particularly busy finishing up the Fantasy Baseball Index Spring Update series, drafting a fantasy team of my own to compete in the True Blue LA league, and trying to keep my head above water at Baseball Prospectus.For starters, here's my entry in the BP staff's Preseason Predictions. Now, with the caveat that I don't

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-70941429895071069052010-03-31T18:41:00.003-04:002010-03-31T18:51:17.206-04:00

In honor of Pat Venditte's spring fling with the Yankees, I've got a One-Hopper at Baseball Prospectus, covering not only his appearance but also a history of switch-pitching:It was only one inning and change in an exhibition game, but on Tuesday the Yankees finally got a good look at Pat Venditte, the ambidextrous reliever who has pitched for three of their lower minor league affiliates over the

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-72664222310869138302010-03-31T17:26:00.003-04:002010-03-31T18:02:17.817-04:00

In the wake of Joe Mauer agreeing to an eight-year, $184-million contract extension with the Twins, I wrote a piece on Mauer's Hall of Fame chances vis-à-vis JAWS, using his PECOTA projections to fill in the blanks because his major league career consists of five seasons and change. Amazingly, he's already 31st in all-time WARP among the 1,713 catchers in our database — the 98th percentile — and

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-80606269186320296942010-03-26T16:25:00.004-04:002010-03-26T16:55:05.271-04:00

Just finished a chat at Baseball Prospectus. Some highlights:Mike W (Chicago): How many starts do the Brewers give [Jeff] Suppan? Not that their alternatives are very attractive, but we know how this movie ends, right?JJ: It sounds as though the Brewers are closing in on the decision to make David Bush their #4 behind Gallardo, Wolf and Davis, which leaves Manny Parra, Chris Narveson and Suppan

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-46692516817394501492010-03-25T09:57:00.001-04:002010-03-25T10:45:09.438-04:00

Back on February 28, I was part of the Baseball Prospectus team that visited the Yogi Berra Museum at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Beyond the usual business of promoting Baseball Prospectus 2010, the occasion was notable because HBO Real Sports sent host Bryant Gumbel and their production team to film the event and conduct interviews in the service of a segment on three transgender

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-51511545180509489142010-03-24T21:32:00.006-04:002010-03-24T22:50:11.336-04:00

Jim Marshall, one of the great rock and roll photographers, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 74. Marshall photographed the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and others. His work was recently featured at a Brooklyn Museum exhibit called "Who Shot Rock and Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present," and you can see a selection of his iconic photos at his

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-56166170969383319442010-03-18T11:59:00.007-04:002010-03-18T13:40:28.400-04:00

When I first arrived in New York City back in 1995, I moved in with a friend of my downstairs neighbor in Providence, a guy who worked in film and video who had been flopping on friends' couches in Hoboken for awhile and needed to solidify his situation with, like, a mailing address. A guy named John, who had just come off working on Ken Burns' Baseball epic, where — I learned the better part of

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-5350315043811503762010-03-17T22:23:00.003-04:002010-03-17T22:42:40.045-04:00

Over at Baseball Prospectus' new One-Hoppers blog, I've expanded and revised my take on Willie Davis to include some comments from the New Bill James Historical Abstract as well as my own JAWS-flavored take: "He was sort of the Mike Cameron or Kenny Lofton or Devon of his day — a fine supporting player whose merits for Cooperstown fall short of the mark, but who could certainly play. There's no

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-58269957909639092892010-03-17T13:44:00.003-04:002010-03-17T13:50:07.263-04:00

I've never worked in film, TV or video, but I have enough friends that do to know what a b-roll is: supplemental footage intercut with the main event in an interview, documentary or news report. As such, this video has been cracking me up for the past couple of months. Too good not to share. It's even got a great baseball reference to boot. Enjoy!

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-42394309867084002010-03-17T08:46:00.004-04:002010-03-17T10:34:25.996-04:00

Willie Davis was before my time. He spent 18 seasons in the major leagues, from 1960 through 1976, with a brief comeback in 1979, so unless he made a cameo appearance in an Angels game I was watching in that latter year — he wasn't in this Nolan Ryan near no-hitter — I never actually saw him play. I knew of him primarily because of a gruesome inning in the 1966 World Series in which he made three

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-80761475725757385702010-03-12T15:50:00.007-05:002010-03-12T16:58:35.907-05:00

At Baseball Prospectus, I've got a lengthy take on Nomar Garciaparra's retirement, placing him in the context of the "Holy Trinity" of shortstops:Back in the mid-1990s, a trio of young shortstops burst onto the American League scene. Soon dubbed the "Holy Trinity," Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra were part of an elite three-way positional rivalry not seen since the days that

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-84767309396412938392010-03-10T18:28:00.007-05:002010-03-10T20:59:09.306-05:00

Amid all of this recent book promo hubbub, I've actually gotten to do some writing:• Last week, I noted the introduction of the ESPN Insider TMI blog. Today I've got another piece there, this one on Ozzie Guillen's stated desire for the 2010 White Sox to be more aggressive on the basepaths. There's a longer version over at Baseball Prospectus. Here's a taste:Despite the coupling of his

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-24991036565009077372010-03-10T16:56:00.006-05:002010-03-10T23:13:45.836-05:00

It's been a busy and exhilarating couple of weeks promoting Baseball Prospectus 2010. After a wave of some two dozen radio hits, last weekend my colleagues and I made appearances at the Yogi Berra Museum at Montclair State University in New Jersey and a Barnes and Noble in Manhattan. Sandwiched between those two appearances, I did an hour-long spot on the Fox Strategy Room's "Clubhouse Report"

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-26658805039423904692010-03-10T10:58:00.003-05:002010-03-10T16:55:57.757-05:00

... For one of the most memorable moments I've experienced in over 30 years as a Dodger fan. I speak, of course, of Garciparra's 10th-inning walk-off homer off the Padres' Rudy Seanez on September 18, 2006, capping a miraculous comeback in which four Dodgers — Jeff Kent, J.D. Drew, Russell Martin and Marlon Anderson — hit consecutive solo shots in the ninth inning to tie the game.For all of the

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-77877277639039834482010-03-03T23:06:00.003-05:002010-03-03T23:20:37.075-05:00

Behind the subscription wall, our partners at ESPN Insider have launched a new blog called TMI (The Max Info). Baseball Prospectus is contributing to it, as are writers from Fangraphs, Tom Tango from the Inside the Book blog, and folks from within ESPN's Stats and Info department, a couple of whom I had the pleasure of meeting when I went to Bristol for a big baseball summit a few weeks back.

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-61069143719150379622010-02-26T22:51:00.005-05:002010-02-26T23:09:07.444-05:00

The Baseball Prospectus 2010 book promotional tour starts in earnest this weekend. On Sunday, February 28, I'll join Cliff Corcoran, Steven Goldman, Kevin Goldstein and Christina Kahrl for a panel discussion at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center at Montclair State University in New Jersey (if you need directions just know that when you come to a fork in the road, take it). First pitch is

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-32234023563541875292010-02-25T15:38:00.003-05:002010-02-25T15:53:07.584-05:00

The hits to promote the release of Baseball Prospectus 2010 keep coming. Here's the schedule for the rest of the week:• This evening, I'll be on Milwaukee's WAUK 540 AM, the local ESPN affiliate, at 6:40 PM Eastern (5:40 Central), streaming here.• I'll also be on Seattle's KRKO 1380 AM at 7:30 PM Eastern (4:30 Pacific), streaming here.• On Friday morning at 8:40 Eastern (7:40 Central), I'll be on

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3012604.post-41767840783683752852010-02-24T12:29:00.004-05:002010-02-24T17:44:58.567-05:00

It's day three of the Prospectus Radio Blitz, and the hits to promote the release of Baseball Prospectus 2010 keep coming. Here's Wednesday's schedule:• Already in the can is a taped interview with Manchester, New Hampshire's WGIR 610 AM, which will air tomorrow morning, time TBD.• At 4:35 Eastern, I'll be doing my usual weekly spot with Toledo, Ohio's WLQR 106.5 FM, a local ESPN affiliate. It's

Jayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12717810588608683055noreply@blogger.com0