Happy 2008, everyone! Just a few quick notes this morning, the first of which is time-sensitive:

• I’ve been invited to appear on XM 175, Hot Stove with Chuck Wilson today (Thursday) at 12:25 PM Eastern to discuss JAWS and the 2008 Hall of Fame ballot. I’m told I’ll be doing a second segment at 12:45. This might be my favorite radio gig of the year, because Chuck does his homewor and gives me a chance to discuss my system at length.

Hopefully by the time I’m on the air, my JAWS take on the ballot’s starting pitchers will be up at Baseball Prospectus. UPDATE: it’s up.

• Speaking of BP, I’ve got a quickie Unfiltered post on baseball-themed holiday loot that adds to a staff rundown of my colleagues’ hauls. The best items from this awesome bounty might be the DVD burn of the 1975 All-Star Game taped off the local Brewers channel (it was played at Milwaukee County Stadium), and a scan of a photo of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig with a local politician who was the grandfather of a dear family friend, Karen Edson. Quoth my BP colleague Christina Kahrl, “About the only thing missing was a four-day weekend with Sandy Koufax.”

Here’s a shot of the All-Star Game, with AL starting pitcher Vida Blue resplendent in a full yellow uniform:

• My boy Alex Belth has edited a forthcoming anthology, The Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan, which he’s understandably jazzed about; the book hits the shelves in late February. Alex has some choice Jordan stuff on Joe Torre (his former batterymate in the Braves’ system) dating back to 1996. It didn’t make the cut for the book but it’s enjoyable reading nonetheless. He’s also been pulling some vintage articles on Red Smith and Dick Young. Go get ‘em.

• The clearance of my major workload has meant the opportunity to catch up with some of my lighter reading. Amid an epic stint on the couch watching college football bowl games on New Year’s Day (more football than I’ve watched all year combined), I settled in with some excellent entries from Josh Wilker’s Cardboard Gods blog which reminded me what I’d been missing: Rickey Henderson, John Urrea, Ray Corbin, Paul Mitchell and Mickey Klutts. Sometimes hilarious, other times philosophical, and often painfully confessional, his stuff is always worth a read.