Working Through the Winter Blues — Or Not

Nearly six years ago, a 27-year-old graphic designer (and frustrated writer) washed ashore onto the banks of a New York City educational design studio. The designer’s life had recently gone through an upheaval — a long-overdue breakup with his college-vintage girlfriend, layoff from a failed new media company. Months of 70-hour work weeks and absolutely …

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McCracken Up — to the Majors

If you have been following my yammerings about Defense Independent Pitching Statistics this winter, you’ll recognize the name of Voros McCracken, the man who created DIPS. My recent foray onto the foreboding DIPS tundra was due to the facts that McCracken decided not to publish the numbers this year, and that he gave me his …

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The Wildest Thing

John Eisenberg of the Baltimore Sun has written a lengthy, worthwhile profile of minor-league legend Steve Dalkowski. A gas-throwing hellraiser in the Orioles minor-league system, Dalkowski was the inspiration for the Nuke LaLoosh character played by Tim Robbins in Bull Durham. Many who saw him claimed he was the hardest thrower they’d ever seen. Alas, …

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