I didn’t have much time for surprise yesterday when the news hit that Manny Ramirez had drawn a 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s drug policy. Before I could untangle my own emotions, catch my breath, dig into this week’s Hit List or get the full breadth of the rapidly evolving story, I’d been …
I’m riding a hitting streak — four straight days of publishing at Baseball Prospectus, a first for me: • Tuesday’s Hit and Run explored April home run rates and found they were nothing remarkable within the context of the past decade and a half: Excluding the strike-affected 1994-1995 years, the 2009 season ranks seventh out of 14 …
Earlier this week, I had an epic-length free piece on Baseball Prospectus about the sudden flood of historical minor league data available online via the recently upgraded Baseball-Reference.com: While I’m hardly an authority on the topic, I’ve always had a soft spot for minor league baseball, probably because my formative years were spent in minor …
One more loss to add to the list of those who have passed in the last week: Marie Olbermann, mother of former ESPN anchor and current MSNBC Countdown Keith Olbermann. In an episode whose roots connect directly with the genesis of my web site, Mrs. Olbermann was struck in the face by an errant Chuck …
Today marks the 62nd 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. While Commissioner Bud Selig has reached the reductio ad absurdum in attempting to honor Robinson by mandating that every player wear number 42 in …
A senseless tragedy, the passing of a legend, and a bittersweet reminder of a Bird that flew too high — it’s been a miserable week for baseball mortality. I was barely 15 minutes into my chat on Baseball Prospectus on Monday afternoon when a chorus of readers posted to inform me of the passing of …
Thursday found me at the News Corporation building for lunch with Rupert Murdoch (not really) and an appearance on the FoxNews.com streaming webcast “The Strategy Room” (yes, really). Given the number of media hits I’ve done in the service of promoting Baseball Prospectus 2009 over the past several weeks, I figured this would be a …
In recent years, my wife has developed a passion for architecture, and in particular New York City architecture. She’s taken a pair of classes taught by architecture historian Barry Lewis at the New School over the past couple of years, along the way assimilating more information on the entire discipline than I ever have. Having …
A belated Happy Opening Day to you all. I’ve spent much of the past 48 hours half-watching games while I worked against my deadlines, a less-than-entirely satisfying endeavor offset by the fact that at least I was watching real baseball. Sunday night’s Braves-Phillies contest, Monday’s Mets-Reds, Yankees-Orioles and Dodgers-Padres tilts offered their novelties (touted Braves …
With the preseason Hit List and the final Fantasy Baseball Index Spring Update both raging out of control on my front burners, I don’t have time for a full writeup of last night’s trip to the new Yankee Stadium for the unofficial opening game against the Cubs. I will say that it feels as though …