Extended weekend for me, with a pair of notable arrivals — an out-of-town friend of nearly 20 years and the first-born son of my frequent FI foil, Nick — which occupied my time, so I didn’t get to see much baseball. A few glimpses of a portly, pinstriped Sidney Ponson here, a gander at one …
When the rain started pouring at Yankee Stadium during the top of the sixth inning of Sunday’s Yanks-Reds tilt, I felt like I’d already gotten my money’s worth. In addition to surviving what the late Hunter S. Thompson would have termed a king-hell hangover (wrought by my wife’s birthday party the night before) and some …
I grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, largely among Mormon kids for whom swearing was taboo. From a young age I learned that bad words could get you into a little bit of trouble, but I never had my mouth washed out with soap or anything so dramatic. At worst I was lectured by …
Continue reading ‘George Carlin, RIP (Not Fucking Safe For Work)’ »
Three pieces of Prospectus-flavored content to note here, an average of one for each manager fired this week (Willie Randolph, Seattle’s John McLaren, and Toronto’s John Gibbons). With apologies to Bill Bavasi… • First off, here’s the transcript from Tuesday’s chat as well as a few slices: Dan (windowless office): Should we ignore the Hit …
Quick note: I’ll be chatting today at Baseball Prospectus at 3 PM Eastern. Stop by and drop off a question if you’ve got one. Injuries are an inevitable part of baseball. Last Friday’s Hit List noted the absences of the likes of big-name players like Alfonso Soriano, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, John Smoltz, Rafael Furcal …
Friday’s Hit List featured my two teams personifying mediocrity, ranked at the middle of the pack at #15 (Yankees) and #16 (Dodgers). Neither has been a whole lot of fun to watch lately. The Dodgers have been minus Rafael Furcal for about a month now. They were 18-14 with him, as he got off to …
The obituaries have been all too full of familiar names in recent weeks, men whose life’s work brought me a great deal of joy, countless hours of entertainment, and plenty of food for thought. Since Memorial Day alone, we’ve lost director Sydney Pollack, actor Harvey Korman, musician Bo Diddley, and sports broadcaster Jim McKay. Today’s …
Continue reading ‘Eliot Asinof (1919-2008) and the Mystery of Rocky Perone’ »
As somebody who grew up in a city with a minor-league team instead of a major-league one, and who frequented another city even further down the minor-league ladder, I always maintained a mental bookmark list of players I’d seen who made it to The Show, and some who came close with no cigar. This week …
I was pretty excited when over the weekend I learned that I’d have to bypass seeing one of my favorite bands, the Waco Brothers, because I held tickets to Tuesday night’s Yankees game, a matchup between the Blue Jays and Yanks that would pit Joba Chamberlain in his long-awaited first major-league start, against Toronto ace …
I had to dash out town on Friday — down to Delaware for my brother-in-law’s wedding — before I could get the link to the Hit List up here, but of more interest three days later is the full transcript of the interview I did with Marvin Miller for last week’s feature. Here’s a taste: …