With the voting results for the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2011 scheduled to drop at 2 PM today, I dug deep into the Futility Infielder archives and found my first piece advocating for the election of Bert Blyleven to the Hall of Fame. It dates to January 6, 2002, a day short of nine …
Continue reading ‘Rookie Blogger Stumps for Blyleven: January 2002’ »
Gotta call bullshit on Joel Sherman’s suggestion that Joe Girardi could consider the soon-to-be-vacant Cubs managerial position upon Lou Piniella’s retirement at the end of this season: Joe Girardi’s free agency be came a little more interesting yesterday when Lou Piniella announced his retirement as Cubs manager, effective at the conclusion of the season. It …
With the Dodgers and Yankees set to square off in L.A. tonight, I’ve got a rant at Baseball Prospectus wondering why Major League Baseball has never brought this matchup to the Bronx in 14 seasons of interleague play: Tonight the Yankees and Dodgers kick off a three-game interleague series in Los Angeles. The two teams …
Continue reading ‘A Thumbnail Guide to the Dodgers-Yankees Fall Classics’ »
Last week, in the wake of Armando Galarraga’s near-perfecto, I took a stab at explaining the recent spate of no-hitters and perfect games. Today’s Prospectus Hit and Run examines the myriad claims that we’re in the midst of a so-called “Year of the Pitcher.” As usual, my first impulse is to debunk such claims. Scoring …
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 …
Continue reading ‘From the Streets of Baltimore to the Sofas of Brooklyn’ »
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 …
Continue reading ‘MLB Should Step Up to the Plate on Jackie Robinson Day’ »
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 …
Among the numerous things I’m thankful for every year, one of them is the arrival of Roger Angell’s annual recap in The New Yorker, which I sat down and read last night over a bottle of seasonal ale after tiring of discerning the minutiae of various Angels pitching prospects. From Angels to Angell, now that …
The nation’s leading sticks in the mud, the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, are having a vote in a few weeks. Two of them, in fact, one on umpires and managers and the other on executives and pioneers. Marvin Miller, the former executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association who led the fight …
Last week, Bronx Banter’s Alex Belth put together a three-part series (one, two, three) on some of the greatest ledes — the opening sentences or paragraphs of newspaper or magazine articles — in sportswriting history, lines which pack a wallop that’s stood the test of time. A student of the genre, Alex called upon great …
Continue reading ‘The King of the Sports Page Ledes the Way’ »