Shiny New Penny

Years ago such a small thing as finding a shiny new penny could brighten the day of a small child. Nationals fans are a mature lot, but the Nationals acquisition of Gio Gonzalez has added a little of that magic back into their new year’s equation. There is real baseball value from adding the hard […]

Who Were the Most Productive Offensive Players in 2011?

Numerous methods have been devised to measure offensive performance.  The most common are batting average, on-base percentage and slugging average.  Since none of these averages provides a complete picture by itself, a more comprehensive measure of offensive performance is useful.  Such a measure would include the following elements: The ability to get on base. The […]

Spoiled Fish Jeopardized Ty Cobb’s Career

Ty Cobb is nearly as well known for his fits of temper and violence as he is for his 4,189 base hits and .367 career batting average. His aggressive play on the baseball diamond carried over to his willingness to fight anyone at any time. During his life he was involved in several widely publicized […]

2012 Milestones (And Beyond): Hits

Last time around I looked at potential milestones in runs scored and Alex Rodriguez’s quest to join the top 10 in 2012, which looks likely based on his career average and last three seasons.  If you’re hoping for another new member of the 3,000-hit club, however, don’t hold your breath (unless you’re a Yankee fan, […]

Al Neiger: The Pride of Delaware

Al Neiger is one of the finest athletes to ever hail from Delaware. His athletic acumen is enforced by his enshrinement in both the University of Delaware Athletics and the Delaware Sports Museum Hall of Fames. Baseball was the sport in which he excelled, and while he did not play there long, he was good […]

ESPN’s Matt Meyers Talks Writing and Baseball

ESPN has been on top of the sports news and broadcasting world for the better part of three decades. A major component of their success is their ability to attract and cultivate top-notch talent in all aspects of their operation. Between running a television channel, a highly trafficked website, and a magazine, ESPN produces a […]

Leyendas olvidadas del beisbol cubano: Tony “Haitiano” González (Forgotten Cuban Baseball legends: Tony “Haitiano” Gonzalez)

La política anticubana, impuesta por la tiranía castrista para destruir a largo plazo el pasatiempo nacional incluyó, primero, eliminar el profesionalismo; después, borrar la historia, para que las generaciones nacidas a partir de 1959, nunca tuvieran referencias de la única etapa grandiosa del beisbol en la Isla. No de otra forma se concibe que, durante […]

Christmas and Baseball

The Christmas season used to have a wonderful pace to it, much like a baseball season does. Santa didn’t arrive until the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which was followed shortly thereafter by the arrival of the first Christmas card. The Grinch That Stole Christmas was broadcast–once–and your entire Friday evening revolved around that […]

Marc Kroon: Still Chasing His Major League Aspirations

Playing in the major leagues is the dream of many and the reality of few. With any dream, the chase can become addictive, especially as one draws closer to realizing their goal. Right-handed Marc Kroon realized his dream of making it to the major leagues four times during his career, albeit all four times  were […]

SABR Scouts Committee Publishes Book

The scouts committee of SABR has published a book entitled: Can He Play? A Look at Baseball Scouts and Their Profession, edited by yours truly and Bill Nowlin. They dig through tons of coal to find a single diamond. They spend countless hours traveling miles and miles on lonely back roads and way too much […]

Fun With Retrosheet: Do Only Slow Runners Ground into a Lot of DPs?

There was a discussion recently on SABR-L about whether we can reliably determine that a player was slow from his offensive statistics. Several markers were proposed: low stolen base totals, a poor SB success rate, and few triples were some of those that were mentioned. So was a high number of grounded into double-plays (GIDP). […]

Grube, Savage New Names to Watch in Spring Training

Since this is the final column before the calendar turns to 2012, I cannot help but wonder if Independent Baseball can top this season when a record 40 of its former players wore a major league uniform? While admittedly early in forecasting success stories for the new year much beyond the previous accolades for possible […]

El calor de La Habana. (Havana heat)

Luego de más de cinco meses recibí un libro de béisbol que Mike Lynch me había enviado a fin de analizarlo para la web page Seamheads.com. Es una novela escrita por Darryl Brock sobre el pitcher sordo Luther Taylor de los Gigantes de Nueva York. La historia se ubica a medio camino entre la ficción […]

Big Trouble at The Lambs for John McGraw, Part II

Part I Despite Slavin not cooperating, McGraw was not yet out of trouble. McGraw’s initial statement about what had happened included describing his purchase of alcohol at The Lambs, which perked up the ears of authorities. McGraw admitted to police that he had bought four pints of whiskey at the Lambs Club, but that he […]

A Real Dandy

Juan Marichal won more games than anyone in the 1960s. That’s some accomplishment for the “Dominican Dandy” who began playing ball using branches for bats and socks wrapped around golf balls for baseballs. “We just loved the game so much that, as a kid, anywhere you saw other kids playing, you wanted to be there,” […]

Negro Leagues DB Update: Cuban Summer League

The historical Cuban League everyone knows about was played in the fall and winter months, and so is often referred to as the Cuban Winter League.  Almost nobody remembers that, in the first decade of the 20th century at least, there was a Cuban Summer League, too, the Premio de Verano, or Summer Championship.  The […]

Ben Cherington Needs To Pick It Up

It has barely been two months since Ben Cherington took over as Red Sox GM, but to date his work has been extremely underwhelming. This impression has been in place ever since the prolonged and possibly botched managerial search, which ultimately netted Bobby Valentine. Although Cherington and the team professed that Bobby V. was their […]

De Coughlan, Pujol, Kendri Y Los Marlins (Coughlan, Pujol, Kendri and the Marlins)

A pesar de todo lo que han hecho y dicen que les queda por hacer, la gerencia de los Marlins siempre es sospechosa de mentirle al público. Tanto que comprometieron hasta su honor, legalmente, con los fondos para el estadio. Cuando el prometedor novato Greg Coughlan fue enviado a las Menores, lo justificaron con “bajo […]

A Tribute to Billy Sullivan

On October 14, 1906, despite being big underdogs, the Chicago White Sox won the World Series with a victory over the cross-town Chicago Cubs. With excitement still running high, many members of the World Champion White Sox traveled to a small Wisconsin town named Edgerton, to play against their local team. Billy Sullivan, the catcher […]

2012 Milestones (And Beyond): Runs Scored

Ten days ago I wrote that we won’t be witnessing any real milestones in wins for a long time unless Jaimie Moyer makes a successful comeback, and even that’s no guarantee.  Using Bill James’ “Favorite Toy” at ESPN.go.com (called “Career Assessments” now), I deduced that CC Sabathia has a 45% chance of reaching the 300-win […]

Rating the 2012 Hall of Fame Candidates Based on Win Shares

One of the first items of business in baseball each year is the announcement of players elected to the Hall of Fame.  This leads to lots of speculation and a little analysis prior to the announcement which is scheduled forJanuary 9, 2012. Many systems exist for evaluating player performance.  One such system, the Win Shares […]

Celebrating Mets History Anyway

Last week was a tough one for Mets fans as Jose Reyes has done what most New Yorkers can’t manage until they’re twice his age–he took the money and fled to Florida. The team might be in for the Second Dark Ages the next few years, reminiscent of the forgettable seasons between the departure of […]

Guillen Es La Mejor Adquisicion (Up To Now, Guillen Is The Best Acquisition)

Todo lo que los Marlins puedan hacer para la venidera temporada, está en las manos de Ossie Guillen: los jugadores de disciplina probada, como Gaby Sánchez o Logan Morrison; o los considerables en el rango de “mala influencia”, como Hanley Ramírez o José Reyes. Se ha filtrado que Ramírez no quiere jugar en el campocorto […]

Big Trouble at The Lambs for John McGraw: Part I

John McGraw’s legacy is that of a fiery, rough and tumble sort, whose pugnacious nature on the baseball diamond was matched only by how he acted off the field. He could cuss and fight with the best of them, and scrapped his way to a Hall of Fame career in baseball, first as a player […]

100 Years Ago Today

In early December 1911, Washington Nationals president Tom Noyes welcomed his new manager Clark Griffith to town for the first time.  Griffith was given a posh new office in the Southern building and no sooner had he looked over his new digs, than he was off to the winter meetings to hunt for talent during […]

Catching Up With Former Yankee Johnny James

If there is anything more difficult in baseball than making it to the major leagues, it is making the roster of a successful team. Thus imagine the upward climb that pitcher Johnny James had as he worked his way through the New York Yankees farm system in the 1950’s, the golden age of the game’s […]

Touring the Bases with Bart Zeller

Bart Zeller is a former major leaguer, who recently coached the Joliet Slammers to their first ever Frontier League championship. Bart is a great baseball man who obviously loves managing and actually still plays himself, all of which you will read about. I believe you will enjoy the great insight Bart gives about independent baseball, […]

To Santa From Red Sox Nation

Dear Santa; Please know we remain thankful for your gifts of 2004 and 2007. We also know that you are aware the Red Sox were bad in September and naughty to Tito upon his exit. We hope you know that we fans were good all season and the Sox pitching staff were naughty and Bobby […]

A New York View of the 1913 Merkle Play

For those who read the accounts of Fred Merkle’s handling the ball hit to him in the third inning of the final game of the 1913 World Series—from the Philadelphia sport writers’ view—I have some follow up that presents the play from the New York writers’ view. One major difference is the Philadelphia writers all […]

Angels Shock Baseball

The identity of the dastardly “anonymous team” that had reportedly been throwing major monkey wrenches into baseball’s free agency period has finally been unveiled. Today the Los Angeles Angels shocked baseball by not only signing first baseman Albert Pujols (10 year, 252 million dollars), but also picking up starting pitcher C.J. Wilson (5 years, 77.5 […]

Albert Pujols is a Bargain

In order to understand why the Los Angeles Angels are getting a bargain by signing Albert Pujols for $250 million over 10 years, it is important to stop thinking like a fan or a sabermetrician or even a general manager. In order to understand a contract like this, you have to think like an accountant. […]

Here Come the Miami White Sox

Mark Buehrle has long been the best pitcher in the National League and that distinction will likely grow more evident now that he’s actually going to be pitching in the National League. After 12 seasons, 161 victories, four All-Star games, three gold gloves, one no-hitter, a perfect game, a World Series victory and the coolest […]

Crowning Achievement: The Man Behind the Kansas City Royals’ Logo

At Kauffman Stadium not long ago, someone introduced Shannon Manning to a fan and his young son.  The boy had never heard of Manning and couldn’t understand why he was supposed to be so impressed.  The father just pointed to his kid’s Royals cap and explained wryly, “Without this fellow, your hat would just be […]

Poetic Justice

Following the winter meetings is like watching grass grow. Washington baseball fans are waiting anxiously to see whether Santa wraps Mark Buerhle up and places him in the Nationals stocking and if so, what else might there be under the tree. There is the issue of center field with so many options there that even […]

Catching Up With Pete Charton

Following a star career at Baylor University, right-handed pitcher Pete Charton was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1962 as an amateur free agent. At the time Boston was going through a stretch where they had a steady stream of disappointing starting pitching, and every youngster they signed was hoped to be a long […]

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