We Can Rebuild Him... ()
Like all normal redblooded American males coming of age in the 1970s and early 80s, I was a huge fan of The Six Million Dollar Man. "We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability...
View ArticleThe King of Queens, Rick Peterson ()
Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson, another former Billy Beane boy, has been doing great things with the Mets pitching staff: Peterson cannot be confined to the stadium, using his spare time to develop...
View ArticleGeekball Defended ()
In this fascinating and fact-fileld piece on sabermetrics, Larry Mankhen demonstrates why baseball is still far and away the most interesting sport to write about and debate. There are some who still...
View ArticleBarry Barry Quite Contrary ()
OK, it's been a while and I apologize for the delay. Things have been hectic. And look at what's happened in my absence. Maybe the biggest sports and tech story ever -- Bonds, Giambi, 'roids, Bush and...
View ArticleIs It Like 1919? ()
George Will thinks the steroids scandal is a "stain" on baseball and framed the issue this way: "Probably sometime late in the 2005 season or early in the next one, Barry Bonds, who already has 703...
View ArticleI Don't Want No Cubs ()
The Chicago Cubs scalp their own tickets (and apparently it's legal). I was recently pointed to the web page of a disgruntled fan (click here) who found out that a ticket re-seller is owned by the same...
View Article'These Are Not So Much Bats as Clubs' ()
I love this story. Absolutely love it. It demonstrates everything that's wrong or right or both with the incremental changes that technology introduces into a sport like baseball. Louisville Slugger...
View ArticleDick Allen, by the Numbers ()
Allen Barra makes a strong case, based on stats, that Dick Allen belongs in the Hall of Fame: Richard Anthony "Dick" (aka "Richie") Allen is the best player eligible for the Hall of Fame. ...Mr. Allen,...
View ArticleRoid Ragers ()
Andrew Zimbalist with a devastating review of the new Howard Bryant book on 'roids. In "Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball," Howard Bryant suggests that...
View ArticleLa Russa to James: Stuff It ()
The Times has a good look at the controversy in baseball over sabermetrics. Like any good intellectual spat, this one involves high-brow questions and low-brow insults. It also has attracted interest...
View ArticleWhy Is Baseball Ignoring Mike Marshall? ()
Former pitcher Mike Marshall is claiming he can train pitchers to avoid injury. This Murray Chass piece is fascinating. At his training center, where the students live for 40 or 48 weeks, he teaches...
View ArticleTape-Measure Shot? ()
The Wall Street Journal ($) has a fascinating piece on how baseball does not have a reliable way of measuring how far home runs travel. Of course, tracking homers isn't a simple process, and it usually...
View ArticleWhere This Angel Feared to Tread (and thank God the Yanks and Red Sox Lost) ()
My friend John points out: Can you imagine what would have happened if game 2 between the Angels and White Sox -- decided as it was thanks to a terrible ump call in the 9th -- happened in Boston or New...
View ArticleRoids and the Homer Binge: Another View ()
Here's very interesting research from Art DeVany claiming that roids cannot explain the seeming surge in home run hitting. If you still have an open mind about these issues, pls read it (I'm not saying...
View ArticleBad Innovations ()
There are lies, damn lies and then there's Jayson Stark's claim that interleague play is one on the top 25 innovations of the last 25 years. For the ninth straight year, many more people attended...
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