Grantland: Kalb: The Lost Founder of Baseball Video Games

Don’t know how this is going to help my “DiMythio’s Ristorante de Vulva” fantasy team, but…

The common narrative holds that the journalist Dan Okrent invented fantasy baseball in 1980 — and cleaving to the widely accepted definition of “fantasy baseball,” it’s true. In Okrent’s vision, any fan could be the owner of a team in a fantasy league. Fantasy gamers would draft active MLB players based on whatever instincts and intangibles a real GM would take into consideration and they’d follow ...

Ian Kinsler, Rangers agree to five-year deal

The Rangers and second baseman Ian Kinsler have come to an agreement on a five-year contract worth $75 million that will take effect in 2013. There is an option for a sixth year worth $10 million that can vest to $12 million. The buyout is $5 million.

The deal, pending a physical today, has the largest average annual value ever given to a second baseman at $15 million. It dwarfs by $2.6 million per year the five-year, $62 million deal Dan Uggla signed with Atlanta in 2011.

A news conference ...

Buffery: Don’t be fooled by Jays hype

And the Weberiffic broken hypertrophy goes to…

This has been an organization that has delivered less over the years than those other sad sacks that pass themselves off as professional sports organizations in this city.

I hammered Rogers in the off-season for not giving the Jays and their wunderkind GM, Alex Anthopoulos, a lot more money to go out and do something dramatic to help this team finally make it into the playoffs, something like signing Prince Fielder or bidding enough to acquire ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-10-2012

Dan Brouthers on Dad Clarke, El Paso Herald, April 10, 1912:

“As all oldtimers know, Clarke lost out with the old Chicago club because he obeyed Anson‘s signals. Strange but true—the old man had told him that a cough would be the signal to make a quick throw to first, and, during morning practice, Uncle [Anson] thoughtfully coughed—a real, and not an artificial cough.  Clarke immediately drove the ball across, and caught [Anson] in the Adam’s apple.  Clarke beat the old man to the rear fence of ...

LA Times: Dwyre: Fifty years ago, Maury Wills made crime pay off for the Dodgers

Gonna take a sentimental journey…and look back at Maury Wills and his 104 SB season.

When the season was over, and the Dodgers had lost a three-game playoff with San Francisco for the pennant that had extended the season to 165 games, Wills had stolen 104 bases and baseball had been changed. Small ball had become a viable way to win, and the Dodgers won the World Series three times from 1959 through ‘65.

Wills had six home runs and 48 runs batted in while batting .299 in ‘62, but it was ...

Chad Moriyama: MLB.TV’s idiotic policy prevents Hawaii from watching nine teams on the West Coast

I live in Hawaii. Obviously this makes it a tad difficult to either attend games or watch local broadcasts that are over 3000 miles away. Apparently though, MLB.TV cares little about that teeny tiny issue since they prevent me from watching every single Los Angeles Dodgers game live.

Yes, that’s right, apparently the entire West Coast collection of MLB teams are blacked out in Hawaii.

—–

MLB.TV originally informed me on Friday that I was blacked out from watching the games of five West ...

Storen to see Dr. Andrews after feeling more elbow tenderness

And Drew’s Andrews trip…what’s n’ store?

Drew Storen will be examined by renowned orthopedist Dr. James Andrews tomorrow after the Nationals closer felt some tenderness in his right elbow following a simulated game yesterday.

This is the second time that Storen has been shut down by elbow problems this spring, as the 24-year-old felt tightness in his throwing elbow midway through spring training. He’s been on the comeback trail recently, playing catch and then subsequently throwing off a ...

Beer sales will be limited at Blue Jays sold-out home opener

Beer and the boys of summer go together – sometimes far too well. During Monday’s home opener, the Toronto Blue Jays will restrict the flow of ale to the cheap seats.

Blue Jays officials say a customer can purchase only one beer at a time in the 500-level seats during Monday’s sellout game, in one of the security measures intended to cut down on brawls in the upper decks.

The Jays typically sell out every seat in the 50,000-seat stadium on opening day, double what they get most games. ...

FanGraphs: GIF: Pablo Sandoval’s Home Run Choreography

Pandamic!

While said footage reveals no epiphanies, it does provide a record of the somewhat sophisticated choreography of Sandoval’s home-run trot — information that will no doubt be of great use to our descendants and our descendants’ descendants and our descendants’ descendants’ descendants. Specifically, we learn that the Sandoval performs four distinct acts in rapid succession as he approaches, and then touches, home plate.

These four acts, in particular:

1. He crosses ...

Papelbon Enters to Alice in Chains’ ‘Man in the Box’, Gets Booed After Three Pitches

Feed my lips, now you’ve sewn them shut…

The entrance ended months of speculation about which tune would play as Papelbon enters games at Citizens Bank Park. The right-hander, of course, used the Dropkick Murphys’ hit “Shipping Up to Boston” during his tenure with the Red Sox, but the song obviously wouldn’t be appropriate now that he’s toeing the rubber down in Philadelphia.

Even more interesting is what happened three pitches into Monday’s appearance, which came in the ninth inning of what ...

The Meaning Of The Word ‘Jazz’ Has Baseball Roots

No word yet on a possible Nesuhi Ertegun/Gyroball connection.

As Boston baseball fans prepare to celebrate the 100th birthday of Fenway Park, there’s another important centenntial involving the national pastime: it’s about how baseball gave us jazz. It turns out that the word “jazz” has an unlikely history. It starts 100 years ago with an obscure baseball player named Ben Henderson.

Henderson was a washed up pitcher with the Pacific Coast League with a reputation as an unreliable ...

Allen Barra: These Are Not Your 1998 New York Yankees

Go figga.

I knew on Saturday when the Yankees lost to the Rays 8-6 that if they lost again on Sunday - as they did, 3-0, also to the Rays - that some wise guy would jump up and say, “but the 1998 Yanks started out 0-3 and they did okay.”

Yes, they did. But the 2012 Yankees aren’t the 1998 Yankees. Let us count the differences…

For starters, the left side of the ‘98 Yankees infield, Derek Jeter and Scott Brosius, were 24 and 31 respectively. The left side of the ‘12 Yankees, Jeter and A-Rod, ...

MASN: Werth not concerned with slow start

to contract.

Through the season’s first three regular season games, the results just haven’t been there for the Nationals right fielder. And his stat line doesn’t look too pretty.

In the three contests at Wrigley Field, Werth went 0-for-10 with five strikeouts and three walks.

Still, despite the hitless start, Werth says his confidence hasn’t been shaken at all.

“Yeah, I feel good,” he said after today’s game.

...“I’ve had to work some walks in some tight spots against some pretty good ...

Thoma: For the love of glove: Twins bypass the defense

As Bill Smith said many year ago…“I don’t use the term ‘Twins Way,’ I use the term ‘Right Way,’”

The place where the Twins have emphatically decided to undermine the defense is in the infield. The overwhelming consensus out of Fort Myers this spring was that Brian Dozier was the team’s best defensive shortstop.

But Dozier is in Rochester, and a 38-year-old is the shortstop — and there is no real backup.

In the final days of the exhibition season, Trevor Plouffe started games at second ...

Chimelis: With Sunday’s lineup, Bobby Valentine declares a true New Order with the Red Sox

Good luck, Bill! Looking forward to that book on the “Servant Girl Annihilator”!

Mark down April 8, 2012 as the day the sabermetrics era ended with the Boston Red Sox.

Also eradicated was Terry Francona’s practice of alerting players a day in advance that they would get a day off.

It’s a New Order in Boston, and not just a new batting order. Sunday was the worst day in Carmine the Computer’s baseball career, and not the best for stats maven Bill James, either.

...The lineup Sunday also ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-9-2012

Pittsburgh Gazette Times, April 9, 1912:

Hugo Bezdek, coach of the University of Arkansas club, is one of the best baseball men in the country engaged in college work. He is held in high esteem by both President Dreyfuss and Manager Clark, and it was on his judgment that the club signed Rube Robinson, the left-handed pitcher, whom Bezdek saw in action in the Texas League.

Bezdek had a pretty amazing coaching career. He was the head baseball coach at Arkansas, Oregon, and Penn State, managed the ...

Rosenthal: This time Guillen has gone too far

Yikes! Even Roseñthal is coming down on Ozzie!

The Miami Marlins should suspend Ozzie Guillen. A one-month suspension would send a powerful message that Guillen’s thoughtless remarks on Cuban dictator Fidel Castro will not be tolerated. A one-week suspension probably is more realistic.

Yes, we live in a free country, but the Constitution protects free speech only from restriction by the state and federal governments. The Marlins, a private entity, presumably can impose the penalty of their ...

Q&A: Frank Howard recalls early days of Dodger Stadium

Capital, punisher, just capital.

What do you think of today’s sluggers such as Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Adam Dunn?

“It’s unbelievable what these young guys can do. I heard quite often, ‘They don ‘t make ‘em like they used to,’ and that’s right — they make ‘em bigger, faster and stronger. And a hell of a lot smarter. These guys are marvelous talents.”

What changed since your day was the influence of performance-enhancing drugs in the game. What have you thought of all this?

“We’ve ...

McGrath: Cubs, Sox not alone in their lack of African-American players

Marlon Byrd is more
Jacque Jones or Chris Singleton than he is Ernie Banks in the pantheon of Chicago ballplayers, but he claims a
singular distinction as the 2012 season gets under way.

Byrd, a 34-year-old center fielder, was the only African-American player on the Cubs’ or White Sox’ Opening Day rosters.

Funny, he doesn’t look Druish.

Fox’s Tim McCarver: Social networking ‘disturbing’

Hell…he’d be a regular King Farooqui at MouthShut.com!

It didn’t take long into the season for Tim McCarver to raise a few eyebrows. McCarver, who was calling Fox’s telecast of Saturday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers, decided to share his views on social media between pitches.

“There is nothing in my view more disturbing than social networking — nothing,” McCarver said.

Immediately, and rather ironically, viewers used Twitter to weigh in on McCarver.

“Today’s thought ...

Avila’s homer gives Tigers 13-12 win over Red Sox

But… the Titanic hasn’t even left port yet!

Five years later, Thome again takes the field

I kiss you! You’re beautiful! I want you to walk…or something!

Batting fifth, and playing first base, number 25 … Jim Thome.

Before the first pitch, they cheered Thome’s introduction. It was a thin crowd, and the ovation wasn’t nearly as big as it would have been had it happened in Philly or in a town that regularly turns out to support its baseball team. Even so, they applauded the man, who hadn’t played the field for nearly five years. Before Sunday, the last time Thome needed to ...

Bob Feller: The Mike Wallace Interview (8-4-1957)

In honor of Mr. Wallace’s passing today, an interview from his early days on tv.  Full transcript/video at the link:

WALLACE: ... Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick testified in Washington that if baseball were to drop that reserve clause there would be a constant wild scramble by the teams for players and he said, “The natural result would be a concentration of the best player talent in the clubs which are able and willing to spend the money necessary to outbid other clubs. Weaker clubs”, he ...

Lupica: Alex Rodriguez hits fork in the road of his pinstriped career

Somehow, a sportswriter named Mike Lupica still is.

Now it is the season when he turns 37, and Rodriguez is coming off a season when he only played 99 games because of injuries, only hit 16 home runs. It is the season when Rodriguez will look like one of the most dangerous hitters in the game again, the kind of hitter who hit 54 home runs and knocked in 156 five years ago, or will just continue to look like the worst contract in the history of the Yankees, in all of baseball, at least until ...

Erstad’s Huskers learning to restore past glory

Once had a coach like this for a traveling team…half the team quit to go to barbituwait on line for Jethro Tull tickets.

The night before, after Hawkeye baseball came from behind to beat Nebraska in front of 5,000, first-year head coach Darin Erstad was pretty blunt in postgame interviews, accusing his team of being timid.

These are strange days at Haymarket Park. Tense days. It comes from the pressure of a team learning how to win, with a coaching staff that is relentless in teaching players ...

Montville: Are fat baseball players a problem?

The BIG Big Bam.

The baseball player traditionally has been one of the least athletic-looking millionaires on the professional sports grid, perhaps more fit than professional golfers, perhaps not, but definitely behind the athletes in most other sports. The chiseled bodies the game has seen often belonged to the biggest steroid users of the past 20 years, different from the long continuum of baseball players. Were Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire and, yes, Roger Clemens cheating? ...

Isotopes blend punk and baseball

The Sex Pistols challenged authority. The Ramones mastered the three-chord song. Bad Religion wrote lyrics related to social responsibility.

The Isotopes Punk Rock Baseball Club sings about baseball. And baseball players. They call themselves “the world’s greatest baseball punk band.”

Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen apologizes for statements about Fidel Castro

Semper Fidelis! (looks around)

Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen apologized today for a Time Magazine article in which he said he loved Fidel Castro.

“I am sure I’m against (the way) he thinks, the way he treats people and way he treats his country for a long time,” Guillen said. “I’m against that 100 percent. I’m not crazy or stupid or ignorant to say I love somebody. He not just hurt Cuban people he hurt a lot of people counting Venezuelans.

“Whoever got hurt or misunderstood or ...

Wilt: Ravens Apologize For Bashing Orioles In Facebook Post

I honestly never heard of M&T Bank Stadium before reading this.

An hour before first pitch on Opening Day, the Ravens posted a photo on their official Facebook page asking Baltimore fans if they would rather be at M&T Bank Stadium than attending a game at Oriole Park At Camden Yards.

“Raise your hand if you’d rather be cheering in THIS stadium than a baseball stadium today,” the post read.

It’s since been removed and the Ravens issued an apology according to The Sun’s Matt Vensel.  ...

Umpire Ejection Fantasy League

For real.