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- December 21st, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Happy Halladays
It being the season of giving and receiving and all that, I felt it would be a good time to ask Santa Closer (the holiday specialist) for a baseball fantasy wish list for 2010. We’re talking se…
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Rating the 2010 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…
- December 20th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Dodgers’ New Scouting Boss Not Likely to Forget His Only Home Run
It should be a well-above-average trivia question. Name the three Tampa pitchers who came from the same high school (Hillsborough), played together on two youth teams in national championships (Little…
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Ramblin On About My Glory Days: April Fool’s Day
As baseball people know, April fools day lands near the end of spring training each year. The end of spring training is a very nervous time for most players. Obviously, this is when major league teams…
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2000-2009 All Decade Team
Because we humans tend to talk about decades as being the 80s, the 90s, and so on, then the year 2009 just ended the first such “decade” of the 21st century. Like some others have done ove…
- December 18th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
The 2010 HOF Ballot – The Case for Roberto Alomar
Roberto Alomar appears on the BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year. Given his career achievements, he has the credentials to be a first round pick for the Hall. In seventeen big lea…
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Dodgers Likely Candidate to Acquire More Independent Talent Because of Vance Lovelace’s Affection for the Game
While they would not have been anywhere near the top of my list of major league organizations likely to be signing Independent Baseball players in the recent past, the Los Angeles Dodgers could well b…
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World Series for Sale
What do Bud Selig, Bill Veeck, the Hot Stove, and Joseph Heller have in common? More than you might think… The musical chairs game of Major League Baseball’s free agency has begun a…
- December 17th, 2009
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Changing Baseball on the Field
Being a Nationals fan is all about dealing with the stiff headwind of reality. Bud Selig’s new commission to address changes in the game on the field faces such a headwind–one of cynicism an…
- December 15th, 2009
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Holliday Season
So, will it be the most wonderful time of the year or will St. Louis have a blue Christmas? The news around Matt Holliday heated up last night, with Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch reporting that the…
- December 14th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
The 2010 HOF Ballot – How Many REAL Hall of Famers?
The BBWAA 2010 Hall of Fame Ballot contains the names of twenty-six players that the baseball writers may vote for if they feel they belong in the Hall of Fame. Of the twenty-six players, nineteen ar…
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Yes, Virginia, Baseball is Like Christmas
I’m not sure when it happened but somewhere along the line the believing part of Christmas that comes with being a kid passed me by. It does for everyone I guess at some point, but it is a disappoi…
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Cardinal Off-The-Field News
A couple of things took place this weekend. One was at least semi-hopeful, one fairly disappointing. First off, the Cardinals finally made a formal offer to Matt Holliday. No details on it have le…
- December 13th, 2009
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Ramblin On About My Glory Days: Where’s Waldo, I mean Johnstone?
So many of my “crazy,” memorable baseball experiences happened when I played for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is kind of ironic because I was only with the big league Dodger team for a short whil…
- December 12th, 2009
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Fading From the Scene
At the end of the winter meeetings there is little talk of huge, long-term contracts. Maybe there are no $200 million dollar players this year, but it’s also because the loudest, brashest own…
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Alabama, the Cradle of Baseball Greatness
A little while ago I started to realize that Alabama has produced some of the greatest players in baseball history. I remembered reading Bill James making a point somewhere in his Historical Baseball…
- December 11th, 2009
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The 1979 Baseball Winter Meetings
A day by day breakdown of the 1979 Baseball Winter Meetings in Toronto. Monday, December 3rd: Executives from all 24 Major League teams checked into the Sheraton Centre Hotel complex in downtown To…
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Saluting the Northern and Golden All-Star Game and the Rejuvenated Brockton Rox
The spotlight has been especially focused on the major leagues during this week of the winter meetings, but at least two cheery developments have emerged for the Independent leagues which should add t…
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Winter Meeting Wrapup
The Cardinal contingent has left Indianapolis, headed back to theoretically warmer climes (St. Louis is supposed to be 41 today, Indy 34) and with a couple of new pitchers. However, there’s no…
- December 10th, 2009
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Red Sox Add Boof To Their Winter Meeting Shopping Cart…Say What?
The Boston Red Sox continue to be the (laughing stock)…er, talk of the Annual Winter Meetings by announcing a trade for the venerable Boof Bonser…Say what? Bonser, who missed the entire 20…
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Red Sox Corner Market on Ramirezes with Acquisition of Max (humor)
In a move clearly designed to use up old inventory from the Red Sox Souvenir Shop, the Boston Red Sox have reportedly acquired minor league catcher Max Ramirez from the Texas Rangers in exchange for g…
- December 9th, 2009
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The Life of a Talented, but Troubled Man: Paddy Bolan
My book “The Rise of Milwaukee Baseball” is dedicated to the ball players of the 19th Century: “The great, the not nearly great, and everyone in between. Those players who set fine examples, and…
- December 7th, 2009
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Mission Complete… So, What Gives Dave D?
My month long mission is complete - I met the word goal for National Novel Writing Month (that makes me a winner!)alas, the book is not completely finished. But there is no longer a time constraint…
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Lena Blackburne’s Playing Days
I first remember hearing of Lena Blackburne several years ago, when Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs went over to New Jersey to gather some river mud with Jim Bintliff, the head of Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud.…
- December 5th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
The 1911 Ticket Scandal
What happened during the 1911 World Series that made Ban Johnson suggest the New York Giants be expelled from the National League? It had nothing to do with what John McGraw’s baseball club did…
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Ramblin On About My Glory Days: Tiger Woods
Just wanted to get your attention in case you were in a cave for the last week and were not tired of Tiger tales. Anyway, this story does involve my wife and a possible separation (sort of), so I figu…
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Coste Headed Back to Majors With Mets Although a Regular Season Job is Not a Certainty
Indy favorite Chris Coste is headed back to a major league uniform although his work still seems to be cut out before he makes an opening-day, 25-man roster. There seems to be some confusion whether t…
- December 4th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Stints in Atlantic and Northern Leagues Lead to New Affiliated Opportunities for Halama and West
Until a few days ago, the pace of Independent Baseball players getting either first or second opportunities with major league organizations had seemed unusually slow for several weeks. But at least f…
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Preparing the Ground
Are you ready to see Matt Holliday walk? That seems to be the thrust of today’s story at the Post-Dispatch. Some of the verbal dancing we’ve come to expect from ownership makes a return,…
- December 2nd, 2009
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Ty Cobb and the St. Louis Browns
After the 1926 season, both Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker were involved in a gambling scandal – alleged by Dutch Leonard that they, along with Joe Wood, bet on and fixed the Sept. 25, 1919 game between t…
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Decisions Made
The Cardinals announced yesterday evening that they had made their arbitration decisions. As expected by almost everyone, they tendered arbitration to Matt Holliday, Joel Pineiro and Mark DeRosa, wh…
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Grilli Hopes to Find Home in Back of Indians Bullpen
Though I confess that I already knew, but was sworn to secrecy, I’m excited to officially announce the signing of right-hander Jason Grilli to a minor league deal with a big-league invitation to…
- December 1st, 2009
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Arbitration Day For Cardinals
I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday weekend. Now the calendar has turned, the weather has chilled, and the hot stove is starting to be warmed. Before too many logs get thrown on that fi…
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The Nationals’ Christmas Tree
Arbitration decisions–whether offered or subsequently taken–will be known by the end of this week. By the start of the winter baseball meetings in Indiapolis next week, GMs like Mike Ri…
- November 29th, 2009
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Rambling On About My Glory Days: Peace of Mind at Thanksgiving
Of course, Thanksgiving is the time of year when one looks back, thinks of and thanks the people who they are most grateful for. In my professional career, there is one person that fits that bill…
- November 28th, 2009
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Some team nicknames that did not stick
With Matt Aber’s post regarding player nicknames still in my mind, I came across an article in the August 22, 1891, Sporting News which gave a number of team nicknames and background on the name…
- November 27th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Turkey Day duldrums
It’s only been a month since the end of the World Series, but sitting at the table Thanksgiving day I missed baseball. Maybe it is the lack of any major hot stove activity, or maybe it was the…
- November 24th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Jakubauskas Moves to Pirates; Indy Free Agents Also Finding Homes
The dust is just beginning to settle as major league organizations do a shakedown of their minor league rosters, and I can tell you I have not seen any certain winners so far from within the ranks of…
- November 21st, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Ramblin On About My Glory Days: From Yaz to Perco to Ochocinco
Whenever I have a baseball coach’s clinic, I begin with a trivia question, “Who caught the last ball that Carl Yastrzemski ever hit in a major league game?” Not one person has ever answered corr…
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The Debut of the DH
Starting in the 1973 season, the American League implemented the designated hitter rule, which allowed a player to hit for another player, which is almost always the pitcher. Here is a look at how…
- November 20th, 2009
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Joe Klein Has Not Missed Out on Much in Majors Or as Executive Director of Atlantic League
One of the nice things about this time of year in the Independent Baseball-writing business is we sometimes can sit back without the daily buzz of games and think about some of the factors—and the p…
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More Thoughts On The Cy Young
If you’ve not seen them, my selections for the Cardinal Bloggers Awards are below. The votes are coming in from across the blogosphere and we should have some results maybe this weekend.I brie…
- November 19th, 2009
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Cy Not In The Cards
(OK, I’m sure that’ll be a headline used by just about everyone. Nobody’s ever said I was creative.) The news is out, and Tim Lincecum won another Cy Young, beating out Chris Carpe…
- November 18th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
The Ultimate Seven-Game Fall Classic: Game Three
In part one of my Ultimate Seven-Game Fall Classic series, I featured Game One of the 1988 World Series between the Oakland A’s and Los Angeles Dodgers. Part two featured an epic 14-inning battle…
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Not Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay
News continues to be a slow and very small trickle at this time of year, so I was a little surprised to see an interesting story on the Post-Dispatch website this morning. According to John Mozeliak…
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Milwaukee’s First All-Black Baseball Team and its Star Napoleon Broady
I imagine we have all done it. Found a tantalizing tidbit on a subject and decided to research it further. It sounds so exciting and newsworthy. Just find what there is to be found and put it into an…
- November 17th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Bring Back the Nickname
Who was the best center fielder in New York in the 50’s? Willie, Mickey or Ed? How about the time George promised the sick boy he would hit a home run for him? Then George went out and did it. Wi…
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La marca de un pitcher (The presence of a pitcher)
El domingo 15 de noviembre de 2009 aprecié por fin el documental “The lost son of Havana” (El hijo perdido de La Habana) auspiciado por ESPN para recrear la vida del lanzador cubano Luis Tiant h…
- November 16th, 2009
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
Fantography: A Photographic Baseball Diary Through the Eyes of The Fans
As I chatted with Andy Strasberg about his new baseball related venture called Fantography™, I couldn’t help but hum Rod Stewart’s 1971 anthem, “Every Picture Tells a Story&#…
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Seamhead has posted a new entry on: Seamheads.com
What Happened To Those Who Debuted In Majors In 2008?
Anyone who follows my offerings in this space and in my more extensive subscription-only Independent Baseball Insider knows how much I believe in tracking players from the Independent leagues who make…
