Archive for January, 2009
Help Support Baseball Reflections
Here’s your periodic reminder that we have an online marketplace in the tabbed section of the site under the SEARCH button and above our Sponsors section on the right sidebar. To view the marketplace, just click on that tab. All sales contribute to the operating costs of Baseball Reflections. And here are a few things [...]
New Writers Have Been Gathered
Over the past few days, we have reached agreements with 3 new writers for 2 more MLB teams; the Toronto Blue Jays and The Chicago White Sox. First up are Daniel “Hugo” Fruchter and Tom Dakers, aka “Rincewind” from BlueBird Banter. To become more familiar with their work, please check out an article from each [...]
Reviewing the 2008 World Series Program
There is no doubt that the story lines for this year’s World Series were endless as the Phillies, a historic baseball franchise, were heading back to the Series to try to end a quarter century drought, and the Rays, who had never even had a winning season in their history, faced off. As one can [...]
SF Giants Offseason Report Card
Image via Wikipedia This is why I’m not a teacher; I’m sort of a pass or fail guy. So since the Giants seem destined to have Bengie Molina bat cleanup for the second year in a row, I suppose they have failed (or at least come close) in their off season mission to improve the [...]
The Natural: A DVD Review
What more can be said about the movie that many consider to be possibly the best sports feature film of all time? While it has its competitors, The Natural (Director’s Cut) should no doubt be at the top of the list. Modeled after the classic novel by Bernard Malamund (The Natural’s book review was featured [...]
Does the Pitcher’s Mound Cause Injuries?
Back in 1969 the height of the pitcher‘s mound was lowered from 15″ down to 10″ in an attempt by major league baseball to level the playing ground between the era’s dominant pitching and the effect they were having on batters. Hitters were at an all time low for batting average of .237 the year [...]
Reviewing the 2008 All Star Game Program
Obviously the makers of last year’s All Star Game program had a lot to play with as the game was being held at Yankee Stadium which almost has too much baseball tradition for a person to take in at one time. Programs such as these usually do a good job of bringing together stories form [...]
Do You Know Your Replacement Players?
Image via Wikipedia Many astute readers may remember the replacement players who were called upon during the strike in the mid-nineties just in case the players never reached an agreement with the owners on coming back to work. Perhaps not surprisingly, some of those players who were given the opportunity to try out ended up [...]
Baseball Reflections: Team Expansion
Baseball Reflections is now announcing it’s plans on team expansion and what that means to you, our most loyal readers and what it means (we hope) for the site itself. For those of you who are baseball fans that have a favorite team(s) and are not just fans of the game itself, you will be [...]
Pinch Hitter: A Book Review
Dean Whitney seemed to want to create a modern day version of the classic novel The Natural when he sat down to write Pinch Hitter and in some ways he may have accomplished this task, but in many others, he didn’t. Pinch Hitter is the story of a man who miraculously makes it straight to [...]
An Interview with Chad Durbin, Phillies RP
Today we’d like to welcome 2008 World Series Champion relief pitcher from the Philadelphia Phillies, Chad Durbin to Baseball Reflections.com. We contacted Chad to talk about the World Series, his career and to discuss ShowcaseU.com which he co-founded. Showcase U gives high school student athletes a way to showcase themselves so that they can increase [...]
MLB Insiders Club Magazine: A Product Review
Reading a name that proclaims something to be an “Insider’s Club,” one would tend to believe that they would receive information through this publication that others would not be able to receive. In some ways, this is true of the MLB Insiders Club Magazine, which is sent out monthly to its members and costs $24 [...]
It’s Just Boras Being Boras
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Although this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone in the world of baseball, but if this report is true, super agent Scott Boras hasn’t been returning the Red Sox phone calls concerning free agent catcher Jason Varitek per this article from Boston.com over the weekend. It was recently thought [...]
Product Review: MLB Insiders Club Fleece Blanket
During cold weather games, many fans bring a blanket with them to the stadium to stay warm. The MLB Insiders Club has recently come out with their own blankets, presumably to be used in this manner, to be passed out to their members. The fleece blankets have a common design, but one can acquire it [...]
Indians Sign Saarloos and Aquino to Minor League Contracts
Mark Shapiro continued his barrage of off season moves on Wednesday when he signed pitchers Kirk Saarloos and Greg Aquino to minor league contracts. The Indians have been busier this off season than most in their recent history as they have already made a few trades and signed various players to many different contracts. Both [...]
The Bob Feller Story: A DVD Review
Bob Feller seems to be an almost forgotten baseball name outside of the city of Cleveland, but throughout the DVD, the viewers are reminded that he was without a doubt the greatest pitcher of his time and his accomplishments were such that he should be mentioned in the same sentences as Ted Williams and Joe [...]
Book Review of Baseball’s Greatest Games
Image via Wikipedia Baseball’s Greatest Games is the latest book in a new series put out by the MLB Insiders Club Library. The writing in the book is done by Eric Enders and the book can only be obtained if one is in the MLB Insiders Club. (In order to do this, search for it [...]
Tribe Signs Catcher Shoppach to One Year Deal
The Indians recently signed their current back-up catcher Kelly Shoppach to a one year deal. Shoppach has been with the Tribe since the 2006 season when he was traded from the Boston Red Sox in an off season deal involving outfielder Coco Crisp and third baseman Andy Marte. Shoppach’s role has grown since 2006 and [...]
Red Sox Reflections
January has been the busiest month of the off season for Boston thus far. Right after the New Year’s day came the announcement of the signing of C Josh Bard to a one-year contract with a club option for 2010. Since then, they have officially signed OF Rocco Baldelli, SP Brad Penny and 1B/OF Mark [...]
Interview of Boston’s Justin Masterson
Image by Getty Images via Daylife For a good interview with Boston’s Justin Masterson, go to “this link” at Baseball Prospectus.com. Help support Baseball Reflections and buy me a coffee with PayPal!
This Just In…Rice is IN!
I just got the e-mail from Boston.com, Jim Rice (my favorite player growing up), in his last year of eligibility, was finally elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the BWAA! Here’s the story on the election of Rice and Rickey Henderson (in his first year of eligibility) from ESPN. The date of the [...]
The Natural: A Book Review
Image via Wikipedia With all of the buzz that the 1984 movie based on the book created, it seems that many have forgotten, or just simply ignored the origin of one of the greatest baseball movies of all time. To get the real story, one has to go all of the way back to 1952 [...]
San Francisco Giants Off Season Report
Season Wrap Up 2008 saw the Bond-less Giants tied for the 6th worst record in baseball at 72-90, but I actually thought they had a chance of reaching 100 losses so they did better than I thought they would. They went into the year without a solid closer, which effects the rest of the bullpen, [...]
Test Your Baseball Team Knowledge
The average baseball fan can name 23 of baseball’s 30 teams in a three minute span. If you are wondering how well you might fare, go to this link: http://www.jetpunk.com/quizzes/name-major-league-teams.php, and take the quiz. Takers of this quiz will be asked to type as many teams in as they can in a three minute span [...]
San Diego Padres Off Season Report
Season Wrap Up Like most of the NL West, the Padres had a disappointing 2008 season going 63-99, the third worst record in baseball last season! Who would have thought that the Giants would finish higher than San Diego at Spring Training last year? I for one did not even think it possible. Granted, 2008 [...]
Tribe Signs Free Agent Pitcher Pavano
Carl Pavano was not the first name most Tribe fans were thinking when considering who to add to their team’s rotation in the off season. Nonetheless, general manager Mark Shapiro apparently thought the 33-year-old veteran was worth a look as he signed the former Yankee to a one year deal on Tuesday to come to [...]
Branch Rickey: An Undercover Social Entrepreneur (Part 2)
Image via Wikipedia The second reason for his breaking of the color line was to demolish some of the barriers of race that were present in the country at the time. Rickey knew that if he could bring Jackie Robinson into the game, he would be able to not only make those in baseball more [...]
Colorado Rockies Off Season Report
Season Wrap Up Like most of the NL West, the Rockies had a disappointing 2008 season going 74 and 88 after being in the World Series the previous October. On top of that, they lost second year SS Troy Tulowitzki to injury for a big part of the year, missing 61 games and 1B Todd [...]
Branch Rickey: An Undercover Social Entrepreneur
Image via Wikipedia Part 1 of 2 Not many people have heard of Branch Rickey, but most have heard of Jackie Robinson, the man who is credited with breaking baseball’s color line. What most do not realize is that without Rickey, there may have never been a Robinson. While Robinson is credited with what is [...]
Baseball Reflections Product Review: ABC Sports-Sports Master
This product claims that sports fans can “resolve nearly any sports argument with the push of a button.” While this may not be completely true, the Sports Master does provide a unique way to test one’s knowledge of sports while on the move. While the baseball trivia is no doubt in depth, it also features [...]
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