Archive for April, 2009
CD Review: Baseball Songs Sports Heroes
While there are movies and books available for dedicated sports fans, most aren’t familiar with Joe Pickering Jr. and Phil Coley’s collection of CDs on baseball songs. The first in this series is entitled Baseball Songs Sports Heroes: People Who Have Made a Difference. On this album there are everything from songs about individual players [...]
Rangers Reflections: The First 3 Weeks
One month into the season and we know two things about the Rangers: their offense is picking up where it left off last season and their pitching has drastically improved from last season’s horrendous output. Though both facets of the team are virtually the same as last season’s mark, the team has managed to stay [...]
Touch: A Woman’s Point of View
My Touch Obsession by guest writer Lori Thompson It started in June 2007. My once yearly trip to a Mariner’s game was going to happen in a couple of months and just didn’t want to wear the same gray/blue men’s baseball shirt that I’d worn the last four years. I was looking for something new. [...]
DVD Review: Fever Pitch
Image via Wikipedia People may have differing opinions on whether Fever Pitch (Widescreen Edition) is a good movie, but they cannot argue the fact that the producers had to be the luckiest people of all time. What were the chances that they were going to decide to do a movie on a crazed Red Sox [...]
A Compilation of Baseball Reflection’s Interviews
For those of you who were not reading Baseball Reflections in the early days, or are recent patrons of the site, I have gathered a listing of all of the interviews I have done for the site over the first 18 months of our existence. They are listed in the order in which they were [...]
BillShrink.com Gives Economic Advice to Baseball Fans
Image via CrunchBase Many fans out there are probably wondering how they are possibly going to be able to make it out to the normal amount of games this year with the current economic situation. If this is the case, then these fans might want to visit BillShrink.com because they claim to have the answers [...]
Friday Night Links
Here is another set of links to some of our friends in the Blogosphere. Please be sure to check them out & tell ‘em Baseball Reflections sent ya! First on our list tonight would be Gear Up For Sports. They cover Baseball, Football and Basketball, but not all teams are currently being covered. So, if [...]
Arizona Wants Ex-Diamondbacks Back
On Sunday, Randy Johnson no-hit his old team through six innings, finishing with seven strikeouts and just three baserunners allowed through seven frames. Adding to the insult, the Big Unit erased both of the runners he let on base via free passes, picking off Chris Young and inducing pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds into an inning-ending double [...]
Why I’m high on this Tigers team
Before the season, I wrote that these Tigers would be a bit of a mystery. We didn’t know what to expect. Unlike the “experts,” I didn’t expect the worst. But other than that, I had no idea what we’d see out of the 2009 Detroit Tigers. Well — and knowing full well the dangers in [...]
The White Sox at Week 2
We are 2 weeks into the season and I find the White Sox right where I expected them: hanging around and in the mix. Power bats are getting them their runs, and their pitching staff has done a good job. In the AL, only Seattle has allowed less runs than the Sox. For the Sox [...]
The Cardinals: Two Weeks in April
While it’s not been the Dickensonian “best of times, worst of times” for the St. Louis Cardinals so far this season, 2009 has already had plenty of high points and low points in the first two weeks. The Cardinals sit in a virtual tie for first with the hated Chicago Cubs in the NL Central, [...]
Book Review: Fair Ball by Bob Costas
Bob Costas is probably best known for his Olympic commentary over the years, but he has really been a renaissance man and announced everything from baseball to football in this country. Costas put out Fair Ball: A Fan’s Case for Baseball in an attempt to tell baseball how it could fix its problems and become [...]
Book Review: The Teammates: A Portrait of Friendship
David Halberstam has become well known for his works about the sport of baseball that add a new perspective to the game which many fans never get a chance to see. Teammates, The: A Portrait of a Friendship is no exception to this rule as it illustrates once again why Halberstam is one of the [...]
Reds Looking for Results in 2009
After spending the last few years rebuilding their minor league system, the Cincinnati Reds are ready to reap some of the rewards for their efforts in 2009. Though Cincinnati has not posted a winning record since the 2000 season, there is a renewed sense of optimism in 2009 that the decade of disappointment may finally [...]
Reflections on the Blue Jays
So spring training is over, the season is underway, and the Jays have gotten off to a decent start – not that it has changed any of the seemingly unanimous consensus around the baseball world and T-dot media that the Jays are going absolutely nowhere. I traveled from my home in Washington DC to Toronto [...]
IBAF Enters Plan for Women’s Baseball in Olympics
Despite the fact that baseball isn’t even currently an Olympic event for males, the International Baseball Federation announced on Monday that they were going to enter a plan that would add women’s baseball to the Olympic program in 2016. The federation has already submitted a program to the Olympic Committee asking them to review information [...]
A Tribute to Harry Kalas
Here are some stories/memories people have submitted to me of Phillies announcer Harry Kalas after his death on Tuesday at the age of 73. Please feel free to add to this list at any time this summer either by e-mail or in the comments of this post…I hope you enjoy this… Daniel from C70 at [...]
Japan Ranks No. 3 in New IBAF Ranking After WBC Win
Winning the WBC does not translate into a move up to the number one team in the world according to the IBAF. After taking the crown in the WBC for the second time in a row, the Japanese moved up to number three in the IBAF World Rankings. Despite a not so convincing showing in [...]
Goodbye Harry Kalas
When Harry Kalas passed from this life earlier today, he took a piece of me with him. I have never met Harry or spoken to him personally, but he has spoken to me for hours at a time, over the course of my baseball-listening life. I grew up in the South Jersey area, and Harry [...]
Reflections on the Mariners
So what’s been happening in Mariner land over Spring Training? Not a lot of good. With frontline pitchers John Lackey, Ervin Santana, Kelvim Escobar and Justin Durocher out for significant amounts of playing time for the Angels and Athletics, the Mariners had an increased opportunity to steal the AL West out from the baseball world’s [...]
MLB Predictions By the Numbers
The Miller-McCune article by Tom Jacobs that I am referencing today is a mathematical copyrighted model created to predict divisional outcomes in Major League Baseball. The article is entitled, “Baseball’s Best Teams Are…2009 Edition” which you can read in it’s entirety by following the previously provided link. This model was created by associate professor of [...]
Atlanta Braves Looking for Rebound Season in 2009
Following their worst season since Bobby Cox became the manager in 1990, all signs point to the Atlanta Braves returning to their typical spot near the top of the National League East in 2009. Rather than signing high profile free agents, the Braves have made strategic additions designed to solidify the weaknesses exposed during their [...]
Friday Night Links
I thought we should start showing some gratitude to some of our friends in the blogosphere by adding a new segment to Baseball Reflections called, “Friday Night Links”! We will post link to Baseball Reflections friends and sites we think are worthy to share with you, our beloved readers, hopefully on a weekly basis (when [...]
Book Review: More Tales from the Tribe Dugout
Author Russell Schneider is well known to serious baseball fans around Cleveland from his coverage of the Indians in Cleveland newspapers for so many years. Now a freelance writer, Russell has put together two books of Tales from the Tribe Dugout. In the sequel to his first book, Schneider uncovers some not very well known [...]
Cincinnati Reds Acquire ProBatter PX2 Pitching Simulators
On March 3, the Cincinnati Reds became the sixth major league club to agree to use what are being called “Flight Simulators” for hitters. The Reds purchased two of ProBatter Sports’ flagship model PX2 pitching simulators. The model is considered to be the most complex baseball training tool ever invented and does by far the [...]
RIP: Nick Adenhart (22) Angels Pitcher
Sad news out of Orange County, California today. Rookie Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher Nick Adenhart, 22, was killed in an auto accident in Fullerton a little after midnight Thursday morning, just hours after his first start of the year. Two others also died in the accident. A man driving a maroon minivan ran [...]
Marlins Must Prove That Talent Trumps Experience
Considering that only the Red Sox and Yankees have won as many World Series titles in the last 12 years, you might think the young and talented Florida Marlins would be considered a trendy sleeper pick for a playoff run this season. After all, the squad did win 84 games last year and were in [...]
Did Manny Ramirez Use PED’s in 2004?
According to the Yankee‘s blog Sliding Into Home in their post earlier today; former major league ballplayer and steroid expert, Jose Canseco says Manny (Ramirez) cheated and he said he was 90% sure that Manny is on that 2004 PED-user list that leaked A-Rod’s name this spring. Manny Ramirez,PED’s,2004, In the article, Canseco alludes to [...]
World Champions Reload, Reorganize, for Repeat
The start of this offseason brought about a bevy of unwelcomed, albeit unsurprising news to the 2008 World Champions. Left-handed reliever J.C. Romero, who had a 0.00 ERA in four World Series appearances, finally learned the fate of his appeal for violating the league’s steroid-abuse policy. Romero was sentenced to a 50-game suspension to begin [...]
500 Home Run Club Launches Facebook Group
The mission of the 500 Home Run Club, LLC is to organize, celebrate and put out information about the 24 players in MLB history who have eclipsed the 500 home run mark. On their website, 500hrc.com , the club has new articles, pictures and links for fans of all of the members of the 500 [...]
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