Archive for January, 2010
Interview With An (female) Umpire, Part 2
Here is the second part of my interview with female umpire, Perry Lee Barber… 8. Who, if you can tell us, was/is the worst and was it because of their attitude in general or the fact that you’re a woman umpire? I always suspect that the “attitude in general” has more to do with any [...]
Interview With An (female) Umpire Part 1
Umpire/Musician Perry Lee Barber Here’s a direct linked summary of Ms. Barber right from her personal LinkedIn profile: Twenty-nine seasons of umpiring all levels of baseball both professional and amateur, including major league spring training and Division I college baseball, with international umpiring experience in Japan and Taiwan and four years of umpiring and scheduling [...]
The Mark Redman Award Effect: Edwin Jackson
Image by Keith Allison via Flickr Each year, BaseballEvolution.com doles out Mark Redman Awards for both leagues, recognizing pitchers who began the season surprisingly well but crashed back to earth in the second half of the season. New Arizona Diamondback Edwin Jackson won the 2009 AL Award. Does that have any predicative value for Jackson’s [...]
Help Us Improve Baseball Reflections.com
During this busy Hot Stove Season we are taking this opportunity to ask you, our readers, what you like, dislike about Baseball Reflections.com. Likewise, we want to know what you want to see more of and what you would like to see us write about that we don’t already do. To contribute your most important [...]
A Recent Flurry of Free Agent Signings
Image via Wikipedia Chad Tracy to the Cubs to a minor league deal that can be worth up to $900K if he gets 450 plate appearances Ben Sheets to the A’s for 1-year at $10M plus incentive bonuses Jim Thome to the Twins for 1-year and $1.5M with up to $750K in incentives Jon Garland [...]
The Priesthood Wins Out Over Baseball?!
This week a top OF prospect in the A’s farm system by the name of Grant Desme (23) has decided to leave baseball to pursue a higher calling. The 8th ranked player in the Oakland A’s system was looking like he could get the call to join the major league team during spring training, but [...]
Stadium Review: Nationals Stadium, Home of the Washington Nationals
Image by aquarian librarian via Flickr Even though the Washington Nationals don’t have their own baseball history and Washington D.C. is not known as a hub for baseball traditionalists and major fans of America’s pastime, their stadium just may be one of the best in the league. Nationals Stadium is obviously one of the newer [...]
DRSEA INFORMER: Home Court Advantage
Volume III, Issue 2 By Charles Farrell La Ventaja De Campo (Home Court Advantage) In what looks like a continuing trend, a court in the Dominican Republic has ordered the New York Yankees to pay more than $750,000USD to Carlos Rios, their former director of Latin American scouting, after ruling that his firing was unlawful. [...]
The Top 10 Fantasy DH of 2009
These weekly posts of mine have been based on a rotisserie format using a traditional 5×5 scoring system to keep things simple. Personally I prefer more statistics in my leagues (which is why I was the commissioner in one of my leagues), but in order to reach the most readers we will just stick with [...]
Akadema’s Praying Mantis Catcher’s Mitt, Designed by Hall of Famer Gary Carter
Here is the next installment in my series of recommended Akadema Gloves. This, like the last one earlier this month (the Prodigy AOZ 91) was designed by a Hall of Famer, this time, catcher Gary Carter who use to play for the Expos, Mets, Giants and Dodgers before finishing his playing career back with the [...]
Baseball’s 14-Member Special Committee Agenda
Improvements on the Field of Play Image via Wikipedia The committee met for the first time on Thursday, January 14th. Prior to the initial meeting, this is what the commissioner had to say about the committee, “I’ve encouraged this group to be very blunt. I want these people to discuss anything they want,” Selig said [...]
Stadium Review: Busch Stadium, Home of the St. Louis Cardinals
Image via Wikipedia Upon arrival at Busch Stadium, one thing comes completely clear, the planners of this park certainly did all they could to remind fans of the rich history of the Cardinals, while also keeping a modern look present with the park. Image by Teny Jr via Flickr The entire stadium is brick and [...]
Blue Jays Reflections on the New GM
Greetings from the frozen north, and man is it frozen this winter. Anyway, what has been going on with the Jays? Well, we are about 100 days into the career of our new GM Alex Anthopoulos and so far most reviews are positive. His first few steps have been to beef up our scouting department [...]
The Top 10 Fantasy SS of 2009
Image by Sportech via Flickr These weekly posts of mine have been based on a rotisserie format using a traditional 5×5 scoring system to keep things simple. Personally I prefer more statistics in my leagues (which is why I was the commissioner in one of my leagues), but in order to reach the most readers [...]
Baseball Reflections Now on Japanese Baseball
I’m excited to contribute to Baseball Reflections because it combines two of my loves: Japan and baseball. I grew up with an Okinawan mother and an American father. Even though I thought my mom’s heritage was cool, I barely noticed because I spent all of my time sitting next to my dad watching sports. Growing [...]
Mark McGwire’s PED Admission: How Truthful Was it?
Image by Getty Images via Daylife The Admission The other day, former A’s and Cardinals slugging first baseman “finally” admitted to using steroids back in his playing days. But, he only admitted to using them as a health benefit to help him keep from his body breaking down and keep him in the game. He [...]
“SABR DAY” TO BE CELEBRATED ACROSS THE USA ON JANUARY 30
On Saturday, January 30, 2010, members of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) will come together to celebrate SABR and all things baseball. Chapters and members across the US and Canada will gather for everything from Hot Stove discussions to research presentations to guest talks by former players to a Dice Base Ball Tournament [...]
Tinkering with the MLB Postseason Schedule
Image via Wikipedia I listen to local sports talk radio when I’m driving around town, and recently the host interviewed a writer (I missed his name) for mlb.com discussing the post-season format – number of games, how many games each series should be, that sort of thing. He talked about why the World Series starts [...]
A Night With the Outerbanks Daredevils
Loyal Baseball Reflections readers may have noticed my absence from these pages in the past half year. I took a leave due to the fact that I got married in July and had to make sure to get fully adjusted to life as a husband, working full time and going to graduate school at night [...]
New Era In Baseball
DRSEA INFORMER Volume III, Issue 1: A Publication For Your Reading Enjoyment Nueva Era En Béisbol (New Era In Baseball) by Charles Farrell The new year is starting with something that hasn’t happened in more than a quarter-century; a new union boss at the Major League Baseball Players Association. Michael Weiner has succeeded Don Fehr [...]
Andre Dawson: 2010 Hall of Fame Inductee
Image via Wikipedia Belated Congratulations On Wednesday, January 6th, OF Andre “Hawk” Dawson, in his 8th year of eligibility (starts 5 years after retirement) was the sole player inductee into the 2010 class of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Career Highlights 21 seasons 2627 Games Played Rookie of the Year in 1977 NL MVP in [...]
Akadema’s Prodigy Series Youth Baseball Gloves
Prodigy Design Series AOZ 91, For players ages 9-13 Anyone who has followed my writing closely from the start or who happens to know me personally should know that I am a HUGE Ozzie Smith fan! His Cardinals number is on my HS class ring as my favorite position to play in HS was SS. [...]
Announcement: Baseball Reflections 1st. Annual Pledge Drive
Coming up in March (2010) and lasting the whole month, we will be hosting our first annual pledge drive. The money this drive brings in will help pay for any administration or operational fees accrued during a normal year of running this blog. Depending on how successful this initial pledge drive is, will determine if [...]
A Case for a Baseball Hall of Fame Induction
Image via Wikipedia Why haven’t the BBWAA elected the closer with the third highest saves total with 478? The only two guys ahead of him are still playing (Hoffman and Rivera) and former inductees whom are below him on the list are Eckersley, Fingers, Gossage, Sutter and Wilhelm. The next closest player is John Franco [...]
Hall Of Very Good HOF Chat/Discussion Tonight!
For those of you that crave to let your voice be heard on the topic of who should be the next men enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010 this is a MUST attend event! Below you will find an event reminder to The Hall of Very Good’s Live Chat Tonight at 9pm [...]
Will Nolan Ryan Change How Pitchers Are Treated?
One of my new favorite organizations in baseball is now the Nolan Ryan led Texas Rangers! I’m still a Red Sox fan, but I absolutely love what the Hall of Famer is trying to do in Texas. I just hope that the new management, whoever that may be, will be on the same page. For [...]
The Top 10 Fantasy 3B of 2009
Image via Wikipedia These weekly posts of mine have been based on a rotisserie format using a traditional 5×5 scoring system to keep things simple. Personally I prefer more statistics in my leagues (which is why I was the commissioner in one of my leagues), but in order to reach the most readers we will [...]
SD Padres Bargaining Chips
Image by San Diego Shooter via Flickr The Padres are phasing in a new owner, and have hired a new GM. As Jed Hoyer tries to put his stamp on this team and fill in the holes on his roster (second base and catcher come to mind), he finds a dearth of valuable pieces he [...]
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