Archive for November, 2010
Should Anyone Sign Derek Jeter?
Seems like a perfectly asinine question. Of course, most teams should be after Derek Jeter. He has great leadership qualities and is one of the top ten hitting shortstops in the history of the game. The trouble is that there is so much more about the game. Even when you include the hitting, he is [...]
Baseball Reflections to Host BBA Baseball Talk
First, I hope that all of our readers & writers had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! About the BBA Baseball Talk radio show on Blog Talk Radio… When: Tomorrow Night (11/30) at 9:30pm EST Co-Hosts: Kenn Olson, contributor here at Baseball Reflections who has his own site at Going Yard & professional (female) umpire Perry Lee Barber [...]
DRSEA INFORMER: Change Up
Volume III, Issue 14: A Publication For Your Reading Enjoyment My heart dropped like a Pedro Martinez sinker when I heard that the New York Mets were courting Sandy Alderman, baseball’s super repairman, to replace ousted general manager Omar Minaya. After all, he had been heading the baseball reform movement in the Dominican Republic and included [...]
“A GLOVE OF THEIR OWN”-PAY IT FORWARD CONTEST 2010
Winners: to be announced on December 15, 2010. All children must submit your entry with permission from your parents and use a valid parent’s email address. Must be 16 or younger (parent feel free to help your child). Describe in 200 words or less something that you have done to make a difference in someone’s [...]
Mets Front Office Went Through an Amazing Transformation in November
Mark it down – it is going to be a “wild” summer in Queens. While it is true teams don’t win pennants in November, the Mets had an impressive month. They hired Sandy Alderson as their general manager. And now they have hired Terry Collins as their manager. Even though Wally Backman was my first [...]
How to Make the Baseball Team: 5 Important Tryout Tips
Of course, there is no substitute for ballplayers, who are trying out for a team, to display good baseball skills in order to make the team. Good baseball skills and knowledge of the game are the things that baseball coaches are looking for during tryouts. However, often players have equal abilities and who makes the [...]
On the MLB/NPB Posting System and Hisashi Iwakuma
There are plenty of Hot Stove topics occupying the sports pages this offseason, from the Yankees/Derek Jeter saga to what team will land Cliff Lee. There’s another story developing between the West Coast and Japan that is equally as intriguing. The struggle between the Oakland A’s and Rakuten Golden Eagles right-handed ace Hisashi Iwakuma have [...]
Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball
Women at Play: The Story of Women in Baseball consists of original newspaper articles written between 1875 and 1935. Most of the articles are quoted in their entirety and some are summarized. These are a portion of the research notes from which the author wrote back in 1992. You can find a copy of this [...]
The Big Business of MLB World Series Baseball
The following CNBC video discusses the business of baseball, with Larry Baer, San Francisco Giants COO, and CNBC’s Darren Rovell. Dated 10/27/10 before the 2010 world Series Help support Baseball Reflections and buy me a coffee with PayPal!
Australian Baseball League Launched…Again
They come from the land Down Under and they hope to make a splash with professional baseball in Australia. They’ve tried this before, but let’s hope it sticks this time around. Watch the video below for a brief history of the game in Australia, and maybe it will shed some light as to what went [...]
How Coaching High School and Travel Team Baseball Has Made Me a Fan
Having an appreciation for the game of baseball goes much longer then rooting for your favorite player (Pedro Martinez) or your favorite team (Boston Red Sox). I’ve been fortunate that many of my experiences within baseball have allowed me to develop a greater passion for the game I love. Over the past several years, I [...]
The Rules of Reading the Spin of the Ball
Knowing where and when to look. Those are the two simple, but important rules to reading the spin of the ball out of the pitcher’s hand. Every pitcher has his own release point, the point at which the ball leaves his hand – and the point at which a hitter should begin to read the [...]
The Activity Begins
The best part of the hot stove season is anticipating player moves. This first real week of movement was no exception. It’s like playing those silly scoreboard games to guess which hat the ball is under, although anyone with a good set of eyes or a good seatmate can guess this. Not so with player [...]
Baseball Legend Cal Ripken Jr. Challenges Kids to Improve their Math Skills
Grand Slam Baseball Challange The video that follows was taken from a local Washington DC FoxNews station… Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com Help support Baseball Reflections and buy me a coffee with PayPal!
2010 SF Giants World Series Victory Parade: A Fans-Eye View!
The Giants’ World Series victory was spectacular!! I had spent the previous day working at the Polling Booth, starting at 6 am until 9 pm. I was utterly exhausted, but I wasn’t going to miss the parade. I kept waking up in the middle of the night trying to avoid my worst nightmare of oversleeping [...]
Where’s the Relevance of the Gold Glove Award?
Free agency has eliminated some of the luster around the post-season awards already. The post-season awards used to be the only thing a baseball fan had to look forward to this time of year. Now, they are competing with the news about the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. Heck, even my hometown Astros are rumored to be [...]
SF Giants Championship Parade Video & World Series Prints to Buy
Congratulations to the Giants who have now won World Series Championships in both New York and San Francisco! From the perspective of a non-Giants fan, someone who hasn’t had the priveledge to see them play very often if at all, I’d have to say that I was impressed by the pitching in general on this [...]
Can the Phillies’ payroll afford Jayson Werth?
In our last article examining the Phillies payroll, we found that allowing Jayson Werth to walk essentially maintains the same payroll of $141 million next season. Re-signing Werth would simply ADD Werth’s salary on top of the $141 million. It originally seemed like $15 million would be enough to keep J-dub. But after listening to [...]
Warm Up the Stove
The Hot Stove is starting to heat up and here are 10 questions that will be answered soon. 1. Where will Cliff Lee go? Lee is in the enviable position of being the most sought after free agent this year. He will be able to choose his team and his pay. It’s obvious that one [...]
Teaching Young Ballplayers that Defense Wins Championships
By far, the greatest play I ever made was on a routine ground ball, about 4 or 5 steps to my left, with a very short throw to 1st base from my second base position. “What was so great about that?” The circumstances of the situation are what made the play great, at least to [...]
What will the Phillies payroll look like in 2011?
Mere moments after Ryan Howard struck out to finish the Phillies season, the focus quickly shifted to Jayson Werth and the Phillies’ payroll. Will or won’t the Phillies keep Werth? Before even considering re-signing Werth, we need to examine the Phillies payroll. A quick look at the payroll provides a clear answer. According to USAToday.com, [...]
The Houston Astros Free Agency Primer
As most baseball fans know, free agency officially began on Sunday (11/7). That in of itself is unique. Usually, the waiting period after the World Series is a few weeks. On the one hand, it’s hard to catch your breath when free agency starts five days after the end of the World Series. On the [...]
So Long Sparky!
This article was originally posted by Anup Sinha who is the Executive Editor of Bucs Prospects. He also happens to be a former writer here at Baseball Reflections for a short time! I realize this (the origin of this article is the site Bucs Prospects) is a Pittsburgh Pirates blog and perhaps the older fans don’t share my [...]
A Giants Fan’s Elation on their 2010 World Series Championship
The San Francisco Giants are the 2010 World Series Champions, the champions of the baseball world. They are the champions for the first time since 1954, and for the first time in San Francisco. Nothing can ever take this away from them. Wow!!! I cannot think of anything that more that can express my feelings [...]
Rod Carew on Seeing the Ball
In many sports, it’s called being “in the zone.” In baseball, it’s “seeing the ball.” And when you’re “seeing the ball,” you’re putting together multi-hit games, hitting streaks, and home-run tears – everything’s going right for you at the plate. When you’re “seeing the ball,” it looks bigger, you pick it up sooner, your reactions [...]
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CIVILITY?
In the wake of the surprising but deserving San Francisco Giants winning the World Series came word that numerous riots broke out on the city streets. Is there any plausible reason for this adolescent behavior? What have fans become? Why, after a big victory in sports do fans have to act like idiots (Here’s a [...]
The Giants First World Series Victory in San Fransisco
Congratulations to all SF fans… This must have been a close series MVP race between Renteria and Lincecum! If Renteria actually does retire, what a way to go! I was also impressed with the post season play of rookie catcher Buster Posey and OF Cody Ross who was a waiver wire pick up! The Giants [...]
The Hiring of New Mets GM Sandy Alderson Brings Optimism to this Citi
Image by Getty Images via @daylife It’s a new beginning for the Mets with the hiring of Sandy Alderson as general manager. It was a great choice – he is a strong leader and disciplinarian, which is exactly what this team needs. New beginnings are always nice – they always bring hope, optimism and promise. [...]
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