Archive for January, 2011
“This is baseball”
It is a famous phrase that I have learned to love since I was 11 years old. It all started when I attended my first official baseball game in Louisville, Kentucky. Sure, at the time, I had been introduced to baseball before then (my grandmother was an avid Atlanta Braves fan ever since I was [...]
SABR Day 2011
So, some of you may already be planning to attend your local SABR Day event, others may want to, but have prior engagements that they cannot break, while even others are (right now) asking just what in the world is SABR anyway?! No, it is not a group of sabermetricians; although that’s what I mistakenly [...]
Rod Carew’s Hitting Tips: Making Contact, Step 1 – The Setup
Everything has a starting point. The starting point of making contact – the starting point of becoming a successful hitter – is the setup. On the surface, it might seem like a rather simple or even natural process; but it’s a very important aspect of your quest to becoming a good hitter. As you start [...]
ARE THE RAYS SERIOUS?!?
Just when you think you have the Rays’ figured out, they go and have an off-season that defies all logic and seeming desire to win. How else can you explain replacing Carlos Pena and Carl Crawford with Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez? It’s obvious that these two were thrown into the off-season recycle bin by [...]
The NY Mets 2010/2011 Offseason Under New GM Sandy Alderson
The Phillies made waves this offseason by signing much-sought free agent pitcher, Cliff Lee. Braves stole Dan Uggla from the Marlins in a trade. The Mets’ biggest enemies in the NL East both made major moves to bolster themselves. So what have the Mets done? Well, not as much. Image via Wikipedia New GM Sandy [...]
An American Tradition: MLB Hall of Fame Voting
South Park is one of my favorite programs on television these days. Trey Parker and Matt Stone trash everyone. So, while I may bristle somewhat at the fact that they trash my church or heritage, I chuckle because they trash everyone. In particular, they have managed the almost impossible feat of making Satan a sympathetic [...]
Major League Baseball Scores
Volume IV, Issue 1: A Publication For Your Reading Enjoyment Major League Baseball scored a significant victory recently when Dominican authorities arrested a prominent MLB scout and charged him with fraud and document forgery in connection with young baseball prospects. Victor Baez was regarded as one of the most successful Dominican scouts and ran his [...]
DRSEA INFORMER: For The Love Of Money
Volume III, Issue 15: A Publication For Your Reading Enjoyment It has been said that when morality confronts profit, rarely willmorality triumph. And with profit being the main motive behind the proliferation of independent academies dedicated to developing and selling Dominican baseball talent, morality and fair play are likely to strike out. That has been my [...]
Marty Kuehnert: A Lifetime in Japanese Baseball
“Everything with Japan started in the toilet.” When Marty Kuehnert speaks of the serendipitous event that led to his first trip to Japan, that’s usually how he begins. “Spend the summer in Japan!” the flyer above the urinal beckoned. Kuehnert, then a freshman at Stanford, noticed the sign while he was, er, in the toilet [...]
Talk Like an Expert and Help Youth Baseball Players “Stay” in the Game
Spring training is right around the corner for young ball players, too, so parents and youth coaches have to get up to speed on good baseball teaching terms. There is one word that is necessary to teach baseball. Adults need to know this word to help them sound like an expert and so they can [...]
Prince Fields a Whopper
It is 11° as I write this so to get in the mood I am listening to Baseball’s Greatest Hits – mostly cheesy tributes to former New York players – Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Mickey Mantle as well as one of the best baseball songs ever written “Willie, Mickey and the Duke” [...]
A Review of Positional Hitting by Jaime Cevallos
If used correctly, Jaime Cevallos’ book, “Positional Hitting: The Modern Approach to Analyzing and Training Your Baseball Swing”, could revolutionize the way players approach hitting and improve their swing mechanics. In my opinion, this book is a modern transition from Ted William’s book “The Science of Hitting”. In fact, the author told me that Positional [...]
A Review of High Heat: The Secret History of the Fastball by Tim Wendel
The Hardcover version The full title of this book is “High Heat: the Secret History of the Fastball and the Improbable Search for the Fastest Pitcher of All Time”. Its chapters are named after different aspects of pitching: The Windup, The Pivot, The Stride, The Arm Acceleration, The Release, The Follow-Through, and The Call. It [...]
Phillies Payroll Indicates Owners are Finally “Committed to Winning”
Now that the Phillies have blown up their payroll by adding Cliff Lee, the total payroll looks to be over $160 million in 2011. Once regarded as greedy Gremlins who lurked in dark alleys, all of a sudden this Phillies ownership group is “committed to winning.” But just how committed are they? I thought it [...]
Hall of Famer Rod Carew on Finding Your Road to Success
Across the springs, summers and autumns – after all the seasons and over all the years – countless styles, methods and theories of how to hit a baseball and how to be a successful hitter have developed. Unfortunately, some instructors remain limited in their knowledge and, hence, can limit you in your approach to becoming [...]
GETTING IN; GETTING OUT; GETTING TRADED
1. It’s About Time Apparently it took a massive effort by fellow baseball bloggers to finally convince voters that Bert Blyleven was worthy of the Hall of Fame, something this blogger has endorsed for at least five years. It’s a shame that it took so long. Congratulations also goes out to Roberto Alomar who was [...]
A Charlie Rose Interview with Hall of Famer Willie Mays
This interview is over 20 minutes long and was found on hulu.com Enjoy! Help support Baseball Reflections and buy me a coffee with PayPal!
Check Out LiveBaseballChat.com this Upcoming MLB Season!
With pitchers and catchers reporting to their proper teams in a little over a month from now, we decided to introduce to you a way that you can chat with fellow fans during any MLB game in 2011 by way if this interview. LiveBaseballChat.com are a friend of the BBA (wihich Baseball Reflections is a [...]
REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: An Oral and Narrative History of the Home of the Boston Red Sox
Click this Link to Buy “Remembering Fenway Park” THE BABE. THE KID. THE CURSE. THE MONSTER. A CENTURY OF STORIES. REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF THE BOSTON RED SOX Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.Welcome to Fenway Park. Six days after the Titanic sank in the [...]
SCORECASTING: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Adam Rifenberick Press Box Publicity Phone: 912.349.4437 E-Mail: adam@pressboxpublicity.com Advanced Review Copy of “SCORECASTING: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won”, by Tobias J. Moskowitz and L. Jon Wertheim (Crown Archetype, 1/25/11) Available to Media (January 6, 2011) — “SCORECASTING: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are [...]
5 Habits Sports Parents and Coaches Should Avoid
Often, the parental pressure that parents place on young baseball players is subtle, but builds over time to the point where kids no longer want to play. The resulting kids’ desire to quit baseball comes as a surprise and disappointment to parents, which creates additional tension between them. Parents and coaches, who avoid these negative [...]
The Other Side of Free Agency
Ever since a federal arbitrator ruled that baseball’s reserve clause was too restrictive in a 1975 ruling the players have seen their average salary soar higher than a launched projectile. As late as 1986 the average salary was $413,000. Today it is $3 million and climbing. There’s no doubt that this historic ruling has made [...]
BBA Baseball Talk Tonight Covering The Phillies and the Hall of Fame Voting
I just want to send out a note that Steve Keane from The Eddie Kranepool Society and This Call To The Bullpen will be hosting the BBA Baseball Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio tonight at 11PM ET. His guest will be fellow BBA member, Bill Baer of Crashburn Alley. Bill and I will be [...]
Scouting Legend Bill Lajoie Goes to Heaven as a Pirate
Editor’s note: This article was first published on Bucs Prospects HERE on December 30th. As far as Pirates fans should be concerned, the biggest mistake Bill Lajoie made was joining the organization 20 years too late. You Bucco fanatics have no idea what you missed and what Detroiters like me gained. Allow me to explain. Hired [...]
A Fan’s Perspective on the World Champion SF Giants Off Season
A few weeks ago, one of my dear friends e-mailed me to ask what had happened to my enthusiasm for the Baseball Winter Meetings. I think that my feelings for the Winter Meetings changed when it went from being an opportunity for teams to trade players to try to shore up their weaknesses to being [...]
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