Archive for February, 2011
2011 Fantasy Baseball Keeper Conundrum: Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper or Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout?
Last week I received an intriguing e-mail from an avid reader of the site. Essentially, he asked me to choose between Nationals’ right fielder Bryce Harper and Angels’ center fielder Mike Trout in a keeper/dynasty format. My initial reaction was Harper, without question. After a few days of thought, however, my answer became much more complicated… [...]
A VIP Trip to Spring Training and a GuestPass
With Spring Training now upon us, I recently recalled a VIP trip to Florida for Spring Training in 2003 while working as Marketing Director with Sporting News. As done by many media properties, for many years Sporting News hosted key clients – advertisers, from both agencies and brands – annually at a special 3-day trip [...]
2011 Yankees Preview From a Lady Who Loves Pinstripes
From messy negotiations with the Captain; to ace Cliff Lee choosing brotherly love over the big apple; to waving goodbye to one of the Core Four; the New York Yankees off-season seemed to be in the news for all the wrong reasons. The only legit move was signing reliever Rafael Soriano, but even that became [...]
February in New England Is the Harbinger of the Best Time of Year
February in Pittsburgh was never good. I only marginally followed the Pirates, and generally was a sport-hater, as my brother and father were sports-obsessed, and screaming at the television and listening to sports radio made me want to scream. Then I moved to New England. I worked at a company where I bought [...]
Remembering Chuck Tanner and Winning Championships
Chuck Tanner sadly passed away on February 11th. One thing you will never hear me criticize when writing about Pittsburgh is the loyalty that fans have shown to those who have given their best. Sometimes, one’s best isn’t enough to win a championship. Fortunately for Chuck Tanner, his best was good enough to claim a [...]
Making Contact, Step 3: Flat-Hand Hitting
If any single idea dominates my overall approach to hitting it is my undying belief in the advantages of flat-hand hitting. Here’s why… It increases your flexibility to react to a variety of pitches. It gives you more leverage to drive the baseball. It provides you better arm extension. It allows you the ability to [...]
Introducing: The Baseball Reflections Mobile App
Well, better late than never! By clicking on the image below of the green android next to the weird square you can download the new Baseball Reflections mobile app. This app is powered by Notice Orange, a division of Notice Software! Help support Baseball Reflections and buy me a coffee with PayPal!
Book Review: Glory Days: The Akron Yankees of the Middle Atlantic League 1935-1941
Many in Northeast Ohio would be surprised to learn that the disliked New York Yankees used to have a farm team bearing their same name right in their backyard. While fans in this area of the country do not have the contempt for the Big League Yankees as, say, those in Boston, there is still [...]
Is the American League East Caught in a Time Warp?
With the recent signings by the New York Yankees of Bartolo Colon and Andruw Jones, the Tampa Bay Rays of Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez and the Baltimore Orioles of Derrek Lee and Vladimir Guerrero you have to wonder if these teams realize that it is 2011 and not 2005. If it were 2005, the [...]
An Introduction to the Luck Factor in Baseball
There is a schism in baseball between those that we might call traditionalists and those we would call sabermetricians. Traditionalists believe in intangibles. They believe in character, chemistry, and pure athletic skills. Unexplained events are actually explained by clutch performance or what some people call “choking”, Moreover, we shouldn’t try to define it or quantify [...]
MLB and NPB: New Places, Same Faces
Baseball players in Japan began spring training last week, and MLB pitchers and catchers reported this week. Do you know who they are and where they are? In the constant merry-go-round that is professional sports, it’s difficult to keep up with what player is on what team these days. Let’s break down the comings and [...]
Catching the Fun of Throwing a Baseball
It does not take long for kids to get bored with a game of catch, whether it is with mom or dad in the back yard or at baseball practice. Often, players get bored quickly with playing catch and want to move on to fielding or hitting right away. The problem is that many kids [...]
Cardinals Dig In; MLB Losing It’s Sanity?
On the cusp of spring training, the Cardinals have less than 24 hours from this Tuesday night writing to make Albert Pujols happy. That’s the deadline he set for ceasing all contract extension negotiations. Seeing that the talks were stalled, outfielder Matt Holliday, due to make more than Pujols this year, agreed to place more [...]
Jackie Robinson: A Look at His Hall of Fame Career
Could he be elected to the Hall of Fame had he not broken the color barrier? Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was ahead of his time. Emerging almost 20 years before the Civil Rights movement, Robinson is known to African-Americans as a pioneer. He played second base in the Negro Leagues until age 25, when Branch Rickey, [...]
Labor Peace in Baseball: Who would have guessed?
Sports radio was a buzz last week in the wake of the Super Bowl with discussion about when fans may again see their favorite professional teams back on the gridiron. While many people started out with an optimistic view of the discussions between the owners and the players association, there is currently a very sour [...]
Baseball Heroes of World War II
Here’s a quick, pre-spring training, WWII video highlighting famous MLB players who gave up years of their baseball career in order to serve their beloved country in a time of war! Let’s remember them by adding any war stories of them that you have either heard of or know from first hand experience, in the [...]
Hall of Famer Rod Carew on Making Contact, Step 2: The Stride
As you continue taking steps toward becoming a successful hitter, one of the crucial steps is actually making a stride. In your quest for contact, the purposes of the stride are many. For starters, it gets your energies moving in the right direction. It also eliminates a flat-footed swing and balances the weight shift and [...]
How Baseball Gloves Are Made
Going Yard with Kenn Olson will not be available this week, but in its place, please enjoy this educational video on how baseball gloves are made. We apologize for any inconvenience this omission might cause. If anyone is interested in creating a glove manufacturing company based out of Lawrence, MA in the old Mills, please [...]
A Video on How To Make Baseballs
For your viewing pleasure, here is a video on how to make baseballs. Help support Baseball Reflections and buy me a coffee with PayPal!
Book Review: Arm Chair Reader Grand Slam Baseball: The Lore and Legends of America’s Game
If a sports fan is looking for the perfect reading partner in the bathroom, this book may provide them with just what they are looking for. With over 400 pages of baseball facts, statistics and stories, Grand Slam Baseball is sure to teach even the most knowledgeable of baseball fans a thing or two about [...]
Two Historic Pitchers Retired This Off Season And Their Press Conferences
Trevor Hoffman Calls It Quits So, after the trials of the 2010 season where Glenn’s little brother saw himself loose his job as the closer for the Brewers for a while, yet rebound and still get his 600th career save (most ever), he decided to hang ‘em up! Here is the video of his retirement [...]
Chicago White Sox turn on power for 2011
The Chicago White Sox went into this off-season with plenty of work to do. They head toward spring training with a job well Dunn. Plenty of questions surrounded the offense heading into the fall and winter. Would catcher A.J. Pierzynski remain? Could they find a left-handed power hitter to compliment their line-up? And, most notably, [...]
How to Run a Great Baseball Practice
The key to running a great baseball practice is organization. Coaches should map out their practices so that there is little wasted time. Preseason practices should cover every important aspect of baseball for the age of the player. In the regular season, coaches can gear their practice time to cover parts of the game most [...]
The Price of Being a Contender
The 2011 Baseball America Prospects Handbook arrived this past week. An annual ritual is to immediately place on hold all other planned activities until I have given it a cursory inspection. This book accompanies me everywhere; it’s a good lunch time companion at a restaurant, solid reading material when on a long drive and even [...]
Book Review: Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Spots Are Played and Games are Won
What happens when one of the most renowned finance professionals in the country gets together with one of the mist intelligent sports writers in the country? They create a perception of sports that has never been heard before. In Scorecasting finance scholar Tobias Moskowitz and sports journalist L. Jon Wertheim attempt to answer questions that [...]
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