All Entries in the "Bill's Analysis" Category
Broadcaster Ernie Harwell to Receive Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award
Image by “CAVE CANEM” via Flickr
Many around baseball have heard of Ernie Harwell, the longtime voice of the Detroit Tigers, and he will be recognized on May 5 with another honor to add to his Hall of Fame resume. On that date, Harwell will receive the Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award from Fordham’s [...]
Book Review: Burying the Curse, By Terry Pluto
To many, Terry Pluto has been the most trusted voice of Cleveland sports over the past two decades. Through his tenure with the Akron Beacon Journal and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Pluto had readers waiting for the paper to get his specific view on whatever issue was going on at that time.
Pluto [...]
February’s Look at the Cleveland Indians
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The Indians started the off season by firing their manager and his coaches, but keeping most of the other front office personnel in place. They staged some what of an extensive manager search and ended on former Washington Nationals’ skipper Manny Acta.
There was a big deal [...]
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 Major League [...]
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 is decorated all [...]
Stadium Review: Blair County Ballpark Home of the Altoona Curve
Blair County Ballpark gets its first praise from this reviewer from the title of the stadium because they have not yet followed suit with many other major and minor league teams and sold the naming rights to their stadium. This is not to say that it will never happen, but it [...]
Numbers Indicate Baseball Participation Grows in Europe as the Baseball World Cup Nears
Recent polls have illustrated that baseball is no longer just a hip sport in the Americas as the interest and participation continues to grow across Europe. This growth has been marked by the institution of new clinics, the foundation of new federation web sites and grassroots programs that are being instituted for all ages. Much [...]
Indians After Two Months = Disappointing
While the Cleveland Indians are currently on a winning streak at the time of this writing, it is the first time in nearly a month that they have won at least two games in a row. Even though there were no huge expectations coming into this season like there were in 2008 when many, including [...]
IBAF Names Donna Lopiano, Ph. D., As Chair of Women’s Baseball Committee
The IBAF has announced that Dr. Donna Poliano has officially been named the chair of the women’s baseball committee. Dr. Lopiano has held many previous roles in sports including being the Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Sports Foundation. She has also been recognized on an international level for leading the movement for gender equality [...]
PlayerPulse.com Provides a New Sports Perspective
Jarett Sims, digital entrepreneur and son of Emmy Award winning television and radio voice Dave Sims, currently the voice of the Seattle Mariners, has officially announced the inauguration of PlayerPulse.com. The website is designed to bring many of today’s influential personalities from the world of sports including athletes, journalists and sportscasters to one place to [...]
Joe DiMaggio Award Gala to Honor Reggie Jackson
Image via Wikipedia
Xaverian High School president Dr. Salvatore Ferrera announced that former New York Yankee Reggie Jackson would be honored at a dinner held at their school on May 5. The event, which is called the Joe DiMaggio Awards Banquet benefits the Brooklyn, New York School and was held last week.
According to Ferrera, “We are [...]
America’s Pastime: The Last 4 Innings
Sixth Inning
The culmination of a week long bike trip with my Boy Scout troop that encompassed 150 miles was a baseball game on the fourth of July at PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. My dad was not able to accompany us on the biking journey, although he would have loved to, because he [...]
America’s Pastime: The First 5 Innings
First Inning
“You can’t go to a baseball game without peanuts,” my dad said as he took a huge scoop of the salted variety from a bin in the local grocery store. At five-years-old, I had never been to a baseball game before and the whole day had been about him telling me what has to [...]
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 [...]
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 fan [...]
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 to [...]
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 [...]
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 in [...]
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 the [...]
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 [...]
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 Home [...]
Baseball Seasons to Open Across the World this Week
Major League Baseball is not the only league in the World to have their season kick off next week when the Atlanta Braves visit the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Most baseball fans in North America will be tuned in to see the Phillies receive their rings in a nationally televised event, but that is [...]
IBAF to Assist Barcelona Baseball Club After Tragedy
On March 12, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) announced their plans to help replace all baseball equipment that was lost in a building collapse in Barcelona. The federation will also honor the memory of the young people who lost their lives in the Saint Boi Tragedy during the 2009 World Cup.
The building collapsed on January [...]
The Comings and Goings in Cleveland
Indians Place Dellucci on DL; Recall Crowe from Columbus
With just one week until they open up against the Rangers in Texas, the Cleveland Indians tweaked their opening day roster once again to make sure that it is just right. Their basic moves are that they placed outfielder David Dellucci on the 15-day disabled list [...]
Indians Continue Making Moves
Starting pitcher Aaron Laffey became the most recent Cleveland Indians to be given the news that he wasn’t going to start the season with the big league club when he was optioned to the Columbus Clippers of the International League. At the beginning of camp, many thought that Laffey would be on the roster when [...]
Indians Send Some Big Names to Columbus
It’s that time of the year again, when fringe players are told whether they are going to be sent down or they get to stay with the team. On Tuesday, the Cleveland Indians optioned pitcher Jeremy Sowers and catcher Wyatt Toregas to the Columbus Clippers of the International League. The Tribe also assigned many players [...]
Stadium Review: PNC Park Home of the Pittsburgh Pirates
Even though the Pittsburgh Pirates carry a history that goes back to 1887, they are often forgotten in historical conversations about baseball these days, perhaps because they haven’t really done anything of consequence in decades. This may be the reason, then that their immaculately built stadium seems to be overlooked when discussions about the great [...]
WBC Key Second Round Moments
According to the IBAF, a poll was recently posted on espndeportes.com which asked if baseball should return to the Olympics. Just 24 hours into the voting, over 7,000 voters from 30 countries have logged on and the results are resounding as 95% have voted yes.
Many reports have noted that WBC officials have been pleased with [...]
Stadium Review: Progressive Field Home of the Cleveland Indians
The Indians home ballpark was renamed Progressive Field before the 2008 season after being named Jacobs Field for the length of its existence. This did not make Tribe fans happy, and many still refuse to call the ballpark by its new name. Even though the stadium has only been around for about 15 years, it [...]
