In lieu of a moment of silence, which we obviously cannot do on a blog, a volunteered group of members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA) are participating in a site blackout tomorrow, 9/11/2011.

In honor of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, we have agreed to collectively go “dark” for the entire day of September 11.  This means that any participating blog will not post an article, not tweet, no facebook post for the entire day tomorrow, Sunday, 9/11/2011.  As a group, this will be our New Media version of a moment of silence.

Please join us and may we Never Forget!

The Show Details

When: Tuesday Night, March 29th, 9pm EST

Where: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ivieleagueproductions

Call-in Number: 917-889-3190

Content: We will have 5 of the Baseball Reflections authors talking about all 6 MLB divisions in 10 minute (we hope) segments

This is your chance to hear what some of your favorite writers sound like!

The Line Up

AL East: Peter Schiller – owner of www.BaseballReflections.com

NL East: Dean Hybl – owner of www.SportsthenandNow.com & author at www.BaseballReflections.com

AL Central: Bill Jordan – author at www.BaseballReflections.com

NL Central: Anthony Cusimano - author at www.BaseballReflections.com

AL West: Thomas McKenney – writer at www.themaninthehat.com & author at www.BaseballReflections.com

NL West: Charles Fracchia -  author at www.BaseballReflections.com

Image via CrunchBase

Once again, I will be hosting the fifth week of this month’s BBA Baseball Talk’s podcast on Tuesday, March 29th.

Guests & the time will be released ASAP and the show can be listened to live and downloaded afterwards (available through iTunes). But for the best experience, I highly recommend that you listen in live and consider calling into the show to talk some baseball with us!

I will try to post updates of the time the show will go live that night along with the guest(s) as the details get ironed out. Either way, I always have a blast doing this show and I hope to hear from you there!

Image via CrunchBase

Save the Date: March 15th, 2011

6th Annual Dante Benedetti Baseball Classic

Order Tickets Online

The Dante Benedetti Baseball Classic will be held at AT&T Park on March 15th, 2011 and will feature the U.S.F. Dons vs. San Jose State. Game time is 12:20 PM preceding the Bruce-Mahoney game between Sacred Heart Cathedral and St. Ignatius  which begins at ~3:30PM.

The Dante Benedetti Baseball Classic is about preserving the 40 year legacy that Dante Benedetti left the University of San Francisco and the San Francisco community. Simply put, helping kids through the game of baseball.

The Bruce-Mahoney Memorial Trophy

St. Ignatius College Preparatory and Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory are the participants in the oldest high school athletic rivalry west of the Mississippi River. The Bruce-Mahoney Memorial Trophy is symbolic of the rivalry. Established in 1947, it is awarded to the school which is victorious in league competition in two out of the three major sports each year: football, basketball, and baseball.

The Trophy is named in honor of Bill Bruce (S.I. 1935) and Jerry Mahoney (S.H. 1944), representing the graduates of St. Ignatius and of Sacred Heart who gave their lives for their country in World War II.

This ancient rivalry continues with the inclusion of the Bruce-Mahoney baseball game in The Dante Benedetti Baseball Classic.

For more information dbf@dantebenedetti.org or 925-837-7464.

Order Tickets Online

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 member), so please try them out this summer & tell some friends about them, too!

Q1- Who is www.LiveChatConcepts.com

Live Chat Concepts inc is the parent company formed to develop Live Chat applications that can be scaled for large numbers of people to chat online while watching live sporting events.

Although there is a lot more functionality still to be developed we have so far launched 12 websites

The same account username & password that is used on http://www.LiveBaseballChat.com can be used on all 12 websites. Depending on what sport you want to chat live about is what website you would log into. We have a number of other websites coming online over the next year.

Q2- How does it work? What can I do at www.LiveBaseballChat.com?

http://www.LiveBaseballChat.com is a free site that allows you to chat real time with other baseball fans live during any of the 2453 MLB games.

A dedicated chat room is started for each MLB game, 30 minutes before each game, and then closes 30 minutes after the game is finished.

Q3- Why would I use www.LiveBaseballChat.com? (instead of twitter or forums etc)

LiveBaseballChat.com was started because I loved interacting with friends who were watching the same game as me on TV. We would email back and forth or chat on Skype and IM etc about the game as we were watching it.

There are a lot of tools out there to do chat ‘one on one’ or between friends you already know but I wanted to chat with more people, both fans of the teams I supported and the other teams as well so we could trash talk back and forth.

The other thing I quickly learnt was there are a lot of people out there who knew more about baseball than I did so it was good to hear what they had to say.

Q4- How is www.LiveBaseballChat.com live chat different to team forums?

Most of the MLB content I read “after” the game is in the format of blogs or forums. And these work great “after the game”. The problem is if you are using a forum for chatting during a game you have to keep refreshing your browser or keep jumping around the various posts. It loses that feeling of a conversation between friends.

We are hoping to partner with a lot of baseball fan team forums and blogs because we are actually providing different functionality, you can’t even chat on our site once the game is finished. Once a game is finished you will got to your regular forums or blogs to read about an event but while it is happening Live then www.LiveBaseballChat.com is the best way to interact with each other.

Q5- How is www.LiveBaseballChat.com different to Twitter?

I love using Twitter but felt something was missing. I saw a whole heap of people that I found and followed with my twitter account posting messages with the hashtag #MLB or #NYMets but it felt like we were shouting “past” each other rather than having conversations.

With LiveBaseballChat.com you can see all the messages instantly in real time as it’s updated with no need to “search” for specific people or hashtags.

There are a lot more people chatting on Twitter about baseball games but hopefully it’s just a matter of time before they find out about www.LiveBaseballChat.com and start chatting there.
Q6- So how do I join a Live Baseball Chat room?

Using any browser go to www.LiveBaseballChat.com and register a username and password. There is no software to download or any executable to click; everything is done in the browser. Once you have confirmed your email address you can log in and view the schedule page with all the chats listed and their start times.

Chats can only be entered 30 minutes before the start of the baseball game.

Q7- How do I invite friends to join me in the chat room?

There are 3 ways to invite friends to join you in the Live Chat.

From within the chat room you can send an email that contains the CHurl (CHurl stands for Chat Room URL), you can post the CHurl to your Twitter account or you can post the CHurl to your Facebook feed.

The CHurl automatically links to the chat room that you are currently in, (actually links directly to the current message in the chat).

Q8- How do I tell who is in the room with me?

On the left hand panel is the “Who is Here” button. By clicking this button it will show you the names and photos of all the people in the chat room with you.

Q9- How do I find out more information about someone in a chat room?

By clicking on a “Users Name” you will see the “Personal Profile” panel, this shows you a users location, favorite team any linked accounts such as Twitter and Facebook.

But it also shows you their ”User Stats” such as
How many times someone has logged in,
How many messages they have posted,
How many Buddy’s a user has etc.

New Features

Q9- Auto log in post to your Twitter and Facebook accounts each time you log in.

One of the new features we’ve recently implemented is that automatically when you enter a chat room it will post a message that you have entered a Live Chat session to your Twitter and Facebook feeds.

If you want to turn this off you can do so on the “Account-My Messages” panel.

Q10- Post chat messages directly to Twitter and Facebook.

You are now able to publish messages directly from the chat panel to your linked Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Any message you post to the chat panel but end with #Twitter and or #Facebook will appear not only in the chat panel but also will appear in your Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Q11- Buddy Alerts

You can now get a Buddy Alert email each time someone in your Buddy List joins a Live Chat session, so if a friend of yours joins a chat you will get an email with the CHurl for the room they have logged into.

This feature can be turned on or off from the “Account-My Messages” panel.

Q12- How do I earn Badges

You can earn badges on all of the Live Chat Concepts sites, there are over 125 badges to collect from performing various tasks across all of the sites. Some of these are MLB related but some are for our other sites.

You can earn prizes for being “King of the Site” and from other activities.

Q13- Fan Walls

Another new feature is the ability to “find” users who have the same “favorite team” as you. By clicking on a team name you will launch the Fan Wall panel that shows you the avatars for each user who has nominated this as their favorite team

Eg.  http://www.livebaseballchat.com/lbbc/fanwallgo.do?team=Brewers

We collect new and gently worn baseball equipment from the US and Canada and distribute it to disadvantaged youth in Latin American countries, the US and around the World.

Our global reach and leadership bridges the gap between different cultures through baseball.  Our organization partners with communities as they develop and nurture social responsibility.

The Founder is Stephen Pindar. He and his wife, Lisa, have been doing mission work and providing humanitarian aid in the Dominican Republic since 1997.

In 1999, Steve started a baseball collection project, which benefited children in the Dominican Republic.

In 2006, Steve received the blessing of the Clemente family to use Roberto’s name and Roberto’s Kids was born.

Roberto’s Kids is presently operating in 33 States in the US and 3 Provinces in Canada.

Roberto’s Kids has been endorsed by MiLB and has the blessing of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. RK has also been endorsed by many players as well as those in upper management in MLB.

Current recipient countries are: the United States, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

Roberto’s Kids is currently distributing 30 tons of equipment per year.

The RK donor base consists of baseball leagues and organizations, those doing Church confirmation projects, Bar Mitzvah projects, Boy Scout and Girl Scout projects, Community Service projects, as well as Schools, Colleges, municipal recreation departments, sporting goods stores, and retail stores.

Our recipient base is made up of worthy leagues and organizations, churches, orphanages, as well as MLB’s RBI program.

Roberto’s Kids operates under the umbrella of the Roberto Clemente Foundation, which is a 501c3 non profit organization.

Program Headquarters

55 Union Street

Oneonta, NY 13820

(607) 437-8779 EST

Caribbean Office

San Pedro de Macoris

Republica Dominicana

Email

info@robertos-kids.org

Join us on the Web

www.robertos-kids.org

I-70 Baseball is proud to announce the organization of the first Midwest Baseball Writers Convention to be held on February 12, 2011 in Springfield, MO.

Baseball writers from around the country are being invited to attend the first ever conference, aimed at creating a networking opportunity for writers to exchange ideas and meet with industry professionals that can assist them in expanding their reach within their industry.

Attendees of the conference will be allowed full access for the day to the various displays inside of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.  In addition, guest speakers will grace the auditorium stage at the venue to discuss various topics.

Confirmed Speakers at this time are:

- Representatives from the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) will be on hand to discuss their organization and offer the ability to setup membership that day.

- Rob Rains will be on hand with copies of his book “Cubs Win, Cubs Win, or do they?”

- Tim Danielson of BaseballDigest.com will be on hand to discuss the collecting industry and the impact on…

- A Sabermetric expert will be on hand to discuss statistics in today’s game and their place in journalism

- Experts on New Media and it’s reach into mainstream society

Other authors, professional athletes, and experts in their field have been contacted and we are finalizing the full list of guest speakers and celebrity guests.

In addition, I-70 has asked the United Cardinal Bloggers and the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA) for their involvement and we anticipate a large group of writers to attend the event, giving the unique opportunity for face-to-face interaction and relationship building going into the 2011 Major League Baseball season.

The conference will be an exciting time for writers to meet each other, learn more about their craft, and build their content to an all new level.

In addition, there will be a private dinner for guests and writers at Ebbet’s Field in Springfield, MO the night before the event on February 11.

Contact Bill Ivie, Founder of i70baseball.com, at bill@i70baseball.com for more information or to reserve your spot today.  Attendance will be limited.

You can visit I-70 on Facebook here (link:
http://www.facebook.com/coopdeeville?v=wall#!/pages/i70baseball/127160597319303)
The official Facebook page of the conference is located here (link:
http://www.facebook.com/coopdeeville?v=wall#!/pages/Midwest-Baseball-Writers-Convention/126381204092671)

Today, Friday December 10, 2010 is Baseball Bloggers Alliance (aka BBA) Day! The BBA was started in April 2009 by one of our contributing writers here at Baseball Reflections, Daniel Shoptaw. Daniel also runs his own blog where he covers the Cardinals called C70 at the Bat and he also runs the United Cardinal Bloggers (UCB). To learn more about the BBA, please check out the interview with Daniel titled, “Talking With Baseball Bloggers Alliance Founder Daniel Shoptaw” from the BBA member site Misc. Baseball. Take a peak at the interview and then come back to read my story with the BBA.
Now that I’ve told you a little bit about the BBA and you hopefully checked out the interview with Daniel, I’d like to tell you what I think of the BBA, what I’ve participated in and why I jumped at the chance to join.

I jumped at the chance to join the BBA for two reasons. First, knowing of Daniel’s success with the UCB I new it would be run properly. Second, because I had a very similar idea that crashed and burned over on LinkedIn. Basically, I loved the idea! I told Daniel I’d help out in any way that I could. Now it has over 230 bloggers in membership & we have voted on the basic end of season awards for the best player, rookie, pitcher, reliever, manager and also the Hall of Fame which is currently in process. In fact, last year (2009) we were approached by the BBWAA to change the names of those end of the season awards. We were allowed permission to use Hall of Famer Googe Gossage’s name for our Best Closer Award.

I also have co-hosted a BBA podcast a few times and am now the host of the show on months with a fifth Tuesday. The show is hosted on Blog Talk Radio and it’s called BBA Baseball Talk and it runs on every Tuesday night. Please check it out sometime…the shows run for about an hour and are broadcast live and can be downloaded or subscribed to in iTunes.

Sponsors

CSNNE

Bud Light

Steiner Sports Gifts & Collectables

Kevin Youkilis’ Hits for Kids

Botton Line Apparel

The Baseball Tavern

‘Palooza Schedule

12PM-2PM(Third Floor )

Registration & Networking

2PM-4PM(Third Floor)

Panel Discussions:

2PM Baseball

225PM Hockey

250PM Football

315PM Basketball

340PM Social Media

4PM-430PM(Third Floor & Basement)

Networking

430PM-5PM(Third Floor)

Raffle drawings, silent auction winners, and wrap up

5PM(Basement)

After Party featuring Brian Richard and The Hootchies

Watch live video from bkrudy on Justin.tv