THOSE WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND HISTORY ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT IT "I played it the way I play here when the wind is blowing in, as it was today. We played ‘small ball.’ Sometimes, when you do that, all you need to get a good rally going is a walk and a sacrifice bunt or two."…
(Ed. note. Derek Zumsteg spent a few days last week taking in the All-Star Week festivities at Safeco Field. This is his report.) "The Star Spangled Banner" is a march. It should be over in two minutes. Preferably it’s sung loud, defiantly; it’s not as good a piece of music as, say, "O Canada," but…
Is the American League still the hitters’ league? It may seem that the Junior Circuit has always been the league of inflated offense, as a result of–take your pick–weaker pitching, cozier ballparks, weaker pitching, smaller strike zones, and weaker pitching. That’s not the case. Prior to the installation of the DH in 1973, the two…
Debates about defense in baseball can be extremely contentious and frustrating. There’s very little in the way of a generally accepted canon of evidence upon which people will agree, and a great deal of weight is place on personal observation. That makes it very difficult to question someone’s position about a particular player without at…
For the most part, we sort records into "breakable" and "unbreakable." Cy Young‘s record for career wins? Unbreakable, because pitchers don’t get that many decisions anymore. Hank Aaron‘s record for career home runs? Very breakable, as players become stronger and the conditions for hitting home runs remain good. Other than the career runs scored record,…
Evidently, not everyone finds articles on attendance all that compelling. In fact, one response called my June 26 column "the most boring thing I’ve EVER managed to read in its entirety." Hopefully this week’s question, from Mikael Haxby, won’t put too many of my readers to sleep…or at least put different ones to sleep than…
With half the season down and the good half to go, the Baseball Prospectus staff has assembled its mid-season awards. Take these with a few grains of salt, and enjoy the second half of the season. (Numbers in parentheses indicate number of ballots on which the player appeared, then number of first-place votes received.) AL…
All-Star night, and I, like millions of others, will not be in Seattle for the festivities. So if I’m going to watch the game on TV, I might as well get a column out of it. (All times Pacific Daylight.) 5:18: I do believe that Jorge Posada lining up for introductions with his baby in…
RIVALS "We are going to start taking it to them a little more from now on. By no means do we think they are a better team than we are." —Keith Foulke, White Sox pitcher, on the Minnesota Twins, against whom the Sox had managed only one win in twelve meetings "You feel that sometimes…
Rob Neyer and David Schoenfield of ESPN.com both do a better job of picking through the All-Star selections than I could, so I’ll direct you to their work for commentary on Cliff Floyd, et al. My only note is to say that the omission of Greg Maddux is one of the all-time bad jokes of…
The Florida Marlins are trying to do the unthinkable. They’re doing their best to prove that yes, you can have too much pitching. Or, at the very least, too much young pitching. Dave Dombrowski, who has a nose for young pitching unlike any other GM today, has assembled a collection of young aces-in-training that is…
Now that the All-Star starters have been announced, and the Japan-Kroger plot to avenge the memory of Gus Bell has been thwarted, let’s take a shot at figuring the rest of the AL and NL All-Star teams. Note: I’m not talking about "deserving" here; I’m just playing the home version of the game Bobby Valentine…
The San Diego Padres and Detroit Tigers met in the 1984 World Series. They been linked ever since by second-division finishes, directionless player development, stadium issues, and Randy Smith. The Padres finished in last place in the NL West last season, and are there again this year, while the Tigers are in fourth place in…