Welcome!

I like to listen to music when I write, especially music that will fuel the topic.  Today the music of choice is Miles Davis.  Believe it or not Miles and baseball do have one thing in common – they’re indefinable.  “Well”, you might say – “Miles Davis is a jazz musician and baseball is a sport.  There you have it … defined!!” OK, when it’s all said and done, that’s true.  But, like jazz (one of the most complicated genres of music, and Miles is equally complex) baseball can be one of the most intricate of sports.  Let’s examine this through the eyes of a fan – well, many different fans and the topics baseball fans like to talk about.

I love watching baseball with my wife.  She loves it for its pure art form at the simplest level.  In no way am I calling my wife simple.  Lord knows she runs circles around me with her intelligence (as is the case with most marriages I’m sure).  The reason she’ll sit down and watch a game with me is for the enjoyment of sport.   That’s it.  At times we’ll get in to the “who’s”, “whys” and “what’s” but most of the time its “nice hit” or “he needs to hustle”.  This type of fan could also be a child (or adult) who just started watching the game for the first time.  When you’re hooked, hey, you’re hooked.

Then there's the stat-head.  Over the years I’ve become a bit of a stat-head.  I’m still learning though.  There are all sorts of stats.  From the traditional to the new-fangled, sabermetric run/win based stats.  Pitching, hitting, fielding and base-running, there are a host of stats to keep anyone’s mind boggled.  Check out Fangraphs - http://www.fangraphs.com/ -  one of my favorites. Every so often I'll post info about a stat and how its used.

There are people out there that dedicate a good portion of their life traveling from ballpark to ballpark.  “Roadtrippers”, “Ballpark chasers”, “Baseball journeymen”, call them what you may, but they are an interesting bunch.  I had the pleasure of attending a game with a guy in the midst of his goal to see all 30 MLB ballparks in 2012.  His blog is here - http://baseballdreamin.blogspot.com/.  Enjoy!!

I remember one year when the family was on a vacation (don’t recall where), my wife was having trouble sleeping.  I wake up in the middle of the night to see her watching A league of Their Own.   That was a fun movie.  There are baseball fans that are really into their baseball movies.  Me, I’ll watch a few here and there, but I’m not obsessed.  Moneyball was good.   And of course there is Pride of the Yankees.  There is also the bookworm.  I think there are more books in the category of baseball then any other sport.  There are biographies, books on entire seasons, instructional books, books about teams during a period of time, and many other topics. I'll post reviews of some of my favorite books and movies.

Watching baseball with a coach, former-coach, coach-wannabe, assistant coach or fan-thinks-he’s-a-coach, could be a great experience or quite annoying.  It’s enjoyable to learn about the strategy and tactics of a game.  I hate attending a game where in one of the nearby seats is some guy who just second-guesses everything the manger does.  Watching teams and mangers in action just affirms that baseball is a lot like chess.  The action that proceeds, follows and comes with every pitch is a chess move.  There are literally thousands of different situations and each of them could come with a number of conflicting views on how to deal with them.  Every so often we'll delve into some of the strategy and tactics used by today's managers.

I love the history of the game.  Its past players, characters and teams are fun to read about.   Also, when you read about history, you get a feel for the evolution of the game. There are numerous ebbs and flows of various offensive and pitching eras.  Dynasties also are a big part of history (mostly the Yankees).  Records are made and broken (and broken again).  I'll post some interesting history nuggets from time-to-time.

I laugh to myself when I think about watching a game with a fantasy player (I’m one of those).  Who cares about team allegiance?  Last time I checked teams don’t pay me to be a fan, but a fantasy league can pay a nice sum.  Not that I’m bragging but I've made a few college payments courtesy of some characters in Jersey.  Fans will yell and scream at the TV at various players which the ordinary fan wouldn’t think twice about.  An odd bunch these fantasy players.

I think most of us had baseball cards when we were kids.  Remember flipping?  I still have my autographs.  Most of them are TTM (through the mail).  TTM is still very popular. I'll post some of my autographs in future blog entries.  

Then there is the plain ole every-day team fanatic.  His/her team can do no wrong (unless of course they are doing the criticizing).  At times a super fan can be unrealistic about their team. Sometimes fans see gold when in fact – it’s fools gold (see Steve Kemp – Yankees 1983).  I also love the city rivalry debates.  New York I would think is the biggest, but Chicago is close.  There is also one brewing down in the DC area between the O’s and Nats. 

There are many other topics baseball fans like to discuss – the business of the game, minor league prospects, the hall of fame, rules, broadcasters, injuries, and much more. 

So that’s what this blog is all about  - the above topics and more.  Do I know everything about baseball?  Uh, no, far from it.  I’ll be sharing information I know about and currently researching.  I’ll also be learning on the fly as well.  Each post will be about one topic. I’ll try to post often (no promises).  If there is anything baseball-related you would like me to blog about please feel free to ask.

Enjoy and thanks for reading

-Tom