I ran across this article on Dugout Central entitled The Art of Catching by none other than former catcher Brent Mayne.  The byline at the bottom included a link to brentmayne.com. Go figure.  Yeah, he plugging a book but the site is rife with come cool stuff including his take on Mark McGwire’s latest admission on steroids.  He also has a podcast with some interviews (I’m planning on listening to the one with Rich Amaral). 

I’m a little leery when it comes to MLB ballplayers and blogs or websites.  Somehow, I get the idea they are either ghost-written or under heavy monitoring.  Mayne’s however seems on the level.  First, he’s retired and probably can say what he wants.  Second, his writing style and content appears “unofficial” looking (i.e. he writes like he might speak).  Third, he’s selling a book and makes no bones about it.  But instead of putting a quick template website up and forgetting about it (I’ve seen this countless times even by writers), he’s actually updating it.  Kudos.

Speaking of ballplayers and websites, Willie Mays is having some issues with a website.  A domain name, in particular.  According to domainnamewire.com, Mays is filing to get williemays.com under his control.  Currently, the domain name is owned by a company called Global Access which resides in the Isle of Man.  The website is purely a money making venture for GA as it includes links to ticket outlets (this probably goes without saying but I encourage anyone who goes there to NOT buy tickets from those links).

Mays has asked the World Intellectual Property Organization to arbitrate the matter on his behalf.

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The invaluable stat resource Baseball-Reference.com is conducting a survey now on how they can improve their site.  If you use B-R, I encourage you to hop on over there and fill out their survey form. 

I just took it myself.  It took me just 5 minutes to fill out but it does ask some great questions especially in terms of what areas you would like for them to focus their energies on in the future. 

So, if you can spare five minutes of your busy day, take Baseball Reference’s Survey.

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Here’s quick plug for a contest at one of my favorite minor league blogs, Bus Leagues Baseball.  They’re giving away a copy of Joe Posanski’s “The Machine”. 

The rules of the contest are stated simple enough in the post so saunter on over there and take a stab at winning a copy.

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Baseball Reference is now on Twitter. 

From what I can tell they’ll be including updates to the B-R blog and their always interesting Stat of the Day blog.

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Sean Forman has implemented a new search modification to his Baseball Reference database. 

For those searching on a common player name (or part thereof), you can put the word “the” in front of the search term and the database will bring up the most popular searched player.

From B-R’s blog:

I just added a mod to the search box on the site. With the addition of all of the minor league pages, getting to someone like Alex Rodriguez’s page via a search “A Rod” returns like 50 people. Now, if you type in “the A Rod” it looks through our db and returns the most popular major league player who matches the search “A Rod”. Adding “the ” to the front of any player search will send you to the most popular player matching that search.

I did my own test.  I searched for “ramon martinez” and got back three results including two minor leaguers.  When I searched for “the ramon martinez”, it took me directly to the page of Ramon Martinez who pitched for the LA Dodgers.

This trick works with initials too though your mileage may vary.  “the jason v” did return Jason Varitek as I intended it too.  For that matter, so did “the j v”.

Anyway, this mod might save a few mouse clicks for those of us who search Baseball Reference’s database on a frequent basis. 

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Sometimes info is easier digested in graphs, at least for me.  Check out the website Flip Flop Fly Ball and you’ll see what I mean. 

It’s full of neat baseball-related graphs, maps and images that are kinda neat.  For my buddy DonS, they even have a video montage of Ichiro Suzuki. 

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I just spent the last half hour browsing around Clem’s Baseball blog.  Clem’s site is a plethora of information about baseball stadiums both current and past. 

A look at the oddly shaped Polo Grounds from Clem’s Baseball Blog

He has a profile on all stadiums including detailed diagrams with dimensions, and an extensive history. 

I’m not sure how he got all his information but it is impressive.  Diagrams and dimensions are available for every major change they made to each stadium.  There is even an option to easily compare two stadiums.

Check it out if you’re a baseball stadium buff.

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Baseball Zealot Radio got a chance to interview Erik Manning tonight.  Erik writes for FutureRedbirds.net, a website that scouts Cardinals prospects in their farm system. 

In show 46, we talk a bit about Future Redbirds and the tools he needs to scout the players.  He then gives us a snapshot of the current Cardinals’ farm system.  Who’s hot and who’s not. 

I couldn’t let Erik off the line without asking him about the big league so we talked a little about the NL Central race, one that’s shaping up to be a humdinger. 

thanks, Erik!

PS don’t miss the Amaury Marti Facts page on Future Redbirds!

Length:  31:53

Date Recorded:  7/24/08

Listen to Episode 46	Listen to the show via iTunes!
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Author Adrian Burgos has blog now called Playing America’s Game.  Burgos, a friend of the Zealot, is a University of Illinois professor and author of Playing America’s Game: Baseball, Latinos, And The Color Line. 

Burgos is a renowned expert on Latinos in the context of the history of baseball as well as the Negro Leagues. 

It is no secret that his favorite player is Minnie Minoso. 

Stop by and say hi.

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Here’s an pretty cool web site I ran across tonight.  Coach Bobby B has an extensive tutorial on his web site on how to score a baseball game.  I realize I’m preaching to the choir since most reading this site probably have a pretty good idea how to do this but it’s interesting and good resource for those newbies learning the game. 

Those of us in the Illowa APBA League have a lot of practice scoring games.  Unlike other fantasy baseball, APBA is a simulation game.  Actual games get played, stats are accumulated and therefore we need to score them. 

There are ten managers in our league and we use ten different ways of scorekeeping.  Everyone’s way is different.  Some are incredibly thorough (bordering on anal).  Others can fit six games on one side of a sheet of paper. 

Anyway, for those who want to brush up on scorekeeping, take a look at How to Score Baseball. 

Posted in: Baseball Blogs and Web Sites, Statistics by The Baseball Zealot
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