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Baseball

Rickey Thanks Rickey

rickey.jpgRickey accepts this honor on behalf of Rickey. Rickey hopes that this recognition will finally allow Rickey to get paid like Rickey deserves. Lastly, Rickey would like to thank Rickey for all the support Rickey has show Rickey over the years.

Rickey would also like to congratulate Jim Rice for joining him in Rickey’s Hall of Fame. Sure, Rickey never saw Jim Rice steal no bases. But Rickey thinks there are many paths to the Hall, because Rickey is feeling magnanimous today.

Rickey thinks it’s just a shame that it took so long to get Jim in the Hall, all because a bunch of old fart sportswriters didn’t like him back in day. So what Jim Rice didn’t talk to no reporters? Rickey never talked to no reporters. Rickey didn’t have to. Rickey let his feet do the talking. And his bat. And sometimes both at the same time, which is extremely difficult to pull off. That is, if you ain’t Rickey. Which Rickey happens to be, thank you very much.

As for Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven, Rickey wishes you best of luck next year. Rickey was honored to honor y’all by playing against you.

Baseball, Boob Tubery

MLB Whistles Nervously

I know how hard it is to start up a network. I mean, not personally. It’s not something I’ve ever done myself. I just imagine that it involves an intense amount of preparation, planning, and elbow grease, on top of the nuts and bolts inherent in running any company. It’s hard enough to put one show together, let alone a whole new lineup, and hire brand new studio personalities, producers, camera crew, etc., while also wondering when the soda machines are gonna get delivered.

I realize it takes a while before a new network can find its way and forge a unique vision. I’ve been watching SNY since it debuted, and those first few months were pretty rough. But hey, look at that lineup now, huh? *crickets*

So I’m willing to cut the brand new MLB Network an enormous amount of slack. I don’t expect them to have compelling programming just yet, especially during the baseball free month of January.

I mean, sure, MLB has cracked down on everyone who’s ever posted any footage of professional baseball anywhere online, so you’d think that they’re sitting on acres of vintage film that they refuse to let anyone else show in any form. And sure, they’ve had several years since they announced the launch of this new network to digitize all that old film, so they wouldn’t have to show the 2004 World Series highlights and last year’s playoffs over and over again.

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Baseball, Literary Endeavors

Profiles in Righteousness: Joe Posnanski

If you’re a fan of baseball, or a fan of sports, or just a fan of good writing, do yourself a favor and start reading Joe Posnanski’s blog at SI.com. Or his own blog, which publishes a lot of his SI stuff plus some other tasty bits.

Posnanski belongs to that rare breed of baseball scribe who isn’t allergic to numbers and doesn’t hate things invented within the last 50 years. And he is also a joy to read, prose-wise. The only other writer I’d put in his category is Tim Marchman, who–near as I can tell–remains unemployed now that the NY Sun has folded, which is a shame. (Marchman’s joblessness, I mean. The defunctory-ness of the NY Sun is neither here nor there for me.)

Prime example: A recent post wherein he argues that just because a particular stat wasn’t considered important during a player’s career (or didn’t exist), that doesn’t mean said stat isn’t important. In Posnanski’s opinion, new stats (or renewed focus on older stats, like OBP) recognize that certain things are not random or unimportant aspects of a game, but skills that should be recognized as such.

He’s been around for quite a while, most notably as a columnist for the Kansas City Star. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m coming late to the Joe Posnanski Is Awesome Party, but I figured I’d pass it along. My first New Year’s Resolution for 2009 is to berate people for doing things I should have been doing all along.