Baseball Christmas Gifts

Looking for that Christmas Gift Idea for the baseball fan. You'll find a collection of everything baseball at The Baseball Mall. The newest items added are New York Times historical Major League Baseball Team collections, 2009 Baseball Books & Guides and BaseBuddy, a game that allows kids to play baseball when there are not enough players to field a team. I remember closing certain outfields and playing "pitcher's hand" while growing up. This system takes that a step further and helps improve throwing accuracy and other playing skills. You'll find this and more at The Baseball Mall.

Happy Holidays from The Baseball Mall.

7th Inning Stretch

Who do you like to hear "Take me out to the ballgame" with during the 7th inning stretch. For years and years, it was always one of my buddies, ie a male friend. But, fortunately for me, my second wife has come to love sports, baseball in particular. I recently asked her what one of the highlights of our marriage was, and, to my surprise, she said the first time I took her to Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) to see a Diamondbacks game. Having been to many stadiums over the years and many times to Arizona games, I had no clue it was such a big deal.

For me, it's great, taking my favorite person, to my favorite past time. She looks great in blue jeans, t-shirts and wears a baseball cap, Diamondbacks of course. She's not too big on the ballpark food, but having a beer is a must as well.

So, whether it's you and the guys or you and your significant other going to the game, visit The Baseball Mall for team spirit items.

What's Your Favorite Baseball Book

The best baseball book I have read is Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. The book details the change to the current trend of statistics-oriented scouting in baseball, rather than the "good ol' boy" network that has existed for so long. It is basically the story of Billy Beane's rise to success as General Manager of the Oakland Athletics. As a 5-tool player himself, he was a "sure thing", a "can't miss" type of player - who basically fell way short of expectations as a Major League Player.

As a computer and stats guy myself, I couldn't put this book down. Very few books have this effect on me. I enjoyed reading about Billy Beane's scouting team, led by the laptop-toting Paul DePodesta. Moneyball shows how Beane was able to make the Oakland Athletics, a team with a very small budget, competitive year-in and year-out in the American League West Division. You'll read how he scouted the likes of Mark Teahen, who is now an everyday player with the Kansas City Royals and Jeremy Brown, who has had a couple of sips on the big-league level, but hasn't made a solid impact yet. There are also interesting stories about players like Chad Bradford.

If you've never heard of this book or of Bill James and you like baseball, it could change your thinking. If you already know of the likes of Bill James, Theo Epstein and terms like SABR and OPS - you will definitely enjoy this read. You can purchase Moneyball at the The Baseball Mall.

Pitchers Batting 8th

I guess I am missing the point of a pitcher batting 8th in the lineup in Major League Baseball. I can understand it when a pitcher is a slugger like Micah Owings of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but not that many pitchers can hit.

It seems to me like they are giving up an out to early in the game. If the first inning goes 1-2-3 and then in the second inning, you get some guys on and make it to the 8 spot, most likely the inning is over. I'd rather have a hitter batting 8th and be at the plate with 2 outs and a man on 1st and 2nd/3rd and have the pitcher thinking, oh, I can pitch around this guy somewhat, because the pitcher is up next, than have a pitcher at the dish and have the pitcher on the mound take it to him.

I read a blog that said, the philosophy was, the pitcher would be thinking 8-hole when the pitcher was batting and pitch differently and subsequently, thinking 9-hole with the hitter up. That makes no sense to me. Even in little league, without numbers and names on the jerseys, the pitcher still knows who is up at the plate.

Well, like my previous blog. You can go to The Baseball Mall and buy a game and simulate the season with the pitcher batting 8th, vs. the pitcher batting 9th and see which team scores more runs.....

Baseball What If's

The what-if's of baseball. Wouldn't you like to manage your own Major League team? With computer simulation games, you can! Computer simulation games are different than Fantasy or Rotisserie League games. Computer sims are usually based on the previous season's performances, while the other types are based on the numbers from the current year. In the computer sims, you actually play the games, making all the managerial decisions. I used to always wonder why Felipe Alou would bat Barry Bonds 4th. My philosophy was, always have your best hitter bat in the first inning of every game - ie, I would have hit him 3rd. With a computer simulation game, like Dynasty League, featured at The Baseball Mall, you can play the Giants for the season with Bonds batting third.

Maybe managing the ins and outs of all games is not your thing, maybe you want to be the next Billy Beane or Theo Epstein. Well, computer simulations offer that as well. As a matter of fact, there are hundreds of computer simulation baseball leagues that allow you to run all aspects of your team - drafting, trading, managing the games, you name it!

My first venture into simulations was way back when, with cards and dice. I spent many an hour growing up with a pair of dice in my hand, playing Strat-O-Matic, SherCo, APBA, Sports Illustrated and Statis Pro. Mostly baseball, but basketball, football and hockey eventually caught my eye as well. Then, almost 25 years ago, a full color baseball card game came out, featuring a diamond that fit inside the box, with one grass field layout and one artificial turf one as well. It had wall charts with replicas of all the Major League stadiums and the homeruns were determined by the real life park possibilities. It even featured the wind blowing in or out at places like Wrigley Field. It was easy to see a routine pop-fly in the Astrodome, being carried over the Ivy in Chicago. Now this was baseball, or the closest thing to it for me at the time. That game was called Pursue the Pennant. Interestingly, the Dynasty League game featured on The Baseball Mall, was created by Mike Cieslenski, the same creator of Pursue the Pennant.

I have enjoyed playing baseball through the mail, (early on), then via e-mail and now, two players from anywhere in the world can link together over the internet to play head to head. If you love baseball and figure you'll never have $500 million to buy a team, or wouldn't even if you had the money, a computer simulation is for you.

Please check them out at The Baseball Mall.

Now or Then

When you think of baseball, what do you think of, the current era with steroid scandals and tons of muscle bound athletes; or do you think of the 'good ole days' when the teams were filled with "baseball players"?

As much as I still like the game, it has a different feel for me. Maybe it's me and not the game. When I grew up, we were always playing ball. I'd like to think that, even if I would have had video games, computers, etc. - that I would have still hit the neighborhood field and played the real thing.

Well, if you remember the old guys as I do, you'll love the Cooperstown Collection. This collection of products will take you back to the glory days of your favorite team, if, like mine, they are not doing so good these days. You can find jerseys like those of Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Yaz, Yogi, Carlton Fisk, Lou Gehrig, LouBrock and Bob Gibson just to name a very few. You can also find jackets from previous years.

So, you can too, place your favorite jersey on the wall of your den or activity room.

You can find the Cooperstown Collection and baseball books, videos, equipment and games at The Baseball Mall.

My First Baseball Movie

Bang The Drum Slowly was the first baseball movie I can remember going to. The movie came out in 1973 and made a big impression on me. It was not just a baseball movie, it was a story about life itself. Robert DeNiro was the star and the movie was also Danny Aiello's film debut. (my favorite Aiello flick was Jacob's Ladder, where Danny played a chiropractor - and was about the only sane one in the movie - his co-star in that movie, Tim Robbins, was also in the baseball movie Bull Durham). Bang The Drum Slowly was a baseball version of Brian's Song, the movie about Chicago Bears' teammates Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo.

The story is about the relationship that develops between the pitcher and catcher and what happens when the catcher develops a terminal illness. I remember the movie being powerful and moving. I watched it again, not too long ago, and 35 years later, it still moved me. If you haven't seen it, I encourage you to do so.