"The Baseball: Stunts, Scandals, and Secrets
Beneath the Stitches"

post from BALLHAWK - MLBallhawk.com on 07 March 2011 11:03:30 PM. © BALLHAWK - MLBallhawk.com

My friend and fellow Ballhawk, Zack Hample, has a new book that officially comes out tomorrow however it seems that several copies are out already! In fact his families book store got their shipment in today which he wrote about on Twitter.
I have already received a few emails and comments on twitter regarding my place in the book. I knew that Zack was going to talk about other Ballhawks in the book. I didn't really know much else. I was "interviewed" via phone by Zack over a year and a half ago for what he was going to put in the book.
Anyway, I didn't know if it was going to be a picture and two lines or what it might be. It turns out that each of Zacks top 10 Ballhawks got about 2 pages each. First of all I am honored that I am in the book at all. To be considered one of his top 10 is really cool. The coolest thing to me however is the fact that I am in the top 10 with 2 guys that I respect more than anyone in our hobby, MOE MULLINS and RICH BHURKE! These two guys are the top 2 Ballhawks of all time!
Tomorrow I am going to run out to the local bookstore just so I can read some of it and look at my 2 pages. For all of you that might be finding my MLBlog for the first time you can always add me on TWITTER @mlballhawk. I generally answer all of those that tweet me!
Anyway, I won't go on and on about it and I just wanted to take a minute to thank Zack for not only including me in his book but also for offering to send me a copy and signing it too!
Thanks again Zack for including me in your latest masterpiece!
Everyone - Add me on TWITTER - @mlballhawk

Read The Full Article:
http://ballhawk.mlblogs.com/archives/2011/03/the_baseball_stunts_scandals_a.html

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Cards RHP Carpenter has balky hamstring (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 07 March 2011 10:06:27 PM. © MLB News Blog

St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter has been scratched from his next scheduled start with a balky left hamstring. Carpenter tweaked his leg during a spring start last Tuesday and felt it again during a throwing session on Sunday, forcing the Cardinals to delay his next outing. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa is preaching [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/03/08/cards-rhp-carpenter-has-balky-hamstring-ap/

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Bonds physique photos included at trial (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 07 March 2011 09:58:20 PM. © MLB News Blog

Longtime San Francisco Giants clubhouse manager Mike Murphy will testify about Barry Bonds’ hat size, a Nike employee will discuss the slugger’s feet and prosecutors will show the jury photographs of Bonds’ growing physique during his career, court papers filed Monday showed. In a witness list filed Monday, prosecutors outlined their planned evidence, most of [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/03/08/bonds-physique-photos-included-at-trial-ap/

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Angels Mark Trumbo Making His Case

post from The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on 07 March 2011 09:21:17 PM. © The Ghost of Moonlight Graham

Last week, there was some dispute as to whether or not Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 1B Kendry Morales was going to be ready for Opening Day. According to SI.com’s Jon Heyman, Morales was a long shot for Opening Day. This was a report that Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia disputed. Even if Morales is not [...]

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http://theghostofmoonlightgraham.com/2011/03/08/angels-mark-trumbo-making-his-cas
e/

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What's the Problem with the National Sports
Collectors Convention

post from Sports Locker on 07 March 2011 08:02:02 PM. © Sports Locker

Let's call them "opportunities for improvement."

The National Sports Collectors Convention has started their email marketing campaign, launched some prices and began spamming the facebook fan page. Does that sound familiar? Well, it should. It's the same process and product with problems we (collectors) have received for years.

My next blog posts are dedicated to identifying these opportunities and providing solutions for them.

I really want to see The National do well. I started the original facebook group for The National and along with VOTC, started the twitter hashtag #NSCC for use when discussing it. The next several posts will reveal:

Partnership Opportunities
Pricing Opportunities
Marketing Opportunities
Vendor Management Opportunities

I've thought a lot about these areas and how The National can take advantage in them.

Read The Full Article:
http://sportslocker.blogspot.com/2011/03/whats-problem-with-national-sports.html

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Arizona INF Mora out after car accident (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 07 March 2011 07:54:20 PM. © MLB News Blog

Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Melvin Mora has been in a car accident and is expected to be sidelined for a few days. Mora’s car was hit from behind Monday in the Phoenix area. He is being held out for precautionary reasons. Mora was scheduled to start at third base in a split-squad game against the Chicago [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2011/03/08/arizona-inf-mora-out-after-car-accident-ap/

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That is, among players on the borderline, total
WAR is a much stronger indicator than number of...

post from Beyond the Box Score on 07 March 2011 07:04:31 PM. © Beyond the Box Score

That is, among players on the borderline, total WAR is a much stronger indicator than number of great seasons. For example, there are 8 players with at least 12 3+ WAR seasons, and only two of them is in the HOF: Brooks Robinson, Carlton Fisk. There[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2011/3/7/2036201/that-is-among-players-on-the-bo
rderline-total-war-is-a-much-stronger

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Baseball-Reference Mobile Now Live

post from 6-4-2 ? an Angels/Dodgers double play blog on 07 March 2011 07:04:31 PM. © 6-4-2 ? an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

Sean Forman announces his new mobile website. I was playing around with the alpha version a while back. This is really very nifty, though I do hope it isn't too data intensive. One of the big problems I've had with B-Ref mobile is that it's so heavyweight, especially with Javascript and things like sortable columns.

Read The Full Article:
http://6-4-2.blogspot.com/2011/03/baseball-reference-mobile-now-live.html

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Giants sign Posey to new, one-year deal

Buster Posey got a raise today, when the San Francisco Giants announced they signed the young, talented catcher to a one-year deal.

According to Hank Schulman (SF Chronicle), the deal is for far less than pitcher Tim Lincecum's $650,000 contract after The Freak won his first Cy Young award in 2008.

The Giants have Posey under their control for five more years and it's pretty customary for young players to "pay their dues" with smaller, short-term contracts. Posey has just one year of service time and becomes arbitration-eligible after 2012.

Posey, 23, won the National League Rookie of the Year award in 2010 after batting .305/.357/.505 with 18 HR, 23 doubles, and 67 RBI.

According to Schulman, similar deals for Madison Bumgarner and Pablo Sandoval are also in the works.

Check back here for contract terms as they are released.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/22gigantes/ySKM/~3/OUH_QkEf4J0/giants-sign-posey-t
o-new-one-year-deal.html

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Quotes from Scout's Honor

Dude, sweet shades.

I recently got done reading Scout's Honor by Bill Shanks. It is far from the most interesting book on baseball ever written, but does give some nice background on scouting and the Braves (seemed like half the players mentioned in the book has played for the Royals).

Though most of the book contains stories of players making it to the majors, will focus on some organizational quotes from people in the Royal's front office. No commentary today as I will let you digest on your own.

Mike Arbuckle:

"They [the Phillies] had been drafting polished college players; not very athletic, banking on the bat, a lot of them kinda thick-bodied kids with no projection physically. Any projection was going to be out, not up."

"I still to this day prefer getting the kid at eighteen if all things are equal because you get him three years sooner away from the aluminum bat and it doesn't matter if he's a pitcher or a hitter, the pitcher is probably pitching backwards with the aluminum bats and living with the breaking pitch instead of the challenging with a fastball."

Dayton Moore:

"I knew from the time I got into the game of baseball, just as a little kid, that I wanted to make a career out of it, my life out [of] it. It was my passion"

"Many players don't make it to the major leagues because of who they associate with or what they do off the field, or the way they respond to negative things that happen to them on the field. Let's face it, most of us perceive ourselves based on the success we have in the things that we love the most. You've got to be able to apply moral principles in your life to be successful, and you've to to be able to have that balance on and off the field. The same character traits that make a schoolteacher or a President of a company successful. It's the same story."

"Statistics have always been apart of the game and they always will be. It's a tool. They tell you something about what a player has done or hasn't done. So it's a tool that you need to use, but you've got to use it correctly. Statistics don't tell the whole story. You can manipulate statistics in any number of ways. But you evaluate tools and makeup. It's about tools, bodies, and makeup. You stay with tools and be patient. If a guy has ability, you stay with it. Hopefully, at some point in time, the performance will equal the ability."

"You have to have people that understand what the processes are that you go through to scout, sign, and develop players. They have to respect the process. It's no different than what we expect from the players. We expect the players to trust in the process, trust in the information they are given, and to go out and apply it. Well, the scouting and the player development people have to trust the process as well"

"If a player doesn't think they can be a major league player and help the Atlanta Braves win championships, they shouldn't sign. I tell players all the time that if they're 99.9% sure you want to sign with the Atlanta Braves, they don't sign with us. You've got to be 100% committed to sign with this organization. The minor leagues are not an easy environment, but it's a great environment. If you want to a baseball player, this is the environment to be in. We help guys reach their ceilings, and if they want to be a baseball player and grow as a person, this is an environment I would put my name on."

Read The Full Article:
http://www.royalsreview.com/2011/3/7/2035304/quotes-from-scouts-honor

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