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Cubs outsourcing their publications and graphics dept

After taking care of their publishing needs in-house for over 100 years, the Cubs will now be outsourcing these needs to a Cincinnati firm, EMI Network.

So says Bleed Cubbie Blue:

Now, the Cubs are outsourcing their publications to EMI Network, a Cincinnati-based company that does publications for a number of other pro sports teams and various clients including Elmhurst College, Eastern Illinois University, PNC Bank, various large law firms and US News & World Report.

Under this new arrangement, EMI Network will operate and manage all aspects of the Cubs’ Publications & Creative Services Department, including publication of Vine Line magazine as well as photography, video and graphic services.

For a cynical guy, I can be pretty idealistic too. So for some reason this really bothers. I guess I need to let it roll over me. But maybe I can’t let go of the fact that the Cubs Vineline or the programs that us Cubs fans will buy at the Wrigley Field will be designed and published in the same city whose team has a former Cub manager.

How Cubs fans can spend their hard earned money

What better way to honor your visit to Wrigley Field than to… throw a football??

From mlb.com:

The Friendly Confines will be transformed into a football field for the first time since 1970 when the Northwestern University Wildcats host the University of Illinois Fighting Illini for a special college game in a unique setting. The Cubs are opening the ballpark the following day, Sunday, November 21, for fans to play catch on the football field-all for Chicago Cubs Charities.

I’ll wait till next year’s Dunking Contest at the Friendly Confines.

A better way to spend your money perhaps is the Chicago Cubs Convention. Since the tickets went on sale today for the January 14-16 affair your luck in getting them through the normal channels may be thin. But there’s always Ebay and other popular web auction and reseller sites. I’ve had luck doing that in the past.

Finally, if that money is still burning a hole in your wallet of yours, you could always buy a Cubs cookbook. No, the image to the right is not a joke. I wish it was. At least the proceeds go to a good cause… the Dempster Family Foundation.

I wonder if it includes goat stew… or humble pie.

I interviewed Shawn Roof from the Toledo Mudhens

I did an interview with former Illini shortstop Shawn Roof. I gleaned some questions from some of his Illini fans and ran them by him.

Roof has continued his success since leaving the Illini. This midseason, he advanced to Detroit’s AAA affiliate, the Toledo Mudhens. Once he got there, he caught fire hitting .354 for the rest of the year.

You can read the interview at my Illinois baseball blog, the Illinois Baseball Report.

Giants’ victory elicits some nasty emotions

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Whoever said that Baseball is a microcosm of all that is America was probably right. All you need to do is read a few of the countless forums out there tonight on the heels of the Giants’ World Series victory over the Texas Rangers.

Over at the MLB forums, you can find this gem:

BlueFan124 wrote:

You hippie losers can take the WS but tomorrow we take our COUNTRY back!!!!!!!

11/1/2010 10:58:16 PM

Woah! That’s quite a stretch. Next thing you know, they’ll be demanding that “the Freak” cut his hair.

weekend links… some WS, some not.

Hmm… Sandy Alderson. The Mets could have a whole lot worse.

Texas gets a win. MLB interviews with Lewis, Washington and Moreland.

2010 first pick Bryce Harper gets his first pro dinger in the Arizona Fall League

Jose Bautista had his monster year in 2010 but do you know who came in second in homers in the AL? Paul Konerko did. And the Diamondbacks are interested in him.

There’s a creepy looking costume of Ron Washington… but fortunately he’s flattered.

Bullpen catcher Miller caught with 8.4 lbs of doobie

What is it with Cubs catchers and pot?

Cubs bullpen catcher Corey Miller was busted with 8.4 pounds of marijuana in the state of Nebraska. They frown on that kind of thing there. Even if you are a member of the Cubs organization… which will pretty much be in doubt at this point.

Miller’s conveniently contract expires tomorrow

Trend toward visual baseball data

This postseason, the baseball blogosphere (guh, I wince when I use that word but it fits here) has had a fascination with presenting data in a visual fashion. It seems to be a trend to almost move away from traditional numbers tables and go to more eye-pleasing visual presentations. The Hardball Times has a whole series of them during the 2010 postseason (a good example is their Paintomatic series).

But THT isn’t the only ones to incorporate this new brand of “visual baseball data”. You can find examples of this at The Biz of Baseball and even Baseball Reference’s blog.

Spalding’s Base Ball Guide online at the Library of Congress

Baseball history buffs should check out the Library of Congress’ archives of Spalding Base Ball Guides. These archives range from 1889 to 1939 and contain a wealth of historical information on National and American League base ball when the game we loved was spelled with two words) as well as some minor league info too.

Be forewarned, the pages of Spalding’s are scanned images and therefore not searchable or indexed. If you want to find something you’ll have look for it, But I guarantee if you’re a fan of old time base ball, the search itself will be worth it. You’ll run across some neat news tidbits and photos along the way.

Thanks to Cluke for passing this along! He wrote:

I was just geeky enough as a 14 year old and then later to spend many hours looking up old microfilm of newspapers and getting into the sports section (and other stuff) for hours at a time.If it’s old baseball stats- I never tire of it. The digital age is great for browsing from home but there’s nothing like the old micro film of the Trib and the times to follow along with past seasons of the Sox.

Funny, I remember using microfilm back in the days before the Internet, too. I was replaying the 1970 National League using the APBA Baseball Game while in college and the University of Illinois library archives allowed me to look up the box scores of that year. Not unlike browsing the Spalding Guides, in the process of searching for the box scores, I ran across some gems of articles.

Weekend roundup

-There is some baseball happening in the south that doesn’t involve the Rangers. The Arizona Fall League season has started.

-Speaking of the Rangers, there’s no doubt they got the most bang for their buck in 2010.

-I guess we aren’t ready to forget the Cubs’ collapse in the 2003 postseason… but our remembrance might be delayed. Steve Bartman: Catching Hell, the documentary on the unfortunate affair, will be postponed till next year. Could they possibly wait till after the Cubs win a World Series (that way, we might not see it)?

-No surprise here: The columnists at the Sun-Times and Tribune respectively have differing opinions on Mike Quade’s hiring. Post-Trib (owned by ST) column headline: “Sandberg got Sandbagged”. The Trib column claims that Quade is a “good fit”.

Old habits die hard.

-Finally, some Chicago tattoo artists apparently aren’t Sox fans.

Sammy’s corked bat up for bid in online auction

If anyone is interested in plopping down $10,000, you could own parts of Sammy Sosa’s corked bat that he used in the game he caught using it. The auction at Schulte Auctions is still going on and the bid at the moment is $9.840. Hurry, Hurry though! The auction ends October 31.

The current owner of the bat? Former reliever from the Cubs (and pretty much every other NL team) Mike Remlinger, who won the game that night against Tampa Bay. He had the foresight to pick up the barrel of the bat (MLB confiscated the rest of the bat.

The Cardboard Connection has a good write-up on the story.