SABR giving away Emerald Guide to Baseball 2009

emeraldguide

The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is giving away their pdf version of Emerald Guide to Baseball 2009.  Here is the link to SABR’s download page.

From SABR’s website:

Edited by accomplished and acclaimed baseball historians Gary Gillette and Pete Palmer and published by SABR, The Emerald Guide distills the 2008 season down to 586 fact-filled pages that contain the pitching, fielding, and hitting statistics for every player active in the major and minor leagues in 2008.

The print version is also available from Lulu for $23.94  if you absolutely must have a hard copy.

I took a quick gander at the pdf and it pretty much delivers as promises.  If you don’t mind giving SABR your email address, take advantage of this.

 

 

Vermilion Voles announce 2009 schedule

The Vermilion Voles, the local vintage base ball team, have come out with their schedule for this year.  You can find it on the Voles’ web site.

The Voles’ season begins on the road on May 31 playing the Fort Clark Pioneers at Edwards, Illinois.  Their first game at their home park at Kennekuk State Park outside Danville, Illinois, will be June 20 and will be against their friendly rivals the Deep River Grinders.

And mark your calendars for August 22.  That’s the date for the annual Uncle Joe Cannon’s Jamboree at Kennekuk.

Frying in Florida

roy_halladay Went to Dunedin to watch the Blue Jays host the Buccos on Wednesday. Roy Halladay was on the hill for the Jays, opposed by Paul Maholm for Pittsburgh. I bought great tickets ahead of time, don’t know what I was thinking, as it wasn’t a sellout, I paid $8.00 in service charges, Mom ducked out till the 7th inning, and we both left after 9 innings. Enough sun!

Our seats were near homeplate along the thirdbase line, right in the sun! Didn’t wear sunscreen, except on my nose, don’t know what I was thinking. By the time Mom arrived in the 7th, I was fried, welcome Mr. Tomato!

Andrew McCutchen bounced a double down the thirdbase line, but Doc left him stranded there. Travis Snider ripped two singles, both line shots. Michael Barrett bounced into a doubleplay, midseason form. Matt Capps & B.J. Ryan looked sharp in their one innings stints, while Jeff Karstens was shaky two runs in two innings. Aaron Hill doubled and looked stellar in the field, concussion is behind him.

Craig Monroe took a 9th inning meatball over the leftfield wall to tie the game at 2, another reason to hate Craig Monroe! I was cooked after regulation, headed to the convertible. Only three games in the Sunshine State, off to the Cactus League Monday, no PC, will recap when I return to the Windy City.

Baseball Clearwater Revival

jason-donald Reds starter Bronson Arroyo allowed solo homers to Geoff Jenkins & Ryan Howard. The law firm of Hanigan, Alonso, & Valaika went yard for Cincinnati (a 2-run, a solo, & a granny).

Phillies SS Jason Donald played 3B, after playing 2B on Saturday, and all this kid did was hit, three base knocks on Monday, raising his average to .320 on the Spring. Jason has an heir about him, will be a star, soon fans in Philadelphia will be wearing Donald jerseys. He looks like he belongs in the bigs.

Was looking forward to watching Jay Bruce, but was disappointed as he looked to be going through the motions.

Cole Hamels didn’t look as impressive as Bronson Arroyo. Chris Coste got the biggest ovation from the crowd when he took over behind the plate. Former star running back Eric Dickerson’s cousin Chris was hungry when he came into the game. Dickerson showed energy lining a basehit & stealing a base, looks to have a starting outfield job.

Baseball in Clearwater

mouse Arrived in Florida Friday night, didn’t know the Phillies were playing the Blue Jays in Dunedin. Enjoyed flaming cheese in Tarpon Springs instead, getting ready for the Tigers at the Phighting Phils in Clearwater on Saturday. 80 degrees every day, kinda tough to take, not really.

John Mayberry, Sr. walked by where we were standing behind home plate, still looks great, like he could still play today, looks quicker than his playing days. JM2 was penciled into RF for Philadelphia. He took a 2-0 Edwin Jackson far over the Frenchy’s sign in LF in the first inning with two aboard staking the Phillies to a three to nothing lead.

Tigers secondbaseman Scott Sizemore caught a Jamie Moyer third inning pitch on the sweet spot and carried it over the centerfield fence. To be honest, I wasn’t impressed with Sizemore in the Arizona Fall League, but this poke was quite a feat.

Then this Howie guy or Howard Ryan or Ryan Howard hit a three run bomb, I’ll go out on a limb and say, this kid’s gonna be pretty good.

Clete Thomas of Detroit, batting lefty off lefty Scott Eyre, knocked one out over the rightfield wall in the 8th.

J.A. Haap made a strong showing, striking out seven, allowing two hits, over three innings. Haap should fill in for J.C. Romero till his suspension is over, then sliding into the rotation. I thought cloning wasn’t allowed, but J.A.’s a Cole Hamels look-a-like.

As an Illini fan, I’m on cloud #9

The University of Illinois baseball team just defeated #1 LSU tonight thanks to continued dominant pitching by starter Phil Haig and a down-to-the-wire, ninth inning, two-run homer by catcher Aaron Johnson. 

More on that and me kvetching about streaming content delivery systems at the Illinois Baseball Report.

Beckham’s Better

beckham There is a current battle underway for the starting secondbase spot with the Chicago White Sox, with the incumbent Alexei Ramirez sliding over to SS replacing Orlando Cabrera. So the guys battling are Jayson Nix, Chris Getz, and Brent Lillibridge. What I really don’t understand is why there hasn’t been more discussion about leaving Alexi at 2B, with Gordon Beckham taking over the starting SS position.

Beckham was the White Sox #1 draft choice out of the University of Georgia, where he led the NCAA last season with 28 homers, while batting .411 in 197 games at Georgia. Gordon is a born SS and a born competitor. He reminds me of former White Sox SS Bucky Dent in the field, but with a much better bat.

Jayson Nix is a solid fielding secondbaseman, with pop, however he strikes out quite a bit, and is not a leadoff type hitter. Nix was handed the starting job last season with the Colorado Rockies, but couldn’t get the job done. Now Jayson, at 26, understands the importance of not taking this opportunity lightly.

I really like Chris Getz. He’s a lefthanded batter out of the University of Michigan, he’s a real battler, does all the little things well, not as good a fielder as Nix, but he can bat leadoff.

Brent Lillibridge was a SS in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, but is competing with Getz & Nix for the starting secondbase job. Brent has excellent speed, but lost his stroke last season with Atlanta, batting only .220 in AAA.

Competition’s good, I hope it’s not a closed competition. Last season Jerry Owens won the starting CF job last year, but was injured, so Carlos Quentin got a shot, and we all know how well that turned out. Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t think Beckham needs to pay his dues in the minors, this kid’s from a big time college, and he’s ready to PLAY BALL!

RIP (and thanks) Jerome Sacharski, T-ball pioneer

TBallSacharski

Jerome Sacharski, a former teacher who is credited with popularizing the game of T-ball, died Friday at the ripe age of 93. 

No one knows who actually exactly invented the game of T-ball.  But many credit Sacharski for popularizing it in his hometown of Albion, Wisconsin where he was teacher and coach.  It is said that here in Albion is where it was first played as an organized sport.

US Rep. Nick Smith even offered a tribute to Jerome Sacharski for his contributions:

“After he started teaching, Jerry took it upon himself in 1954 to head up the Albion recreation department’s summer baseball program,” Smith said at the time. “Because of this position, he was able to see the lack of opportunity for younger children that two years later would drive him to develop one of the largest innovations in youth sports.”

T-ball is similar in so many ways to baseball yet made simpler for younger kids by giving them a fighting chance to hit the ball by hitting a ball off a tee rather than a thrown ball.  Today, millions of boys and girls play the game which emphasizes fairness and education of the game over competition. 

So for all the parents (and for that matter, kids who have grown up) out there going back all those years, I say thanks Mr Sacharski.  That tee made it sooo much easier to hit.

Smile Politely interviews me

Joel Gillespie of the local online magazine, Smile Politely sat down with me Saturday and interviewed me for what can be best described as a “get-to-know-your-local-blogger” profile.  The end product, Zealous about Illini baseball turned out really well in my opinion. 

It was a fun chat.  Joel as it turns out was a baseball fan himself.  An Iowa product, he roots for the Twins.  I tried to goad him into talking trash about the White Sox but to his credit, he would have none of it. 

It also seems that he follows the Illinois baseball team.  It won’t be long before they start playing at Illinois Field so I’ll have to invite him out for a home game sometime. 

thanks for the great article, Joel! 

Smile Politely:  Zealous about Illini baseball