ILBaseball Kickass Media 2018

so . . . is juan soto a hall of famer

there is a thread you know...

he's in the HoF for teenagers playing in the MLB.

don't be coy, alberto

if he's going to hit that many homers at age 19-20 i would cherish your opinion on his ultimate prospects

Bellinger will finish behind Soto, Harper & Yelich in HRs.

I'd probably agree with the latter two; I think he'll out-homer Soto, though (while having the less impressive season overall).

Arenado will have more as well.

Speed for Two Completely Random HR Trots
Rhys 2019-04-24 / Buxton 2017-08-18#Statcast

Note: speed measurements start 1 second after batted ball contact pic.twitter.com/snLLkgprhq

— Tangotiger (@tangotiger) April 25, 2019

Thanks to the fantastic work of @ee11iott we can now enjoy a race of Rhys v Buxton pic.twitter.com/THiXWcVHB7

— Tangotiger (@tangotiger) April 25, 2019

cross posted to the unconventional stadium dimensions thread:

http://thedataface.com/2019/04/sports/baseballs-irregular-outfields

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/sports/baseball/gloves-mitts-mlb.html

this is good but what's with people putting their gloves under the couch?

i remember putting mine between the mattress and box spring

Jenks got a DUI too

― wolves in our wounds (mayor jingleberries), Friday, March 23, 2012 2:37 PM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

2012, man...rough year.

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/bobby-jenks-baseball-scar-tissue

Wow. Had no idea

this is the most oberlin thing i've ever heard of in my life

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/oberlin-college-baseball-team-and-the-infield-shift

i appreciate a long, detailed article about a stupid idea that didn't work

ha yes I was anticipating "...and who was that observant fan in attendance that weekend? JOE MADDON."

so someone read skunk in the outfield and did a rub-off (content and reporting aside, which is good)

i love the Flytrap Defense manual

https://i.imgur.com/McTjzar.jpg

(full quality at: https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/mlb/u2lxtcal9vd9zeys772o.pdf)

4. DEFENSE is AMOEBA-LIKE. It will constantly change. There are new names for positions on the field.

jon bois & co doing a 6-episode series on the mariners, part 1 is up

https://youtu.be/6pkVu6Kw00M

i'm still going to enforce dating the general threads properly

blueprints of ebbets field available to peruse at the bottom of this wonderful article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/27/realestate/a-brooklyn-dodgers-fan-who-never-gave-up-on-ebbets-field.html

ffs ichiro

Breaking down most @mlb base hits on the field by player since 2000. Each name is a 20ft by 20ft zone on the field. Pretty fun group of names. pic.twitter.com/letufYLSY5

— Daren Willman (@darenw) April 20, 2020

I've been making fun of mlb.com the past couple of weeks, but this is actually worth scrolling through: monster HRs pre-Statcast, with a video clip for each one, all the way back to Reggie's HR in the '71 All-Star Game (the ball lands above where the camera stops tracking it).

https://www.mlb.com/news/longest-home-runs-before-statcast

"We've often wondered if McGwire got ahold of a Randy Johnson fastball, how far he could hit it, and I think we just saw it"--love his smile as he's greeted by Canseco at home.

the cecil fielder clip is awesome, and the broadcaster's awesome call, in the moment noting that only 3 had hit it over the tiger stadium roof: harmon killebrew, frank howard, and then cecil fielder in 1990. and that none had done it on the fly, only on a bounce - excellent lore

or at least, the roof in left. now i'm watching the reggie jackson clip (also at tiger stadium), and they're talking about 13 players doing it, so maybe most of them went to right

Reggie's HR is #1 on the list of all the things where I like to brag I was watching--even more than Aaron's 715th or Fisk's Game 6 HR. That was also the game with my favourite example ever of having some power at the top of your lineup: the NL had Mays leading off and Aaron hitting second. (Something that only meant something to me three decades later, when a friend passed on a VHS of the game.)

Sam is back for an episode of EW Pod

now i'm watching the reggie jackson clip (also at tiger stadium), and they're talking about 13 players doing it, so maybe most of them went to right

Yes, that's right.

Since the upper deck was extended to left and right field in 1938, 19 players have cleared the roof a total of 28 times. All but four of those sluggers - Harmon Killebrew in 1962, Frank Howard in 1968, Cecil Fielder in 1990 and Mark McGwire in 1997 - have hit the ball over the closer right-field roof.

https://detroithistorical.pastperfectonline.com/bysearchterm?keyword=Tiger+Stadium

(I saw Cecil Cooper do it in 1983.)

Sad to see that the venerable stats blog Beyond the Box Score was among the recent cuts at SB Nation.

As you may have heard, Beyond the Box Score has shut down. Thank you to everyone who read and contributed to the site over the years. (1/2)

— Beyond the Box Score (@BtBScore) April 19, 2022

https://vinepair.com/articles/major-league-baseball-official-vodka/

Listening to the 10 anniv EWPod finally and i forgot how psychedelic the sam shows could get (sam is my fav)

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/06/19/daniel-bard-made-an-improbable-comeback-then-he-had-to-do-it-again

the new yorker on daniel bard’s battles with the yips

I haven't read this, but I'm going to post it here anyway: just the idea of a mammoth piece in 2023 on the three Alou brothers is inspiring in and of itself.

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/alou-brothers-formed-mlb-s-first-all-brother-outfield