#top bar

Michelle theme by Lyra | Code | Live preview

Uploadable banner photo and header

Uploadable background image

All customizable colors down to the borders

2, 3, 4 or 5 column

7 optional custom links

Subtitle text is customizable

Selectable font

theme_03.2: soso (remix)

by wonhoutboy

remixed: static preview / code original: preview 1, 2 / code

• embedded, optional about & nav (pseudo)pages; • 4 custom icons + 3 extras (plus sign); • left sidebar; • single column; • credit page + credits displayed in the code; • original theme.

Baseball’s back ... kind of! Sure, the games don’t mean anything in the standings, but c’mon, how much does one game out of 162 really mean during the season, too? Honestly, that’s kind of the beauty of it! 

The players are out there, they’re swinging bats, announcers are talking about the need to make contact and they’re reading local sponsors again. (Who knew how badly I needed to hear about Farmer John’s hot dogs or what PC Richards and Sons could do for me and my family?) 

I already saw Tim Anderson bobble a ball, flip it in the air, grab it and fire backhand to second for the out. I’ve seen a Red Sox farmhand rob a home run. I’ve watched dozens of college teams I’ve never heard of before get out onto their carefully manicured astroturf fields, with players showing off some incredibly questionable looks. 

The last year has been a seemingly never-ending nightmare, but the summer months are coming. Cases are coming down and vaccines are being distributed. The baseball season is coming and fans will -- all scientific evidence suggests so -- safely be in the stands. And even though I’m not in Florida or Arizona and am still continue staying in my apartment, it’s a much needed dose of optimism. I hope it’s a welcome boost for you, too. 

Anyway, here’s a few stories I’ve written recently: 

The best baseball cap for every team. Come and yell at me for having bad opinions! Or shower me in gifts for being a noted tastemaker. 

Lauren Taylor found her calling after traumatic brain injury. I was fortunate enough to speak with Taylor about her recent Topps card release and how she turned to art following the darkest moment of her life. She has an amazing story and she has a great talent worth following. 

Which teams can go worst to first? In eight of the last 10 years, a team has gone from last place to a postseason spot. Who could pull it off this year? 

And here are some things I didn’t write, but definitely recommend: 

The time Hank Aaron faced Satchel Paige. Matt Monagan discovered a very cool story: when Aaron was in his prime and Paige was trying to get his pension, the two faced off in Spring Training. 

Meanies, Beer Bellies, Big City Boys: The MLB team names that almost were. It’s Grant Brisbee, so I certainly hope you’ve already read this. 

Annette theme by Lyra | Code | Live preview

Uploadable banner photo and header

Uploadable background image

All customizable colors down to the borders

Optional announcement bar

1, 2 or 3 column

7 optional custom links

Showing permalinks is optional

I know it’s not a unique story: Young teenager who, up until that point, hadn’t really thought of music -- simply taking in whatever MTV happened to play or whatever 92.3 KROQ felt like playing -- puts on a new album. And, like in a movie when a character takes their first tab of LSD or a rip off a jazz cigarette (The horror of horrors), all of a sudden it hits. The eyes grow wide, the hair stands on end, long-dormant parts of the brain light up. 

That’s what happened when I first heard The Strokes. Sure, I had dabbled in some punk music and had explored some of the bands from the ‘60s and ‘70s like the Velvet Underground, but I had never heard a contemporary band that told me there was something else out there. The Strokes’ “Is This It?” grabbed me by the shoulders and screamed to me, “There’s an entire world out there that you don’t know anything about.” 

From there, I fell in love. I devoured albums. I bought import magazines at the now-shuttered bookstore in my suburban town. I started bands and wrote record reviews for my high school newspaper. The Strokes quite simply changed my life. To this day, when I walk the streets of New York and I put on a Strokes album, it feels different. I feel different. 

All of this is to say -- if you were wondering why a baseball blog was spending so much time talking about high school like this was some kind of coming of age tale -- that the Strokes released a baseball robot music video for “The Adults are Talking.”

They also wrote a song called “Ode to the Mets” on their newest record. And that’s why I got to speak with lead singer Julian Casablancas for a half hour about the video, his love of vintage sports gear, and how the Mets broke his heart. It was a dream come true for me to speak with him -- even if I wasn’t able to send him any demos.  

Here’s the link to check it out: The Mets broke Julian Casablancas’ heart. And thanks to Tom Forget for making the amazing baseball card you see at the top of the post. 

Here’s a few other things from me you may have missed recently: 

The 10 best bloopers of the year. You have to see the amazing ‘90s VHS-style video that was made to go along with the post. I’ve never loved anything so much. 

The 11 funniest moments from Tommy Lasorda’s career. Lasorda was a complicated man and he certainly wasn’t perfect, but he was a beloved figure. His players loved him. Los Angeles will probably give him a statue. So, in honor of his long career, we picked some of his most hilarious -- like the time he got a mascot ejected from a ballgame. 

The history of the bullpen phone. This is a bit older, but with the baseball world quiet it got resurfaced. So, if you missed it before, here’s your chance again! 

One of my favorite things to do during the offseason (beyond catching up on some movies, books, and -- gasp -- watch a few other sports, too. Sorry, Rogers Hornsby, but there’s just too much good stuff out there in the world!) is taking a time machine to another baseball season. You can pull up YouTube and just type in “Rangers 1992″ and be presented with some random game where you have no idea what you’re going to get. Yeah, that means we’re getting plenty of Dickie Thon -- one of my favorite names to ever exist. 

Or you can just watch some old VHS highlight reels (or even better, blooper ones) people uploaded without express written consent. Or you can grab a huge stack of old Smith and Street Baseball Guides -- a co-worker sent me his collection of about 20 years recently -- and dive in. 

Sure, you may know the broad strokes. You know who won the World Series, you know who won the MVPs, but there’s all the nuance you miss. There’s the bit players who had a good month or two and everyone at the time was wondering if he would break out. 

There are interviews that have been lost to time -- never archived for the web, never memorialized in a book of baseball quotes, never added to a plaque at Cooperstown -- and they can provide so much joy. Like, say, that George Brett didn’t hit .400 in 1980 because he wasn’t drinking four to five beers after every game. 

So, if you find yourself missing baseball, head to eBay and grab a giant stack of old mags and transport yourself into another baseball season. 

But you should also make sure you read stuff from this year -- specifically stuff I wrote. (See how smooth this transition was?) Here are some of the things I’ve worked on recently: 

Baseball’s oldest living player turns 100. Eddie Robinson has seen and done everything in baseball. He was playing when Ruth’s number was retired, he won the Indians’ last World Series (quite literally, too, driving in the winning run in Game 6), was the GM when Hank Aaron hit his 715th and was scouting when McGwire hit 62. I spoke to Robinson for about an hour before his 100th birthday. 

Jameson Taillon is obsessed with coffee -- but he also loves people. The offseason is the best time to get to know ballplayers a little more as they get to let their guard down and talk about things that aren’t arm-slot related or about the game last night. So, I got to chat with the Pirates ace about coffee -- his favorite shops, the best brews, the small changes you can make to improve yours -- and also learned that what Taillon loves most of all is getting to know people. 

Cody Bellinger is Otta Sluggasson in “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.” I’ve yet to play any Assassin’s Creed, but the fact that an MVP Award winner AND World Series champ plays a hilariously baseball-themed viking character makes it much more likely that I’ll try it out soon enough. I spoke with Bellinger while he’s rehabbing Arizona to learn about how he got the gig and what it’s like being baseball’s biggest meme. 

Dick Allen was one of the coolest to ever play. I never got to watch Dick Allen play, but he was always one of my favorites. The mutton chops, the glasses, the big swing and willingness to push back against a Philadelphia media that couldn’t accept a Black star. Allen passed away last week, so I wrote about what made him such a compelling star. 

Finally, here are a few pieces I didn’t write, but which I highly recommend: 

Billy Wagner learned how to throw lefty. Wagner somehow managed to throw over 100 mph WITH HIS LESS DOMINANT ARM. I can’t even write my name legibly with my left. 

The Ringless Teams!  Not going to lie -- I’m completely shocked that Dusty has NEVER won the World Series.