Baseball Writing

Housecleaning

Since I’m devoid of anything specific to say about last night’s action in the Majors, beyond anything you could pick up from the AP write-up in your daily of choice, I wanted to address some of the links on the side of the page here.

I’m leaving MLB.com’s home page in the lead-off spot, because . . . well . . . that is the home office. I’ve also created direct links to the standings as well as the sortable team stats page.

Next up is my favorite general baseball blog, David Pinto’s Baseball Musings. In addition to offering great stats, insight and articles, David has kept my link up on his site for at least three years now, as he does with everyone else who has sent him a link.

I’m going to slide in a link for my favorite Yankee commentator, Steven Goldman. Goldman’s blog is what this one aspires to be on its good days. The fact that he can jump from Johnny Damon’s offensive woes to Melky Cabrera to the merits of Paul McCartney’s early 1970s output in the span of a few paragraphs, as he did in this week’s installment of The Pinstriped Bible, is an inspiration to me to sprinkle in some of the things besides baseball that make the days hum a bit.

More than that, he is a valuable, trusted voice when it comes to the trials, tribulations, successes and failures of the Yankees. Equal part fan and sabermetrician, he constantly walks that line between emotion and logic in analyzing the team and it makes for great reading. I’m going to link to his Blog main page; you can navigate to the weekly published Pinstriped Bible from there.

Although I don’t visit as nearly often as I did when it first opened for business, The Hardball Times is still an excellent source of information, insight and statistical resources. Much of the saber-stuff is beyond the level I’m interested in spending time on, but as far as baseball analysis this is top of the line. Baseballreference.com is probably my favorite stat-storing house on the Web.

I’ve included the link for robneyer.com out of obligation more than anything else. Neyer was one of the original inspirations for the creation of this blog in the first place, as his writing took my baseball enjoyment, appreciation and interest in baseball analysis to another level. Besides the sporadically updated Rob & Rany On the Royals, there’s not much content to sift through. I can recommend two of his books however, Baseball Dynasties and the Big Book of Baseball Lineups; I don’t have anything else by him.

I've decided to add a section for miscellaneous sports links. First up is the best sports talk radio station in the country bar none, 660 WFAN in New York. Now streaming live over the Internet, it is home to Mike & the Mad Dog and crazy Jets fan Joe Benigno, among other personalities.

FAN has been part of my sports world since I was in high school, and for better or for worse is still part of my daily routine.

I would add ESPN.com, but at this point so much of their content is behind the Insider barricade, I don’t think it’s worth it. Although I have been tempted on many occasions to bite the bullet and pay for a subscription, I have a hard time bringing myself to do it. I’d basically be caving in for one writer (Neyer), and for some of the football stuff (Mort, Clayton, etc.). If I get more into sports writing on a regular basis, I may eventually do it.

However, I am going to link to one ESPN writer that isn’t behind the Insider Wall: Bill Simmons. At this juncture in the history of Baseball Writing, I aspire for my writing to be a blend of Simmons, Rob Neyer, Steven Goldman, Roger Angell and my own voice, whatever that is. How about this for a breakdown:

Goldman: 40%
Angell: 25%
Simmons: 20% (although I could never be that consistently funny or witty)
Neyer: 15%

What I would like to take from Simmons more than the comedic element, is the absolute irreverence in his work. He comes across as off-the-cuff more often than not; he has a bit of Kerouac in him as he winds his way at breakneck speed through his columns, barely taking a proverbial breath. He also never loses the perspective of being a fan, regardless of the consequences – he’ll never reach the level of objectivity to be a “classic” sports writer in the vein of Frank Deford, Mike Royko or the aforementioned Angell. But he’s as important a voice as there is in this din created by theis mass-media, digital age. And anyone who can work in a simile such as, “it lingered in the air like a stale fart,” deserves kudos.

Time for some football links.

Peter King, of NBC Sports and Sports Illustrated, is a very good writer whose Monday Morning Quarterback column, while formulaic, is always informative and insightful. He is usually ahead of the curve when it comes to spotting in-season trends are they are developing, and he comes across as a tireless worker a la John Clayton.

Now onto my 2nd favorite sports team, the New York Jets. Brian Bassett’s The Jets Blog is without question my favorite fan-run sports site. Great sense of objectivity, great links, good comments section. Rich Cimini, the Jets beat writer for the Daily News, does an excellent job with his blog. Updated constantly, and offering the kind of insight that you’d hope for from a beat writer. Programmed to be cynical to a fault, Cimini still is the best when it comes to “professional writers” turned bloggers. Torse’s Blog, dubbed Gang Green, has been quiet lately, but the potential is there for great Jets talk and for it to serve as an outlet after yet another excruciating loss.

Next up, I’ve created a smattering of some of my favorite music sites on the Net. Pick and choose, dabble, sample . . . I can vouch for almost everything on there. At this time I do not have a music blog, but it is something I think of often. It may end up being an off-shoot of this site, or its own creation; some of my favorite websites now feature the work of music fans that are creating a wealth of knowledge, opinions, sound samples and recommendations of their favorite artists. I’ve separated the links of the official sites of various artists and publications from those sites which are done by the fans for the fans, so to speak.

I’ve put the Nuts & Bolts section in as a nod to the things that keep us grounded. Our families, number one, reflected in the link to Connecticut Parent Magazine; our hectic schedules, reflected in the link to the calendars; and our financial responsibilities.

Much of my daily routine is an amalgamation of all these things: baseball, sports, music, family, work, the weather . . . they are all different aspects that bounce off each other, trading impact and prevalence minute by minute, hour by hour. And they are all things, which at any given instant, can inspire me to write. Which is what this site is all about.