Runners at the Corners

You Down with OBC?

2009-05-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

Old Baseball Cards, that is.

These guys have a whole site dedicated to locating, trading and collecting cards from the 1900s through the 1970s. They started the site on Prodigy (!) in 1991. They operate on an honor code of sorts - what goes around, comes around. Send cards to someone who needs them, and eventually you'll get the cards you need too. It's not about investing, it's about the love of collecting.

Pretty cool, if you ask me.

But Just HOW High and HOW far?

2009-04-19T20:32:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder just how far a HR was hit? The folks over at Hit Tracker ("how far it really went") keep tabs on all of it.

Like ALL of it - I'm not kidding. The Hit Tracker tool (it works with spreadsheets) churns out all sorts of data. It's all displayed on the Hit Tracker website, and you even get to see things like the path the ball took overlayed on a map of the ballpark in which it was hit, links to video of the HR itself, and stats like who was pitching, the angle, the apex and the wind speed of the hit ball.

Here's how it works >>

They've got a blog, and it's worth checking out as well.

In with the Old

2009-04-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

A 99 year old Yankee fan is set to see opening day at the new stadium this week. Ok, so it's cool that he's 99, but thousands of other (rich, or just plain lucky) people are going to be there too.

But here's the thing: Harry Heller was there for opening day of the old Stadium too, in 1923.

Check out the full story on MLB.com, and see a photo of Heller over at the NY Daily News.

Minor League Promotions Rule

2009-04-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

The announcement that the Grand Prairie AirHogs will host “Octomom Night” on June 13 reminded me just how creative minor league promotions are.

Like the Lake Elsinore Storm's Nothing Night last July: nothing but the game. No tickets, no concessions, no announcer (sounds pretty good to me, actually).

Or the Lowell Spinners Political Correctness Night in '08: players who committed an error were not identified to spare their feelings and terms like "first baseperson" and "vertically-challenged stop" were used in place of the actual position names.

All season long in '07 and '08, Benjamin Hill kept tabs on the minor league promotions over at MiLB.com. I hope that will continue in '09. He also writes his own blog.

If Benjamin shares some great promotions, I'll be sure to pass them along. Follow me on Twitter to stay up to date (@atthecorners).

The Curse of the Colonel

2009-03-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

I always suspected that Colonel Sanders was evil. "Oh, you're gonna buy my chicken...."

Well it turns out that Colonel also helped put a curse on the Hanshin Tigers of Japan:

In 1985, a group of excited Hanshin Tigers baseball fans stole a Colonel Sanders statue from a Kentucky Fried Chicken and threw it in Osaka's Dotonbori River. Sanders was wearing star hitter Randy Bass' uniform at the time, and the fans did it to celebrate the Tigers' championship. Bad move. The Tigers haven't won a title since, causing frustrated fans to call this the Curse of the Colonel Sanders.

But guess what: Sanders appeared on the riverbank earlier this week. Does this mean the curse is over? Read more over at Tokyo Mango.

Revisionist History

2009-03-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

Care for a bit of time travel?

Shawn over at Baseball Awards has taken on a herculean task: determining who should have won the affiliated awards and championships from each baseball season that has passed. He started with 1965 and is working his way up. MVP, Cy Young...he's got it covered.

He's done some major analysis. And agree with him or not, you have to admit he's serious about getting down to the numbers. And I've gotta commend the commitment to the cause.

More Names, But not of the Nick Variety

2009-02-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

Last week I posted about great baseball nicknames. But I completely overlooked great baseball names. The god-given-my-mom-and-dad-named-me-this type of name. If you're a parent, and you name your kid something like Chipper Jones...that kid's gonna be a ball player.

The folks over at Bats took the "great baseball names" beyond just a list. Check out that post here.

What's in a Name?

2009-02-16T17:39:00.000-08:00

Nicknames and jargon are a part of baseball culture. What's your favorite player nickname? The Big Unit? The Fish? Mr. October? I personally enjoy Donnie Baseball and The Wizard of Oz.

Here are a few online lists of what other people think are the best nicknames. What do you think? Leave a comment below.

ESPN's list

Baseball Guru's list

And of course, the excellent resource Baseball Almanac has an exhaustive list of nicknamed players who are in the Hall of Fame.

Video Fun: How It's Made

2009-02-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

I went a little crazy with the YouTube search.

Have you seen How It's Made? It's a Science Channel (a Discovery Channel venture) TV show with footage from various manufacturing processes for objects and products we are generally familiar with. If you've seen the show, you know that they usually throw together three random items and their fabrication processes into one episode. It's a little...disjointed. "On this episode: Canoes! Nail Polish! Transmissions!"

In keeping with their non-thematic tradition, the How It's Made clips on baseball gloves, bats, and balls are from three different episodes. Check them out below.

Baseball Gloves

Baseball Bats

Baseballs (starts at about 2 minutes in)

World Baseball, Plus a Bunch of Other Stuff

2009-02-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

It's all about the international baseball landscape here at Runners at the Corners. And today, we've got yet another resource for helping you keep up with baseball all over the world.

It's BaseballdeWorld, with links and info about baseball well beyond the MLB. They have "all the bases covered," or so they say. They "provide quality, original articles combined with relevant news from some of the best baseball websites covering international baseball."

They've got RSS feeds a plenty, so of course I'm already sold. You can subscribe to all the content or segment your feeds into different pre-defined interest areas like "prospects," "college," "Europe," and "tournaments."

This site is still new to me and the jury is out, but this looks like a great fan resource.

Showing the Signs

2009-01-25T18:44:00.000-08:00

A loyal reader (thank you!) sent this in and I decided to pass it along.

If you pretend to know what the catcher is doing before a pitch, fiddling around down there between his legs (oh grow up), but you don't actually know a pointed pinky from a flutter of the fingers, check this video out.

Yep, it's our pajama-clad friends at MLB Network again, giving us the 411 with the D-Backs' Chris Snyder. Watch the vid and keep an eye on what he's doing - did you know what he was calling for?

Bring on the Ballists: Vintage Base Ball

2009-01-18T12:32:00.000-08:00

These guys are keepin' it real: check out the Vintage Base Ball Association. They play using mid-to-late nineteenth century rules and equipment: old school bats, lemon peel balls, and shield shirt uniforms. The photos of these ballists' escapades make you feel like you just stepped out of a time machine (check out some of the photos on Flickr). There's even a ladies' league: they wear full on dresses during play.

Take some time to explore their website and have your mind blown.

MLB Network: It Sucks Less Than it Could

2009-01-16T21:45:00.000-08:00

After having experienced the MLB Network for more than two weeks, I feel qualified to let you know that it doesn't totally suck.

When I first heard about The Network, I was cautiously optimistic. "Baseball on TV in the winter!" I thought. "Woo!" But in the days that followed, I was disappointed. How many times were we supposed to watch the Phillies/Rays WS games? I wasn't that interested the first time, to be honest.

My confidence continued to erode with the presentations of "Baseball's Great Cathedrals" and the salute to Safeco field. We've heard all about the Ichiroll, thank you very much. Then there was the interview with "Batting Stance Guy." I dare you to sit through seven minutes of three guys in pajamas laughing at a You Tube pseudo-celebrity.

There are some glimmers of hope and potential for greatness: cool historical footage, classic games, stuff like that. Things that you'd expect and likely enjoy.

But, as a friend told me, "If the MLB Network was any good they'd be showing the Caribbean World Series." Right on. And it turns out that they are. This, in my opinion, is the type of coverage they should be giving us. Games we normally wouldn't get to see happening all over the world. A glimpse into what it would be like to be at a game in the DR. Games from Japan. Not the 2007 Home Run Derby three times a week. I realize that they have a lot of time to fill, I do. But I am a demanding client.

I will continue to evaluate The Network as we move forward. This is still just the beginning, after all. And it's not even Spring.

Bat Science

2009-01-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

Baseball is enjoyable on many, many levels. You can be excited by the players, the stats or the history. You can just like going to the games, or you can spend your life trying to catch foul balls. To each his or her own, I say.

But check this out: Daniel A. Russell, a professor in Michigan, studies the physics of baseball. Specifically, the physics and acoustics of baseball and softball bats. Check out his site here. He has tons of resources and answers to questions like "Why do wood bats crack and metal bats ping?" and "What (and where) is the sweet spot of a bat?"

All of this is pretty interesting (to me, anyway). But I'm still not cut out for a career as a physics professor. I'll leave that to Daniel.

Twittering at atthecorners

2008-12-28T23:12:00.000-08:00

Attention Twitter users - in addition to your weekly dose of baseball on this blog (even during the off season), you can now follow Runners at the Corners on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/atthecorners

I might just follow you back.

Hang in There

2008-12-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

I know the weather is really bad. Here's a photo to help keep you going. The countdown is on - spring is coming.

Basebrawls

2008-12-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, maybe it's immature. Maybe I shouldn't be promoting "violence." Whatever.

For some reason, these images are pretty cool. Step into the vault.

Indian Style

2008-12-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, so you've heard about this already, right?

Dinesh Patel and Rinku Singh were discovered thanks to the Million Dollar Arm contest, designed to "discover the fastest arm in India (for males between 15-25) and nurture their development to become the first Indian to play professional baseball in the US."

The Million Dollar Arm contest website hosts a blog featuring Dinesh and Rinku. A post from Dinesh this week says,

"This week I discover 3 new sweets that i like very much. i like boston kreem donut. i like napoleon. And i like the oreo ice cream cake. these are all very tasty. I guess in the USA people are fond of giving the sweets because people keep bringing Rinku and I sweets to celebrate. I think this good custom."

Me too, Dinesh. Me too.

Check out the musings from Dinesh and Patel at The Million Dollar Arm Blog.

Time Called

2008-11-24T10:15:00.001-08:00

Runners at the Corners is taking a break until December. See you in a few weeks.

Yeah Girl!

2008-11-17T07:15:00.000-08:00

She 16. She's in high school. And she's got a nasty knuckleball.

She's Eri Yoshida, and she's going to be the first woman ever to play alongside men in Japanese professional baseball.

Check it out.

Update: one of our readers (thank you!) passed along this video of Yoshida.

Truth be told, it might not be her since I can't read Japanese and confirm. But how many 16 yer old female knuckleballers with red gloves can there be?

Free Agent Tracker

2008-11-10T00:33:00.000-08:00

If you're like me, then you don't have all of the '08 free agents memorized. Yeah, I know I should, but my super-human brain can only hold so much info.

So check it: MLB Free Agent Tracker.

I wish it had RSS.

Baseball Is My Valentine

2008-11-02T10:22:00.000-08:00

Mark your calendars and start thinking of spring: pitchers and catchers report on Feb 14, 2009. Forget the heart-shaped box of candy and a bouquet of roses. Go get your girl some spring training tickets instead.

For inspirational purposes, I added a countdown timer over to the left to help keep you going strong through the cold winter months. We will make it to February!

Class is in Session

2008-10-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

People! It's time work on your college applications. Rutgers is offering a Yankee Stadium history course.

Awesome. I'm looking forward to the addition of some graduate level courses and a full blown degree. When can I start my Baseball History thesis?

Someday I'll be Dr. Baseball, PhD.

World Baseball Classic 2009

2008-10-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

Ichiro is ready to get serious. Maybe it's a little early for fans to do that, but you can at least start thinking about it - the World Baseball Classic will take place in 2009.

The first (and only one) was in 2006. Japan kicked ass.

The 2009 version should be great fun, especially when we'll all have been suffering a baseball drought for months.

Here's the bracketing for next year. If you're in the mood for an international baseball trip, you could go to Tokyo, Mexico City, Toronto or San Juan for the initial elimination rounds. The winners will then go to San Diego and Miami. The finals will be at Dodger Stadium. The whole thing starts on March 5 and runs through the rest of the month until the 23rd.

Maybe Ichiro doesn't need to "get serious." I hear this guy is their secret weapon.

The Finnish Line

2008-10-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

We've all played kickball, tee ball, or wiffleball. But how about Pesäpallo? Or Brännboll?

Pesäpallo, or "Finnish baseball," uses the playing field to the left - besides the obvious differences (it's not a diamond...so what is that shape?) there are a few other unique details. For example, the manager uses a color coded fan to signal the runners when to move. I just find it funny that on your way to home base, you could pass right by someone headed for home.

In Brännboll, popular in Sweden, the batter hits the ball himself and there is no pitcher. For an outfielder to make an out, he hs to throw the ball to the team's "burner." Once the burner has the ball, he holds the ball in his hand, steps on a small board on the ground and yells "Stratego," thus getting the out.

Hmm. Sounds complicated. But so is the infield fly rule.