OK, longtime ShysterBall reader Melody (full name: Melody Blass Fisher) would probably smack me for calling her a “girl,” but since the purpose of this post is to promote her most excellent Baseball Chronicle essay, here’s hoping she cuts me some slack. As for the story, if any of you have either (a) been ripped […]

Unsure whether or not Twitter has jumped the shark? Here’s your answer, courtesy of USA Today’s Micheal Hiestand: On its Houston-St. Louis game Saturday, Fox’s baseball coverage debuted Twittering from its announcers. Fox’s Joe Buck, in a tweet, showed how the evolving online medium can deliver true candor: “Cold in the booth in STL. Tim […]

Today’s posts from the peacock: I’m puzzled that Sweet Lou is sticking with Sour Kevin as closer. Chris Dickerson got in a fight with a door and lost. Jason Giambi = Bob Horner. A smattering of the highlights and lowlights of the first week. Eddie Gaedel v2.0 and Are the Mariners for real? I think […]

I tend to handle bad news fairly well. Certainly tragedy affects me like anyone else, but I’m just kind of programmed to keep it together OK when others are not doing as well. I’m way worse about things a bit after the fact, however, as the smallest, random things can set me off. Everyday things, […]

I don’t think anyone buys the “if you build it they will come” business anymore, but just in case there were any ballparks=development deadenders out there: Baseball stadium backers promised a lively entertainment district when the D.C. government poured nearly $700 million into building Nationals Park: a hub of bustling shops, restaurants, hotels, condos and […]

The writer’s heart is in the right place, I suppose, but I find this kind of sentiment rather empty and misguided, no matter what the circumstances: They have his image on their outfield wall, his number on a patch over their hearts and his memory inscribed in a place even deeper. All classic, commendable and […]

On Saturday, I went to see the sixth installment of the Wexner Center for the Arts’ “Rare Films from the Baseball Hall of Fame” series. It’s exactly what it sounds like: strange little film clips from Cooperstown’s archives, not like anything you’d ever see in your standard pre-game sepia-fest on MLB Network of the Game […]

Tigers 6, Rangers 4: What a difference a weekend makes. The Rangers looked like world beaters after taking the Indians apart in the season’s opening series, and then they get swept the hell out of Detroit. Not that they couldn’t have won this game. In fact, they had a 4-0 lead behind Kevin Millwood before […]

Another look at the Black Ink Test.

Is Bruce Weber’s book on umpires a hit or is it out?