There’s a new batting helmet design (pic in article) that is supposed to provide substantially greater protection from beanballs, but no one — apart from David Wright and Edgar Gonzalez, who is still suffering the effects from one to the head — seems to like it all that much: “No, I am absolutely not wearing […]

This is not terribly surprising: John Smoltz’s brief career with the Red Sox is over. Smoltz has refused the option of an assignment to the minor leagues, leaving the Red Sox with the option of either trading him or releasing him. They could trade him because he has cleared waivers, but one of the reasons […]

The guy who fired his manager mere days before his team made the playoffs is making moves again: Brewers’ GM Doug Melvin has fired pitching coach Bill Castro. He has sent J.J. Hardy down to Nashville and has called up Alcides Escobar. He has designated Bill Hall for assignment. Unlike the Yost move last year, […]

Today ShysterBall celebrates the 15th anniversary of the beginning of the 1994-95 strike! Sure, it was terrible, but at least we didn’t get a 72-win team winning the AL West! In other news: Hey, you and Tommy LaSorda? I hate Tommy Lasorda. The Tigers’ arms are going to be stretched come this postseason, though there’s […]

Red Sox 7, Tigers 5: You’ve probably seen the Youkilis-Porcello fracas, but here’s video of it from a slightly different angle which makes Youkilis seem like even more of the bad guy here. Of course his ejection was the best thing to happen to the Sox last night, as he was replaced by pinch-runner Mike […]

I may write about stuff that baseball people screw up, but reporters write about it when I lose cases too, so it’s all good. Always be wary when someone proposes a simple solution to a complex problems. Especially when that someone is kind of an idiot. Gary Sheffield thinks that he’s trade bait and that […]

Marlins 8, Astros 6: Houston put a late scare into the fish, but it was all for naught. Florida wins its fourth in a row, and now sit 3.5 behind Philly. As Pinto notes, having guys getting on base in front of Hanley Ramirez is a good, good thing for the Marlins. Blue Jays 5, […]

Note: A somewhat different version of this review was originally written for the New York Post. It didn’t run, however, and given how rarely it is that I praise something, I figured it was worth sharing with the world. It’s been nearly 30 years since Thurman Munson’s plane went down in Canton, Ohio, killing the […]

Via BTF, Milwaukeeans Jason Albert and Steven Hyden debate the merits of a professional sporting press. I tend to agree with Hyden, who believes that there is still a real need for working reporters with access. People like me certainly can’t report anything. The highest and best use for bloggers, in my humble opinion, is […]

Amounts to very little in the grand scheme of things, but this blog post about it by John Fay at the Cincy Enquirer website has me thinking about stuff: David Weathers was in the seat in front of me on the red eye from San Francisco to Cincinnati. “Walt Jocketty isn’t the most popular guy […]