The New York Times has an overview of the retro-stadium craze of the past couple of decades, with particular attention paid to some of the parks’ unique particularities: The quirky signatures at older stadiums — like the Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston — were adaptations to their narrow confines. But idiosyncrasies like Tal’s […]

Back when I was in private practice, I represented a park district that wanted to turn some old railroad lines in the middle of nowhere into a bike trail. They built about 85% of the trail, but the last little stretch was held up by this group of Mennonite farmers who lived next to the […]

Writing from the future — November of this year to be exact — The OC Register’s Sam Miller has fun with the 90th percentile of the PECOTA projections for the Angels: Nobody would have ever believed the Angels would win 120 games – a new Major League record – but with no holes in the […]

This is different: The Major League Baseball Players Association on Friday will open its first retail outlet devoted to selling player-only merchandise. The store, which will be inside Citi Field and be operated by Aramark, is an attempt to boost licensing revenue for the union and to promote star players, much as the N.B.A. and […]

Some final things to read to take your mind off the fact that your yacht is being seized: First, some THT news in the form of new downloadable subscriptions now being offered for HEATER Magazine, the Batted Ball Report, the Bill James Daily Matchups and the THT Annual. Many details in the post, so please […]

I lied, THIS is my last post. Rob Neyer suckers you with that polite Midwestern charm of his, but he’s capable of firing missles when he feels the need: One of baseball’s dirty little secrets is that umpiring is not that hard. Oh, it would be exceptionally difficult for you or me or your mailman. […]

There’s a fun, albeit somewhat uncomfortable conversation going on among some political blogs I read, and it’s about how much blogging is too much. It started with this: I’m privileged to have a job that I really enjoy. But at the same time, I would prefer to write somewhat less—this pace is stressful and doesn’t […]

Courtesy of Buster, two of the more unlikely guys in the game are about to break camp with their big clubs. First in Milwaukee: After toiling 11 years in the minors before finally getting his chance to pitch in the big leagues, Mark DiFelice isn’t about to start taking things for granted. “I’ll believe I’ve […]

Via Jason, news that nobility, appropriately enough, is joining the Royals rotation: It doesn’t matter, it seems, that veteran right-hander Sidney Ponson gave up seven runs in five innings Tuesday in a 7-2 loss to the Oakland A’s. The Royals seem ready, regardless, to anoint him as the fourth member of their rotation — albeit […]

The Tigers have handed the fifth starter’s job to Rick Porcello: The Tigers told rookie right-handed pitcher Rick Porcello on Wednesday that he has earned a spot in the starting rotation. The news follows an impressive outing Tuesday by Porcello, 20, who allowed two hits over five innings in a 7-2 loss to Washington. By […]