I’ve been busy enough this past week that I had to cut my baseball reading rather significantly, but I think I was still able to come up with some good ones for you.
Pitchers & Poets: You Gotta Keep Score: Mariners Broadcaster Dave Sims Talks Scorekeeping
As part of Scorekeeping Week, Ted contacted the TV play-by-play man of the Mariners to discuss many aspects of scorekeeping in an enjoyable read.
Dave Sims’ scorebook is a living text. He uses it constantly while broadcasting, moving from the live game situation to the evolving text and back again like an air traffic controller with a radar screen. The scorebook is an irreplaceable key to the practice of broadcasting, and crucial for tracking the through-lines of the game as they play out from the first pitch to the last. Sims’ scorebook, in other words, is not a document composed for historical posterity, but a tool of the immediate world, as crucial to his work as a computer screen to a programmer.
I’ve never kept score, personally. I’ve always kind of wanted to and have a rough idea of how to go about it, but I’ve yet to dive in. I think I’ll get this and make 2011 the year. P&P also linked to this tutorial.
Will Carroll: Tommy John surgery becoming less risky with new procedures
I’m pretty well versed when it comes to ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, but Carroll offers up some details that I wasn’t aware of in what is best and easy-reading Tommy John surgery articles I’ve seen. This one is a definite must-read from Sports Illustrated.
In weeks, that tendon will begin the process of “ligamentization,” as it latches itself into place and literally takes on the biologic properties of the ligament it is replacing. (No one seems sure why the body does this.) One result of this process is what’s been referred to as the “honeymoon period.” It takes about five years for the tendon to lose all traces of it’s previous existence and once it’s a ligament, it’s as likely as the previous resident to tear under an excessive load. Several pitchers have had Tommy John surgery twice, while some have undergone the procedure three and even four times.
Also, you may remember that Mariner reliever Shawn Kelley is recovering from what the club called a “partial Tommy John surgery”. This left many of us scratching our heads, but Carroll may have provided some insight while discussing draft prospect Anthony Montefusco.
“The ligament just pulled away from the bone,” Keith told me, “so Doc just tacked it back in, overlayed that tendon on there.”
That sounds like a “partial Tommy John surgery” to me. I’ll have to follow up on that.
A few more
- Easton has created a helmet for pitchers. It is surprisingly low profile– enough to catch on. It may have to come into pro baseball with a new generation of ballplayers that use it starting in Little League, which appears to be what Easton is going for based on their press release. I like it. Whether you think it looks silly or not, this is something that needs to happen.
- Tom Bergeron has the story of two female pitchers facing off in a varsity baseball game. Video here.
- Larry at It’s About The Money, Stupid wonders if minor leaguer Lainer Bueno was suspended because he ate the beef in his homeland.
- Bob Nightengale has the story of (former Mariner property) Marc Kroon, who has been a star closer in Japan since 2005 but was unable to find a job there this season while on the verge of reaching 200 saves, something that Nightengale suggests Japanese clubs don’t want to see a foreign player do. Kroon, 37, is trying out for the San Francisco Giants this spring after playing the last three for the Yomiuri variety.
- Arne at 1995 Mariners has a partial transcript of a 2008 interview done by the late Dave Niehaus discussing the inaugural season, the “rye bread and mustard” call and, of course, 1995.
MLB Experts on Babe Ruth
The Batting Stance Guy is more than a one-trick pony.
Original Story:
http://www.proballnw.com/03-2011/week...
