Monthly Archives: December 2008

Game Time: A Baseball Companion by Roger Angell

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(Harvest, 2004), 398 pages.

It stands to reason that British baseball fans would want to discover as many great baseball writers as possible. Buying a copy of ‘Game Time: A Baseball Companion’ should therefore be high on your list of things to do.

During his career writing about baseball for The New Yorker since 1962, Roger Angell has consistently proved to be one of the finest commentators on the game. This collection brings together essays and shorter ‘takes’ from that first year up until the Angels’ triumph over the Giants in the 2002 World Series. His prose is easy and enjoyable to read: elegant but never overly wordy; insightful but never condescending. Just as importantly, his simple love of the game is always at the heart of everything he writes.  Continue reading →

You Are the Scorer: Number 8

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YouAreScorer

Scenario: With runners on first and second and no outs, an infield fly is hit directly towards the third baseman but is not caught. The batter is called out on the infield fly rule and the runners stay put.

Which fielder should be credited with a put-out by the official scorer?

A – The catcher.
B – The first baseman.
C – The third baseman.
D – No put-out should be credited.

 

Highlight the text below to reveal the answer:

Answer: C – The third baseman.

Rule 10.09(c)(1) states:
When the batter is called out on an Infield Fly that is not caught, the official scorer shall credit the putout to the fielder who the scorer believes could have made the catch.

Merry Christmas from BaseballGB

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We would like to wish all of our visitors a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. 

The Christmas break doesn’t last for long here at BGB.  Our weekly ‘You Are the Scorer’ feature will be available as usual at lunchtime on Friday and on Saturday we will be bringing you the second part of our ‘Awards’ series. 

Best regards
Matt

Yankees spend, spend then spend again

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I wasn’t going to post anything else today after my ‘awards’ piece, but the news that the Yankees have agreed an eight-year/$180m contract with Mark Teixeira has compelled me to get back in front of my keyboard. 

No doubt my experience mirrored that of many baseball fans when waking up to the news this morning: logging on to MLB.com, seeing the headline ‘Yanks land Teixeira with eight-year deal’ and muttering a common two-word phrase in which the second word is ‘me’ and the first word begins with ‘f’.  Continue reading →

Book recommendations

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Regular visitors will know that we here at BaseballGB are avid baseball book readers and keen baseball book reviewers.  Our reviews can all be found by clicking on the ‘book reviews’ category, but we thought it would be useful to put together a list of some essential purchases, either to help a newcomer start up their baseball library or to help established fans fill in any gaps in their collection.  We’ve limited this to a cross-section of ten books covering both old and modern classics, biographies and areas of special interest (stats, fantasy baseball and British baseball). 

The list can be found by clicking on ‘Essential Baseball Books’ in the navigation bar.  If you’ve got any suggestions of essential books for a British baseball fan not covered in this original selection of ten, please feel free to put forward your case in the comments below.

Where next for MLB on British TV?

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The news has still to be officially confirmed, but Five’s decision to discontinue coverage of all U.S. sports from the end of the current NFL season has sent shock waves through the hordes of North American sports fans in this country. 

The omnipresent ‘credit crunch’ may hurt your ability  to find the money for subscriptions to other services such as NASN or MLB.tv and technical issues could prevent you from going down that route even if you want to.  Coupled with the immense importance for MLB to retain a free-to-air presence if the sport wants to encourage people to the sport, everyone who has an interest in baseball has an interest in trying to keep MLB on British TV.

If Five are not going to bring it back next season, what other options are there?  Continue reading →