In his column last Saturday, Steve gave some examples of people within baseball who are using the Internet to connect with fans.  This week’s Web Pick piggy-backs on to this theme with a new blog by former Major Leaguer Morgan Ensberg. 

http://morganensberg.wordpress.com/

He had an interesting career because it wasn’t particularly long (8 MLB seasons, with his last in 2008 when he played in 28 games for the Yankees), but it did include one excellent year.  In 2005, Ensberg’s 36 homers and 101 RBIs as a third baseman earned him 4th place on the National League MVP ballot and, more importantly, helped the Houston Astros to their first ever World Series. 

Ensberg has now retired from playing and he launched his blog just a few weeks ago, 25 February to be precise.  As he puts it:

“I am Morgan Ensberg and this is a blog that teaches you about baseball.  Not crap, but solid fundamentally based strategy and teaching”.

Beyond the ban on “crap”, the focus is on thinking through scenarios and situations that crop up in baseball, both on and off the field, with Ensberg offering his observations and encouraging visitors to pass on their views in the comments.  What I like about it so far is that there’s a real sense that he wants to pass on his knowledge of the game to us fans, yet he acknowledges that he is new to the world of blogging and seems genuinely keen to receive feedback on his posts and to respond to it. 

That readiness to interact with fans, rather than writing as an ‘expert’ and dismissing the thoughts of people who haven’t played sports professionally, is rare.  The blog therefore shows a lot of promise and it will be interesting to see how it develops.