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Steven Goldman |
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November 20, 2012 5:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: The Gift of Kuhn |
Bud Selig thought about blocking the Marlins-Blue Jays blockbuster, but Bowie Kuhn did more than think about overturning trades during his time as commissioner.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
Bud Selig took six days to review the 12-player Marlins-Blue Jays trade before allowing it to stand. However, there is some precedent for a commissioner having the power to overturn trades, as Steven Goldman explained in the piece reprinted below, which was originally published as a "You Could Look it Up" column on April 24, 2006.
September 14, 2012 5:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: The Showalter Gambit |
Did we see the Orioles' success coming when Buck Showalter was hired?
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
A few days after the Orioles hired Buck Showalter, Steven Goldman wrote the response reprinted below, which was originally published as a "You Could Look it Up" column on August 3, 2010.
July 27, 2012 9:40 am
The BP Wayback Machine: What is a Deadline Trade Worth?, Part 1 |
A look back at each franchise's key mid-season trades, beginning with the Blue Jays.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
How much do mid-season trades really help? Steven Goldman attempted to answer the question in a series that began with the piece republished below, which originally ran as a "You Could Look it Up" column on July 26, 2004.
March 23, 2012 3:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: Jon Lester, Meet Mel Parnell |
The late Mel Parnell was one of the few lefties who've been given the opportunity to fend for themselves at Fenway Park.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
The late Mel Parnell passed away on Tuesday at the age of 89. In his memory, we present a piece about Parnell and the exaggerated perils of southpaw pitching at Fenway, which originally ran as a "You Could Look it Up" column on May 20, 2008.
March 18, 2012 11:40 pm
BP Beta Blog: Get a Free Copy of BP's Extra Innings |
Write a review, get a book!
Greetings, BP Beta-Testers! Steven Goldman making a brief cameo back in these pages to present an offer regarding our latest tome. With just a couple of weeks to go before Extra Innings officially streets, we have the opportunity to give the first ten respondents to this here post a PDF of the first half of the book. Read it, post a review at Amazon, and we will give you the whole actual book when it becomes available*. Just email me at that ol' reliable email address, sgoldman@baseballprospectus.com, and I will reply with your copy. I want to emphasize that these will be honest reviews, natch--this isn't an attempt to cook the Amazon star system, but simply to get some conversation going. We know that you who know us best will treat our efforts with fairness and integrity. Thanks for taking the time, and good to be back home again for a few minutes.
*You also agree not to take the PDF to a printing plant and sell copies of "My Very Own Baseball Book" on New York City street corners. Do not use in or around water. No user-serviceable parts. If you experience any of the following symptoms--dry mouth, fatigue, constipation, genital soreness, abdominal cramping, or the uncontrollable urge to laugh out of context--see a doctor immediately, but by all means do not stop reading that book!
March 2, 2012 6:00 am
The BP Broadside: The Final Broadside |
Steven Goldman says farewell.
I thought I might begin today’s entry with a fancy introduction involving Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, General Crowder, Pete Rose, a rogue elephant, a malfunctioning burglar alarm, and Richard Nixon, but the appropriate anecdote that draws those elements together escapes me, and instead I will cut right to the chase: Today marks the end of my tenure at Baseball Prospectus.
My first column for Baseball Prospectus appeared on June 20, 2003. Today, almost nine years later, I present my last. With great sadness, but also great excitement for the future, I have resigned as Editor-in-Chief. On March 19, I will undertake a new challenge, joining Bleacher Report as one of two lead baseball writers, contributing both my usual long-form pieces as well as quicker bits in which I get to indulge my inner hit-and-run commentator.
There is so much I want to tell you about my time here, about the many adventures I have had and the people I have known, many of whom you have read and enjoyed, but it’s hard to single out any one story. This “inside” tale from early in my tenure keeps coming to mind. It was approximately July 2005. In those days, BP’s principals had a yearly meeting someplace fun, like Palm Springs, Las Vegas, or Monte Carlo. I believe we stopped doing those because given the lack of entertainment options available at these remote, arid locations, the guys just got too much work done and were overly fatigued from all of their productivity once they got home.
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February 29, 2012 9:00 am
Prospectus Preview: AL Central 2012 Preseason Preview, Part Two |
Wrapping up our tour of the AL Central by discussing how good the Tigers can be, how close the Royals are to being competitive, and the sorry state of the Twins.
1) Will their defensive experiment work out?
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February 28, 2012 9:00 am
Prospectus Preview: AL Central 2012 Preseason Preview, Part One |
Talking White Sox and Indians in our preview coverage of the division so nice we had to break it up and discuss it twice.
1) Kenny Williams seemed to have a case of split personality this offseason. Is he rebuilding, planning to contend, just resting, what?
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February 27, 2012 2:50 am
The BP Broadside: Zimmerman, Rendon, and the Nagging Itch to Scratch a McQuinn |
Don't play with sharp objects, don't lie down in traffic, and never assume that any player is blocked.
When, early on Sunday morning, it was revealed that Ryan Zimmerman had signed a contract extension that had the potential of keeping him in Washington until 2020, I predicted that Kevin Goldstein would spend his day answering questions about the future of Anthony Rendon, a fine third-base prospect to be sure, but not one who would seem likely to be dogging Zimmerman’s heels anytime soon given that he has yet to play a professional game.
Kevin’s predictable response to those easily-predictable questions was that a lot can change between now and 2020, or between now and next year, including our entire view of both Zimmerman and Rendon. In fact, the potentialities of either could be radically altered as soon as… now. Or now. And also now. Entering 1971, the syndicated columnist Jimmy Cannon asked Casey Stengel for his opinion on Johnny Bench, then entering his age-23 season and coming off an MVP-winning campaign in which he hit .293/.345/.587 with a National League-leading 45 home runs and 148 runs batted in.
“I’ve had Al Lopez and Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra, which goes to show you,” the old man said. “But at his age, which is young, Johnny Bench is the greatest catcher I ever seen. But he could fall out of an airplane or his eyes could go bad, which could happen to a young catcher.”
February 24, 2012 5:25 am
The BP Broadside: Say It Ain't So, Braun! |
Due process is a wonderful thing, even if the outcomes are sometimes a little hard to figure. Just ask Joe Jackson.
We have yet to hear much more about the rationale behind the Ryan Braun decision except rumors about irregularities in the handling of his urine sample, but if it is indeed the case that he was let off the hook because the chain of evidence was broken, his acquittal is a triumph for due process. Sorry, Baseball, but your minions screwed up, and therefore you did as well.
Our Constitution is an amazing living document that stretches and evolves with the times, surviving generations of politicians and Supreme Court justices who life to play taffy pull with its brittle old pages. As a result, sometimes we get a Constitution that’s very expansive in its grant of rights and at other times it’s a bit stingy. For a long time, due process was more about corporations than individuals—the Supreme Court spent decades saying you couldn’t have labor laws because they inhibited the free market, and any law that does that is messing with the right of due process.
The 1919 Black Sox had their case fall squarely during the period of time when due process was more concerned with protecting employers from labor than vice-versa. Had the case happened roughly 20 years later, Joe Jackson and friends might have kept on playing. In some cases (Jackson, Buck Weaver) that might have been a better outcome than what actually happened, whereas in others (Chick Gandil), the result would have been the continuance on the field of some players who were clearly guilty. Still, to the extent that “the verdict of juries,” as Commissioner Landis put it, is one of the keystone of our rights, the Sox clearly got a raw deal.
February 24, 2012 3:00 am
The BP Wayback Machine: Spring Training, What's it Good For? |
Spring training has become far more professional and predictable since its earliest days.
While looking toward the future with our comprehensive slate of current content, we'd also like to recognize our rich past by drawing upon our extensive (and mostly free) online archive of work dating back to 1997. In an effort to highlight the best of what's gone before, we'll be bringing you a weekly blast from BP's past, introducing or re-introducing you to some of the most informative and entertaining authors who have passed through our virtual halls. If you have fond recollections of a BP piece that you'd like to nominate for re-exposure to a wider audience, send us your suggestion.
As another exhibition season approaches, revisit some of spring training's wilder times in the following piece, which originally ran as a "You Could Look it Up" column on March 6, 2004.
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February 22, 2012 4:47 am
The BP Broadside: Manny Ramirez Through the Wrong End of the Telescope |
The A's say there is no risk to signing Manny, but there definitely is, especially if fruit cocktail is being served.
He’s a friend of a friend of a relative that I see at family gatherings sometimes, an ex-teacher who is excessively bitter about what seem to me to be his own failings. On holidays, he plays vulture at the table. With dirt caked under his nails, he digs at the serving bowls with his fingers. If he’s before you in the serving order, you will wind up going hungry because he’s fouled the horn of plenty.
When he’s not picking at the food, he picks at his former students. In the greatest statistical anomaly in the history of man, every student he ever had was a total moron. I don’t know where he was teaching—perhaps it was the Secret Kingdom Where Everyone is the Seventh-Generation Product of Inbreeding Between Siblings, in which case maybe he had a point. Otherwise, it seems to me that he suffers from a case of blaming one’s limitations on the supposed limitations of others. It’s not that you can’t teach, but that your students are too dumb to learn.
Knowing this guy, I’m willing to give the students the benefit of the doubt.
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The Editor in Chief of Baseball Prospectus, Steven Goldman has been with BP since 2003, writing the "You Could Look It Up" column which ties baseball history into current events, and now "The BP Broadside," a current events column. As an editor, Steven has supervised the creation of the BP books "Mind Game" and "It Ain't Over," as well as the last six editions of the New York Times bestselling Baseball Prospectus annual. As a solo author, he wrote Forging Genius about the professional education of Casey Stengel. He also writes the 
Prospectus Preview: AL Central 2012 Preseason Preview, Part Two
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