Good morning HDWEB’ers, it’s February 10th and I’m proud to say I love baseball. Here are today’s awesomest baseball things to inspire, entertain, educate, and amuse.
HOW DARE WE ENJOY BASEBALL ON FEB 10?
Terrible choices, losing ten thousand games but still feeling pretty good about it, digging up the past, and Manny Mota on a tricycle all say we’re going to enjoy baseball on February 10th. YES!
Harry How
If you have ideas or suggestions, send ‘em my way at @justinbopp.
Not gonna regret it:
How sick is this?! pic.twitter.com/ADLNlj0q2q
— Mike Napoli (@MikeNapoli25) February 7, 2014 Jonny Gomes will never, ever regret this tattoo - Know who you are and be the best at it, I say. And if that means getting a gigantic tat of a Yosemite Sam/Duck Dynasty-lookin' caricature of yourself riding in a Duck Boat for the World Series parade, more power to you. Looks like there's plenty of room left in case the Red Sox repeat, too.
Also, this is something that exists:
Boston Red Sox Carl Crawford Players Choice Signature Series Jersey - MLB.com Shop -- No reviews? That’s surprising.
Whatever helps you sleep at night:
Nice little back-and-forth between our Brewers and Cubs blogs, Brew Crew Ball and Bleed Cubbie Blue, about where the Cubs will lose their ten-thousandth game -- Kyle at Brew Crew Ball would like to see it in person, while Al at Bleed Cubbie Blue wouldn't mind letting the Royals have it (if they played at Kauffman this year).
Before anyone gets too excited about celebrating the historic ineptitude of the modern Cubs, Al reminds you:
I should remind our Milwaukee friends that despite the Cubs' poor seasons since 2009, their all-time record entering 2014 is 10,438-9,976, or 462 games over .500. In all of major-league history, only five other teams -- the Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Cardinals and Red Sox -- are more games over .500 lifetime than the Cubs.
(Self) Preservation:
Adam Rubin of ESPN tweeted out a picture of a Daily Sports News back cover that never ran thanks to Carlos Beltran’s heroics in the 2006 NLCS. After preserving it for seven-plus years and finally revealing it to all, Adam has since removed the tweet for whatever reason, but not before I screencapped it:
These are interesting:
Would Willie Mays in his prime be worth a $300M contract today? -- Grant says YES ... and even then Mays might be underpaid. Anyone imagining a modern, young, rangy centerfielder with a ton of power averaging nine WAR per season bound for a contract in the one-third $BILLION range? Mike Trout springs to mind. Now imagine Trout had a cannon like Mays. /drooling.
White Sox-Giants World Tour: Feb. 7, 1914 - South Side Sox -- I've been checking in and out of this fun series over at SSS, but this one is definitely worth the admission, if only to hear the story about the umpire/mortician that missed the boat for the mummies:
That's why, when the ship pulled away from Alexandria on Feb. 5, they knew they were going to be short one umpire for a while.
Why did Jack Sheridan literally miss the boat? James E. Elfers explains in "A Tour to End All Tours" that "Sheridan's off-season occupation got the best of him. "The mortician had become so wrapped up in the mummies and their associated funerary relics at the Cairo State Museum that he lost track of time and missed the train."
Archaeological firm hired for new Nashville stadium -- Minor League Ball -- "Crews could find artifacts from the Civil War, Native Americans or even Mastodons on the historic site." I'm rooting for dinosaurs, personally. I always root for dinosaurs.
These are smart:
Potential black holes for 2014 - Beyond the Box Score -- Which positions on which teams could be cruising for negative value in 2014? Bryan has a good method here (look for bad players on bad teams with no obvious alternatives), but his choice of Alexander Guerrero at second for the Dodgers should raise your eyebrows. Then again, nearly every team is terrible at second.
Why the 'Plate Appearance' Is Better Than the 'At Bat' - Viva El Birdos -- This is familiar ground for our saber-HDWEB'ers, but Ben makes the concept fairly easy to grasp. Easier: ABs don't count walks. PAs do.
- Tool: Basically Every Hitting Stat Correlation -- The Hardball Times -- Ever wonder how closely homers and slugging are correlated? Or grounders and on-base percentage? Or any hitting stat vs. any other hitting stat? The geniuses at THT have the perfect tool for exactly that.
Spring training is here!
The @Dodgers are at spring training so here's a pic of Manny Mota on a tricycle v @truebluela http://t.co/J12Yid4wKd pic.twitter.com/MScZ6xEpft
— SB Nation MLB (@SBNationMLB) February 9, 2014 If you’re not already reading Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, you’re missing out on one of the real gems covering the Dodgers. He’s in Arizona with the team at training camp and has quotes that will convince you that Zack Greinke is a future GM (assuming he’s bored and doesn’t want to go mow lawns because we all know he won’t need the money) and that Chad Billingsley’s arm is in the best shape of its life.
One for the road:
GIF: Don Kelly robs J.P. Arencibia of a home run - Bless You Boys:
Have suggestions or want to be featured in HDWEB? Send links to Justin at @justinbopp and hashtag #HDWEB.
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