If you read Baseball Musings via RSS, with the move to WordPress there is a new feed. Please change your readers to http://feeds2.feedburner.com/Baseballmusingscom.

We're in the process of porting the blog from Movable Type to WordPress. My goal is to have the new look in place later today. My apologies for the lack of updates today.

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is up to $2295 through the first two weeks of donations. With 16 days to go, continuing that pace would make this the best pledge drive in the history of Baseball Musings.

Peter Gammons donated $500 and is now listed under patrons in the side bar. Peter's reasons for giving?

I use it every day, I use the day-to-day database ten times a day during the season...and you find the most unusual links.

Rob Neyer joined Peter with a $100 donation. There are small donors however, and Josh Levitt is one of them. Here's why he gave $5:

I am far from a rich guy and I don't have much to give in comparison to other people. But I check baseball musings several times during the day and I appreciate all the hard work you do on the site. Baseball Musings has quickly become my go to site for baseball information and analysis. I thought it was important to show my appreciation for your hard work and passion in anyway I could.

According to Google, over 20,000 unique visitors viewed this site so far in March. Five dollars from each of them would allow me to run this site for years. If you use the site the same way, as Peter and Josh, isn't it worth $5 a year? Few can afford $500, but 100 readers donating $5 each accomplishes the same goal. That helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is up to $2245 through the first thirteen days of donations. With 17 days to go, continuing that pace would make this the best pledge drive in the history of Baseball Musings.

Peter Gammons donated $500 and is now listed under patrons in the side bar. Peter's reasons for giving?

I use it every day, I use the day-to-day database ten times a day during the season...and you find the most unusual links.

Rob Neyer joined Peter with a $100 donation. Yesterday, the smaller donations starting coming in, as four of the five contributions were at the $5 level. According to Google, over 20,000 unique visitors viewed this site in March. Five dollars from each of them would allow me to run this site for years. If you use the site the same way, as Peter isn't it worth $5 a year? Few can afford $500, but 100 readers donating $5 each accomplishes the same goal. That helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is up to $2210 through the first dozen days of donations. With 18 days to go, continuing that pace would make this the best pledge drive in the history of Baseball Musings.

Peter Gammons donated $500 and is now listed under patrons in the side bar. Peter's reasons for giving?

I use it every day, I use the day-to-day database ten times a day during the season...and you find the most unusual links.

Rob Neyer joined Peter yesterday with a $100 donation. It's been an interesting pledge drive, as the site is receiving a number of big donations, but fewer small ones. Once again, I'd like to encourage the $5 donations. If you use the site the same way, as Peter isn't the site worth $5 a year? Few can afford $500, but 100 readers donating $5 each accomplishes the same goal. That helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is up to $2105 through the first eleven days of the pledge drive. With 19 days to go, continuing that pace would make this the best pledge drive in the history of Baseball Musings.

Peter Gammons donated $500 and is now listed under patrons in the side bar. Peter's reasons for giving?

I use it every day, I use the day-to-day database ten times a day during the season...and you find the most unusual links.

Rob Neyer joined Peter yesterday with a $100 donation. It's been an interesting pledge drive, as the site is receiving a number of big donations, but fewer small ones. Once again, I'd like to encourage the $5 donations. If you use the site the same way, as Peter isn't the site worth $5 a year? Few can afford $500, but 100 readers donating $5 each accomplishes the same goal. That helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is up to $1910 through the first ten days of the pledge drive. With 20 days to go, continuing that pace would make this the best pledge drive in the history of Baseball Musings.

Peter Gammons donated $500 and is now listed under patrons in the side bar. Peter's reasons for giving?

I use it every day, I use the day-to-day database ten times a day during the season...and you find the most unusual links.

If you use the site the same way, won't you join Peter with a contribution? Few can afford $500, but 100 readers donating $5 each accomplishes the same goal. That helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

Tigers Corner is a new blog designed to present premium Tigers content. TigerBlog provides background on the site. Stop by and say hi. With so many Tigers bloggers involved, it looks like it might turn out to be the place to go for Detroit baseball fans.

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is up to $1845 through the first third of March. Continuing that pace would make this the best pledge drive in the history of Baseball Musings.

Peter Gammons donated $500 and is now listed under patrons in the side bar. Peter's reasons for giving?

I use it every day, I use the day-to-day database ten times a day during the season...and you find the most unusual links.

If you use the site the same way, won't you join Peter with a contribution? Few can afford $500, but 100 readers donating $5 each accomplishes the same goal. That helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive shot up to $1700 in contributions through eight days. Continuing that pace would make this the best pledge drive in the history of Baseball Musings.

Peter Gammons donated $500 and is now listed under patrons in the side bar. Peter's reasons for giving?

I use it every day, I use the day-to-day database ten times a day during the season...and you find the most unusual links.

If you use the site the same way, won't you join Peter with a contribution? Few can afford $500, but 100 readers donating $5 each accomplishes the same goal. That helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive finishes week one with $1215 in contributions. Continuing that pace would make this the best pledge drive in the history of Baseball Musings.

Won't you join your fellow readers and give a small amount to this site? A large number of readers giving $5 each helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. Don't let these few readers stand alone! You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

MetsTweets is looking for 1962 Mets fans to follow his Twitter feed.

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. Readers donated $1195 the first four days. Four generous people donated $100 or more, but most contributors donated between $5 and $20.

One of the great things about writing this blog is the online friendships that developed over the years. In the last few days I've seen many of my fellow bloggers linking back recommending a donation. Thanks so much for your help!

Won't you join your fellow readers and give a small amount to this site? A large number of readers giving $5 each helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. Readers donated $1120 the first three days. Four generous people donated $100 or more, but most contributors donated between $5 and $20.

One of the great things about writing this blog is the online friendships that developed over the years. In the last few days I've seen many of my fellow bloggers linking back recommending a donation. Thanks so much for your help!

Won't you join you fellow readers and give a small amount to this site? A large number of readers giving $5 each helps buy the stats that keep the Day by Day Database and the Probabilistic Model of Range going. You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. Readers donated $990 the first two days. Three generous people donated $100 or more, but most contributors donated between $5 and $20.

Won't you join you fellow readers and give a small amount to this site? You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. Readers donated $885 on day one. Three generous people donated $100 or more, but most contributors donated between $5 and $20.

Won't you join you fellow readers and give a small amount to this site? You can use PayPal or ClickandPledge. The latter allows you to use a credit card without signing up for an account.

Thank you for reading and for your continued support!

Four years ago Baseball Musings became a full time job. I hoped at the time that:

this site can become self-sustaining, generating enough income to support my family.

I asked you, the readers, to help kick start the effort, and you responded with a heartening $3000. In the following two years you responded each March with generous donations. Thanks to all who contributed, as well as to the thousands of readers, commentators and other blogs linking here that make the site a success.

I want to especially thank Brian Borawski for acting as my agent those first few months, sending advertisers this way. Jamie and Chris Mottram promoted the pledge drive on their various Internet ventures over the years. Ray Garcia of TPSRadio.net invited me to broadcast a weekly radio show, which also helped expand the audience for Baseball Musings. Will Leitch of Deadspin sends lots of traffic this way as only he can. I'd also like to thank all my blogging buddies who sent readers this way during the pledge drives.

I also thank the good people at Baseball Prospects and SportingNews.com for giving my writing a wider audience by publishing my work on their sites. A number of sport radio stations invite me to comment on baseball due to my exposure through those sites.

Big media bloggers who link to Baseball Musings receive a tip of the hat as well. From my old friend Peter Gammons to the New York Times Bats journalist bloggers like Joe Christensen and Peter Abraham are redefining how beat reporters cover baseball, and they use the tools at Baseball Musings to help in their writing.

So once again, I'm asking for your help. If you use the Day by Day Database (complete logs back to 1957), if you learn something from the Probabilistic Model of Range consider a donation. If you're a long time reader, if you found something useful through a Google search, even if you just like to come here and complain in the comments, please be part of this site with a contribution. Any amount is fine. If every individual who visits this site in March gives $1, Baseball Musings can be written full time for a year. If everyone donated $10, the money raised would sustain this site indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this site a success by reading, commenting on and recommending the posts here. With your monetary support, Baseball Musings can continue to bring you a fresh perspective on the game and explore new ways of presenting information about the national pastime. Help Baseball Musings continue to grow by making a generous donation today.

Yahoo Sports and SB Nation announced a partnership. Congrats to all the fine bloggers at SB Nation, it's well deserved!

Congratulations to Sean Forman, whose Baseball Reference site just made him a very rich man!

The Kindle 2: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation) is now available from Amazon. With the Kindle you can read Baseball Musings and other great blogs anywhere.

The Baseball Toaster closes it's doors as two of their biggest blogs move on to better paying gigs. I always enjoyed the site. This is my favorite Baseball Toaster post.

Dodger Thoughts moved to the LA Times. Congratulations to Jon Weisman and remember to update your links and RSS readers.

Yankees Chick is back and blogging, and promises a video Monday.

Sports Radio Interviews is a new blog dedicated to sports radio interviews. Stop by and say hi.

Thanks to the Tufts Baseball Analysis group for being such gracious hosts last night. We talked baseball for an hour, and the group brought a number of great questions to the discussion. I look forward to visiting them again.

It's always a good day when Rob Neyer links to your blog. :-) I'm curious about the pronunciation of Wangdoodle. Is it with a long A, like the defunct computer company, or with the O in gone as in Chien-Ming Wong. I'm guessing the latter.

Five points to the person who recognizes the unintentional My Fair Lady reference.

I've been invited to face questions from the group Baseball Analysis at Tufts next Wednesday, January 21st. The talk will take place in Pearson 106 from 7 PM to 8 PM. Here's a map with Pearson highlighted. The meeting is open, so if you are a reader in the area and would like to attend, please feel free.

Stop by and say hello to Sliding into Home and Baseball from Wrigley.

A new blog keeps track of the actions of Scott Boras and his clients, Boras Blog. Stop by and say hi.

Braves Blogger Mac Thomason is fighting cancer. Stop by and wish him well.

Tampa Bay Rays Fan is a new blog about the Rays. Stop by and say hi.

Baseball Musings is now available on the Amazon Kindle. If you're a Kindle user, subscribing on the device would send a little money my way.

Former Harvard pitcher Shawn Haviland is blogging as he works his way through the minors at Ivy League to MLB. This first winter in the Athletics system, he's learning a whole new way to train, detailed here and here. Stop by and say hi.

I had a brush with Shawn at my 25th reunion.

The Baseball Card Blog says goodbye with a visual tribute to Casey at the Bat.

Baseball Musings is site of the week at The Sports Hot Sheet. Thanks very much!

Baseball Digest Daily is back online.

The Blog Reader Project is conducting surveys. I would appreciate you taking the time to fill it out, since it will help direct advertising to this site. Thanks very much!

Please take my Blog Reader Project survey.

The Bronx View is a new blog and podcast devoted to the Yankees. Stop by and say hi.

It appears the ESPN blogs are no longer behind the Insider subscription wall. I can see Rob Neyer's blog and Peter Gammon's blog. Is this sweeps week or did ESPN finally wise up?

Update: It looks like Jayson Stark's blog is still behind the wall. Still having Neyer and Law free is great.

Fire Joe Morgan closed their doors. They will be missed.

I'm not the only baseball blogger excited about the new Blackberry Storm. I've kept my Motorola Q way beyond the upgrade date (if you consider 8 months way beyond) because I've been waiting for the phone. From what I've seen, the storm may be it. I can't wait to get one in my hands to see if it really supports blogging the way I want to do it on a hand-held device. It looks like it supports copy and paste of URLs, which is the one thing my Q lacks.

Mets-Citi-Blog is a new Mets blog by Brian DePersis. Stopy by and say hi.

Infield Chatter is a new blog covering all aspects of baseball. Stop by and say hi.

Bronx Banter moved to the SNY universe of blogs. Congratulations to Alex Belth and his crew! I love what SNY is doing with blogs on their site, giving lots of exposure to some of the best bloggers on New York sports and mixing them into their television broadcasts as well.

Hat tip, Peter Abraham.

Chad Durbin is blogging from the Phillies clubhouse.

My daughter started blogging as part of an assignment in her freshman writing class. Now that she's actually getting comments from someone other than me, she's thinking about keeping it up after class. Stop by and say hi.

Wikio revamped their blog rankings. They write:

Please note that the October rankings are the result of important changes in our algorithm Wikio Blog. Here are the main modifications :

• The position of a blog in our rankings still depends on the number and weight of the incoming links from other blogs or media sites, however, from now on, we count links from the last 9 months (120 days before) with a progressive enfeeblement. It means that September's links count as 1, August ones count as 1 - 1/9th , July ones count as 1 - 2/9th and so on.
• Another newness rest on a huge cleaning up in our index to better fight against spam, to limit links exchanges, to penalize non-active blogs...
• At last, links published at the end of the month were not taken into account before the next month, allowing us to provide the new rankings on the 1st day each months. From now on, the period will start on the 1st and finish on the last day of the month, so our rankings will be online in the very first days of each months.

These new rankings will be online Monday, but here's a preview of the top 20 sports blogs.

The Soxaholix has a new look. Very nicely done.

I'm cross posting some of my more research related articles at Examiner.com. If that's what you like the best about Baseball Musings, you can subscribe to the RSS feed at the link and get just those stories.

Jorge Says No is a new blog, mostly about the Mets. Stop by and say hi.

Finally, my work area is back to normal. Why it took six days to fix this problem, I still don't know. The tech who came here said it should never have happened in the first place.

Baltimore Birds' Nest has the latest on Roch Kubatko's move to MASN.

Sitemeter made a change that caused the blog not to load in IE 7. I've removed sitemeter until the problem is fixed (if ever).

Update: The problem is fixed.

With my home DSL down, I'm taking advantage of free WiFi at the Longmeadow Friendly's. Many thanks to the folks at Friendly's for not charging like Starbucks.

If anyone reads this in the Longmeadow area and wants to come by to talk baseball, feel free to join me.

Updates will be light due to a failure on my DSL line. I'm not sure when it will be up again.

Three weeks ago I published an essay by James Crabtree on Bob Wood, the author of Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks: The Ultimate Guide to America's Top Baseball Parks. It turns out, Bob writes a blog, The Buddha said "I am Awake." Stop by and say hi.

Murray Chass started a blog. Of course, it's not a blog.

This is a site for baseball columns, not for baseball blogs. The proprietor of the site is not a fan of blogs. He made that abundantly clear on a radio show with Charlie Steiner when Steiner asked him what he thought of blogs and he replied, "I hate blogs." He later heartily applauded Buzz Bissinger when the best-selling author denounced bloggers on a Bob Costas HBO show.

It would be nice if Chass actually new what the term blog meant. There seems to be some confusion as to the meaning of the word blog. Blog is short for Web Log, a collection of posts usually arranged with the most recent in time first. For some reason, some people think the individual posts are each separate blogs. No, they are posts, columns, articles, whatever you like. The collection is the blog.

So Murray, like it or not, you have a blog of columns. Welcome to the new media!

Hat tip, AOL Fanhouse.

Update: Just to piss off Chass, I've added his RSS feed under "Baseball Bloggers."

The Soxaholix wonders if I'll be live blogging race walking during the Olympics.

BM: Shan Zhang cooly steps into place. BMThey're starting to walk.

BM: [Update] They're all bunched up but still walking.

BM: [Update] They are still walking, man, these cats look so, I don't know, Olympian with their walking.

BM: [Update] Walking continues apace.

BM: [Update] They're all bunched up but still walking.

BM: [Update] OMG it looks like the Latvian is about to break from the pack.

BM: [Update] The Latvian has broken away!!! He's walking away with this thing!!!!

Race walking is one of those quirky sports that makes the Olympics interesting. Given that there is baseball, however, I'm much more likely to stay up over night to blog that. There's crew of course. I'm familiar with that, and can write sentences like, "That coxswain is really getting those men to stroke!" and, "The bow just caught a crab!"

I'll be posting daily for MetsBlog.com, rounding up news in the NL East. My first post is here. Thanks to Matt Cerrone for the opportunity!

John Paciorek joins Dugout Central with a salute to Ted Williams on the sixth anniversary of Ted's death.

It appears John Sickels family may be experiencing a tragedy. Please keep John and his family in your thoughts.

As Will Leitch pens his last posts as editor of Deadspin, I'd like to wave good-bye. I first met Will when he wrote me to promote his post-season preview in 2003. So in a way, I made Will Leitch. :-)

Of course, now it's me who trolls for links from Deadspin. I'm going to miss those. Does New York Magazine cover baseball? They certainly don't cover Lindsay Lohan.

Best of luck to Will as he returns to the main stream media. Please don't forget the bloggers who pen columns that are "malicious and horribly written." You wouldn't want to lose your Buzz.

Spitting Seeds is a new blog on the block covering major league baseball. Stop by and say hi.

I want to wish Will Leitch best of luck at his new job with New York magazine. Will was a big supporter of Baseball Musings even before there was Deadspin, and I want to thank him for all the readers he sent this way. Onward and upward!

I'm taking my daughter to Harvard's Commencement to hear J.K. Rowling speak. Afterwards, we'll attend the Red Sox game. Blogging will be light today.

According to Juiced Sports Blog, Baseball Musings is the fourth most valuable sports blog. The valuation comes in at $2 million. If anyone is willing to buy the site for that amount, I'm open to negotiations.

SportsAgentBlog gets a new look.

This is too bad. Paul DePodesta can't talk about his time with the Dodgers:

There have been a lot of questions regarding my time at the Dodgers that I haven't published. I am simply not permitted to speak about anything relating to the Dodgers. Sorry. I didn't want you thinking that I was blowing off all of those questions.

I'd love to hear what he has to say. Maybe he'll write a book someday.

Via MLB FanHouse, Paul DePodesta started a blog. From his first post, here's why:

I began thinking about hosting a blog about a year ago, and back in January I took the first big step by starting an internal blog for employees of the Padres. The idea all along was to someday create an external blog to engage in a direct dialogue with our fans. Well, given the events of the past few weeks, that "someday" is now.

Good for him, and good for the Padres. I can't wait to see what he writes about. I'm betting this makes Bill Plaschke really happy.

From The Detroit Tigers Weblog:

Some people go to games to watch baseball and drink beer. I go to baseball games to watch baseball, drink beer, and do math.

Capitol Punishment is going dark. Thanks for all the great posts, and good luck in your future endeavors!

A football site devoted to the Cincinnati Bengels found themselves threatened by the team they support!

Well, looks like the Cincinnati Bengals are first in something. The fansided.com blog network is a collaboration of fan NFL blogs run by UNPAID, Fans of the teams. Cincinnati has contacted our main office to threaten us with a lawsuit over using pictures (that are out in the public domain) that we gave copyright credit to the Bengals organization for. We have been forced into a redesign, as we cannot defend ourselves against Mike Brown's deep pockets. Funny, we've been in touch with the Bengals (PR Director Jack Brennan) via email several times (me personally). I've invited him to browse the site, comment and make suggestions for our site to a benefit to the Bengals organization. Instead, we get a lawsuit threatened against us (why, Mr. Brennan, could you not just ask us to make changes?).

I guess this will go over badly. Never pick a fight with someone who buys pixels by the gigabyte.

Does anyone know how I go about getting Amazon to make Baseball Musings available on the Amazon Kindle?

The Dodgers invited bloggers for a meeting with various club personnel, including the GM Ned Colletti. Well done.

My experience with club PR people has always been positive. Whenever I write or call to ask a question, I find they usually know who I am, and they respond very promptly and informatively. It's not the clubs that have problems with bloggers, it's the media. If the LA Times calls in bloggers for a meeting, that would be big news.

MetsGrrl asks an interesting question:

Why are none of these rants about girls sitting in their underwear in their parents' basements, writing about baseball?

Don't these writers know about Title IX?

Of course, women blogging in their underwear might be a great way to drive traffic to a site. :-)

Live blogging from opening day at Fenway Park.

Jon Weisman at Dodger Thoughts responds to Murray Chass's dislike of bloggers. Remember, Murray is about to lose his job with The New York Times, and I've offered him a job here at Baseball Musings.

Baseball Musings moved from 7th to 4th in Wikio's top sports blogs listing. Thanks to everyone who made that possible!

Congratulations to The Cub Reporter, who picks up a corporate sponsor!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is officially over. The time to make your donation is now. One hundred seventy readers donated $3603. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon. It's very rewarding to have readers that care about the site so much.

I still have three copies The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. If someone would like to make a late donation of $75, a copy is yours.

Even though the official pledge drive is over you can still contribute. Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

Tom Elia starts a new blog on the Cubs, 1908 World Champions. His first post predicts a pretty good season for Chicago:

The 2008 season is upon us, and after strenuous evaluation of the empirical data, we project the Cubs' final 2008 record at 149-13.

Some may ask, Why the pessimism? Well, years of disappointment have caused this corner to curb our enthusiasm.

Today marks the final day of the Baseball Musings Pledge Drive. The time to make your donation is now. So far, 165 readers donated $3503. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

I'd love to see the donor total reach 200. The individual donations don't need to be big. The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 42,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 165 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. If you like the opening day coverage and live blogging, find $1 in your wallet. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The next three readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The penultimate day of theBaseball Musings Pledge Drive begins. So far, 160 readers donated $3378. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

I'd love to see the donor total reach 200. The individual donations don't need to be big. The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 40,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 160 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The next three readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. With three days to go, 157 readers donated $3333. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 40,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 157 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The next three readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. With four days to go, 154 readers donated $3278. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that almost 39,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 154 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The next three readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. With five days to go, 149 readers donated $3185. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 37,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 149 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The next three readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The commissioner of my Strat-o-Matic league sent an email with the following subject:

Pinto's blog as a throwaway line in a National Review Online piece.

Here's the article, a summary of the hot stove season:

Chances are that you haven't paid attention to many Major League Baseball offseason news items over the past five months, excepting perhaps the very public crash-and-burn of Roger Clemens's reputation. For those who are neither daily readers of BaseballMusings.com nor frequent guests at Jose Canceso's wild parties, but who still love the game, here's a primer to get you caught up in time for Opening Day -- in America, anyway. (The Boston Red Sox and Oakland A's opened the season in Tokyo this morning.)

Thanks for the mention!

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The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. With seven days to go, 142 readers donated $3050. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 36,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 142 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The next three readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

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The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. With seven days to go, 137 readers donated $2970. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 35,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 137 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium today is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The next three readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

Today is the sixth anniversary of the start of Baseball Musings. I want to thank all the people over the years who helped make this site successful by linking, commenting, advertising, donating and of course reading. I love working on this site and hope to keep it going as long as I live.

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The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. With one week to go in March, 134 readers donated $2865. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 33,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 134 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium today is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The first four readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

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The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. With one week to go in March, 130 readers donated $2810. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 32,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. There have been a few pledges at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 130 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium today is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The first four readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

New premium available!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. Two thirds of the way through March, 119 readers donated $2605. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 30,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Over the last week, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 119 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. A new premium today is The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed, donated by author J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics. The first four readers donating $75 or more receive a copy of this fantastic book.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics kindly donated four copies of The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed to the Baseball Musings pledge drive. The first four readers donating $75 or more will receive this fascinating and unusual study of sabermetrics. You can use one of the donation buttons below. Remember if you donate through Amazon to send me your name!

Bill James returned to writing about his research this year. I just received in the mail, The Bill James Gold Mine 2008. I've been thumbing through it a bit, and it reminds me of the old Baseball Abstracts. The one article I've read through is on rating the most consistent players of all time. It's a typical James thought piece, and the formula he arrives at makes logical sense.

Many years ago at ESPN, a producer complained to me that Rickey Henderson was inconsistent. I asked why, and the producer explained that his batting average was up and down from year to year. I pointed out that his OBA was very consistent, and that's what really mattered. So when Bill published a list of players at the end of the article, I immediately looked up Rickey to find he received an A in consistency.

One of the nice things about the aughties versus the eighties is that we no longer need to wait for spring to read about Bill's research. Bill James Online is an inexpensive pay site where Bill published his latest research. The current article looks at unusual careers. Not surprisingly, Barry Bonds rates as having the most unusual career by a long shot, with Mark McGwire a distant second.

If, like me, you grew up reading Bill's work, you'll love the book and the web site. If you're new to the world of sabermetrics, there's no better writer on the subject. Enjoy the book and the site!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. Over nineteen days, 116 readers donated $2475. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 29,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Over a last week, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 116 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. Over eighteen days, 115 readers donated $2470. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 28,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Over a last week, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 115 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. Through St. Patrick's Day, 106 readers donated $2410. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving better than $20. Google Analytics shows that over 27,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Over a last week, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 109 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

Bob Costas called Deadspin to clarify his quotes I commented on here. From the Deadspin interview (Deadspin questions in bold):

So you don't think anyone who writes a blog or comments online is a "get-a-life loser?"

Some have inferred that I have this elitist view, and that I think only people who have been somehow "certified" have the right to comment on sports. It shouldn't be confused with somehow being superior. If you opened up anything to large numbers of participants, you'd find some real gems in there. But you'd have a lot of muck to sift through. I do think newspapers' comment boards need to have the same sort of standard they'd have for a letter to an editor. It's possible they just don't have the manpower for that, though. I do think I made a good point [in the Herald story], but it's only part of what I think.

Do you read blogs?

I look at some baseball blogs, Baseball Prospectus and what-not. Sometimes I'll see something funny in The Onion, and I've recently been looking more at your site since your book came out. It's a generational thing, though. I would do well to download music, but that's just not something I do. It's not my natural first impulse. I still love to pick up a newspaper in the morning.

We think the tipoff for people being angry was the "basement" line. Everyone's a little tired of that line.

Yes, well, that might have lapsed a bit into cliche.

Good for Costas. He didn't apologize or deny anything, he just made it clear he's talking about a segment of the audience. What I think Bob doesn't realize is that blogs are a conversation, not the one way flow of information of his youth. Sure, some people don't speak as nicely as others, but I'd rather have their opinions than shut them out. You never know who is going to produce something interesting.

Blogged.com gave Baseball Musings a very high rating. Thanks very much!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. Halfway through the drive, 103 readers donated $2315. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving over $20. Google Analytics shows that over 26,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Over a last week, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 109 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. AFter two weeks, 106 readers donated $2279. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving over $20. Google Analytics shows that over 25,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Over a last week, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 106 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. AFter two weeks, 102 readers donated $2189. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving over $20. Google Analytics shows that over 24,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Over a last week, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 102 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. So far, 98 readers donated $2139. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving over $20. Google Analytics shows that over 22,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Yesterday, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 98 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. Eleven days into the drive, the $2000 barrier falls. So far, 94 readers donated $2102. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving over $20. Google Analytics shows that over 18,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Yesterday, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 94 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. Eleven days into the drive, the $2000 barrier falls. So far, 88 readers donated $2040. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

The average donor is giving over $20. Google Analytics shows that over 17,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings so far during March. These readers could help support the site at a much lower level and make a huge difference. Yesterday, a number of pledges came in at $5 or less. Ten percent of readers donating at that level would double the dollar amount donated so far. Don't let these 88 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

Peter Abraham gives Baseball Musings a nice plug in this AOL interview. Thanks, Peter!

He also likes what he's seeing from Jason Giambi:

FH: Who's surprised you the most so far on the Yankees so far? What about some of the other teams you've seen?

PA: I've been stunned at how good Jason Giambi looks in the field. He worked hard over the winter to get in shape and it really shows. If he stays healthy, he's going to have a big season. As for other teams, I'm impressed with what Tampa Bay is doing. They could finish in third place this season if Toronto falters.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues. For the ten days of the drive, 81 readers donated $1954. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these readers? There is a large potential donor base reading this site. Google Analytics shows that over 15,500 unique visitors read Baseball Musings during the first ten days of March. If each of these readers left $1 the donation, the dollar total would be around seven times higher. Won't you help increase the percentage of readers donating? Don't let these 81 readers support the site by themselves.

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive continues as we start the second work week of March. For the nine days of the drive, 77 readers donated $1864. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these readers? There is a large potential donor base reading this site. Google Analytics shows that over 14,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings during the first nine days of March. If each of these readers left $1 the donation, the dollar total would be around seven times higher. Won't you help increase the percentage of readers donating ?

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive starts week two on a high note. Eleven readers donated $206 yesterday. For the eight days of the drive, 73 readers donated $1804. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these readers? There is a large potential donor base reading this site. This Google Analytics report shows that over 12,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings during the first week of March. If each of these readers left $1 the donation, the dollar total would be around seven times higher. Won't you help increase the percentage of readers donating ?

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. After one week, sixty two readers donated $1598. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these readers? There is a large potential donor base reading this site. This Google Analytics report shows that over 12,000 unique visitors read Baseball Musings during the first week of March. If each of these readers left $1 the donation, the dollar total would be around eight times higher. Won't help bring the percentage of readers donating higher?

If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

Baseball Musings ranks seventh among sports blogs by Wikio:

The position of blogs in their Wikio ranking depends on the number and value of links that other blogs point toward them. The value of these links depends on the ranking of the blog publishing them. So in our algorithm, the value of a link published on a highly ranked blog is more important than a posted link on a blog with a lower ranking. This way, we hope to produce a ranking more representative of blogs' influence.

One of the nice things about the list is the subscribe button, which allows you to pick seven different subscription options.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. In the first six days, sixty readers donated $1568. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these readers? If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

Darren Everson at the Wall Street Journal notes that baseball blogs are making a difference to ballclubs:

"We don't have a monopoly on baseball knowledge," says Sig Mejdal, the Cardinals' senior quantitative analyst who helped create the contest. "Just looking at the fan sites and posting boards, you see an amazing amount of energy. Why not harness it?"

The Cardinals' program is believed to be the first of its kind, but several sports franchises -- especially baseball teams -- have also begun to breach the divide that traditionally separates fans from team management. Last season, the Seattle Mariners used a report prepared by a friendly blogger to help one of the team's young pitchers. And one independent-league team from Illinois allowed fans to set the team's starting lineup.

These moves are often aimed at improving public relations. But they also suggest a new line of thinking among owners and managers of sports franchises. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of independent team-centric Web sites where partisan fans -- some of whom are mathematicians or scientists with Ph.D.s -- share their own enlightened statistical research and scouting analyses. Teams haven't just taken notice -- they are looking for ways to leverage all this brainpower.

Teams do read these sites. Keep up the good work everyone!

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. In the first five days, fifty three readers donated $1411. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these readers? If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

Steve Johnson notes the new restrictions on online pictures probably does MLB more harm than good:

Certainly the Internet changes the coverage paradigm. What used to appear in tomorrow's newspaper or on tonight's sportscast can suddenly appear right away. What used to be limited to a relative handful of outlets granted official entry to a sporting event can now be done by anyone with a ticket and a cellular Wi-Fi connection.

But in their zeal for control, the sports organizations are forgetting the fundamental role in their popularity played by intermediaries such as the papers, bloggers, even sports radio.

A fan base isn't built merely by telecasting games. It needs the next level of engagement, the columns about firing the coach, the caller proposing the three-team trade.

The Web, obviously, will play a huge role going forward in this. And to hamstring its abilities almost at the outset will do more damage to sports organizations in the long run than will letting a few stray photographs float around.

MLB should be subsidizing bloggers, or at least providing them with all the pictures and videos they can use. It is free advertising, after all.

The Baseball Musings pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. In the first four days, forty four readers donated $1244. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these readers? If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. In the first three days, thirty readers donated $1041. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these readers? If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps. If everyone who visits in March donates $1, I can run this site for a year. For $10 this site can run indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley and Jack Spellman as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. Over the weekend, thirty readers donated $891. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these thirty readers? If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. Jack Spellman gave enough Saturday to join Jan in the Patron's section. Thanks very much, Jack!

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

The Baseball Musings Pledge Drive is off to a good start. On Saturday, seventeen readers donated a total of $720 dollars. Thanks to all, including those who donated anonymously through Amazon.

Won't you join these seventeen readers? If you enjoy this site, if you use the tools such as the Day by Day Database, consider a donation. Any amount helps.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink. Jack Spellman gave enough yesterday to join Jan in the Patron's section. Thanks very much, Jack!

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks to all my readers for your visits, your comments, and for making this site a success!

WasWatching is now part of the SNY Sports-Blog Network, joining MetsBlog.com. Congratulations, Steve!

Baseball Musings' pledge drive continues through March. Please consider making a donation.

Three years ago today Baseball Musings became a full time job. I hoped at the time that:

this site can become self-sustaining, generating enough income to support my family.

I asked you, the readers, to help kick start the effort, and you responded with a heartening $3000. In the following two years you responded each March with generous donations. Thanks to all who contributed, as well as to the thousands of readers, commentators and other blogs linking here that make the site a success.

I want to especially thank Brian Borawski for acting as my agent those first few months, sending advertisers this way. Jamie and Chris Mottram promoted the pledge drive on their various Internet ventures over the years. Ray Garcia of TPSRadio.net invited me to broadcast a weekly radio show, which also helped expand the audience for Baseball Musings. Will Leitch of Deadspin sends lots of traffic this way as only he can. I'd also like to thank all my blogging buddies who sent readers this way during the pledge drives.

I'd also like to thank the big media bloggers who link to Baseball Musings. From my old friend Peter Gammons to the New York Times Bats journalist bloggers like Joe Christensen and Peter Abraham are redefining how beat reporters cover baseball, and they use the tools at Baseball Musings to help in their writing.

So once again, I'm asking for your help. If you use the Day by Day Database (complete logs back to 1957), if you learn something from the Probabilistic Model of Range consider a donation. If you're a long time reader, if you found something useful through a Google search, even if you just like to come here and complain in the comments, please be part of this site with a contribution. Any amount is fine. If every individual who visits this site in March gives $1, Baseball Musings can be written full time for a year. If everyone donated $10, the money raised would sustain this site indefinitely.

And, in best NPR fashion, there are premiums. For a donation of $50, you will be able to dedicate a post. The dedication should be in good taste and may contain a hyperlink. For a contribution of $500, you can join Jan in Wellesley as a Patron on the side bar for two years, including a hyperlink.

Donations can be made via Amazon, PayPal or Click and Pledge. Just click on the button of choice below. There are a number of people who won't use PayPal, and Amazon limits contributions in a one month period. Click and Pledge will process a credit card without making you sign up for an account.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this site a success by reading, commenting on and recommending the posts here. With your monetary support, Baseball Musings can continue to bring you a fresh perspective on the game and explore new ways of presenting information about the national pastime. Help Baseball Musings continue to grow by making a generous donation today.

I'll be the guest of the Harvard College Sports Analysis Collective tonight. They're meeting at 6 PM in Winthrop House if you're on campus and interested in stopping by.

Jacob Luft of SI joins the blogging world with his new site, Luft on Deck. Stop by and say hi, and check out his post on how teams with publicly funded ballparks reinvest their stadium income.

Spring Training is upon us and Spring Training '08 is there to keep you up to date on all 30 teams. Brian Ward put the site together and recruited bloggers to cover every organization. He's looking for fan contributions as well. Stop by and say hi.

Rany Jazayerli of Baseball Prospectus fame decided it was time for him to blog about the Kansas City franchise at Rany on the Royals. His first post is here. Stop by and say hi.

Trophy League Planet aggregates not only posts from the blogosphere, but statistics and play profiles as well. Check out this new site.

Baseball Musings made the top 25 sports blogs for January.

Baseball Musings made the top 25 sports blogs for January.

I just cleaned up the blogroll, removing any blogs I thought were inactive. If I removed your blog mistakenly, please let me know and I'll put it back. If you are a baseball blogger who is not listed, write me and I'll add you as well.

BaseballHappenings.com has some nice words for Baseball Musings.

In-Between Hops is a new Milwaukee Brewers blog. Stop by and say hi.

Peter Gammons mentions a ton of blogs in his column today.

Phil Hughes set up his own blog. Nothing much there yet, but use FireFox because it does not look good in IE.

Hat tip, LoHud Yankees Blog, who suggests blogs for other members of the Bronx Bombers.

I'm running on batteries right now due to the snow storm knocking out power. Blogging may be light this morning.

Balls, Sticks and Stuff announces Baseboogle, a search engine for baseball research.

Baseboogle uses Google's search engine to sift through a set of custom selected websites that concentrate on studying, analyzing, and advancing our understanding the great game of baseball.

Sites are selected for inclusion based on their track record of providing content that consistently advances the study and understanding of the game. While there are certainly a bevy of great baseball sites available today, not all meet this criteria.

Baseball Musings is included.

Via Instapundit, Andrew Olmstead, a supporter of Baseball Musings from the beginning, died in Iraq. He left a final post for his blog in case this happened. I will miss his comments.

My deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends.

Rob Bradford in the Boston Herald gave this site a nice mention on Sunday.

Not only does the site offer updates on the daily goings-on in the baseball world, but it also supplies one of the most valuable statistical tools out there, the "Day to Day Database." You can punch in any starting date and ending date for a player and discover both his statistics and splits during that time. It also gives a game-by-game log for any time period. An example of its usefulness was when I was trying to find Scott Cooper's numbers during the first half of the two seasons he made the All-Star Game, in 1993 and '94. Or when trying to find out specific numbers during a tough portion of the schedule, such as the Red Sox' first West Coast trip in early June.

Thanks Rob. Bradford is one of the many sports writers who now maintian a weblog.

Hunter Pence takes up the pen, blogging at Inside the Ballpark. His first post talks about winter workouts and the Astros trades.

Trent Rosecrans posts his last as the Reds beat writer for the Cincinnati Post. The paper is about to go out of business, and Trent's blog goes with it. Thanks to Trent to keeping us updated on the Reds all year.

Baseball Musings made it to the 2007 Sports Blog Of The Year Tournament sweet sixteen. Thanks for everyone who voted! In the semi-final of the midwest region, this blog goes up against Deadspin. Yikes! I remember when Will Leitch used to ask me for links, and now he edits the most successful sports blog on the planet! I guess this round is David vs. Golileitch!

Baseball Musings made it to the second round of the 2007 Sports Blog of the Year Tournament. Thanks to all who voted! In the second round, I'm up against a college football blog, so I'll probably get creamed. Busted Coverage, the site running the tournament, does have a suggestion for Baseball Musings, however:

There is so much text we about had a seizure. Please, add a hot chick photo here and there. Live dangerously.

Well, I do love women who sit in the stands and score games, so here you go:

They're holding a Sports Blog Tournament at Busted Coverage. Baseball Musings is the fifth seed in the Midwest Region.

Be sure to check out my posts at AT&T Blue Room. Click on the Sports Buzz tab at the bottom of the page. My latest post wraps up the winter meetings.

Dontrelle Willis started blogging at YardBarker. His take on the trade is here.

Rays Anatomy is a new MVN blog covering the team formerly known as the Devil Rays. Stop by and say hi.

Be sure to check out my posts at AT&T Blue Room. Click on the Sports Buzz tab at the bottom of the page.

Be sure to check out my posts at AT&T Blue Room. Click on the Sports Buzz tab at the bottom of the page.

I hope all the readers of Baseball Musings enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with family and friends. Your support helped this site grow from a hobby to a way to make a living. Thank you for reading, thanks for your comments and thanks for your encouragement. Time for turkey!

Be sure to check out my posts at AT&T Blue Room. Click on the Sports Buzz tab at the bottom of the page.

Be sure to check out my posts at AT&T Blue Room. Click on the Sports Buzz tab at the bottom of the page.

Be sure to check out my posts at AT&T Blue Room. Click on sports buzz. My latest is on the perfect game in the Japan Series.

Seamheads.com is a new blog on the block. Check out his interview with Jim Bouton.

I just discovered there's another blogger in the family. My first cousin once removed studies art and posts her work at My Artwork. The old man pictured here is my great grandfather Boerum, my mom's paternal grandfather. He was a tanner, and worked on Jumbo's hide when the famous elephant died.