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Introducing a major MLB award – for YOU
Major League Baseball has just introduced a major new award, and this one’s for you. In fact, there’s even at least one father-son duo from this MLB.com/blogs family among the 120 nominees.
See my story just posted at MLB.com introducing MLB Fans of the Year presented by Esurance.
You can start voting right now at MLB.com/awards. Take a good look at the 120 nominees — four per club. Each team will have a winner. You probably will recognize many of them, and I know many bloggers here will be familiar with Baker Boys & Baseball, one of the Angels nominees.
MLB and the 30 clubs worked tirelessly to identify the sport’s top supporters, and four nominees per club have been presented for your vote.
Winners whose clubs reach the League Championship Series or Fall Classic will receive tickets to root for their home team on a late-October night. For fans whose teams are not among the last four standing in the postseason, free tickets await for an April 2017 game of their choice.
It’s a great subject to blog about, and I hope you will feel free to leave comments right here with a link back to your blog post. Now help choose those 30 winners, because it’s all about you.
Brandon Belt thanks fans on his blog
Greetings from San Diego! Thanks to those who cast their ballots in the Esurance All-Star Game 2016 Final Vote, Brandon Belt is here for tomorrow’s 87th All-Star Game presented by MasterCard. The Giants first baseman took time to express gratitude in his MLB Pro Blog, Brandon and Brandon, to all those who voted him onto his first All-Star team. He tells the story of how he found out he was an All-Star and his family’s reaction to the news. Head over to his blog and congratulate Brandon!
Latest Leaders – June 2016
As we reach the midway point of the season, the top talents in the game get to put their talents on display at the Midsummer Classic in San Diego. We’ve got some incredible writers in our community, and we recognize them with our monthly Latest Leaders rankings. Congratulations to all those who made the cut, from mainstays like The Brewer Nation and I’m Not a Headline Guy… to rookies like Fenway Frames and Cards in the Community. If you’d like to see your blog here next month, start building your audience by leaving a link and introducing yourself in the comments below!
Here are your Latest Leaders from June 1-30:
MLB PRO
1. Dodger Insider
2. TribeVibe
3. Cait Covers the Bases
4. MLB.com Fantasy 411
5. Dodgers Photog Blog
6. From the Corner of Edgar & Dave
7. The Halo Way
8. Brandon and Brandon
9. Inside the White…
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Latest Leaders – May 2016
The weather is heating up in ballparks around the country, and so’s the blogging here in our community. We’ve got insider access from front office blogs like Inside the White Sox and Friar Wire, great photography from the likes of Dodgers Photog Blog and Fenway Frames and players like Brandon and Brandon blogging alongside fans like you. There’s lots to discuss, from historic feats to trade talk to All-Star voting. Congratulations to everyone who made this month’s list — especially newcomers thatbaseballermlb and Life of a Baseball Snagger.
Here are your Latest Leaders from May 1-31:
MLB PRO
1. Dodger Insider
2. MLB.com Fantasy 411
3. Inside the White Sox
4. Brandon and Brandon
5. Cait Covers the Bases
6. Dodgers Photog Blog
7. From the Corner of Edgar & Dave
8. Friar Wire
9. The Halo Way
10. TribeVibe
11. Major League Baseball Urban Youth…
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Latest Leaders – March 2016
We just posted our monthly MLB.com/blogs Latest Leaders rankings so you can see the most popular posts around the Major League Baseball community of bloggers. Tip: Always leave a comment on the bottom of the Latest Leaders post with the full URL of your latest post, to drive others there. Then ask them to follow your blog (use the widget!) and keep following that formula. You’ll rise through the ranks. Spread the word…
The new season brings familiar faces like the powerhouse Dodger Insider excelling at what they do best, and exciting debuts from newcomers like Gordon Edes. Your Latest Leaders hit the ground running this season, putting up big blogging numbers in March. If you’ve contemplated starting a blog of your own, there’s no better time than April to join us and take the first step to joining these bloggers. Congrats to everyone who made the list!
Here are your Latest Leaders from March 1-31:
MLB PRO
1. Dodger Insider
2. Cait Covers the Bases
3. From the Corner of Edgar & Dave
4. TribeVibe
5. Inside the White Sox
6. Friar Wire
7. Dodgers Photog Blog
8. MLB.com Fantasy 411
9. Cubs Vine Line Blog
10. Better Off Red
11. Brandon and Brandon
12. Our Game
13. The Halo Way
14. SF Giants Photos
15. Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy…
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Sox history takes a left turn
Did you know longtime sportswriter and new Red Sox Historian Gordon Edes is now part of the MLB.com/blogs community? Follow his PRO blog at gordonedes.com.
(Brita Meng Outzen/Boston Red Sox)
Trades for Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett in the last 20 years have all led to World Series titles for the Red Sox, Martinez and Schilling winning in 2004, Beckett in 2007. Will the free-agent signing of David Price lead to another?
That’s one of the questions worth contemplating on a day that Price, signed to a seven-year, $217 million deal last winter, made his first start of the spring for the Red Sox Thursday afternoon against the Twins in JetBlue Park.
Dan Duquette made the deal with Montreal for Martinez. Theo Epstein acquired Schilling from Arizona, and Craig Shipley and the late Bill Lajoie did much of the work for Larry Lucchino that led to Beckett’s acquisition from the Florida Marlins.
Now it’s David Dombrowski, as Sox president of baseball operations, signing Price to the most lucrative deal in Sox history, one…
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It’s Hank!
Cait Covers the Bases is always one of the top two or three PRO Blogs in this community, and the blog’s faithful readers just got the official word: Hank the Ballpark Pup is still alive! I had my doubts as well based on the pics, but the proof is in and the controversy is over. No Uga 1 and Uga 2 thing happening here. Read Cait’s report and leave comments on the whole doggone thing — and follow brewers.mlblogs.com.
The Great Pumpkin is fake. Paul is dead, Elvis lives, and man never walked on the moon. Sometimes myths and conspiracies have no end, no hard proof to end the debate.
But not today.
Through the wonders of advanced technology and modern medicine, baseball and dog lovers around the world can now rest easy. There is only one Hank, The Ballpark Pup.
Doctor of Veterinary Medicine William S. Rice of Lakeside Animal Hospital, who has cared for Hank since his arrival in Milwaukee in the spring of 2014, confirmed the identity of Hank in an examination yesterday. Dr. Rice compared original and current dental records, which were a match. In addition, a microchip implanted in Hank when he moved from Arizona was scanned yesterday, and identification number matched Hank’s registration in the database.
For a second opinion, another scan was performed this morning by Dr. Nancy Weiss, Wisconsin…
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Latest Leaders – January 2016
The great Yogi Berra once said: “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.” This one’s for all of our bloggers who love baseball. You’re the ones who are endlessly committed to your blogs, building large followings and keeping them coming back. And you’re the ones who made the list in our first MLB.com/blogs Latest Leaders of the new year, including a lot of new faces making your debuts. We’re counting down to pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training camps, preparing you for fantasy drafts and tracking the latest Hot Stove happenings, so if you’re considering starting a blog, there’s no better time than right now to join us. If you’ve recently taken the plunge here at MLB.com/blogs, make sure to introduce yourself and your URL here in the comments! And if you made our MLB.com/blogs Top 100 for 2015, make…
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How I voted for the Hall – and looking for your posts
MLB.com just posted the story on how its 15 eligible Hall of Fame voters filled out their ballots, and you can see mine among the list. I voted for five: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey Jr., Trevor Hoffman and Mike Piazza.
The excitement of receiving a ballot that has a name like Junior Griffey’s on it is the especially fun part of being a Hall voter. That is the kind of player the Cooperstown gallery room was created for — next to Ruth, Cobb, Aaron and Mays. You know that player when his five-year countdown begins and your vote is unquestionable. That brings us to everyone else on the 2016 list, and the effort to determine whether any other candidates should share the stage with him.
Neither Bonds nor Clemens exactly sweeps the Rule No. 5 categories on voting criteria, yet they are top-four all-time by position and that trumps character shortcomings. Hoffman was the first to 600 saves in an era when hitters dominated, and Piazza’s election is just overdue.
Jeff Bagwell continues to be an agonizing decision, more agonizing each year due to statistical analysis and debate. I disagree with those who “cover the field” with 10 safety check marks each year, as the bottleneck has declined. I can see both sides to Bagwell, and being on the fence is not a Hall vote to me unless you are covering the field.
The 2016 Hall of Fame results will be announced at 6 p.m. ET Wednesday on MLB.com and MLB Network.
The Unbiased MLB Fan identified four names that would be on his ballot, while Sons of ’84 has eight — plus a ninth vote for a write-in. Darryl of 210Sports explains the rationale behind his would-be ballot, and The First 90 Feet sees a ballot so packed that some worthy names will need to wait. The Wayniac Nation views Ken Griffey, Jr. and Trevor Hoffman as no-brainers (and hopes Tim Raines will get in at last), and Baseball with Matt adds Billy Wagner to the list of deserving former stars in their first year of Hall eligibility. The Baseball Continuum looks at the recent decision by the Veterans Committee to not induct anyone, while Statis Pro 1978 Replay looks at Alan Trammell’s last hurrah and Yankeebiscuitfan argues for more closers in Cooperstown.
Who would you have chosen? Please add the URL of your own blog post about the Hall vote in the comments below so we can see everyone’s opinions. And as always, be sure to follow MLB.com/blogs to see daily surfacing of great posts around our community.
Happy New Year,
– Mark Newman
Carlos Martinez speaks to fans
On the heels of the news that his 2015 season has come to an abrupt end because of a shoulder issue, Cardinals second-year phenom Carlos Martinez took the opportunity to send a message to fans through his The Wave of Perseverance MLB Pro Blog. In the post, Martinez says he’ll be in the dugout cheering on his teammates as they look to bring the franchise a 12th World Series championship. He also talks about his charitable initiative that is looking to get gloves to underprivileged kids in his hometown in the Dominican Republic.
MLB.com Blogs Central 