Tagged: Mitch Williams
Just turned eight and feeling great
Ah, the number eight in baseball. It’s Cal Ripken Jr., Pops Stargell, Gary Carter, Yaz, Joe Morgan, Yogi Berra and Bill Dickey. It’s the original eight franchises in each of the American and National Leagues. It’s an “8” on your scorecard, a standard fly to center. It’s (19)08, the Year of the Cubs.
It’s the eighth birthday of this MLB.com Blogs community, which just happened Thursday. Feel free to wish us all well.
It seems like forever since I sat here at the MLB.com office on April 18, 2005, and helped Tommy Lasorda get his first entry saved. That post about his friend Jackie Robinson was our first ever, millions ago.
A few hours later, MLB.com resident Draft and prospect expert Jonathan Mayo welcomed you to B3: Big, Bald and Beautiful. D-backs broadcaster Daron Sutton was an original, too.
That same night, our great friend and MLB groundskeeping guru Murray Cook started his blog. Zack Hample started a few days later and his snagging adventures continued when he celebrated our birthday by snagging two home run balls Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
This community blog debuted as “MLBlogosphere” on May 5, 2005, a day after Brooks Robinson started a blog. I explained in the launch post that you could blog here for $4.95 a month (with a 30-day free trial) or $49.95 per year. My how things have changed. You have an incredible WordPress.com dashboard and support now, obviously at no cost, and unlike back then you can go to Settings->Sharing and enable all the social media outlets so any post can be shared and get more viewers.
Some things haven’t changed. It’s still the only place you can use official MLB marks and logos, and you’re covered under our umbrella if you want to use great Getty or AP photos. We still offer the largest gateway for any baseball blogger, as this community is linked from an MLB.com mothership with billions of page views, and we have 100 or so PRO bloggers including seven active players.
More and more are realizing that an MLB.com Blog is the perfect hub for all their social media. The more social outlets you have these days, the more you need one HQ, and you can easily add your Twitter, FB and other widgets here.
Please join me in welcoming Logan Morrison as the seventh one. He started on our birthday. And feel free to help his Project LoMo.
Leading into the Matt Harvey-Stephen Strasburg pitching matchup, Mitch Williams of MLB Network blogged about Harvey and said he is revising his National League Cy Young Award prediction — and going with the Mets’ rookie. Fascinating view worth reading.
The Yankee Dinosaur just celebrated a third birthday around Opening Day.
On June 6, White Sox VP of Communications Scott Reifert will celebrate the eighth birthday of his blog, Inside the White Sox. He paved the way for other sports executives who blog or tweet today. When he started in 2005, no one was doing this. And he does it regularly, so please join him!
We still have the slogan: “MLB.com Official Affiliate, Unofficial Opinions.” You always say what’s on your mind. We will always keep looking for ways to get your blog seen, like monthly MLB.com Blogs Latest Leaders or our Meet the Bloggers video series (let me know here when you’re going to an MLB game), and I hope that relaunch of MLB.com/blogs happens this season.
New bloggers are joining you all the time. Astros Baseball jumped aboard in 2013.
Yes, that’s still me in the profile pic on this community blog. I decided to bag the familiar backwards white cap that’s been there ever since we started MLB.com Blogs all those many years ago. Hope you understand. And my thoughts are with everyone in the Boston area who has been through so much and has shown such strength. I look forward to running for Boston on Sunday.
Feel free to leave a birthday comment right here, y’all. And post about your own blog’s birthday. Happy Birthday to us all.
Mark
Latest Leaders – January 2013
Baseball is just days away now, and the excitement is building as more and more new blogs are created here on the best blogging platform in the sport. Our first monthly Latest Leaders of 2013 has the usual mix of proven veterans and promising newcomers. The biggest news has to be the Brewers’ John & Cait…Plus Nine dethroning the Hot Stove traffic magnet for the overall top spot, with Jamie Ramsey’s Better Off Red just behind. Evan Vogel cracked the FAN Top 10 in December and now his blog The Baseball Haven is up to No. 5, so watch out there. Carrie Muskat is still in command on the list of MLB.com beat reporters, regardless of the fortunes of the Cubs team she covers. Congratulations to everyone who made the list, and one proven tip to get on the next month’s list is to leave comments on these blogs and include your full URL so they can see your new posts.
Start your own MLB.com Blog today. It’s the first step in joining this list.
Latest Leaders ranked by page views from Jan. 1-31:
MLB PRO
1. John & Cait…Plus Nine
2. Better Off Red
3. Hot Stove
4. Baseball Nerd
5. Curly W Live
6. Dodgers Photog Blog
7. Ben’s Biz Blog
8. MLB.com Blogs Central (lol)
9. Cubs Vine Line Blog
10. SF Giants Photos
11. From the Corner of Edgar & Dave
12. MLB.com Fantasy 411
13. B3: Big, Bald and Beautiful
14. MiLB.com’s PROSPECTive Blog
15. MURRAY COOK’S FIELD & BALLPARK BLOG
16. TribeVibe
17. Our Game
18. Around the Horn in KC
19. Alyson’s Footnotes
20. So I Married A Baseball Player…
21. Phillies Insider
22. Cooperstown Chatter
23. 45 Miles From Fenway
24. Cleveland Indians Fantasy Camp
25. Newberg Report
26. MLB Urban Youth Academy – Compton, CA
27. CastroTurf
28. Rattler Radio
29. Justice4U
30. My Serendipitous Life as a Baseball Wife
31. The Dash Board
32. Comerica Park, 48201
33. Wild Things
34. The Sprouting News
35. Jesse Sanchez at the Park
36. Inside the White Sox
37. Baseball Books
38. ‘Riders Insider Blog
39. Inside the San Jose Giants
40. Step up to B.A.T.
41. It’s All Relative
42. Obviously, You’re Not a Golfer
43. Rollin’ with Rick
44. ‘Cats Corner
45. Homestand Blog by Yankees Magazine
46. Mets Fantasy Camp
47. Beyond the Ballpark
48. Diamond Dollar$
49. Not Just Baseball…Aceball
50. Desde el Desierto
FANS
1. Rays Renegade
2. The Baseball Collector
3. The Brewer Nation
4. The AustralianBaseballDigest
5. The Baseball Haven
6. Beisbol 007
7. Cook & Sons’ Baseball Adventures
8. mlbblogger
9. The Unbiased MLB Fan
10. Rockpile Rant
11. A’s Farm
12. Observing Baseball
13. Pinstripe Birthdays
14. Dodger Blue World
15. Phillies Phollowers
16. 9 Inning Know It All
17. La Pagina de Tony Menendez
18. The Ballpark Guide
19. 7000 Coliseum Way
20. Minoring In Baseball
21. Ballparks on a Budget
22. TheCutoffMan
23. BrokeMets
24. A Piece of The Game
25. If You Write It, They Will Come
26. Cream City Cables
27. Born on Third
28. Brewers Rumors
29. Heard It From Hoard
30. Three Up, Three Down
31. Rockin’ Redlegs
32. Where Everyone’s a Giant
33. I’m Not A Headline Guy…
34. eltubeyero22
35. Collection of Baseball
36. The Rays Rant
37. This is a very simple game…
38. Battling Bucs
39. Reds Country
40. Bleacher Boy
41. Rox Addict
42. The Best MLBlog
43. The Angels’ Ace
44. Fish Fry
45. Bjarkman’s Latino and Cuban League Baseball History Page
46. One Strike Away…Twice!
47. Los bigleaguers
48. CardinalsFarm
49. Royal Blues
50. Formerly Fausto: A Baseball Blog
MLB.COM BEAT WRITERS
1. Muskat Ramblings
2. Beck’s Blog
3. The Zo Zone
4. Mark My Word
5. Bombers Beat
6. Postcards From Elysian Fields
7. By Gosh, It’s Langosch
8. Bowman’s Blog
9. Mariners Musings
10. Britt’s Bird Watch
11. Gonzo and ‘The Show’
12. Brew Beat
13. Change for a Nickel
14. Major League Bastian
15. Tag’s Lines
16. North of the Border
17. Brownie Points
18. Mets Cetera
19. The Fish Pond
20. Major Lee-ague
Reminder: Blogs only can be tracked for this list if they use an MLB theme. If you switch to a different WordPress.com theme for a day or two during that month, those page views will not be included for these purposes because they cannot be recorded by MLB.com.
MLB.com/blogs Latest Leaders – July 2012
We’re into the final third of the season at MLB.com/blogs and the Trade Deadline has passed. Not surprisingly, the Trade Buzz behemoth rode that excitement to the overall top spot, as MLB.com’s team of beat writers kept us all up to date on the very latest on the trade front. Elsewhere in the MLB PRO Division, Camille Campins Adams, wife of Yankees prospect David Adams, jumps past Mitch Williams to make her Latest Leaders debut with My Serendipitous Life as a Baseball Wife. While the Oakland A’s have blossomed this season, so has A’s Farm, which continues to climb the FAN rankings all the way now to sixth. July was a big month for Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo and also for Cubs beat writer Carrie Muskat, who cleans up in the Beat Reporter standings. Congratulations to all who made the list, and remember to always leave your full URL with comments here and use TW/FB widgets to help grow your following.
Latest Leaders ranked by page views from July 1-31:
MLB PRO
1. Trade Buzz
2. Better Off Red
3. SF Giants Photos
4. The USA Baseball 14U Blog
5. MLB.com Fantasy 411
6. From the Corner of Edgar & Dave
7. Baseball Nerd
8. Curly W Live
9. Brandon and Brandon
10. Ben’s Biz Blog
11. Dodgers Photog Blog
12. John & Cait…Plus Nine
13. TribeVibe
14. Alyson’s Footnotes
15. 45 Miles From Fenway
16. MLB.com Blogs Central (lol)
17. Ben Rouse’s Brewers Mission 162
18. B3: Big, Bald and Beautiful
19. Around the Horn in KC
20. The Dash Board
21. Phillies Insider
22. The USA Baseball 17U Blog
23. The USA Baseball 15U National Team Blog
24. Express Tracks
25. MURRAY COOK’S FIELD & BALLPARK BLOG
26. White Shark
27. Rattler Radio
28. Cooperstown Chatter
29. Desde el Desierto
30. MLB Urban Youth Academy
31. Above the Plate
32. CastroTurf
33. Our Game
34. Cubs Vine Line Blog
35. Inside the White Sox
36. The G-Blog
37. Clubhouse Confidential
38. Newberg Report
39. The Sprouting News
40. Inside the Jackson Generals
41. On the Mike with Mike Safford (Voice of the Boise Hawks)
42. ‘Cats Corner
43. ‘Riders Insider Blog
44. The Futurists
45. It’s All Relative
46. My Serendipitous Life as a Baseball Wife
47. Roof Report
48. Bloomberg Sports
49. Wild Things
50. Canadians Clippings
FANS
1. The Baseball Collector
2. Rays Renegade
3. The AustralianBaseballDigest
4. The Brewer Nation
5. Red State Blue State
6. A’s Farm
7. Beisbol 007
8. Cook & Son Bats’ Blog
9. Counting Baseballs
10. Born on Third
11. Rockpile Rant
12. The Ballpark Guide
13. mlbblogger
14. Pinstripe Birthdays
15. Brewers Rumors
16. Phillies Phollowers
17. The Baseball Haven
18. Observing Baseball
19. You’re Killin’ Me, Smalls!
20. Three Up, Three Down
21. Crzblue’s Dodger Blue World
22. La Pagina de Tony Menendez
23. The Unbiased MLB Fan
24. Cream City Cables
25. Rockin’ Redlegs
26. TheCutoffMan
27. Minoring In Baseball
28. Fish Fry
29. baseballqueen
30. This is a very simple game…
31. The Rays Rant
32. I’m Not A Headline Guy…
33. Royal Blues
34. All Things Pirates: Breaking down the Buccos
35. The Yankee Dinosaur
36. More Splash Hits
37. 9 Inning Know It All
38. Rox Addict
39. Ballparks on a Budget
40. Grab Some Bench!
41. If You Write It, They Will Come
42. 1992 And Counting
43. Dyna Mets
44. DYNASTY League Baseball from designer of Pursue the Pennant
45. Live, Eat, and Breathe Yankees
46. Battling Bucs
47. eltubeyero22
48. Phillies Red Pinstripes
49. Wrigley Regular
50. swingingbuntz
Discover more great Fan blogs like:
The Fix MLB Report
2r2d
The ‘Stros Bros
Everything Pro Ball
MLB.COM BEAT WRITERS
1. Muskat Ramblings
2. Bowman’s Blog
3. The Zo Zone
4. Mark My Word
5. Beck’s Blog
6. Postcards From Elysian Fields
7. By Gosh, It’s Langosch
8. Britt’s Bird Watch
9. Brownie Points
10. Bombers Beat
11. Brew Beat
12. Change for a Nickel
13. Tag’s Lines
14. North of the Border
15. Gonzo and ‘The Show’
16. The Fish Pond
17. Mariners Musings
18. Major League Bastian
19. Haft-Baked Ideas
20. Major Lee-ague
Reminder: Blogs only can be tracked for this list if they use an MLB theme. If you switch to a different WordPress.com theme for a day or two during that month, those page views will not be included for these purposes because they cannot be recorded by MLB.com.
Around the MLB.com Blogs
Has it ever been better than the Summer of 1941 in Major League Baseball? As good as last year was and as good as this year could be, one blogger sees the legend of that season as untouchable as Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak or the last .400 season, by Ted Williams. Take a look back on Summer of ’41 Forever and let the author know what you think.
MLB Network’s Mitch Williams started his Wild Things blog earlier this year, and he’s hit the ground running. The former closer’s latest post outlines why he thinks the Rangers will be back in the Fall Classic for the third year running. See what Mitch has to say and leave him some feedback with a comment.
3 Up, 3 Down is an ambitious project by six fans — one per division — who are serving up all kinds of fresh content for their readers. They’ve got a podcast. They picked preseason all-division teams. And of course they’re giving their takes on the latest happenings from around the game.
Over at The Baseball Haven, Evan Vogel is having some Fun With Projections, taking some of the early numbers from around baseball and projecting what they’d look like over the full 162 games.
Beach season will be here before we know it, so make sure you stay on top of the latest must-reads for baseball fans with the Baseball Books blog. Read reviews, leave your two cents in the comments, and see where to buy these books. Or write up your own book review like Jenn at Phillies Phollowers and it may get highlighted with an excerpt and link like hers did.
What MLB.com Blogs do you find yourself reading most often these days?
Spring means baseball books and a blog
Introducing our Spring 2012 selection of best baseball books to read as we open a new season. Be sure to follow the official MLB.com Baseball Books blog for all things baseball literature, and you are invited to be part of it as well. The blog was created not only for us at MLB.com to review our favorite baseball books, but also for fans to jump in and offer their own reviews.
Here’s how it hopefully works: If you have blogged a review of your own that isn’t already covered on the books blog, and you wish for us to include it, leave a comment here with a link to your post. We will try to highlight it, linking back to your full review. The goal is for this to be the best baseball-book outlet around.
You can find my MLB.com reviews of R.A. Dickey’s outstanding debut Wherever I Wind Up and our spring roundup, and feel free to add comments on those articles with your own thoughts about the books.
NEW AT MLB.COM:
Tell us what you think of the new-look MLB.com homepage, and while you’re at it, jump into the fun we are having with our HBO friends since we did a mashup of “Game of Thrones” and MLB 2012 — two seasons set to begin. Like we said on the MLB.com Blogs front, take a look at the mashup video, and then in your own blog post tell everyone who is going to take the crown in Major League Baseball. Lots of people looking forward to both seasons.
GUESS WHO MITCH WILLIAMS LIKES IN A.L.
MLB.com columnist and MLB Network studio host Mitch Williams just blogged about his American League prediction for 2012, and you can click here and find out who he likes. Make sure you are blogging your own picks right along with him and leave him some comments!
Around the MLB.com Blogs
The 2011 Cardinals followed the 2010 Giants as back-to-back NL champs. Can the NL threepeat?
This one’s for the dogs: Fenway the Dog is a dog’s eye view of the Red Sox. Written from the perspective of Fenway, the team’s official service dog in training, the blog aims to raise awareness of the amazing work done by these invaluable canine companions. And Dallas Latos, wife of Reds pitcher Mat Latos, posted about their dog, Balls. Leaving it at that.
One of my favorite posts of the year is when Spring becomes official and our good friend Murray Cook shares lawn-care tips with the rest of us. Murray, who has been a groundskeeping consultant to the Commissioner’s Office since 1989 and most recently has been ensuring that the Tokyo Dome is ready for MLB’s openers, is one of our original MLBloggers, as his forever-capitalized MURRAY COOK’S FIELD & BALLPARK BLOG was created just moments after Tommy Lasorda’s World got us started on April 18, 2005. Feel free to ask Murray questions and you also can follow him on Twitter @cookmurray.
Mitch Williams blogs about Matt Wieters and the Orioles' plan for the future.
So, did you see where Ozzie Guillen has been living during Spring Training? He blogged some pics.
Want your blog promoted on MLB.com Blogs? Just say so with a blog post, use the “Jumbo MLBlogs” tag, and include a (good) 480×270 graphic in your post that we might be able to snatch for use as a Jumbo panel to feature it.
Contest alert from Erik at Counting Baseballs. And by the way, he is on a torrid page-view run and closing fast on Rays Renegade and Baseball Collector atop the FANS category of Latest Leaders. Can they hold him off? Will post the next Latest Leaders around April 1.
Speaking of Latest Leaders, one MLB.com beat writer is running away with the overall crown for most page views by any MLB.com blogger in March. Will see if you can guess what team she covers and then check back to see if she stayed in front.
Members of the 2011 Omaha Storm Chasers got their rings, and Around the Horn in KC blogged about it. Is MLB glory next?
If you ever need a hand around here, remember that our good friends at WordPress.com (capably) handle all blog Support, so use their contact page as needed. You also can post comments here whenever you wish and I see them immediately and follow up if I can help. Do not contact MLB.com subscription product customer service people for blogs needs, as they have nothing to do with that since last June.
Do you know what Giants World is? Pretty cool. Find out on the club’s photo blog.
Nationals fans have to follow Curly W Live — took another step forward in Spring Training and will be even more must-follow starting Opening Day.
Welcome back to the Tigers. When you see what we mean, you will growl.
Want to see what a Japan Opening Series ticket looks like? Check it out.
New look on the MLB.com Fantasy 411 blog, check it out. Oh, and make sure to follow my colleagues Mike & Cory so you can dominate your league.
If you have FB, TW & Pinterest pages, then you have to have an MLB.com Blog as well. Your brain is big enough, and you can have your FB and TW streams on the side panel to encourage Likes and follows. Every time you post, set it so it becomes a blurb on your social pages. A blog is a key part of the overall arsenal…more than ever, in fact. That’s why so many Major League clubs start blogs year-round.
Seen a great MLB.com Blog post? Let us know in the comments with full URL please, and tell everyone to blog at http://MLB.com/blogs
MLB.com Blogs Central 