BB: When did you become a baseball fan? Who were your favorite players growing up?

JW: I first got interested in baseball at age 6 1/2, when I happened to be in front of a TV set the night Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run. I’d say I became a hardcore fan in 1977, during the Dodgers’ pennant run. I liked all the usual Dodgers from that era, but perhaps most of all Reggie Smith and Manny Mota, followed by Pedro Guerrero.

BB: Why did you start your blog?

JW: It was a combination of boredom during a transitional phase in my writing and editing career, an increasing (and critically for me, early) awareness of blogs and the possibilities they offered, and a longtime desire to express my thoughts about the Dodgers unfettered and in writing. Really, until e-mail came around, it was a lot of work to quickly share any thoughts on paper about anything with anyone, and until blogs came around, you weren’t likely to engage anyone you didn’t already know. Even though I never knew I’d end up with an audience, it was fun to pretend and write like I had one.

It’s funny – I was surfing the Internet a lot and it really felt like I had gotten to the very end. An old joke, but it rings true for me. I reached a point where I felt I had something to contribute.

BB: In your biography you mention that you were once a sportswriter, and would like to get paid to be a sportswriter again. Is this something that you’ve been actively pursuing?

JW: Well, to the extent that Dodger Thoughts is an ongoing sample of mywork, I’m constantly pursuing it. The site has led directly to some freelance work. But a lot has changed since I was a full-time sportswriter – both in the business and in my personal life. In theend, conventional sportswriting is still reporting-intensive, and I’m not going to be picking up a beat and calling 100 sources a day anytime soon.

Anyone who wants to pay me to blog, I’m going to listen to. However, there’s a strong mentality out there among newspapers and such that bloggers can be generated from within, that blogging is mainly an outlet for material and writers that can’t appear in the print edition because of lack of space. Blogging is viewed simplistically as another means for drawing readers, not as a particular talent. I see very few mainstream publications that see blogging for what it really is in many ways – a home for alternative, intelligent voices. Most of the in-house blogs I see are done either by staff writers or outsiders that are all style, no substance.

So while I inquire now and then with some people that I know in the paid world, I’m not really applying for jobs in the normal sense. I mainly just do what I’m doing and hope things continue to grow, and that maybe someday Clarence will rescue me from the freezing water and earn his wings.

BB: According to your site you have attended 497 Dodger games over the last 15 years. What are your favorite elements of Dodger Stadium (the stadium itself, best place to sit, ballpark quirks, favorite food, etc.)? What was your favorite game you ever attended? Do you have any special plans for game #500?

JW: I love Dodger Stadium like a dear, dysfunctional brother. It is a beautiful stadium to look at, practically a work of art, and so there are moments of pure bliss there that you can really appreciate in between moments of poorly chosen music blasted over the loudspeakers, a segment of fans who boo a home player at the slightest misfortune, and other periodic problems. Nothing beats a great Dodger dog, though you can’t count on getting a great one – that sort of thing. One of the interesting things about last year was how much more pleasant the place became once the Dodgers were eliminated. Pretty much all that was left in the crowd were true baseball fans, and you could just feel the difference between them and the people for whom the game on the field wasn’t entertainment enough. I sound pretty curmudgeonly, don’t I? I used to go to 40-70 games a year; now that I have young children it’s more like 10-20, so it’s more important to me that things go the way I want them to.

Somewhat along those lines, the favorite game I attended was Pedro Astacio’s major league debut, which came during the Dodgers’ 99-loss season in 1992 and during sort of a difficult time personally for me. Astacio pitched a three-hit, 10-strikeout shutout with such genuine enthusiasm that I felt like I had been reborn.

(As for game #500, that’s only game #500 since I’ve been keeping track, so that has no special significance other than making my winning percentage easy to calculate.)

BB: You have a large reader base who comment vigorously. How did you build such a community, especially considering that you’re at your 3rd different URL?

JW: I’ve been doing Dodger Thoughts since July 2002 (regularly since January 2003), so in terms of audience size, it’s just a fortunate matter of people enjoying what I’ve written, linking me and noticing me and telling their friends (and enemies) about me. When the ability to comment was enabled in early 2004, I was extremely concerned that the forum be constructive. So while I give people a wide berth to talk about just about anything, I monitor behavior very carefully. I make sure different views are tolerated. I step in if it starts getting personal, reminding people to criticize the comment, not the commenter. I don’t allow profanity on the site, even though I use it all the time in my daily life, because when it’s out there in a chat room, I feel that even in fun, it risks generating a heated tone. My readers have responded well to this – I think they appreciate Dodger Thoughts as sort of a haven of decorum on the Internet – and 99 percent of the time they self-police the site. And I am tremendously grateful to have attracted an insightful and fun community. They are a blast to read every single day, and I often get jealous because I know some people come to the site more for them than for me.

As far as the URL changes go, it’s just one of those things with a young industry. My audience has been good at following me and Googling for me. And they can always reach me at dodgerthoughts.com.

BB: You recently self-published a book from your blog. What made you decide to do the book? How long did it take to prepare? How have sales been, and was it worth the effort if you don’t mind me asking?

JW: I’ve always wanted to write a book, and when The Hardball Times self-published a book in 2004, I realized that I could fulfill that dream without actually, you know, being asked to write one. I figured three years of daily writing was enough to try to cull the best pieces from.

The actual publishing took no time at all, but putting the book together took *way* longer than I imagined. Choosing the entries, organizing them, and then making them presentable was very time-consuming. The editing, the proofing, the troubleshooting…reading a 300-page book over and over again, you don’t do that in a day.

I’ll be honest with you: Sales have been disappointing. Part of that is my fault, as I’ve devoted not nearly enough time to marketing the book. I was also hoping that more readers of mine would purchase the book just to support the site – sort of like making an NPR contribution and getting this as a premium back. But many people like free things because they’re free, and I can understand that. They can read today’s Dodger Thoughts entry and search the archives any time they want. There is added value in the book, truly, but it hasn’t been easy to convince people of that.

But that’s fine. In a way, it sort of mirrors the origins of the site itself, when I was grateful to pick up just a few new readers. As far as I’m concerned, the book would have been worth the effort even if my only reader was to myself. I’ve written a book. That’s pretty much my version of getting in the game. I’m like Moonlight Graham. Sort of.

BB: What are some of your favorite blogs?

JW: It’s not by accident that I’m with the other folks at Baseball Toaster. I’m pretty parochial in my interests, so Rob McMillin’s 6-4-2 is probably my main baseball read outside of Toaster, along with Baseball Analysts by Rich Lederer and Bryan Smith, two friends and former colleagues of mine at All-Baseball.com. I will say that the two blogs I’m most addicted to are not baseball blogs; they’re L.A. Observed by Kevin Roderick and Defamer.

Many thanks to Jon for taking the time to participate. Jon gets bonus points in my book for referencing both Field of Dreams and It’s a Wonderful Life in a single interview.

BB: When did you become a baseball fan? Who were your favorite players growing up?

GY: The first game I attended was in 1977, at San Diego Stadium (now known as Qualcomm Stadium). The only things I remember from that game are that Gene Tenace hit two home runs and that at some point I asked my dad what “quarter” it was because we used to go to football games.

I didn’t start following baseball closely until a few years later, probably 1980 or so. Then in the mid-’80s I discovered Bill James and my interest transformed into an obsession, which is pretty much what it remains today.

As for my favorite players growing up, I grew up in Los Angeles and followed the Dodgers, so most of them will be guys that Padres fans hate. Players that stand out to me are Mike Scioscia, Orel Hershiser — they seemed like average guys, which I liked — Mike Schmidt, Robin Yount, probably some others that I’m forgetting.

I always appreciated the way Tony Gwynn played the game, even when I was rooting against his team. To this day, he remains one of my all-time favorite players.

BB: Why did you start your blog?

GY: I started because I thought it would be a good way to hone my web development skills and also give me an outlet to talk about the stories I found interesting in baseball that maybe weren’t getting coverage elsewhere. Over time, as blogging became more popular and there were more than just a handful of people with baseball blogs, I narrowed my focus primarily to the Padres.

BB: Your blog has been around longer than most. How have you found the energy
to continue? Have you ever thought about shutting it down?

GY: I’ll answer the last question first. Yes, I have thought about shutting it down. Usually there are a few times during the year when I ask myself if what I’m doing is really worth the trouble. I have a brief fantasy about what it would be like not to blog. Then I start thinking about how boring that would actually be, and I get back to work.

As for energy, there are a few things. First, my wife is unbelieveably supportive of what I do. She does QA on almost everything that ends up on Ducksnorts and occasionally tips me off to a story. So, there’s no way I could do this without her.

Second, and at the risk of getting my nose a little brown, my readers are awesome. The discussions we have after my initial post often are more interesting than the post itself, which is great. There is a real sense of community, which is about as energizing as it gets. I’m always curious to see what will happen next.

I started out writing, as writers do, in a vacuum. I set some goals for myself in terms of production and I met those. So I set some new goals and in the process, I found that I was blogging on a pretty regular basis. Once that happened, I started getting readers. And they would come back for more, so I figured I was doing something right.

Over time, I got to know my readers through discussion and, in some cases, in person. Once you have a few hundred people reading your stuff every day and responding to it — and to each other, it’s not real hard to find the energy to continue. If you’re passionate about something and fully committed to it, the rest tends to take care of itself.

BB: You were independent until last year. What made you want to join MVN?

GY: I actually joined All-Baseball.com, which MVN bought shortly after I arrived. I wanted to join All-Baseball.com because I respected and admired many of the bloggers that were with the network at that time. It seemed like a great opportunity to get to know some of these people a little better and maybe do some collaborative work with them.

Of course, most of them left just as I arrived (this happens to me at parties as well), so that didn’t quite come to pass. Fortunately Christian and Evan brought in some real talented writers who I’ve enjoyed reading over the past several months.

BB: You’ve done several interviews with various subjects, and your writing has appeared in a number of places. Do you consider yourself a journalist, a blogger, or both?

GY: I consider myself a blogger who aspires to journalistic ideals. I don’t have the formal training that professional journalists do, but I read books on the craft and study the best news writers every chance I get. And I’m not afraid to try new things — doing interviews this year was a conscious decision to try something I hadn’t done before, as was podcasting. Thanks to one of my readers, Ed Barnes, I even made a TV appearance on the Padres pre-pregame show this year, which was very cool.

BB: What are some of your favorite blogs?

GY: In the baseball category, Baseball Musings and Management by Baseball are must reads for me. David Pinto is on top of everything in the world of baseball and his Day by Day Database is an invaluable tool. And Jeff Angus does a great job of meshing two subjects (management and baseball) into one cohesive presentation. Beyond that, I read Exile in Wrigleyville, Oleanders and Morning Glories, and all the Padres blogs. I also do some work at Baseball Think Factory, which is a great site. Unfortunately I don’t always have time to keep up with the discussions over there.

Among non-baseball blogs, the ones I’m looking at pretty much every day are ProBlogger.net (Darren Rowse is a tremendous inspiration, and anyone who is serious about blogging needs to read his stuff), Performancing.com, Dave Winer’s Scripting News, WWdN (Wil Wheaton), LanguageHat.com, and Syntax of Things (my good friend and co-conspirator in treks around the California League, Jeff Bryant). I also read a bunch of web development type blogs to keep up my day job skills and stay on top of trends within the industry.

I’d like to thank Geoff for participating. Make sure to check out Ducksnorts for all your Padres related information.

BB: When did you become a baseball fan? Did you have a favorite player, a favorite team?
SS: I have been as long as I can remember. My earliest memories are hanging out watching my dad play baseball and softball. I was playing catch with him when I was about 5. As a Minnesota boy, Kirby Puckett was my hero. His major league debut happened when I was eight, and I think it was his name that attracted me to him. I would follow his stats daily, and was so excited when he became a power hitter. I remember watching Game 7 of the 1987 World Series in the basement, by myself, because I was just too nervous to watch it with anyone! 1991 was much the same way. Game 6 was the kind of game that made Puckett more than a hero and put him into the legendary status. I was a Twins fan through the lean years in the late ’90s, rarely missing a game on TV. And it was fun again to watch the Twins become successful the last five years.

BB: What made you start blogging?
SS: I live in a very small town. One day I did a google search for “Minnesota Twins Geek” and it brought me to the Twins Geek site. From there, I learned of the Dickie Thon Twins Fan Forum, and that brought me to Aaron’s Baseball Blog. Reading those sites opened my eyes to just how much I was missing. I mean, I was a huge baseball fan before, but so many of my previous ideas were being put into words and supported with new statistics. I realized then that I had enough thoughts and opinions that I could put together a site. I wanted a site that I would want to read, and I wanted people to realize that I’m not just one-dimensional and could intelligently discuss multiple topics. Baseball, football, basketball, TV, movies, politics, anything. Well, the site has now become about 85% baseball and 15% other things, but I am still glad that I started doing it.

BB: You’ve done a number of Q & A’s with various Twins prospects, how have you gone about making contact? Have your subjects been receptive?
SS: I’ve actually gone about it in different ways. A couple of the players have had their own websites, so I just e-mailed them through that and asked if they would be interested, and they were. A few minor leaguers have e-mailed me to thank me for providing updates on the Twins affiliates, and were very receptive to a Q&A. Toward the end of last year, I sent a letter to one hitter and one pitcher from each Twins minor league team (except the GCL Twins as their season was about done), so 10 letters. I heard back from three of the ten. Other times, relatives of players have e-mailed me and after awhile conversing, I would just present the idea, and they helped me out. It’s been a lot of fun and I would really enjoy doing more and more.

BB: You’ve been very well received in the mainstream media with scheduled appearances on sports talk radio and segments on Twins pregame shows. Are these opportunities you sought out on your own? Do you have advice for other bloggers for gaining acceptance in mainstream media? Do you have any interest in trying to make a career of this?
SS: I have been so lucky in this area. I started in May of 2003, and when the playoffs started that season, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune included the links to my blog (And three other Twins blogs). The following year, again as the playoffs started, the Tribune did a big two-page article on the Twins bloggers that appeared in the Variety section. One day during the 2004 season, I had an e-mail from the producer of an all-sports station in the Twins Cities asking if I would like to be on a segment with Rita Maloney. That was a lot of fun, and I did that again with her later in the season. When she moved to WCCO, she continued to schedule me to talk on air from time to time. Before this 2005 season, WCCO decided to rotate four Twins bloggers for a feature in their Saturday Twins Magazine Show. It would be called the Bloggers Minute. Well, I know mine always ended up going about two minutes so they called it the Bloggers Moment instead. The highlight of that was they invited the four of us to appear with them live at the State Fair with former Twins All-Star Ron Coomer and others. That was a lot of fun! So, I haven’t in any way sought out these opportunities, but I am absolutely thrilled to do them. First, I figured it may send a few people to my site, but secondly, it’s just such a different opportunity. Being on air live, not knowing what the next question will be, is really a lot of fun.

As for how to be accepted by mainstream media, I don’t really know if there is a definite answer to that. First, I just have to say that if you’re at all interested in doing any of these types of things, and there is any opportunity, just say yes! I know I was nervous the first few times, but it is something I knew I would enjoy, so I just stuck iwth it. Don’t be afraid to e-mail your favorite team’s beat writers sometimes, or even other media members. It’s funny, my initial opportunities were just totally out of the blue, but once you put yourself out there, only good things can happen, and you don’t know what will happen for you next.

As far as making a career of it… absolutely. The concept of doing something for a living that you have a complete passion for is something that I think everyone strives for. To be paid and make a living by either writing about baseball and talking about baseball would be wonderful! The fact is that I know that I’m not good enough of a writer or speaker to probably do that, but again, if the opportunity presents itself, I would not pass it up!

BB: You have a fairly fixed posting schedule and each post is quite lengthy, have you experienced writer’s block and how do you get past it?
SS: I write too much everyday, I know that. People have told me that. It is a tough thing some times because once I start, there are certain topics that I just want to cover. Sometimes I just keep thinking that there are a lot of readers who take the time to stop by my site every day, so I just have to have something new for them every day or they won’t come back. I know that isn’t the case, readers are generally pretty loyal as long as you’re fair to them.

During the offseason, I have done a few things to help me with this. I just don’t want to spend alot of time every night. So, I will write on Mondays about plenty of topics from over the weekend. But Tuesday is a Q&A day. Wednesdays I have come up with a Why Baseball series in which readers of my site write the day’s article for me. They discuss what it is about baseball that drew them to the sport. It is fun to read other perspectives. Thursdays, I have had a few guest writers write an article for me which again, really helps me. I am able to just format and post their articles with a few “Other Thoughts” of my own. Then on Fridays again, I just cover a number of topics and post my football panel’s picks (which is fun because the panel includes several bloggers and then one Twins pitcher and one Twins minor league pitcher).

But there are some days that I just don’t feel like writing, and I do one of two things. Either I just start typing and see what comes out. Maybe it peaks an interesting thought that I can expound upon. Or secondly, I am more willing to just take a full day off. I am comfortable with my audience understanding that sometimes I just have to do that to maintain any sanity.

BB: You seem to have a pretty interactive relationship with your audience, including guest columns and contests, yet you don’t have “Comments.” What is your rationale for not providing a comment section?
SS: That’s a really good question, and as you’ve figured out, I can’t just answer it quickly. First, the best part about having my site is the interaction with readers. Whether the e-mailer agrees with me or disagrees, I enjoy reading other people’s thoughts. Sometimes I learn far more from a well-written, intelligent response that differs from my opinion. As for why I haven’t included Comments, there are a couple of reasons. First, I’m a writer for my site. With how much I write, I don’t give myself a lot of time to do much “other” stuff with the site. The overall look of my page is pretty straight-forward (read: not aesthetically pleasing!). I haven’t taken the time to do anything about that. I also have not taken the time to learn how to include a “comments” section. It definitely is not because I don’t want it or fear what people will write. Hopefully your website will teach me how (hopefully) easy it can be.

BB: What content management system/software do you use for your site?
SS: I use Microsoft FrontPage to update my page. I really like it because for content and updating, it is very user-friendly. But again, based on my previous answer, I haven’t even taken time to find out what more it can do for me.

BB: What are your favorite blogs (sports and/or non-sports)?
SS: I have a pretty set pattern of what I read. Each morning, I go to Aaron’s Baseball Blog and Stick and Ball Guy first. After that, there are four or five other Twins blogs that I check to see if they’ve updated anything. I check out Pat Neshek’s site to see if he’s updated. Pat is pitcher in the Twins system. He was just added to the Twins 40 man roster. I also check on The Baseball Savant site which is one of the best, even now when he’s in Medical School and writes less frequently. Oh, and of course I’m really enjoying John Sickels’ Minor League site.
BrentNet is really the only non-sports site I read daily, and it does discuss Minnesota sports from time to time. He covers pretty much everything. Brent is a guy that I actually coached in baseball when he was young. He’s got an excellent site.

I’d like to thank Seth for taking a little time out of his blogging schedule to answer some questions. Seth can be found at SethSpeaks.net.

If you’re wondering how Pinto has time to do all this, it’s because he doesn’t have a pesky day job to get in the way. Approximately one year ago, David made blogging his profession.

David has generously agreed to be interviewed as the first Blogger Profile.

BB: When did you become a baseball fan? What attracts you to the sport?

DP: I became a baseball fan in 1969. I’ve always been a person who liked numbers, and baseball offered a slew of them. We had an old World Almanac at that time, and I used to go through the baseball records. I marveled at the number of records held by Yankees and the Yankees team. I’d go through the boxscores and leader boards every day in the paper. It’s a fantastic game for someone who likes math.

BB: You’ve been a professional blogger for a year, is life as a professional blogger as good as it sounds?. What is the most challenging part of the job?

DP: I guess it depends on your definition of good. For me, I get to do what I love, think watch and write about baseball all day. I had long commutes for most of my working life, so avoiding those is a real plus. At the moment, it’s not very lucrative, but my hope is that as the blog and internet grow, income will grow to the point where I can live off the site.

The most challenging part is the business side. Finding ideas for posts is easy. There are so many game, stats, stories and transactions that there’s never a lack of material to write about. Turning this into a business is the tricky part for me.

BB: In addition to the probabilistic model of range and Day by Day database are there more tools coming, and when can we expect the 2005 PMR numbers?

DP: I don’t know when I’ll be getting the 2005 PMR numbers. I hope to make an arrangement soon to get access to the data. I am working on additions to the database, but I’ll keep them quiet for now. You never know if these things are going to work.

BB: While the tech bloggers can be “slashdotted” the closest baseball equivalent is probably getting a link on your site. What is your philosophy about linking to other sites, and how do you find the items you link to?

DP: If you write a baseball blog and ask for a link, I’ll usually post one. If I’m surfing for baseball stories and come across a good site, I’ll add the link. Although there are exceptions, I try to keep the blog roll to people who are writing about some aspect of baseball.

Finding items for posts is done mainly through my rss reader. Almost every team has a major newspaper with an RSS feed now. Almost every blogger has an rss feed. So I spend a lot of time looking for stories that way. Sometimes I just go to google news and type in the name of a team to see what’s happening.

BB: I remember at one time you expressing interest in obtaining a Baseball Writers Association of America membership. Have you had any progress? How long do you think it will be before independent cyber-journalists are accepted into this group? Is there any hope?

DP: I’m still interested. I believe the bloggers at MVN have some kind of credentials. Last year I noticed newspapers were starting baseball blogs during spring training. The Cincinnati Post started a blog in spring training and ended up keeping it going throughout the season. As more reporters blog as part of their writing process, we’ll become more accepted. However, private clubs like the BWAA tend to exist to keep people out, not let them in. My guess is that over time we’ll develop our own group. There is an IBWA, but I haven’t done much with it. One of the first things we ran into was who to allow and who not to allow. I’m for very loose rules for inclusion. So, I’m afraid if a IBWA did get going, it would end up like the BWAA.

BB: Do you have any tips or advice for bloggers in regards to building an audience/making money/developing content

DP: All I can tell you is what worked for me. First, write a lot. There are blogs that I love, but the authors don’t write everyday, so after a while, I get out of the habit of visiting. So give peopel a reason to read your site every day.

Second, try to get linked. The best way I found to get links was to link to the other site first. I’d then send them an email of the form:

“I really like your blog and linked to it from my site, www.baseballmusings.com. Keep up the good work.”

That wording almost always got me a link.

I’m still trying to figure out how to make money.

As for content, there is always an angle left out of a baseball story. Add value to the story by finding that angle and arguing the point. Instead of yelling at the announcers on TV, put it in your blog.

BB: Before you became famous as a blogger, you were a researcher for ESPN Baseball Tonight. What was life like at ESPN?

DP: It was hectic but fun. Like any job, it had its ups and downs, but the ups were much more common. ESPN attracts a lot of would be sports journalists, more than they could ever employ. So the sports network gets the cream of the crop. Everyone there is very knowledgeable about sports. All the anchors write their own copy. The people there just live, eat and breathe sports.

BB: What are your:

Favorite player(s) of all time
DP: My favorite player is probably Rickey Henderson. Henderson did everything well. I also have a soft spot for players the press hate.

Best game you attended
DP: The best game I attended was Roger Clemens’ 1-hitter against Cleveland in 1988. I brought a colleague from England. He had never been to a baseball game before, so not only did I get to watch one of the best pitched games of Roger’s career, but I got to introduce the game to a complete novice. At one point he asked, “Does anyone get to second base? It seems so hard to get to first.”

Favorite stadium
DP: Stadium is a tough call. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. I really liked Dodger Stadium; easy parking, cheap food and good seats. The view at Coors is hard to beat. Jacobs Field is best for broadcasting a game. They have an underground garage for the TV trucks. You drive in, plug in, and you’re good to go.

Favorite baseball moment
DP: There are three moments that stand out in my mind. The first is the Yankees winning the 1976 ALCS. They came back from a 1-2 series deficit and came back late in game 5 to win the series. Freddy Patek, who was hailed throughout the series for his fundamental baseball skills, ground into a DP to end the game. The KC fans stood there in stunned silence as the Yankees celebrated on the field, and Patek sat alone in the dugout with his head hung low. Just an incredible mix of emotions.

The second is the Bucky Dent home run in the 1978 playoff game.

The third is Jeter diving into the stands for a ball in that great extra-innings game between the Red Sox and Yankees on July 1, 2004. At the time I thought I had witnessed the greatest regular season game I had seen. I wrote:

“Anyone who tells you baseball is a boring game should be forced to watch this one. Almost anything that could happen in a ball game did. Heroics by hitters, heroics by pitchers, heroics by fielders, managing, maneuvering, you name it. Both teams played like the entire season rode on this game; it was much more important to the Red Sox, but the Yankees didn’t let up. I wish they all could be like this.”

Favorite blog(s)
DP: My favorite blog is Instapundit. It’s hard to pick a favorite baseball blog, since there are so many good ones. I do miss Bambino’s Curse, however.

Many thanks to David for taking the time to do this, and please read Baseball Musings – it’s one of the best out there.