I got my favorite bobblehead from one David Cameron, who is a fine fellow and highly recommended.
I didn’t ask my Barry Bonds bobblehead any other questions. I try not to bug him too much out of respect.
I got my copies of Baseball Prospectus 2004 today. Really good stuff, and if I may say so, I think our minor league coverage reflects the oustanding input of one David Cameron, who is a fine fellow and also does things like give me a Barry Bonds bobblehead doll for my desk. The Mariners chapter is really good, and I agree with the comments almost entirely.
An interesting point for M’s fans is that Dan Wilson makes an unlikely appearance as the best catcher at controlling the running game last year in an excellent back-of-the-book essay. I maintain that this is because he caught Jamie Moyer all year long, essentially making 40% or so of his catching duties a tandem with a crafty left-hander who controls the running game pretty well himself. I emailed Keith Woolner to note this, and Woolner pointed out that he had in fact already thought of that and noted that problem in his essay.
I tell you this only to point out that
a) I’m really dumb sometimes and
b) the book is 600 pages long, and it’s probably best to read it in small bites so you don’t miss something that’s right in front of you.
[Shameless plugging ahead]
It’s the best book we’ve ever put out: the essays are all good this year (whereas before, there’ve always been a couple I thought weren’t worth it) and even the boring teams get insightful essays.
The production problems were strange: Amazon had the wrong listing (as if we were with our old publisher, at the old, higher price) for a long time, and then B&N canceled everyone’s preorders for no good reason, so everyone went to Amazon and ordered through there… and then what actually happened as it rolled off the presses was even weirder: a week ago the first people got a hold of their copies (the first Amazon reviews went up on Feb 26th), some people got their books w/o Amazon sending a shipping notification. Some distributors were shipping it out w/24 hour delivery a week before my Amazon order got to me (today). I saw 3 copies on the shelves of a local Barnes and Noble this morning, but a Borders told my friend they wouldn’t have it for a month. So our Amazon reviews have one guy complaining he didn’t have it, and another accusing us writing shill reviews..
I don’t understand book distribution at all.
The best part though is that it’s $12.57 at Amazon — that’s almost nutty-cheap. When we switched publishers we wanted to lower the cover price, and now it’s 600+ pages of baseball goodness for twelve bucks and change… that’s pretty freaking cool.
Now, Derek, where’d you get said bobblehead again?
Intriguingly, my Joe Crede bobblehead (don’t ask) has much the same response when I ask him if he’s clean, on the juice, or knows where the weapons of mass destruction are hidden. He’s quite the agreeable fellow.
Ralph Wiley is insane, by the way. He and Rob Ryder are in a dead heat for worst columnist in the history of ESPN.
Two things —
I recommend Ralph Wiley’s column on Barry Bonds and the steroids controversly over on ESPN.com. Except, obviously, when he makes the bizarre statement about statheads turning on Bonds, which is.. I don’t get what Wiley has against statheads, but he needs to get over it. Reading someone when they make such an obviously dumb statement is like watching them drive a stake into the ground and pound a sign that says “my knowledge stops here” into the stake.
I asked my beloved Barry Bonds bobblehead if he was clean and he nodded enthusiastically. You can take that as you will.
Hey everybody. I’m off to spring training this evening, so don’t worry if I don’t post (though Derek and Dave have quite the entertaining discussion going right now). On the other hand, I might have some ‘net access while I’m down in Arizona so you never know. In any event, if I see anything interesting/cool/noteworthy I’ll try to pass it along. Just as a preview, I’m sure Saturday afternoon will be spent trying to find a place to watch the Stanford-Washington game (go Dawgs).