Just for Fun

This is just funny. I love family guy and I had to find something with them and the baseball references. Absolutely hilarious, watch and enjoy my blog.

" We Count Everything"

Here is a great explanation of which statistics are used in baseball by a former player Richard Davis. This video is the best short explanation of all the statistical data that is used in baseball.


The Importance of Keeping Baseball Statistics -- powered by eHow.com

I am Not the Only One

In my research for the understanding of statistics in baseball I found this book.



It made it clear for me that I am not the only one who is fascinated by this very interesting fact of statistical obsession in the sport of baseball. I actually wanted to buy this book, but I found it on Google Books. It is completely free to read online and I would highly recommend it. Here is the link: http://books.google.com/books?id=NKjI8vnWBb8C&dq=The+Numbers+Game:+Baseball%27s+Lifelong+Fascination+with+Statistics&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=8uwlS8L1GYrIlAfXqoCLCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

(for some reason blogger will not let me make it a hyperlink, so you can copy and paste this address to read the book).

The Goal

The goal of this project is to see how American sport of baseball is obsessed with statistics, because it is a pure capitalistic game. I am doing this through my own views on the sport. I am somewhat an “outsider” and to me baseball is the last thing to conquer for total assimilation. I do not know if I will ever achieve this, but I will try my best.

(all images in this blog are courtesy of Google Images, Baltimore Sun and Langsdale Libray)

Baseball for an Outsider

I will say that baseball in America is very important. Almost every major city has a team and people adore their teams. I was doing some research on baseball in Baltimore and I realized that without baseball in Baltimore this city could have been completely different. There were many job opportunities in this city, but people also came here because of rich baseball traditions. They desired to watch baseball on their day off and have a team that represented their city. Before the new Camden Yards, Baltimoreans enjoyed baseball at the Memorial stadium. The Camden Yards is one of the most beautiful baseball parks in the nation today and many Americans associate Baltimore with Camden Yards. This makes me proud and I am an “outsider”. I like this sport, but the statistical obsession around it makes me like it less and I could never understand it as well as a native.



(old Memorial Stadium)

I love this country and I would like to learn how to love this sport. I do not think it would be possible for me. I consider myself a Baltimorean and I go to the Orioles games, but I do not care for all the numbers in the game. I think the game is one of the greatest American inventions, but the statistical and capitalistic obsessions ruin it for me. I really do not care about player’s individual achievements in the game. I care whether they win or lose. I want to see my team win. Many Americans agree with me, but they watch the game differently. They follow the players and their numbers. Americans do care for their team, but they follow every player on other teams to see who got better stats. It is different for me I am not from here. Statistics are just numbers and winning should be everything.

Capitalism in Baseball

The sport and its followers are obsessed with numbers and statistics. It is a capitalistic sport by any account. There is no other sport like that. It is a team sport, but every player has separate statistics. Players are judged by their numbers and not how they play on the team, for the most part. So, let me define what I mean by “capitalistic sport”. I mean that in capitalistic society every person is measured by the amount of money and success they achieve in their life. It is nothing like socialism or communism in which a group is more important than the individual. This country was build on ideas of capitalism, so there is no surprise that baseball was invented here. It is a team sport, but only the best stand out and make the most money. This is the way things work in capitalism, individual before the group. There is a competition between players on the same team and the best ones win. I am not saying that this is good or bad; it is the way it was meant to be. There is only one way to follow baseball, is to follow statistics in baseball. It is the sport with the most records and numbers. The amount of home runs players hit are more important to the public than the amount of games that the team wins. I know I will be criticized for the previous statement, but that is how I see it. I remember when McGuire and Sosa had the home run race it was the most important event of baseball of that year. Neither one of the teams that Sosa or McGuire played on made it to the World Series. There are not many people that remember what year the New York Yankees won their first championship, but everybody knows that Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in one season. This is a perfect example of how individual achievements are more important in baseball than team achievements. This is capitalism in its purest form.

American Sport

I said in my last post that baseball is a pure American sport. It was created in American and loved by the people in this country. I believe that before the mass production of televisions it was the sport to enjoy for Americans. It is played during the months of summer and many people, in the earlier times, could afford to go see it at the stadium or listen to it on the radio. It has all the right ingredients to be exciting for the radio audience. The television is killing the sport, because it is not fun to watch on the TV. It is long and people get tired of all the commercials. I think in many countries this sport could have died many years ago, but Americans will not let that happen. It is their sport and they love it, even if they do not watch it.

Camden Yards

I have only been to one baseball stadium. It is the one we have in Baltimore, Camden Yards. It is a beautiful place. I do not know anyone that can disagree with me on that. I did realize that the stadium is made for walking around during the game. The games are long and not too exciting, so there are many things to do in the stadium. There are games, food, beer, kid’s activities and souvenirs on every corner. Why watch the game? The sport of baseball is not important anymore. The event and trip to the stadium is important. So, if nobody watches the game, why do they follow it? It is an American tradition to keep up on baseball, no matter how boring it is. Americans love this sport because it’s theirs and no one else can take it away from them. So, what that they do not watch it, they know everything about it.



(Oriole Park at Camden Yards)

Baseball Obsession

This country is obsessed with baseball. It is the American “past time”. The question I have is why? Most of my American friends do not watch it on TV, like they do with football and basketball. They do not go to many games, but when they do it is mostly for beer and food. It is hard for me to understand why people in this country love this sport. They truly do. Even though most Americans do not follow baseball, in my opinion, they know more statistics about baseball than any other sport. I wonder why? Is it really that important to know which player has a better betting average than his teammates? The whole sport is based purely on statistics. I live in Baltimore, so I follow the Orioles. Here is a picture and a short article on the off season acquisition that the Orioles did to get a pitcher Albers Meredith. Look at all the numbers inside this little article from The Baltimore Sun website.


"Long before Saturday's midnight nontender deadline, the Orioles agreed to pre-arbitration deals with relievers Matt Albers and Cla Meredith on their 2010 contracts but did not offer a contract to Brian Bass, who now becomes a free agent. Bass, a 28-year-old right-hander, went 5-3 with a 4.90 ERA in 48 appearances in 2009 while serving as a long man out of the bullpen. The Orioles, who now have two open spots on their 40-man roster, have invited Bass back on a minor league deal."

" The World Series, if you don't watch this, you don't deserve to be an American"

The game of baseball is a pure American sport. It is one of the most favorite sports in this country. It is entertaining and “boring” at the same time. How this can be, one might ask. I will try to explain. I am a foreigner, so baseball is a weird sport to me. In Ukraine, where I am from, we do not play baseball. I did not even realize that this game had so many rules and statistics. The history of baseball is deep in America, but I am looking at it with the view of an outsider. Let’s take a look at the classic American show “the Simpsons” pocking fun at baseball.

Feeling under the weather. Research is going well, will keep you posted.

First Picture

Here is an image that I thought could be useful in my research. This is an image of 1932 opening day. Orioles manager Fritz Maisel and mayor Howard Jackson, throwing a first pitch. The Baltimore Orioles are still in National League at that point. It would be over twenty years from 1932 the the Orioles become the team we know today.


Bready, James. Baseball in Baltimore: The First Hundred Years. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. (p. 186)

The Search Continues

This week I have been predominately occupied with my midterm paper, but I did find a few hours to go down to Enoch Pratt library and research some information on the Baltimore Orioles. I found two amazing books that will help me with my research. The first book is “The Baltimore Orioles: The history of a Colorful Team in Baltimore and St. Louis” by Frederick G. Lieb. The second book is “Baseball in Baltimore: The First 100 Years” by James H. Bready. These two books are amazing. I can base my whole research on them. Bready’s book is a gold mind for me. It has a complete history of the Orioles from minors, to National league, to American league. I am happy I got some time to go down to the library and talk to the librarian guy who is a complete baseball fanatic. He helped me find the books and suggested some other readings. I will provide more information next week. I hope everyone enjoys my blog.

My Research Idea

I was thinking, how am I going to approach this project? What is the best way to do this?
There is so much information on the Orioles and I do not want to get overwhelmed by it. There are many ways to do this, but I think the best way to approach it is to do almost, like a time-line of the team. I think, I should start from year one, and in each blog do a report of the decade that it started in. In the “decade blog”, I will try to describe Orioles’ progress, their achievements and misfortunes. It should be quite interesting to see how the Orioles progressed over the decades.
This is the way that will be also very interesting for me and hopefully all the other people that will read my blog, and not just Dr. Singer. I will also try to include some interesting things that happened in Baltimore, during each “decade blog”. This way I can combine history of the Orioles, and major events in Baltimore as the Orioles were growing.
Let me know what you think? I am always open for suggestions.

My Proposal

I would like to do my blog on the Baltimore Orioles. It is interesting to find out where they came from, their golden years, and how they affected the city. Baltimore is a sports city. It is dominated by baseball and football. Baltimoreans live and die by their sports, yet they do not get respected as a great sports city. In the course of my research I will find information on Orioles, their origins and roots. Why they came to Baltimore? What was the reason for bringing a major league team from St. Louis, to a small market like Baltimore? People in this city love the “O’s”. It is strange for me to feel the same for the Orioles, because I am not from Baltimore originally, and we do not play baseball where I come from. It is somewhat of a challenge for me to research this team and their history. I do not like, or follow baseball, I am a huge soccer, hockey and football fan. To be honest, I would much rather do another sport. There is a reason why I picked the Orioles. I believe that by doing my research on the team I could learn how to understand and appreciate baseball in this city. If I succeed, I will truly be a Baltimorean.

I initially wanted to do my research on Fritz Maisel. In Baltimore he was known as”Catonsville Flash”. I have decided not to my research on him. The reason why I do not want to research him, is because, while he was great man he did not affect this city substantially enough to be a part of my research. The Orioles had a huge affect on this city and they put it on the map as a sports city, even before the Colts. The Orioles, in my opinion, is the greatest sports franchise this city has ever seen.