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Photo is credited to Wikipedia If you are anything like me and love the game of baseball, you appreciate the intricacies of the game that make it so unique than any other game. For purposes of brevity, I will focus on one aspect; the stadiums. No other sport–aside from maybe golf–offers such a diverse experience for the fans on a stadium to stadium basis. No two fields are created equal, and some are simply outrageous. It really enhances the experience when you can watch a baseball game in a cathedral. I have been to several, and here are my top top that offer the best combination of fan experience and opportunities to enjoy your time in the city. 10. Progressive Field– To say the city of Cleveland has been tortured by its sports teams would be an understatement. The LeBr...

               For baseball fans on Long Island who are not interested in sitting in NYC traffic to get to a Major League game, there may be some good news on the horizon. According to Dan Malley, vice president of the Independent Professional Baseball League (IBL), the non-affiliated league is looking to add a team in Garden City.                 “Market research over the past year has led us to the Garden City/Central Nassau County area,” said Malley. “The Atlantic League also liked the area and at one point wanted to put a team here in one of the Coliseum projects back in about 2010”, he added.                 The IBL was founded in 2012, and the Midwestern Division will begin play this summer. The other teams are located in Cleveland, Bowling Green, Galion, Muncie and Tiffin. They have...

I’ve always said there’s two seasons in the year; football and baseball. Once the Super Bowl is over, I shift gears to focusing on prospect lists, season previews and looking forward to Opening Day. This year is a little different. Long Island, never known to be a popular winter vacation spot, is looking more like Sochi, Russia. Unless you are training to fight Ivan Drago, there’s not really a reason to be in three feet of snow. If this was January, it would be one thing. We are two week away, however, from most Long Island teams opening up there season. With no tropical storms on the horizon, the snow will likely force most seasons to be pushed back a few days. It will be difficult for pitchers to acclimate themselves to an outdoor mound immediately. Most teams have not ...

Photo Credit: Recruiting Cycle I have been posting thoughts on this site about various topics in Major League Baseball. As you can see, I am a huge Mets fan. But now that the college season is right around the corner you will not be seeing any talk about the Mets or the Hall of Fame voting.  The season will be starting at the end of the month. There are plenty of significant players ready to make some noise and put their teams on the national grid.  If you are just reading this for the first time, you can come here to read about St. Joseph’s, Farmingdale, Old Westbury, NYIT, Molloy, Dowling, Hofstra and Stony Brook.  Best of luck to the players. Have a productive and healthy season. 

There are very few things in this world that can withstand the inevitable dilution upon aging. Everything has an expiration date and–aside from the Great Pyramids of Giza–nothing remains unscathed over time. With that being  the case, it is no wonder that Baseball’s Hall of Fame is not the mystical place it was when it was founded in 1936 and continued to be for many decades. It was inevitable, the way I see it. Baseball’s fans are too diverse and opinionated to agree upon a ‘one size fits all method’. For that reason, the voting process has received a great deal of flak in recent years. If you ask me, it’s a matter of human nature. Here’s an example of why, and it was the first example that popped into my head. Player One: .260/.299/.367 car...

Last time I checked in, I criticized the Mets for consistently finding reasons to not sign free agents. At the time it was warranted; GM Sandy Alderson would set a figure that he was comfortable with signing a player for, and he would not budge from that figure. From the outside, it was unclear whether he was given orders to not overpay for any player. They finally showed that they were willing to upgrade the team. While no team was willing to commit a fourth year to Curtis Granderson, the Mets knew he could certainly be signed if the team would just extend an extra year. It was a no-brainer, considering the quality of in-house candidates and the dearth of free agents willing to come to Queens. Granderson is coming off an injury-shortened seasoned, but it was no fault of his own. Basically...

Even the captain is getting impatientPhoto is credited to Corey Sipkin/Daily News “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson. Mets fans have been forced to remain patient over the past five seasons in which they have faded as the second half has begun. The one silver lining was always the company line of, “once we have money coming off the books we will spend.” Well, the time has come for the team to put their money where their mouth is. The problem is: with what money? Is there really a light at the end of the tunnel? In regards to the team’s finances, it remains a mystery. GM Sandy Alderson announced that the payroll will remain in the $85-87 million vicinity, or roughly $100 million less than the crosstown New York Yankees. Eve...

Photo credit: Kelly O Connor Keith Couch, a 24-yard old pitching prospect for the Boston Red Sox is putting himself on the national scene  for his increasingly dominant performances on the mound. He is coming off a tremendous season in which he compiled a record of 11-3 with a 3.47 ERA. He threw 129 innings, walked only 3.0/9 IP and struck out 6.4/9 IP. Despite the Red Sox being loaded with pitching at the upper levels, and especially coming off a World Series title, there is always a need for big league ready pitching. One injury by a member of the rotation could cause an immediate need. Look for Couch to be on the radar for a promotion at some point in 2014. 1) What do you feel like you did well in 2013?I feel like I was able to establish my 2 seam fast ball for strikes more and was able...

Photo credit: BronxBaseballDaily.com The transition from college to pro ball is not always an easy one. Plenty of players have seen their production drop considerably against elite talent, and in many cases it was due to a drastic life change such as being located across the country from their home. For Dillon McNamara, the transition was made much easier by the incredibly short distance he had to travel. Staten Island to Staten Island, to be exact. “I got crazy lucky,” said McNamara. “I got to have home-cooked meal and my mother did my laundry.” He grew up in Staten Island, played at Adelphi University in Garden City and was drafted by the New York Yankees and assigned to the Staten Island Yankees. Not much changed on the field either, from college to pro ball. Aft...

AL MVP: 1) Mike Trout .323 AVG, 27 HR, 97 RBI, 33 SB, .432 OBP, .557 SLG, 10.4 WAR 2) Miguel Cabrera  .348 AVG, 44 HR, 137 RBI, 103 R, .442 OBP, .636 SLG 3) Josh Donaldson  .301 AVG, 24 HR, 93 RBI, 89 R, .384 OBP, .499 SLG, 7.7 WAR NL MVP: 1) Andrew McCutchen .317 AVG, 21 HR, 84 RBI, 97 R, 27 SB, .404 OBP, .508 SLG, 8.2 WAR 2) Paul Goldschmidt .302 AVG, 36 HR, 125 RBI, 103 R, .401 OBP, .551 SLG, 6.4 WAR 3) Clayton Kershaw 16-9 W-L, 1.83 ERA, 236 K, 0.92 WHIP, 0.4 HR/9, 2.0 BB/9, 4.46 K/BB AL Cy Young: 1) Max Scherzer 21-3 W-L, 2.90 ERA, 214.1 IP, 240 K, 0.97 WHIP, 0.8 HR/9, 2.4 BB/9, 4.29 K/BB 2) Chris Sale 11-14 W-L, 3.07 ERA, 214.1 IP, 226 K, 1.07 WHIP, 1.0 HR/9, 1.7 BB/9, 4.91 K/BB 3) Hisashi Iwakuma 14-6 W-L. 2.66 ERA, 219.2 IP, 185 K, 1.00 WHIP, 1.0 HR/9, 1.7 BB/9, 4.4 K/BB NL Cy Youn...

Photo Credit: Matt Slocum/AP For every Bryce Harper or Mike Trout that become superstars in the Major Leagues before they can legally have a celebratory drink, there are a bunch of Matt Daley types. While everyone dreams of signing a lucrative seven figure contract before their first professional game, there are people that are forced to do it the hard way. Of all those who are lingering in the minor leagues for years, most never fulfill their childhood dreams of playing in a big league uniform. Only a handful will be given the opportunity. Daley is living proof that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Growing up in Flushing, Daley was a fan of the Mets. That was during the time the team was in a renaissance period after the acquisition of Mike Piazza. The team ultimately lost to the ...

One of the things I’ll never forget about my dad was his way of motivating me to be the best baseball player I could be. Among his most common phrases was, “If you wanna be the best, you gotta beat the best!” To me, there was no doubt he was referring to Marcus Stroman when he said “the best.” His name was the one in almost every conversation regarding the best players around when I was playing. He was ahead of the competition when he was as tall as everyone, and still was ahead of it even when his height put him at a considerable disadvantage. The 5’8″ native of Medford won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 2008, which is awarded to the top baseball player in Suffolk County and followed that up by winning the Paul Gibson Award the following year which...