Friends and Braintrust Subscribers,

 

 

MLB

 

If you are a rabid fan of any particular team, we have just the thing for you. New MLB Team pages! These team pages have something special, personal contact. Efforts were made to not only provide fun and informative team pages, but to build community as well. This is an exciting must see. Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/bbgurull.html

 

Teams jockey for position as they fill out their pre-season rosters. Several high profile players remained unsigned, making February interesting to watch. The free agent market was so weak this year that some are claiming that the owners are colluding to keep offers low. Our own Eric Gartman reported on it. Here’s the link: http://www.baseballguru.com/archives/entries/00000102.htm

 

If you haven’t noticed it yet, we have MLB off-season updates and reports on players in foreign leagues written by our gurus each day. These are non-syndicated articles you can’t find anywhere else. And, what’s terrific about these news items is that you can post comments of your own, if you have a special insight to share with other readers. This makes for a lively and interesting experience. Please join in! Here’s the link: http://www.baseballguru.com/archives

 

 

HOF

 

Congratulations to Eddie Murray and Gary Carter for being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003. Eddie Murray was elected on his first ballot.

 

Many other deserving players remain looking in from the outside, especially from the Negro Leagues. John Holway reveals Who's In? Who's Out? And why?. Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/jholway/analysisjholway41.html

 

Sadaharu Oh was not elected this year. This should not surprise anyone, because he was not officially eligible. But, he was the focus of a lobby for him. In November, Jim Albright mailed Bud Selig and the other members of the HOF board a copy of the case for Oh, which appears on our web site. He enjoyed all of the material we sent him and said he would share it with his colleagues in baseball. You can read a copy of his response letter to us. The link is in the middle of the baseballguru.com homepage. Here’s a direct link to the material Bug Selig read: http://baseballguru.com/ctomarkin/analysisctomarkin07.html

 

If after reading the strong case for Sadaharu Oh, you want to vote for him yourself, you can! Here’s the link: http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/veterans/contact.htm

Minor Leagues

This month Mike McCann shares some ideas of what you can be doing baseball wise during the off-season.  Keep in mind, pitchers and catchers report pretty soon, so that should get everyone pretty excited as well. Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/bunko/analysisbunko14.html

Kevin Saldana explains the difference between Semi-Pro and Minor League Baseball Here is the link: http://baseballguru.com/ksaldana/analysisksaldana02.html

Pro Yakyu

 

New this month, Japanese team pages! It’s an exciting addition to the Japanese Insider. Each team has an entire section devoted to them. Here are some of the interesting features:

·           To build community, there is a new live chat room, where each team has one hour set aside for fans to meet. Here is a link to the schedule: http://baseballguru.com/chatschedule.html. Also find links to the Guru’s message boards and newsgroups you can join that are devoted to each team.

·           There is a poll asking whether each team will make the Japan Series, Lose in the series, Fall short, or just plain stink. Your vote counts, but please do not vote more than once for any team.

·           To make you feel like you are there, there is the current weather at each team’s stadium along with forecasts, local time, a photo of the ballpark and team contact information.

·           To give you a sense of history, there are awards pages detailing MVP, Rookie of the Year, Sawamura winners, Gold Glove and Best Nine Awards for each team.

·           Also find links to team depth charts, stats, player salaries, fan forums, game schedules, team history, past stars and how to see a game.

·           In some cases, links to hard to find fan sites in English were added as well. Enjoy!

 

In time, more will be added to this work in progress, but it is really terrific already, so come take a look.

Negro Leagues

The Hall of Fame did not elect any Negro League players this year. Jud Wilson, the all-time batting king at .366 remains on the sidelines. So does the great slugger Mule Suttles. John Holway reports in his “Cooperstown: Who's In? Who's Out? And why?” article.

 

Last year for black History month, John Holway saluted different a Negro League player each day with a thumbnail bio or interesting snippet of history. This year, they are available to read as a single diary. Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/jholway/analysisjholway06.html

 

 

Baseball Analysis - Some Highlights

 

Joe Connor exposes ten myths about spring training. Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/articles/analysisjoeconnor02.html

 

Bart Ewing explains why I-Rod threw the panic into AL only fantasy leagues. Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/barte/analysisbarte02.html

 

 

Introducing Herb Rogoff's famous ONEMOREINNING monthly magazine!

It is now available online for the first time. Copies of all previous issues are in the Hall of Fame and you can read select articles on BaseballGuru.com. The issues mostly deal with historical looks at the game. The series is sure to become a collectors item. Each issue includes several articles with artistically laid out black and white photos.

From the February 2002 Issue: HeavenlY MacK

From past issues:

The suspension game – About Ty Cobb. Here’s the Link: http://baseballguru.com/omi/ty_cobb.htm

How would you have liked to have seen a World Series that featured Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, George Sisler, Rogers Hornsby, Dave Bancroft, Carl Mays, Rabbit Marranville, Jim Thorpe, Rube Marquard, Heinie Zimmerman, Frankie Frisch, Wally Schang, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Zach Wheat, Eddie Collins, and Harry Heilmann? Impossible you say, it never could have happened! Well, it did & you could have seen it if you had lived in Attleboro & North Attleboro in 1919-1920. It all came about because of Dan O’Connell and local businessmen with big, big bankrolls. Here’s the link to THE “LITTLE WORLD SERIES” : http://baseballguru.com/omi/littleworldseries.htm

BLACK MIKE:TRIUMPHANT – About Lou Gehrig and “Black Mike” Cochrane. Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/omi/black_mike.htm

1OO GREAT BASEBALL NICKNAMES – Real! Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/omi/nicknames.htm

How Do I Subscribe to One More Inning?

It's $18.00 a year (12 issues) including postage. Email us: with “BaseballGuruOMI” as the subject. Include your name, email address and mailing address. 

 

Fantasy Baseball

 

The Fantasy Insider is greatly expanded this year. It will definitely make your season more enjoyable. Here’s the link for details: http://baseballguru.com/bbinside.html

 

One cool new item is the introduction of new MLB Team pages. This is an exciting must see and will make this season much more fun to watch. Fans rejoice! Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/bbgurull.html

 

Another is the new chat room software that was added for people to use for league meetings and to discuss the team they like. See the chat scehdule to find out when topic specific chats will be held and to set aside times for your private use. Otherwise, drop in anytime and see who’s talking about what.

 

Through our partner at Fantasy Baseball Headquarters, you can now receive all of the latest player news in your e-mail box every day for only 99 cents a month! Whenever any major news occurs, receive special alerts immediately. It is totally customizable, including AL or NL-only news. Each player mentioned even has a hot link taking you to his profile and stats. Don't wait until after you've drafted your team, you can change your preferences any time. Here's a sample email Here’s the link to sign up: http://www.fantasybaseballheadquarters.com/baseball/email/index.cfm?referrer=209

Also, don’t miss this years Fantasy Baseball Challenge - There are cash prizes! Make it your favorite new fantasy game.

Bart Ewing, our fantasy baseball guru, has been answering your emails daily. Rely on him to help you prepare for your drafts and answer trade questions during the season. Please tell him the particulars of the league your playing in, such as the size of the league, AL or NL, single/combined, categories if rotisserie, keeper league etc. so that he can help you in one email.

 

For a unique way to prepare for this years draft, that will really give you a feel for the differences in the quality of the players, get a copy of this seasons players cards from the Guru’s game. Each card has his dollar value on the card as well as his simulation characteristics, which will be valuable to you in evaluating player performance. Put the players into piles by position and see how you would draft if you could take the players into your hands.

• Here’s a link to the game: http://baseballguru.com/bbboardgame.html
• Here’s a link to the free cards archive for samples: http://baseballguru.com/nya1996.htm
• Here’s a link to the 2002 card set: http://baseballguru.com/c2002des.html

 

If an online computer simulation is more your speed, see the 2002 simulation with complete stats! Here’s the link: http://baseballguru.com/bbguru2.html

 

Have unfair trades or other suspicious activity in your league tainted your fantasy baseball experience?  The Fantasy Baseball Headquarters has a service that takes all of the headaches away from the commissioner in your league.  It is called the Commish Services.  The Commish Services will not keep the daily standings and statistics in your league, but will be available to resolve any disputes that may arise.  Unfair trades can now be a thing of the past and let you enjoy your fantasy baseball experience again.  Visit http://www.thomasgeorge.com/baseball/commish_intro.cfm for all the details.  At about $5 per team, it’s one service no league should be without.

 

Finally, rookies, sleepers and players to watch in 2003 have been added to the newly expanded fantasy insider. Our picks last year did extremely well because we tend to highlight the safest, surest successes. Peter Gammons tends to go deeper into the list, as since we respect his opinion, we linked to him as well. Here’s the link to the recent update: http://baseballguru.com/bbinside3.html

 

 

 

Trivia

 

Mike Attiyeh added lots of new material to his mailbag by answering your trivia questions. Guru’s of other topics have been doing the same. Here’s where you can read the latest: http://baseballguru.com/bbstory.html

 

 

The Guru’s Famous Game

If you’ve never played the game before, you can print out the instructions from the Free Cards Archive. If you want to learn more about the game, here’s the link to the main page: http://baseballguru.com/bbboardgame.html

 

You can support BaseballGuru.com with very little effort…

 

The Baseball Guru offers loads of original content and does not charge any subscription or membership fees. Do your part to help keep the site up and running by buying all of your books and CD’s through The Guru’s Amazon Affiliate Store instead of directly through Amazon. You get the same prices and service but also help keep baseballguru.com up and running. Please use the search box on any page. It’s much appreciated.

 

Here's the link: http://baseballguru.com/outlet.html

Keep on visiting and tell your friends about the most interesting baseball site on the web!


Sincerely Yours,

Craig Tomarkin (the Guru, webmaster and editor)
BaseballGuru.com


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