Wednesday, October 21, 2009
What typesetters know
Posted by Dave StudemanI'm almost done typesetting the statistics section of the 2010 Hardball Times Annual—over 150 pages of stats and graphs, including Defensive Runs Saved from John Dewan and other cool stuff you can't hardly get anywhere else—and I have to get something off my chest.
Isn't it weird that all the Rangers' position players with long names catch? I mean, Saltalamacchia, Teagarden, Rodriguez and Richardson—the guys who caught for Texas this year—all have last names with at least nine letters. Not a single Ranger position player at any other position has that many. In fact, the only one with more than seven letters is Josh Hamilton, and that hardly counts because it's easy to squeeze an "ilt" into a small space.
What's with that?
And what's with the Mariners' pitching staff? Jakubauskas? Rowland-Smith? Don't they know how hard they're making it for me?
Never fear. The THT Annual will be sent to the printer late next week, on time for its mid-November delivery to you. Long names and all.
Dave was called a "national treasure" by Rob Neyer. Seriously. Comments about this article can be sent to him through the miracle of e-mail.