The people in my neighborhood

One of the best things about blogging is that I’ve met a lot of smart and interesting people. Well, sort of met them in that way you meet people on the Internet. Commenters and emailers and folks like that. Even better, is that since I’ve started this blog, a handful of these folks have started baseball blogs of their own or revived blogs they already had before. In my more immodest moments it makes me feel like The Dark Knight inspiring the Sons of Batman. In reality, it’s probably more a matter of “hey, if that idiot can write a blog, so can I.” Either way, I like the results.

I link to these guys on occasion, but probably not enough given how much support they’ve given me. To rectify this, I’m going to start a semi-regular feature in which I take a brief whirl through the general ShysterBallosphere to remind folks that there’s a lot of good stuff being written out on there on the long tail. I will probably leave someone out when I run these things, but since it’s going to be semi-regular, no sweat — just shoot me an email and I’ll do my best to get to your blog next time. Anyway:

  • Our friend tHeMARksMiTh has closed up shop on his Rounding the Bases baseball blog (which covered current events) and has started a baseball history blog called Way Back and Gone. There will still be some current stuff as the feeling strikes him, but for the most part, Mark plans to look back. Among the offerings, look for a regular “This Day in Baseball History” feature.
  • Prolific ShysterBall commenter The Common Man has a blog by the same name that, while about a lot of things, often touches on baseball as well. Yesterday, for example, he offered his thoughts on the abnormally high number of ADHD drug exemptions for ballplayers. The best part: to get to those thoughts, you get to read about misbehaving royals and the surprisingly bad leadership Megatron exerted over the Decepticons. He must have gone to the Cobra Commander leadership academy.
  • Ron Rollins, who has served admirably as ShysterBall’s British correspondent, has been working admirably on Baseball Over Here, his blog about how baseball is viewed internationally (which is a bit different than saying it’s a blog about international baseball). Ron raised a good question in a recent post: How does Jerry Royster rate an invitation to Obama’s inauguration? Do Gene Garber and Glen Hubbard get to go too?
  • IIATMS is probably too big to include in a link-o-rama anymore, and my including it as a member of the ShysterBallosphere is kind of like the guy who came up with Donkey Kong taking credit for over 20 years of successful Mario games. Sure, it’s technically accurate that one inspired the other, but it’s not like anyone playing Super Mario Galaxy on their Wii knows where the little guy with the mustache came from in the first place. Be that as it may, Jason made a nice contrary point the other day in light of the Rickey/Corkey Hall of Fame vote business, the point being “If Cal and Gwynn, Babe and Christie, Joe D and Mickey, Ted and Stan, and Jackie and Sandy can’t be unanimous, why should Rickey stand above them all?” I guess my answer would be that 17 wrongs don’t make a right, but the fact remains that the sun will still rise tomorrow if Rickey Henderson is not a unanimous inductee.
  • Josh Levitt writes the blog Jorge Says No!, and one of the things I like most about it is that he runs a lot of ongoing series. Like his current one, What the Hell Were You Thinking?, which examines recent inexplicable free agent signings, beginning with Carlos Silva.
  • And finally, though Neate Sager is not properly a member of the ShysterBallosphere — he’s an actual pro who has been writing on his blog and other places a hell of a lot longer than I have — I can’t think of anywhere else to put this, so here it is: On Thursday, Neate wrote a piece for the Ottawa Sun about former Syracuse point guard Josh Wright winding up in Canada. The same day, WTVH, a television station in Syracuse runs a virtually verbatim version of Neate’s story. Though they stuck “reprinted from the Ottawa Sun” at the bottom, the byline reads “by WTVH Sports” and there is no attribution to Neate at all. Here’s Neate’s comprehensive rundown of the two articles.
  • Bloggers are often accused of being derivative and we all do our fair share of blockquoting. That said, I’ve never seen a blogger simply lift an entire story like that with essentially no attempt at giving attribution or obtaining permission. The folks at WTVH and others like them who would take the work of others and pass it off as their own had best be careful. The Sons of Batman are watching.


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    Nick
    15 years ago

    I got a momentary shock of excitement when I read “misbehaving royals” until I realized that he probably wasn’t talking about Jose Guillen and Alberto Callaspo.

    Jason @ IIATMS
    15 years ago

    A bit late in the day to comment, but a comment is a must.

    First of all, my little IIATMS blog isn’t big enough for anything.  It’s grown in its first year but that’s due in no small part to the help, contributions and linkage from the ShysterBall Universe. 

    What we all do, bloggers, commenters, etc. is all derivative.  That’s what makes it all great.  Different people with different experiences lending different perspectives on a common love.  How great is that?

    As for the “hey, if that idiot can write a blog, so can I” thought, well, that’s not too far off from my truth.  I had been contemplating it for some time but feared a full time busy job would preclude me.  Then, by chance, in the Fall of 2007, Rob Neyer dropped “ShysterBall” in a chat as one of the smaller blogs he liked to follow.  And that was that.  If he could handle a legal career and still write from his heart, well dammit, so could I.  Of course, I realized quickly that it was much harder than that and he was much better at it than I, but I still enjoy the heck out of it.

    Craig, thanks for everything.  But you know that.

    The Common Man
    15 years ago

    @ Nick

    It wasn’t this time, but think of all the fun we can have with Willie Bloomquist and Mike Jacobs come April!

    Nick
    15 years ago

    @TCM

    As a Royals fan, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

    Ron
    15 years ago

    Shyster, I just want to say thanks. Along with what Jason said, that’s what got me doing this.

    And the fact that you’ve been good enough to give us some publicity is fantastic.

    You’ve been an inspiration, and given me a lot of good advice.

    Thanks.

    Josh Levitt
    15 years ago

    Shyster,

    Once again, thanks so much for thinking of my site and linking it here. You’ve been very kind to me over the past few months with your advice and linking and for that I am grateful.

    Hope everyone enjoyed the site.

    thanks again,
    Josh
    jorgesaysno.blogspot.com

    themarksmith
    15 years ago

    I’m just glad we can continue this ridiculous capitalization thing going on. You have no idea how much it amuses me.

    Natural
    15 years ago

    I think you are thinking like sukrat, but I think you should cover the other side of the topic in the post too…