I'm happy to announce, for the second year in a row, the Wezen-Ball MLB Predictions Contest 2011!

If you're a Wezen-Ball reader and would like to register your 2011 MLB predictions somewhere - including team wins for all 30 clubs, postseason series, and award winners - click on over here to view the Wezen-Ball MLB Predictions 2011 contest. Just follow the instructions within the document; it shouldn't be too complicated. (Currently it's not set up to review submitted entries, but I should have that fixed in the next few days. In the meantime, trust me - I received your entry!)

The winner of the predictions contest will receive 2 Free Tickets to any 2012 baseball game*!

Sweet, right? Okay, that's not exactly accurate. Because not everyone lives near a major league (or minor league) team, and because not all ticket prices are the same, the winner will actually receive a $30 gift certificate to either MLB.com or the team of their choice. In theory, that's enough money to get two tickets to any game in any city and should be nice enough incentive for those who can't make it to a game.

So here are the basic rules and scoring details for the contest.

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My latest post is up over at Baseball Prospectus. With pitchers and catchers finally reporting, it seemed appropriate to celebrate the occasion in some way. You can see how I chose to celebrate above.

Earlier in the week, I wrote a post looking at the superheroes - Iron Man, Spider-Man, Batman, etc. - who can be found in baseball. Can you think of any other superheroes I may have missed? I had a lot of fun with this one, even though there were fewer superhero names than I thought there would be.

As always you can see my latest posts with this Baseball Prospectus RSS feed. Hope to see you over there!

I have a couple of pieces up over at Baseball Prospectus this weekend. One looks at the baseball histories of both Pittsburgh and Green Bay (in a flagrant use of the Super Bowl as a topic). The second piece is a little more fun, though. It looks at all the evidence shown in the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" to figure out exactly which Cubs game Ferris and pals attend, and to learn who exactly hit that foul ball Ferris caught.

The scene above is all that we need to figure it out (skip to 2m 17 sec if it doesn't do it for you). But to find out the details, you'll need to head on over to Baseball Prospectus.

And if you're worrying about missing any of my BP pieces, I've got something for you. I'll do my best to update this site with links to my BP pieces on a regular basis. But, for a more up-to-date way to follow my BP writing, you can bookmark my author page or subscribe to this RSS feed. Either link will be updated as I post articles.

Thanks again for reading! Now why don't you follow me on over to Baseball Prospectus for some fun Ferris Bueller trivia...

I have some pretty exciting news to share: as of this afternoon, Wezen-Ball will now be featured over at Baseball Prospectus (along with quite a few other very talented writers). I am very excited for the chance to join one of the biggest names in baseball writing, and I am very much looking forward to the opportunities - and the audience - that BP affords. Being a part of such a well-respected organization, and among such quality writers, can only help make Wezen-Ball an even better place to be.

The blog as you see it here will still exist, but mostly so that old articles (like Charlie Brown's stats and the Tater Trot Tracker) can still be found. I'll update over here occasionally, if I feel like writing about non-baseball issues or if I have something to say that doesn't quite fit at BP. I also plan to leave the occasional reminder about what you may be missing at Baseball Prospectus if you don't have it bookmarked. I wouldn't want anyone to get lost when it comes to my writing.

And, yes, Baseball Prospectus is a pay-site, so some of my blog posts will be behind the paywall. But, as a BP blogger, a higher percentage of my writing should be on the free-side of the wall than most. I'll be sure to let people know whenever a post is for subscribers only. (And don't forget - you could always subscribe yourself. You'd be getting access to a lot more quality writing than just me!)

I hope everyone here follows me over to Baseball Prospectus. I know change is weird sometimes, but I honestly think this change will be great for everyone. My time at Bloguin has been nothing short of exceptional, and I want to thank Ben, Dave, and Derek for everything they've done for me. If you're a blogger yourself and you're looking for a new host/network, I would not hesitate in the slightest to contact Bloguin. You'll be glad you did.

And with that said, we're off to BP. Hope to see you over there soon! Here's a good starting point. And don't forget, you can always find me on Twitter at @wezen_ball.

I know this is rather late notice, but I figured I should probably mention it here anyway in case it interests anyone...

Tomorrow - Saturday, January 29 - is SABR Day. It's a day where SABR chapters all across the country hold a big meeting to talk baseball and celebrate what a terrific organization SABR is. In the depths of winter, when the big news of the day is what Brian Wilson wore on George Lopez last night, it's a very satisfying distraction.

SABR Day in Milwaukee will be held tomorrow morning at 11 A.M. at Long Wong's Sports Bar (near Miller Park). The guest of honor will be Brewers GM Doug Melvin. There will also be a couple of research presentations from the group that were also presented last August at the national convention. I will be giving my Peanuts Baseball presentation at the meeting.

(Click "Read More" for more details.)

It's that time of year again, when film geeks - and those who like to pretend that they're film geeks, despite having seen "Avatar" four times in the theater - go crazy over the Oscar nominations. "How many have you seen? I've seen six already, and I'm going to see three more this weekend. Can you believe they overlooked Sean Penn again?" I can't exactly blame them. I used to be pretty crazy about the whole Oscar thing back when I saw movies regularly at the theater. So maybe I'm just jealous.

In any case, the 2011 Academy Award nominations were announced this morning, and, wouldn't you know it, ten different baseball movies were nominated! Can you believe it? It's pretty amazing. If you're unfamiliar with the baseball themes of these movies, I've provided a handy synopsis of each below (with thoughts on a few of the real nominees included - shh!). Which do you think has the best chance to win?  

"127 Hours"
It's the last week of July and the Brewers are right on the edge of contention. With clubs clamoring for the MVP bat of Prince Fielder before the trade deadline, Doug Melvin and Mark Attanasio are faced with a tough decision, which is only made tougher when a last minute bombshell is dropped.

"Black Swan"
In the world of competition softball, a driven, friendless girl pushes herself to the extreme to win the starting pitcher spot on the national team. Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis star in this dark look at the sport. 
NOTE: I don't think there's any reason to remove Natalie and Mila from this project, do you? 

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Early last week, it was announced that Major Richard "Dick" Winters had passed away on January 2. Major Winters is best known for his role in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II. "Easy Company", his comrades-in-arms during the war, would later be celebrated for their pivotal role in the war in book and movie form as the "Band of Brothers". Winters would go on to lead Easy Company (and beyond) before the war was over.

I bring this up mainly because I admired the man who grew up in small town Pennsylvania during the Depression and who went on to successfully and honorably lead his troops through such offensives as the Normandy Invasion, Operation Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge. I felt it was important to acknowledge the death of such a distinguished man.

And it's not like Winters or the Band of Brothers have nothing to do with baseball. This was Depression-era America, after all. Baseball may never have been more ingrained in the culture of the nation than at that time. Major Winters even acknowledged it in his memoirs, Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters:

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The 1980s and 1990s were an interesting time for a lot of things. Television sitcoms, for example, ranged from the brilliant in The Cosby Show and Cheers and the like, to the, um, not so brilliant in Saved by the Bell and Small Wonder. It was also the decade of D.A.R.E. and the war on drugs, with everything from diet pills to cocaine in the spotlight.

These two worlds intersected on a regular basis with the television staple, the "very special episode". Some shows that dealt with harder fare might be able to tackle the cocaine or heroin angle, but the primetime sitcom had to do the lighter stuff. And, with a family setting in nearly every '80s sitcom, that lighter fare was almost inevitably the diet pill (or caffeine pill). An elementary school-aged child growing up would be bombarded with this anti-diet pill message, seeing it in practically every one of his favorite shows at least once.

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Two quick notices, one about a league you've heard of before and one announcing a new, exciting league to follow (featuring some names much more interesting than my own)...

At the beginning of the month, I let everyone know about the battle for the postseason that my 1977 Dodgers team was waging over at Play That Funky Baseball. Only one game behind WHYGAVS' 1977 Pirates, the Dodgers hoped to take it to Pittsburgh and spring into first place.

If you had been watching the standings, or tuning into the live Tweetcast of the game, you would've seen the Dodgers blow a huge chance late in the game and go on to lose the game. In the aftermath of the blown opportunity, the Dodgers quickly fell out of contention, even with Pittsburgh's best player sidelined. The Pirates will now be hosting the Kansas City Royals in the 1977 World Series. It may just be the most positive news Royals and Pirates fans have heard in 15 years!

As for the announcement: starting last week (and, yes, I am a terrible person for not having mentioned it earlier), I am now the proud manager of the 2008 Brewers in another Seamheads Strat-O-Matic league! And, once again, I am the least of the managers involved - which is great for me, but not so much so for them.

My 2008 Brewers - chosen because, in this league, the Brewers were placed in the NL, and, really, there's only one good Brewers team since they switched to the Senior Circuit - will be facing off in the Central against Jerry Crasnick's 1990 Reds, Morgan Ensberg's 2005 Astros, and Bob Costas' 2004 Cardinals. Other managers you might recognize include Roy Firestone's 1970 Orioles, Dirk Hayhurst & Keith Olbermann's 1992 Blue Jays, John Hart's 1995 Indians (both in Strat and in real life!), Rany Jazayerli's 1977 Royals, Tim Cowlishaw's 2009 Rangers, Eric Karabell's 1977 Phillies, and Curt Schilling's 2001 Diamondbacks. You can see the full, impressive roster of managers over at Seamheads.

For some reason, the start of this Strat season has been sped up considerably. We are already 50+ games into the season and, currently, I sit one game under .500 and five games behind Crasnick's Reds. Hopefully, having a full season of CC Sabathia and his god-like performance will get me caught up soon enough.

The off-season can oftentimes feel long and cold. If you ever get that way, I recommend taking a peak at some high-quality and fun fake baseball either over at Play That Funky Baseball or the Seamheads Strat-O-Matic 50th Anniversary League. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Last week over at the Sweetspot, Rob Neyer proposed something new for players like Omar Vizquel, who are special or unique, but not exactly Hall of Fame-worthy:

The writers desperately want to do something for Vizquel, and they just can't think of anything except the Hall of Fame. Roger Maris had two great seasons, a few good ones, and in 1988 43 percent of the Hall of Fame voters voted for him. Essentially, Maris got the same support in his last year on the ballot that Jeff Bagwell just got in his first year. Don Larsen had zero great seasons, a few decent ones, and one year 53 Hall of Fame voters voted for him. Today, roughly half the Hall of Fame voters fervently believe that Jack Morris belongs in the Hall of Fame ... even though Morris, with the exception of one brief moment in 1991, was never considered a great pitcher by many of these same voters.
...
What I am proposing is a Wing of the Amazing, for players who really don't belong in the Hall of Fame because they weren't good enough, but did some things that do deserve to be celebrated.

Rob goes on to list some criteria for the Wing, including "no one-game wonders" (like Larsen), "no freak shows" (like Eddie Gaedel), and, most importantly, no Hall of Fame-worthy players who were somehow overlooked for their due honor, like Bobby Grich, Ron Santo, or Lou Whitaker.

I really like the idea. The Hall of Fame should be about celebrating the game (among other things), and "amazing" or "bizarrely unique" players like Vizquel or Jamie Moyer are certainly worth celebrating, even if they aren't quite deserving to be inducted into the Hall-proper. The problem I have with the concept, though, is that last criterion.

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