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There are tons
of baseball websites, and people much more devoted than I am have spent countless
hours scouring the web and putting together great collections of links. So I don't
feel compelled to do so here. But this is my list of essential
baseball sites on the web. If you find any of these links to be broken, please
email me at jay@futilityinfielder.com.
The
Starting Lineup:
Baseball-Reference.com:
Unquestionably the best online baseball encyclopedia around. Everything cross-references,
and there are tons of fun features.
BaseballPrimer.com:
A great discussion site devoted to analysis of the game from the sabermetric perspective.
BaseballProspectus.com:
Another great sabermetric site which combines solid analysis with a unique statistical
methodology.
ESPN Baseball:
The first place I check for my baseball news. The best collection of baseball
columnists on the web. Tons of stats.
Baseball
News Blog: A great distillation of baseball-related articles from a wide
variety of sources. Once in awhile my own material even pops up here.
Baseball Online
Library: Excellent source for thumbnail biographies of players, from the
Hall of Famers to the fringe.
Baseball Almanac:
A fine source for baseball esoterica: quotes, humor, ballpark info, and other
lists. You can even download a printable score card here.
BaseballStats.net:
An excellent glossary of statistics, ranging from the old-fashioned to the new-
fangled, and including some relevant historical info behind them.
Baseball Links:
Over 8,000 links broken down into several useful categories. Staggering.
CNNSI.com:
Very good stats sections, especially for fielding. Good all-time stats too.
Major League Baseball.com:
Recently revamped. Very bloated. Often frustrating. Trying too hard to be all
things to all fans. But buried in here you're likely to find what you need.
Daily Indicators
(quick links to the numbers I cite most often) and other
handy tools:
Equivalent Average/Equivalent
Runs (Baseball Prospectus)
Offensive
Winning Percentage/Runs Created (ESPN)
Extrapolated
Runs/Extrapolated Wins (Baseball Primer)
Baseball America: The best
source of minor-league stats and news.
MLBProspect.com: Excellent site which
covers minor-leaguers,
with a focus on the Top 20 prospects of each organization.
Way More
Sports Player Index: Excellent source for minor league stats of active
major-leaguers.
Other good weblogs:
Aaron's Baseball Blog:
A University of Minnesota student's intelligent stats-driven blog.
America's
Pastime: A thoughtful new blog from a passionate
fan.
Art's
Notebook: Art Martone of the Providence Journal-Bulletin covers the Red
Sox in an admirable way that even this Yankee fan can admire. Registration required.
Astros Daily:
All
Astros, all the time.
Baseball
Junkie: A sharp collection of features and weblogs by three college students.
Baseball
Musings: Former Baseball Tonight researcher David Pinto's thoughtful blog.
Big Bad Baseball: Primer refugee
Don Malcolm's outlet for serious sabermetric work and the occasional controversial
screed. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Boy of Summer: A relatively
new, smart little blog.
Braves Journal: Mac Thomason takes
it game by game for the Braves.
Cleveland Indians Report: Good
running commentary on the Tribe.
dlewis.net: Dan Lewis shares his thoughts
on the vast sporting universe.
Ducksnorts:
Geoff Young focuses on the Padres.
Exposnet: It can't be easy
being an Expos fan right now, but these guys do an adimirable job.
Four
Aces: A smart little weblog with a sabermetric bent.
Mike's
Baseball Rants: Opinionated takes on the news and numbers of the game.
Worth it alone for the Joe Morgan Chat Day analyses.
Only Baseball Matters:
I'm anything but a Giants fan, but this is a nice, smart site.
Sarah's Dodger Place: This true-blue
Dodger fan is an inspiring story.
TwinsGeek.com: Another great
site for another endangered team.
Under the Knife: Not a blog but
a mailing list with the best source on injury news and other inside scoops. This
guy gets good stuff.
Why I Like Baseball:
The world of
baseball blogs isn't entirely male. Cecilia Tan's got a very good Yankee-centric
one, focused both on the past and the present.
And
a few personal favorites:
American
Memory Baseball Cards 1887-1914: The Library of Congress has preserved
and presented over 2,000 cards from the tobacco era. Giants of the game such as
Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson and tons of obscure players are all here
in full color. The American Memory site also has great exhibits on Early
Baseball Pictures and Jackie
Robinson.
BallFourBook.com:
A fan site devoted to Jim Bouton's book.
BallFour.com: Jim
Bouton's official site.
Baseball Immortals: One fan's
very thorough alternative to the Hall of Fame, which attempts to correct the Hall's
mistakes. Offers very thorough statistics and lists of accomplishments, and of
its honorees. Another great area offers team-by-team leaders in career statistical
categories.
Berman's
Baseball Nicknames: Bert "Be Home" Blyleven, Bud "Paint It"
Black, Rolllie "Chicken" Fingers, and everybody else—an extensive, hysterical
list of Chris Berman's nicknames.
bodiaz.com: A fan's
touching tribute to the late Bo Diaz, a journeyman catcher in the '70s and '80s
who died in a freak accident in 1990.
ESPN
Fantasy Baseball: Where I waste a good portion of my time during the summer.
The Gibbs
Ballpark Page:
Lee Gibbs collects ballparks; he's been to almost 90 between the majors and the
minors, Japan, Alaska, and Puerto Rico, and plans to see 40 games this year. I'm
envious.
Mike McCann's Minor
League Baseball Page: An exhaustive list of minor leagues, going all the
way back to 1902, with charts showing the franchises of each league.
NetShrine: One fan's
low-tech virtual shrine, honoring not just the game's immortals but also its unsung
heroes. Lots of interesting essays, analysis, and interviews as well.
RobNeyer.com: The ESPN columnist's personal site.
Sports
Central: Interesting opinion and discussion forum covering not just baseball
but other major sports as well
Strikethree.com:
Original commentary and analysis from a Seattle-based crew of seamheads.
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