Happy Halloween from Fastpitchwest & Ballparkradio. Keep an eye out for those little folks tonight.
Photo: Maddy’s award winning pumpkin carving. Any resemblance to the editor purely coincidental. (click to enlarge)
Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Happy Halloween
Monday, October 31st, 200510,000+ Page Views For Sledgehammer22 at “2005 Rumor Central”
Sunday, October 30th, 2005It was scarcely more than a year ago, on September 15, 2005 when Fastpitchwest Forum member “Sledgehammer22” posted a note in the California fastpitch section called “2005 Rumor Central“:
“Now that the season has come to a halt and all there is left is the usual end of the year fun tourneys I ask the question………Where’s the rumors? I know there are some teams out there ready to make a run for 2005 and where do the players come from? Rumors baby…I need rumors. Who’s the Peter Gammons of the fastpitch world?“
The answer to that question might be Sledgehammer22 himself. Many know his true identity, while some do not. Whether one does or doesn’t does not seem important at this juncture. The fact is that Sledgehammer’s “Rumor Central” section has topped 10,000 page views in the past year. Fastball fans are indeed interested in the latest rumors, or developments in the world of fastball, and for California fastballers, that often means catching up on Rumor Central. The ‘hammer drops by from time to time with a choice tid bit of information, rumor, or just to stir the pot, and livens things up. As the 2005 season winds to a close, and we bide our time ’til next season, and as news, information and rumors fly about who’s going where for next season, there appears to be plenty of grist for the mill.
In the meantime, after helping to generate 10,000 page views in 2005, we’ll see if Sledgehammer22 will be back for an encore in 2006.
The Wide Wide World of Fastball, on Frappr
Saturday, October 29th, 2005The Frappr map of fastball teams, players and fans continues to grow, hitting 70 members in only its third day. One of the first to “stake a flag” was Andy McColl way down under in Australia. GHFL’s Blair Setford and a whole block of members from that hotbed of fastball, Ontario, Canada, dropped in. Al Doran, who heads up fastball’s “Holy Grail“, and mailing list, planted his flag and photo. Tom Taylor and the guys up north in BC helped “paint” the rest of the west coast, adding to those up and down the US west coast, including California, home to Fastpitchwest.com. The Fighting Illini came out in force yesterday to stake their claim. Today’s newest member is Norman Ames over in the Netherlands. Simply amazing to see how wide is this world of men’s fastball. (To “see” flags outside of North America, click their link on the list. Note also that you can click a “photos” link at the top of the page and view the photos, 9 to a page.)
Thanks to all who have taken the time to “stake a flag” showing us where you are, and especially to those who have fished out a photo or logo to go along with it. If you haven’t posted a flag, it takes just a moment — your zip code and name (or nickname if you prefer) is all that is required. Two-thirds of the postings have included photos, which we strongly encourage. There’s even a place for comments or as the young players call them, a “shout-out” (for your favorite team, for example) Remember that you may post your website address or email address if you wish, so others can reach you.
And if you need a “do-over”, just send me an email and I’ll delete your first attempt and let you start over.
Welcome aboard — to all of you.
Sonny Perkins Bumped to ASA “A” Pitchers List
Wednesday, October 19th, 2005To no one’s surprise, Sonny Perkins has been bumped up to the ASA “A” pitchers list. Sonny’s last couple of seasons have been stellar, capped off last month with the announcement of his selection to TEAM USA. Currently, he is featured on the cover of Fastpitchwest.com.
It was just September 2003 when a certain out of state ASA commissioner approved him to play in the “C” Nationals, notwithstanding the fact that California ASA Region 14 had him classified as a “B Restricted” pitcher at the time. Go figure. (That’s a lot of improvement in a couple seasons, Sonny, from “C” to “B” to “A” 😉 ) Well, regardless, the folks in So Cal know Sonny as one of the best players around, and are proud of his accomplishment in making TEAM USA. In 2005, he pitched in the ASA Major tournament and the ISC World Tournament, and has shown that he can compete with the best in the game — as a hitter, and as a pitcher.
The pitchers’ list at the ASA Region 14 website contains a note that as of October 10, 2005, the classification list is not yet complete, so keep an eye on that list before the first pitch of the 2006 season.
The “A” list is a pretty select group: Matt Barnes, Glen Davis, Tony Peeples, Phil “Sonny” Perkins, Mark Bennett Mark Higgins, Travis Price, Lonnie Brooks, and Tony Hunoff.
The “Major” list is a list of one: Bill Hillhouse, who turned in some outstanding performances in this year’s ISC World Tournament for Keating’s Fitness, who moved up from the ISC II division in 2005. Bill teaches pitching back on the east coast, runs a website, (“Houseofpitching.com“) and serves as an ISC official in his spare time. He is responsible for bringing international teams to this year’s ISC World Tournament, including the Czech Republic and Denmark. This past week, Bill was in Aruba, giving pitching clinics to the folks there. He has played a key role in helping fastball to become a truly international game.
New and Improved Al’s Fastball Archive
Monday, October 17th, 2005We are pleased to announce a “new and improved” archive for Al’s Fastball.
As many of you know, Fastpitchwest has been providing a semi-permanent home for Al’s archives, ever since former “Escribe” site went down this summer, during the ISC World Tournament. The features of the replacement archive were more limited than the Escribe site, due to limitations in the software.
The “new and improved” archive restores the two most missed features of the former Escribe site:
1) Newer items post at the top of the page, eliminating the long scroll to the bottom of the page;
2) The search engine is back, enabling readers to find old posts.
Please note that the address to send email to Al Doran remains the same, fastball@pmihrm.com
Because the new archive uses built in email address protection, if you send anything to Al’s Fastball for posting, please include your email address in the following format:
jim[at]fastpitchwest.com
jim@fastpitchwest.com
(the first one will enable people who need to contact you to see you email address, the second will show up with the “@” in the email that Al’s subscribers receive of postings to the list — even though it is obfuscated with an [EMAIL PROTECTED] when it goes up on the archive)
Flanagan Promoted by Orioles
Tuesday, October 11th, 2005Ok, it’s not that Flanagan, but the headline at ESPN did catch my eye:
BALTIMORE – Mike Flanagan was a one-time staff ace for the Baltimore Orioles. On Tuesday, he moved to the top of the baseball operations department.
The Orioles fired executive vice president Jim Beattie and promoted Flanagan to executive vice president of baseball operations.
Flanagan, who won a Cy Young Award as a member of the Orioles in 1979, previously had shared departmental duties with Beattie. He and Beattie teamed to oversee all aspects of Baltimore’s major league, scouting and development areas the last three years.
With Beattie gone, Flanagan will take over full control of the day-to-day business of the department as the team attempts to rebound from a disastrous 2005 campaign.
The Orioles were atop the American League East Division standings for more than two months before enduring a midseason collapse that cost manager Lee Mazzilli his job in early August. Sam Perlozzo took over as interim manager on August 4 and went 23-32, including just 10-18 in September.
Baltimore finished the 2005 campaign fourth in the AL East at 74-88 for its eighth straight losing season.
The 53-year-old Flanagan, who was a member of Baltimore’s last World Series-winning team in 1983 and went 141-116 in 15 seasons with the team, is a member of the Orioles’ Hall of Fame. He served as pitching coach on two occasions and was a TV analyst prior to joining the team’s front office in December 2002.
Some Comments about Comments
Wednesday, September 28th, 2005As you may have noticed, this blog, Morning Brief, and our ISC II blog, The Deuce, permit readers to post their own comments on any story posted, by clicking that little comments link below this post (the one that says “No Comments” at the moment 😉
A simple, one-time registration is required, much like that used at the Fastpitchwest Forum, where you pick a login handle and enter your email. You can remain anonymous by choosing a generic login, e.g. “fastballfan” etc. You then receive a password via email to login (which you can change to something simple the first time you log in)
If you’re like me, you probably find the login/password to be a bit of a nuisance. Why hassle with it? Well, unfortunately, there are little spam ‘bots that crawl the internet, posting advertisements and worse, so the login prevents that.
We love to hear what you think on any of the stories posted at Morning Brief, so we invite and encourage you to post your comments.
p.s. And if you’re one of those people that loses passwords easily, feel free to forward it to us, at savemypassword@fastpitchwest.com
where we’ll save it til you need it. Just be sure to add your name so we can locate it later, or send an update if you change the original password assigned.
Vote on Olympic Softball Was One Vote Short, With U.S. Delegate Abstaining
Saturday, September 24th, 2005Revisiting the earlier announcement about the elimination of Softball and Baseball from the Olympics. The vote count – – though not the identity of the voters — is in. The vote was 52 in favor and 52 against, with one abstention, the United States delegate, Jim Easton. Four of the 52 that voted against softball were quoted as being “confused”, thinking that they were voting against baseball, not softball. (See story below).
From the Softball Canada website, citing a Los Angeles Times newstory.
Alan Abrahamson, Times Staff Writer, August 27th, 2005
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles TimesSoftball’s ouster from the Olympics last month came by one vote, according to totals made public Friday, and U.S. sports officials and softball leaders expressed hope that it could be restored for the 2012 London Games.
With 105 ballots distributed for the July 8 vote in Singapore, softball needed a simple majority of 53 to stay on the Olympic program. With an unidentified delegate abstaining, the 104 votes were evenly split, 52-52, ousting the sport.
The International Olympic Committee released the vote count to International Softball Federation officials, who had made a special plea to obtain it. No names were included.
Read the readers comments, or post your own below. (“Click comments link”)
Cal Cup II Champ to Be Crowned @ Palm Springs, CA – Nov 5-6
Wednesday, September 21st, 2005Cal Cup will crown its 2005 champion at Palm Springs, CA November 5-6, 2005. Vicki Oltean and the City of Palm Springs are hosting, as part of their annual “B” and “C” fall tournaments.
Please note that Palm Springs is hosting two separate tournaments in two divisions of play, one a “B” division, the other a “C” division tournament.
There will be champs in both a “C” division and a “B” division, with
the perpetual Cal Cup Trophy awarded to the top finisher in the “C” division.
Fred Hanker’s Long Beach Black Sox are the defending Cal Cup champions, having won the inaugural event held last year at Fresno.
Interested teams should mail their $300 entry fee check to:
City of Palm Springs
c/o Vicki Oltean
401 S. Pavilion
Palm Springs, CA 92262
Please drop us an email, jim@fastpitchwest.com if your team is planning on going, so that you are added to their contact list.
Two New Fastpitchwest Forum Moderators
Wednesday, September 21st, 2005We are pleased to announce the addition of a couple new moderators to the Fastpitchwest Forum. Our goal in the coming year is to provide more information through our forum sections, and to foster discussions in those forums.
ISC II Commissioner Blair Setford, from Ontario, Canada will be moderating the ISC II forum section, so you’ll be getting ISC II info straight from the top. Blair’s posting handle is “ontariofastball”. Blair hosts a very popular fastball website of his own, http://www.ghfl.ca, for the “Golden Horseshoe Fastball League”. Lots of great stuff there.
Brett Bresnahan, webmaster of http://www.minnesotafastpitch.com will be moderating our “Midwest” regional forum section. Under the umbrella of Minnesotafastpitch.com, Brett also hosts a number of team sites. If it has anything to do with Minnesota fastpitch, chances are, Brett has the info on it.
Please take the opportunity to welcome Blair and Brett as moderators for the upcoming 2006 season, and make them feel right at home. I think you will find them both knowledgeable and helpful.
We are working to line up additional moderators for some of our other forum sections, so if you are interested, or know of someone who would make a good moderator, please email me at jim@fastpitchwest.com
For those who might be wondering, we’re in negotiations with “Sledgehammer22” to host the 2006 Rumor Mill, in view of the overwhelming popularity of his 2005 forum section. He just sailed past the 8000 page view mark the other day. We’re waiting for a call back from his agent Scott Boras.
The Fastpitchwest Forum belongs you all of you, so we hope that you enjoy them, and take the opportunity to use them, whether it’s to share information, ask a question, or just comment on whatever the topic of the day may be.