Vance Worley a nice move by the Twins

After trading Denard Span to the Nationals earlier in the off season, it seemed rather odd that the Minnesota Twins would also trade his replacement, Ben Revere. However, the Twins improved their present rotation with Vance Worley in the deal and also received a decent prospect in Trevor May. With the myriad of problems the Twins had last season, the pitching was the largest problem and Worley should be a nice improvement.

To be honest, Revere for Worley straight up would have been a good deal for the Twins. To get May in the deal as well is a bonus. You might not agree from casually looking at Worley's statistics for 2012. A 6-9 record with a 4.20 ERA and 1.511 WHIP hardly seems like an improvement for the Twins who gave up more hits as a pitching staff in 2012 than any other American League team. The Twins also finished next to last in runs allowed and homers allowed and were dead last in strikeouts.

But sometimes you have to go deeper than those surface stats to see the bigger picture. The linked article at the top of this post indicated that Worley battled most of the year with a bone chip in his elbow. The chip was removed in a September operation that ended Worley's season. If you look closely at Worley's numbers, you can see the effect of the injury in his pitching.

For example, His velocity was down slightly and his slider went from being a very good pitch for him in 2011 to being terrible in 2012. His fastball also went from 10.2 runs above average in 2011 (7.3 according to PitchF/X) to -0.6 in 2012 (-3.1 for PitchF/X). Clearly, the elbow problem had to figure into some of the loss of effectiveness in those pitches.

The clearest indicator of the problem came with how he fared against left-handed batters. In 2011, he held left-handed batters to a triple slash line of: .201/.271/.299. Those numbers went silly in 2012 and against those same sided batters, his triple slash line was: .312/.386/.462.

One last indicator of how the injury affected his pitching: In 2012, batters across the board had better plate discipline against Worley last season. During his cup of coffee season in 2010 and his larger season of 2011, batters would swing at 28 percent of Worley's pitches out of the strike zone. That number fell off to 26.4 percent in 2012. It seems pretty clear that Worley was not as able to fool batters last year as he did the year before.

Even so, Worley's season was not quite as bad as it looked. His ERA was 4.20 but his FIP was 3.85. His xFIP and SIERA were also lower than his actual ERA. Some luck had to be involved too as his BABIP rose to an extremely high .340 after finishing at .283 the season before. Also consider that in all nine of Worley's losses, the Phillies scored two runs or less.

What should we expect from Vance Worley in 2013? His strikeout rate should remain nearly the same. His 7.2 rate per nine in that category was almost a full strikeout less than his 2011 rate. But that will be offset from not pitching to pitchers every nine at bats. His three-plus walks per nine should improve as the Twins really emphasize that aspect. His OPS against at home last year was a ghastly .861 compared to .739 on the road. With friendlier dimensions at Target Field, those numbers should improve.

The key for the Twins will be how well Worley bounces back after his surgery. If his pitches return to the bite of 2011, then they will have made one heck of a deal. But even if he pitches to his 2012 numbers, which seems hardly likely, he will be better than three of the five rotations spots the Twins were throwing out there last season.

Fun with Randy Choate

The Cardinals have signed the ultimate LOOGY and got Scrabble a playmate. Randy Choate is a Cardinal. And not only is the 37 year old going to be the other "left-handed specialist" for the St. Louis club for 2013, his contract is for three years.

Now how can you call Choate the ultimate LOOGY? After all, there was Tony Fossas and Graeme Lloyd and Alan Embree that came before Choate. But Choate has taken things to the extreme. How so? How does this grab you? Of all the pitchers in history that have pitched in 475 or more games--and there have been 197 of them all told--none have pitched less total innings than Randy Choate's 309.

"But, William," you might ask, "a lot of those guys pitched in more games, right?" Well, yes, that's right. But it doesn't end there. All of those 197 pitchers and their innings pitched and games were moved over to a spreadsheet. Then the innings pitched were divided by the games. And of all those 197 pitchers, only one other pitcher had fewer innings pitched per outing.

Mike Myers pitched from 1995 to 2007 and averaged .613 innings per outing. Randy Choate has averaged .649 innings pitched per outing. So you could call Myers the king perhaps. But Randy Choate is right there.

But it goes beyond even that. Take Randy Choate's 2012 (Please!): Choate became the only pitcher in baseball history that pitched in more than 75 games in a single season and compiled less than 40 total innings. He actually pitched 80 times and 38.2 innings.

And there is more. Randy Choate is the only pitcher in history who made at least 80 appearances in a season and compiled less than 45 innings pitched. And he has done it twice! There was last season and he also did it in 2010.

But there is a reason, perhaps, why Choate continues to make a decent living. Of all the 197 pitchers who have more than 475 outings, none of them have given up less hits and less homers than Randy Choate. He has made up for the hit stat a bit by giving up too many walks in his career, but even so, that is pretty impressive.

Except Randy Choate is not impressive. His fastball zips in there at 86 MPH. His slider at 76 MPH is slower than most pitchers' curves. Even so, his career OPS allowed against left-handed batters is .563. For his career, left-handed batters have batted .201 with a .278 on-base percentage. His work against lefties would compare to a 68 OPS+. That's pretty amazing.

And yet, batters from the right side have gotten on base against him at a .404 clip. That kind of split has created what he has become. And what he has become is a guy who only faces lefties and if he ever faces a right-handed batter, it is by accident. 52 batters got that pleasure in 2012 and reached base at a .474 clip.

That is Randy Choate in a nutshell. He is the ultimate "left-handed relief specialist." And while people snicker at the longevity of his career and the slop he throws up there, he makes a very good living just the same and really does have the last laugh..

Why so many bad hitters become hitting coaches

The thought about hitting coaches has been rolling around inside the noggin for quite a while and was crystallized last night at the news the Cardinals were seeking to make Bengie Molina their assistant hitting coach. Molina played thirteen years and was not a terrible hitter. Molina, one of the slowest players ever to play baseball even hit for the cycle once while visiting Fenway Park. But Molina had several flaws. First, he was allergic to walks. Second, he hit into a lot of double plays. These batting flaws made him a valued catcher who could hit a little bit. Now he is going to coach hitting.

Think about some of the more famous hitting coaches. There is Rudy Jaramillo, most recently of the Cubs and the longtime guru of hitting for the Rangers. Jaramillo played three seasons in the minors and finished with a career there of .679. Kevin Long, the respected hitting coach of the Yankees, played eight years in the minors and finished his career there with a .710 OPS. He hit a wall in Triple-A where he compiled an OPS of .595 in 471 plate appearances.

In fact, other than Mark McGwire, few hitting coaches could hit their own way out of a paper bag. So why then do they get where they are?

The most obvious reason is that great hitters get rich while they are playing and have no need to coach once they are done. This is a relatively modern phenomenon. No players got really rich before the Marvin Miller days and even the good ones would hang around the game. But say you make $100 million in your career? There is no need to coach then, is there?. Wade Boggs tried it for a year with the Rays. That was it.

And so the bulk of your coaches come from the rank and file baseball lifers. Kevin Long has been around forever as has Jaramillo. But can you be a good hitting coach if you couldn't hit yourself? Yes, well probably. It is often easier to see flaws in someone else than it is to feel your own body screwing up. Baseball lifers have been around coaches for years and pick up things along the way. So it makes sense from that perspective.

But it seems to be unique with baseball. For example, in real life, you wouldn't go to learn piano from someone who couldn't play the piano. Apprentices have long studied under masters. Sure, the apprentice can someday far outshine the master when gifted. But that has been the way it has worked for ions.

But in baseball, the coaching of millions of dollars of batting talent is left to guys who had no talent of their own. It's just weird. Of course, there are many experts that wonder if coaches have any positive or negative effect on their teams anyway. Kevin Long's prize pupil, Curtis Granderson, made Long look like a genius in 2011 but a dunce in 2012. That's baseball and players go in funks and on streaks no matter what a coach may do. At least that is what some people say.

Once the dust settles and teams fully hire their coaching staffs, we'll rate the teams according to the career of their hitting coach. Suffice it to say McGwire will probably top that list. But until then, let's leave you with some Twitter musings on where this post started. Say Bengie Molina coached his hitters on the way he played. What would that sound like? Maybe something like this:

Bengie Molina as a hitting coach: "You think hitting Kershaw is tough? Try doing it with fingers bent like pretzels."

Bengie Molina as a hitting coach: "Don't hit a line drive to an outfielder, cuz then they can throw you out at first base."

Bengie Molina as a hitting coach: "Shoot, I framed more strikes for my pitcher than I ever took in my life."

Bengie Molina as hitting coach: "Don't worry about that plate discipline crap. As long as you swing and miss less than 10%, you're fine."

Bengie Molina as hitting coach: "Being in tip top shape is overrated. Look at me! I played thirteen years."

Bengie Molina as a hitting coach: "Hit the ball on the ground. You can make two outs for the price of one and keep your pitcher in rhythm."

Bengie Molina as a hitting coach: "Swing at everything. Be aggressive."

Hanson just adds to the Angels' rotation question marks

The Angels of a year ago went into the season with their rotation feted as the strength of the team. Yes, they went out and got Pujols, and no one knew Trout was going to explode the way he did. The rotation was what impressed everyone. Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, C.J. Wilson and Ervin Santana were considered a formidable top four and Jerome Williams was a cut above for a fifth starter. But the rotation did not work out as most expected.

Weaver was as good as ever, but Haren had health problems and was not as effective after the early part of the season. Wilson seemed rather ordinary for most of the season and Santana struggled early and often in the season. Jerome Williams could not stay healthy. And even Zack Greinke picked up late in the season could not help the team reach the playoffs in what has become a very tough division.

With Haren, Santana and Greinke all gone this off season, the Angels needed to rebuild a bit and Tommy Hanson ended up being their target. Knowing the Angels, they might not be done working to improve themselves, but Hanson was a pretty bold statement. After all, Hanson is only 25 years old and started his career with three straight seasons with a WHIP of under 1.2.

But Hanson adds another layer of question marks. He did not have the same sort of season for the Braves last season. His WHIP ballooned to 1.454 and for the first time in his career, he gave up more hits than innings pitched. He also gave up home runs at an alarming rate.

The Angels really did not give up much to get Hanson. Jordan Walden will cross the river to get baptized in someone else's pond. He joins an already deep bullpen for the Braves. But he had lost his closer role to Ernesto Frieri and it was apparent that the Angels did not trust him on the mound.

Knowing the little return the Braves allowed themselves to unload Hanson, you have to wonder about the pitcher the Angels are now counting on as the third guy in their rotation. The real big deal you notice right off the bat with Hanson is that he has lost three miles per hour on his fastball since 2010. The loss of velocity was shown across all of his pitches. Combine those facts with one strikeout per nine less in 2012 compared to 2011 and you see a few flags fly up.

From this perspective, the Angels have too many question marks in the rotation behind Weaver. Wilson just doesn't often seem that impressive and his numbers for the Angels were just a tick above ordinary. There are red flags with Hanson. Garrett Richards is pegged as number four and has not blown anyone away in either the high minors or in his two cups of coffee. Round out the thing with Jerome Williams and his hard sinker.

The good news is that the Angels have not given up much to get Hanson. But the not so good news is that Hanson is not someone to be overly excited about either. There are only three possibilities here. Either Hanson was not healthy and can get his velocity back. Or he is still not healthy. Or, finally, that at twenty-five, we've already seen the best of what Hanson has had to offer. The Angels are hoping that the first possibility is the one that they get.

One Fan's Hall of Fame Ballot

The BBWAA released the official ballot for the 2013 Hall of Fame today and by now you have all seen it and have read a dozen or more responses. This is your lucky day because you have now stumbled on one more opinion. And no, your host here does not have the privilege of actually casting a ballot. But, yes, there are strong opinions here on what should be the outcome and what we all know will be the outcome.

The moral majority of baseball writers have undoubtedly voted in a PED user into the HOF already. They have also voted for a pitcher who admitted for years that he threw an illegal pitch because it gave him an edge and even wrote a book about it.

Is there a wish here that the steroid era had never happened? Yes. It is a permanent stain that cannot be cleansed. But it happened. And there were a majority of players that used. Even today, there are people getting away with methods that might be spurious to give themselves an edge. The truth is that if Tris Speaker or Ty Cobb could have done something to get an edge, at least one of them would have done so if they thought they had a reasonable chance of getting away with it.

And so the solution for this block of writers is to make a sham of the Hall of Fame by keeping most of the best players of a generation out of Cooperstown. And until they die off of old age (hopefully in the most peaceful of all ways), we are stuck with these annual Mother Superiors putting Barry and Mark in the corner with dunce caps.

This writer will never give in either. There is a stubbornness on this side just as strong as there is on the other side. The trouble is that the other side holds all the marbles. The pen used to be mightier than the sword. But the keyboard? Maybe not.

Okay, enough with the verbal gymnastics. Get to the ballot already, right? Okay, okay. So let's get this done. The real voters get ten slots, right? So here is one through ten:

1. Barry Bonds - The best player of his generation
2. Roger Clemens - The best pitcher of his generation (yes, Pedro had a better peak)
3. Tim Raines - The second best lead off guy of his generation
4. Mike Piazza - The best offensive catcher ever.
5. Jeff Bagwell - A no brain pick
6. Craig Biggio - The on-base machine
7. Mark McGwire - Not just a one trick pony.
8. Larry Walker - Wrote about his case last season.
9. Rafael Palmeiro - The numbers are there, man.
10. Sammy Sosa - Can't stand the guy, but he has a case.

Just missed:

• Fred McGriff - Will always be a just missed.
• Don Mattingly - Will always be a just missed.
• Edgar Martinez - Only because there was no more room. Would vote him next year.
• Curt Schilling - No more room at the inn. In a future vote.
• Jack Morris - Do we really have to talk about this?
• Dale Murphy - The Don Mattingly of the previous generation.
• Lee Smith - They don't put previous record holders into that book of world records.
• David Wells - Very good. Not good enough.
• Bernie Williams - Just not enough.
• Kenny Lofton - Lots of good stuff in his numbers.

The Rest. Thanks for the memories, but no need to hang around: Sandy Alomar, Jr., Jeff Cirillo, Royce Clayton, Jeff Conine, Steve Finley, Julio Franco, Shawn Green, Roberto Hernandez, Ryan Klesko, Jose Mesa, Reggie Sanders, Aaron Sele, Mike Stanton, Todd Walker, Rondell White and Woody Williams.

Stars could have aligned to make Brian Wilson a Yankee

After the Yankees learned that Soriano had opted out of his contract. And if Mariano Rivera had decided not to return for another season, the Yankees might have felt insecure about the back end of their bullpen. And if Brian Wilson was non-tendered by the Giants as has been speculated, the stars might have aligned to bring Brian Wilson to New York. Can you imagine?

What makes thinking about such a scenario so delicious is that the Yankees have a strict appearance code. Consider poor Darnell McDonald who the Yankees picked up after he was waived by the Red Sox. The dread-locked, bearded McDonald had to remove all of those dreads and the beard to join the Yankees. For his efforts, he received four plate appearances and appeared in four total games before disappearing into oblivion.

Now imagine Brian Wilson getting his best offer to pitch for the Yankees. The first thing he would have to do is shave that thing on his face. And he would once again look like this guy:

What would be the benefit to Wilson if such a scenario had happened?

• His reputation might once again have to be built on...you know...his pitching instead of his "costume." 
• He would save a ton of money on black hair dye.
• Half of baseball fans in the world would stop thinking of him as some kind of clown.
• He would no longer make watercolor paintings after eating tomato soup.
• Thousands would cheer and it would be an attention-seeker's bonanza to have a public ceremony in cutting that thing.
• A half a dozen parody Twitter accounts would be lost and wouldn't know what to do with themselves.

Now sure, the beard has become a bit of a crutch for Mr. Wilson and it might be a bit tough to adjust to life without it. And he might not be willing to do it. Daniel Rathman, baseball writer and Twitter bud, said, "I honestly think he would refuse to sign with the Yankees purely because of that."

Maybe so. But what a spectacle it could have been. The danger of writing this piece, of course, is that some Giants fans might be offended. And apologies if that is so. But, to be sure, a couple of World Series titles in the last three seasons should take some of that edge off.

We hated Marvin Miller

Marvin Miller died this week thirty years after he stepped down as the leader of the baseball players' union. The news is more than several hours old and many have already written of Marvin Miller's contributions to the game that we see today. For most of you readers here, these articles all over the Web are history lessons. But some of us lived through those days. And when Marvin Miller began appearing in the sports pages every day, we hated the man. We truly hated him.

We did not understand, of course. Like most great leaders of any generation, these leaders shake up the status quo and right wrongs despite obstacles. But back then, all we knew was that this man...this one man was the reason that our cherished game was interrupted on three occasions during his tenure.

For a game that is rooted in tradition and for the constant flowing and rhythm of the seasons, the sharp break in those rhythms were jarring. In 1972, the season suddenly stopped for thirteen days. And then in 1976, Spring Training was interrupted and the season threatened. Things kept getting worse. In 1981, the season stopped for seven weeks. The result was a sham of a post season with cockamamie rules determining the playoff structure. What was happening to our game!?

And of course, most of us believed that Marvin Miller was the villain. Baseball was sacrosanct and the team owners wouldn't lie to us. Fans are not unlike all other people that want to believe the best of those in power. Heck, even the Supreme Court ruled against Curt Flood. The Supreme Court doesn't mess things up. They were the ultimate in logic and the bastion of the American way of life.

And Marvin Miller came to the players' union via the steelworkers' union. We did not trust those guys. Wasn't the big unions run by the mafia? Why would those steelworkers complain about making three times more than our dads were making? These were the pictures we were painted and most of us bought it.

The game had always been what it had always been. Youngsters break into the game. Some become stars. The elite became superstars. Other than the year that Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax held out for more money, no one thought about the condition of the players. The game had stood the test of time just as it was. If it wasn't broke, why did it have to be fixed?

Those players were getting paid to play a kids' game. Shouldn't they be satisfied with that? We would give a kidney to be in their shoes.

We knew that the superstars made good money. It was a big deal when Mickey Mantle made $100,000. But what about those that weren't superstars? When Dick Schofield was interviewed here last week it was noted that he played nineteen years in the big leagues. All of his years combined would not equal in pay what the least paid player in baseball makes now in one season. Schofield did better in the last few years of his career after Miller's influence started to be felt. But even so, a minimum salaried player today makes as much as Schofield did in his best paid season in just three and a half weeks.

But it wasn't just the lack of revenue sharing the owners allowed the players. It was a lack of any participation in their own destiny. The reserve clause upheld by the Supreme Court in the Flood case meant that the owners owned their players. They controlled them so completely that a player had no option but to accept his fate. Most workers of the twentieth century at least had at will work rules where we could quit to go work for somebody else. The players couldn't do that.

And when Marvin Miller started to win for his players, oh, gosh, the anguish that was felt around fans of baseball. Rich teams would get the best players and the small markets would get screwed. The game was going to go to hell in a hand basket.

Except it did not turn out that way. Well, some of you might want to believe that the system is unfair to the small market teams if you want. But there have always been rich teams and they always got the best talent. They signed the best high school kids. There has always been a caste system when it comes to baseball teams. Do you honestly think the Yankees won all those championships from 1950 to 1961 because they had good managers? No. They had the best players.

History has shown us that the process Marvin Miller started has not killed the game. Instead, the game is richer now than ever and everyone is making buckets of money. Miller's efforts gave the players options. He had to compromise and let those options wait for six years before they could be made manifest, but after that, the player could make the best deal going forward.

And those best deals have led to a thriving off season of interest that continues to build excitement for fans every season to see what happens.

Marvin Miller deserves every accolade that history has taught us about his contributions to the game. He deserves every anguished article that he fell one vote short of induction into the Hall of Fame. But history teaches this all to us in hindsight. But during those years, perhaps only Richard Nixon had a worse image. We hated the guy and we did so with a passion. He was the scapegoat for the shocking dams in the great river of baseball. It is at least fitting that he lived long enough for most of us to change our minds.

Semi-annual post on BJ Upton, the head scratcher

There seems to have been two concurrent and recurrent posts heading into the tenth season of writing this blog. The first was already avoided when Big Papi signed early with the Red Sox. That made this year's "Should the Red Sox sign him," post unnecessary. The second is a yearly or every other year pondering of B.J. Upton. Perhaps, after the year that his brother, Justin, put up last year for the Diamondbacks, he will become the third one. But let's worry about that later. First, let's ponder Melvin Emanuel Upton, the free agent.

Upton has played for eight years already for the Tampa Bay Devil and not devil Rays. And he is heading into his year 28 season. He was the second pick of the first round of the 2002 draft behind only the Pirates and Bullington. In nearly a thousand plate appearances in A ball, Double-A and Triple-A in 2003 and 2004, he tore up his leagues and was Baseball America's #2 prospect in 2004.

Upton got a cup of coffee with the Rays as a nineteen year old kid in 2004 and held his own. But he was still too raw so he played all of 2005 and most of 2006 in the minors and got another taste of big league life in 2006. That time, he struggled.

Even so, the Rays were ready for him in 2007. He was still an infielder then, or so the Rays hoped. He played 48 games as the Rays second baseman in 2007. But the move was already begun to move him to the outfield and 78 games were played out there.

And in 2007, it seemed a new superstar had emerged. He finished that season with an .894 OPS and a .386 wOBA. His .393 BABIP in 2007 should have warned us, but we didn't think as strongly about such things back then. All most of us unlearned writers knew was that he hit 24 homers and stole 22 bases and looked like a star.

He still looks like a star. But he hasn't really lived up to 2007 ever since. His OPS fell 110 points in 2008. It fell another 98 points in 2009. His power evaporated and he became a speed player who struck out too much. The last three years have leveled off somewhat for Upton. He has settled into the .750 range in OPS the last three seasons and his wOBA in the .320 to .330 range. His fielding and his base running were valuable. But he never did become that superstar.

Is that possibility still in there for Upton? Geez, every time you look at the guy, you just have to think so. Some players simply look more physically gifted than others. We notice that stuff as far back as grade school. The tools all seem there...the speed, the power in the bat...the glove.

But now he is a free agent and teams have to take a gamble on what he could be because his price tag will be higher than what he has been thus far. He'll be slightly cheaper than Bourn. But will he be the better buy of the two?

And you know what? For like the sixth time in the history of this blog, the answer is yes. Take Upton's 81 games out of the cavern in St. Pete and put them in Philadelphia or in Atlanta and you might have an entirely different player. Saying that, his career splits are nearly identical at home and on on the road. Hmm...

There are other annoying little tidbits. Upton had a .438 OPS last season against power pitchers. .438. Let that sink in a second. You can kill Upton late in the game with a power arm out of the bullpen. His OPS in the seventh inning in 2012 was a minuscule .377 and was only .554 in the eighth inning. In both of those innings, he struck out more than thirty percent of the time.

And though Upton's homer total rose to a respectable 28 in 2012, his plate discipline disappeared. For his career, Upton has only swung at 23.7% of pitches out of the strike zone. In 2012, that rose to 30.7%. And that is the conservative PitchF/X stats. Fangraphs has him at 32.7%. His swinging strike percentage of 14.9% was easily the highest of his career after averaging 10.9% for his career.

And both major stat sites have shown his defense to have deteriorated some this past season. Baseball-reference.com has never rated him as high defensively as Fangraphs has. But in this case, after watching so many of his games, Fangraphs seems more correct there. The guy can power glide with the best of them.

There is another troubling stat. Upton struggles against power pitchers, but he is the most successful against the fastball. He does not have a positive value against any other pitch a pitcher throws him. It would be interesting to see statistics on what power pitchers threw him. Was he sitting dead red and flailed away at their off speed stuff?

So yeah. Here we are again with BJ Upton. Once again, there is a lot of head scratching wondering if he will ever become the player we all thought he would be. Or is his game forever doomed to be flawed as pitchers exploit his weaknesses with him unable to adjust? This time, a team will have to shell out a lot of dough to find out.

One Fan's favorite Twitter Follows

As a public service to you readers here at the FanDome, it felt appropriate to give you a list of this Fan's favorite Twitter follows. Naturally, the best Twitter follows are those that also follow you back. After all, it is hard to have a one way conversation.  There are others worth following like baseball beat reporters and players if you like that sort of thing. But they never follow anyone besides themselves. So you can go find those on your own.

Many of this list are smart, passionate baseball fans. Some write for other sites and some are just fans. But everyone on this list has been a joy to converse with, clown around with and just generally great to hang out with from time to time on Twitter. Some may be sarcastic and snarky. Others are always classy. But each is worth you following them too. So here is the list not in any order of preference. Enjoy.

• @NavinVaswani_  - Navin was the first baseball writer who ever followed back. He is a terrific writer and writes occasionally for NotGraphs. Loves hockey and baseball and all things sports in Toronto.
• @m_weber  - Michael Weber is a multi-media journalist who used to write about the Rays. He currently produces the five o'clock news at WTSP in St. Pete.
• @BryanMcwilliam - Bryan is a sports journalist and personal trainer. He is another early hookup made on Twitter.
• @sgwell - Stephen Greenwell is a reporter and blogger in Rhode Island.
• @C70 - "The Godfather" of St. Louis Cardinals bloggers. Daniel Shoptaw is the founder and first president of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and United Cardinal Bloggers. He has become a good friend and a real nice guy.
• @baseballjourney - Eric Bynum is a baseball fan and writer who teaches English in SK.
• @DJAubain - Daniel Aubain wrote about fantasy sports. Has hung up his writing hat for a while. Great guy. Better husband and father.
• @jasonbaseball - Jason Hunt writes for @FakeTeams. He is a fan of the A's who is married to a Cubs fan. That must be interesting.
• @AaronJSomers - Aaron is the Editorial Director of Fansided's baseball side of things. Used to write for his own site. Great friend and persistent encouraging presence for this Fan.
• @TDReport - John Saban is the writer for The Diamond Report and runs a great site there.
• @AaronMcGallegos - Aaron was transplanted to the Toronto area and though he is not a sports tweeter, is a great guy who has been enjoyed on Twitter.
• @MnkysThrwngDrts - MJ Loyd is exceptionally hilarious and is the editor of Halos Hangout and Off Base Percentage. Based in New Orleans.
• @GoldenSombrero - Mike Rosenbaum is the MLB Prospects lead writer for The Bleacher Report. The moniker was the name of his original site. Great writer and even better and supporting his friends. Honored now to be his colleague on Big Leagues Monthly.
• @_LeftField - Dan is like a brother and a true friend. He writes on his own Left Field blog as well as for High Heat Stats. He is a craft beer enthusiast and has eclectic musical tastes. Love this guy.
• @Figure Filbert - This Fan's other brother on Twitter. Jonathan Mitchell is a co-founder of MLBDirt.com and writes for Draysbay. Love this guy too.
• @mspici - Michael Spiciarich is the CEO of The Sports Banter. 
• @ThomasPope - One of the favorite offbeat follows. Always has something interesting to say. White Sox fan.
• @kranepool - Stephen Keane is a credited Mets blogger with a terrific podcast. Crusty. But crusty can be very tasty.
• @subwaysquawkers - Run by a Yankees fan and a Mets fan and they love to argue. Highly entertaining.
• @TrueGrich - James is one of the very best of the Angels bloggers and also writes elsewhere for general baseball topics. Terrific.
• @RJsFro - How can you not like a Twitter account that celebrates the afro of the red-headed Randy Jones?
• @grahamdude - Graham Womack is a terrific writers who founded his site, Baseball Past and Present and now writes (and gets paid even) by the San Francisco Chronicle. Super guy.
• @whitesoxski - Rob Warmowski is a passionate fan of the White Sox.
• @DiamondHoggers - A very good friend who runs a great podcast with MJ Loyd. General baseball blogger but partial to the Reds.
• @lenNYYankees - Len Neslin is a Yankees fan and blogger who is currently an intern for the Boston Globe. Rooting for him.
• @KramericaSports - One of the best fantasy baseball sites and also a faithful supporter and #FF er.
• @poisonwilliam - Bill Ivie is the founder of Ivie League Productions. And just married the amazing:
• @Cardschic - Angela is a school teacher and St Louis Cardinals fan.
• @Raindog63 - Bill Miller is a terrific baseball writer and a good friend.
• @Salty_cod - Passionate fan of the Toronto Blue Jays.
• @proseandivy - Ryan Maloney has one of the favorite monikers on Twitter. Published baseball writer currently covering one of the Tigers' minor league clubs.
• @BoSoxInjection - Covers the Red Sox for the Fan Sided Network.
• @500LevelFan - Jeremy Gibson can usually be found in the upper deck of a Toronto Blue Jays home game. Writes for those kinds of fans. Terrific.
• @SiscoKid027 - Francisco Hilario writes about baseball and NYC history. Fascinating combination. He is also a bouncer so don't mess with him.
• @danielday - A wonderful friend who works at Princeton. Cool, eh? He is also a baseball blogger and unicyclist. 
• @WalkoffWoodward - Doc Worn writes a terrific Tigers blog which has been picked up as part of the ESPN Sweet Spot Network. Great writer.
• @CardinalTales - Bob Netherton is another great friend and Cardinals fan and historian. His Twitter Tales are famous. Terrific guy.
• @HOVG - Runs one of the most eclectic and fun baseball sites on the web.
• @RuleBookGuru - The guy this Fan turns to on all things related to the rules of baseball.
• @gr33nazn - Baseball blogger, Cardinals fan and one of the funniest accounts on Twitter.
• @MerrillFraz - Merrill Frazier is a passionate fan of sports in the Tampa region.
• @PeerlessSports - Writes about all sports. Calvin Edwards is also a really nice guy.
• @Brian_Mahler - Passionate sports fan and a real all around guy with lots of fascinating interests.
• @tribescribe - A freelance writer and copyeditor. Loves the Indians, obviously.
• @JaymesL - Covers the Brewers at the Dsiciples of Uecker. Favorite Brewers writer and tweeter.
• @BaseballBetty - A lovely baseball account from a very gracious lady.
• @whyilikebb - Cecilia Tan is a real pioneer and has been blogging baseball since 1999.
• @firstbasewizard - John Bloomfield believes that good fielding first basemen are highly underrated. Could not agree more.
• @beardofanclub - These are the guys that got Eric Bruntlett fired. Isn't that enough?
• @KyLRhones - Simply and enjoyable person to talk to.
• @BbalRelections - Peter Schiller is the founder of BaseballReflections.com. One of the good guys.
• @baseballindex - Adam Bernacchio is a very good baseball writer who, in addition to his own site, writes for MLB Daily Dish.
• @mysteryball58 - Jeff Polman is truly a favorite and you have to read his season long baseball fiction.
• @MLBReports - Easily one of the best quality baseball sites out there. A must follow.
• @realpetermag - Opinionated and tortured fan of the Seattle Mariners.
• @Harrison_Crow - Very good writer and sort of a Mariners' fan.
• @Bill_TPA - Bill is the co-founder of The Platoon Advantage but can be found all over the web at SBNation, Baseball Prospectus and Getting Blanked. Famous for his @Saberman shtick. Love this guy.
• @commnman - Mike Bates is @Bill_TPA's partner in crime, though they never agree on anything. Strong opinions but a great guy. Hope to meet these two someday.
• @TroyRenck - Beat writer for the Rockies for the Denver Post. Cool that he follows the Fan.
• @KCRoyalman - Troy Olsen was a super fan who has had to tame himself to write about his favorite teams. Great guy.
• @Brandon_Warne - Writes for Fangraphs and at many other places. Hard working writer and not nearly as scary as he looks. He is married to
• @MandiWarne - Who is easily the better looking of the two. {ducking}
• @deckacards - Kevin Reynolds writes about Cardinals baseball.
• @siri3113 - Peter Ace is a HUGE baseball fan. Can get carried away at times. But no harm there.
• @alskor - Al Skorupa writes about baseball and prospects for Bullpen Banter. One of the best there is.
• @grogg - Greg Layton is the only guy this Fan ever fought with on Twitter. But that was just one blip in what has become a very good friendship. Prolific tweeter and all around good guy.
• @kingkube - Chris Cochran is a Mariners fan and one of the funniest guys around.
• @BSLChrisStoner - Chris has been heard on many big time radio stations talking baseball. 
• @TaoofStieb - One of this Fan's favorite baseball writers. Writes for his own site plus for Sportsnet.ca
• @jabberred - Brent is a big baseball fan whose favorites are the Cards and the Rays. Nice guy.
• @dmbfan81 - Dave isn't as dumb as he looks. Loves his Cardinals.
• @Brien_IIATMS - Brien Jackson does not have mild opinions. Editor and lead writer for IIATMS and a colleague.
• @RoyallySpeaking - Jeff Parker blogs on his Royals. Very good at what he does.
• @cmcbrien - Chris McBrien is a baseball writer and podcaster for Dear Mr. Fantasy and simply one of this writer's favorite people on Twitter.
• @freehan11 - John Sharp is a blogger for Detroit sports. Very enjoyable.
• @LastAngryFan - Jeff Greenwell is not really that angry. In fact, not only is he a great blogger but a really great guy.
• @Erika4stlcards - Erika is just about the sweetest lady of all time. Blogs and loves her Cardinals.
• @churchofbasebal - Loves the Reds and Nationals. Hates the Cardinals. Don't get her sometimes, but always interesting to follow.
• @azsportsguy - Scott Allen obviously loves his Arizona sports. Editor of raisingzona.com.
• @Fantasybking - If you do fantasy baseball, Brian G. Smith is your guy.
• @fryban - Brian Fee is easily one of this Fan's favorite follows on Twitter.
• @SteveMichaelsII - Steve writes for soxanddawgs.com and covers the Patriots. Great recapper and pregame analysis.
• @ryanillini - Ryan Moran loves all things sports in Illinois.
• @Dave_Doyle - Dave writes for MetsReport.com
• @johnsouth33 - John Southee is simply an all around interesting dude.
• @dougiejays - Simon Broder is just an interesting guy to follow.
• @PhllyBert33 - Philip Ebert writes about and pitched for the University of West Florida.
• @eutawhooligans - Kevin Lomax is a professional heckler.
• @jmerzie - Who says her tweets are nonsense. Heh. How can you not like that?
• @shanemiller33 - Shane interviews minor league players and does baseball podcasts. Heck of a nice guy.
• @blackandgold12 - Alan Guidry Jr. is a major sports fan.
• @LadyBatting - Bernadette Pasley writes about the Yankees on her own blog and is a colleague on Big Leagues Monthly.
• @Rickinator555 - Ricky Keeler writes about the Patriots and also writes about the Yankees for yanksgoyard.com.
• @MCB_johnverburg - Don't tout John Verburg as much as he deserves but his moniker is so hard to remember!  :)
• @FDbytheword - Frank Delaney. Yeah. The novelist. And yeah, he is a follower. How cool is that?
• @Andrew_Vig - Andrew Vigliotti is a real up-and-comer and covers baseball and football for Bleacher Reports, among other things.
• @Dathan7 - Dathan covers the Cardinals. Excellent podcaster and yard sale extraordinaire.
• @FantasyNomad - Michael Pichan is an accomplished writer on fantasy sports.
• @NYLivinCAMind - One of the most sought after fantasy experts and is also a most fascinating person in real life.
• @ThePantau - Mike is a buddy and an attorney with strong political and baseball opinions. Don't hold those against him.
• @RangersExpress - Nicholi is a thinking-man's fan of the Texas Rangers. A must follow.
• @maury_morris - Maury is a fantasy sports nut and often tries to help the Fan with his golf game...to no avail.
• @MikeFrohwirth - He is a Philly fan and travelling bard. Love it.
• @FantasyTrade411 - Trader X is a legend.
• @thebaseballfish - Wally Fish is the senior director of data services for the FanSided Network and a aspiring baseball writer. Loves the Twins and Royals.
• @ajgmets - Andy Gustavson is a Mets fan, obviously and one of the most faithful #FFer there is.
• @mgkasper6 - Mike Kasper is the founder of CardsDropping.com.
• @DJ_McClure - Dustin is a Cardinals fan and a really nice guy.
• @dbaxblogger - Chris Jackson is a very funny guy despite his grammar-nazi tendencies. 
• @historianAndrew - Andrew Martin is a terrific writer who does the best interviews of minor league players. Has his own site and is a colleague on MLB Dirt.
• @Gandhi_and-Pie - Mark was a terrific writer for the TPA before following his dream with an internship with the Braves organization. Funny, funny guy.
• @JWilberg - Jamal is a featured columnist on Bleacher Report.
• @documof - The code junkie that made MLB Dirt work so well. Big baseball fan too. Great guy.
• @BoldandBrash - Matt Sydor is a baseball analyst and good conversationalist.
• @BrandonOSports - Brandon Ogden is a sports writer who is enjoyable to follow.
• @BaseballChurch - Run by "Pastor" Paul. Odd but fun to follow.
• @steveslow - Steve Slowinski is one of this Fan's favorite baseball writers. He manages DRaysBay.com and writes for Fangraphs. Very gracious guy.
• @KentStock - Motivational speaker who is kind enough to respond to this Fan's odd baseball tweets.
• @soxanddawgs - Ian created this site and it is one of the best.
• @batandball21 - Harvey Carpenter breathes baseball.
• @Clarkbar213 - Robbie is a big baseball fan and a lawyer. Funny how many baseball writers are lawyers. Twitter completely changed this opinion of said profession.
• @Plinksburgh - Tracy keeps rooting for those Pirates. That is a true fan.
• @JLGreenberg81 - Jordan is the Executive Producer of MLB Network Radio. Very cool.
• @Jared_Thatcher - Jared is a fantasy baseball guru and a colleague at Big Leagues Monthly.
• @goldmedalmel - Mel Stewart. Yes, an Olympic medalists follows the Fan. Life is so cool.
• garrettkc - Garrett Craig is a FanSided writer and on staff of Motor City Bengals.
• @1967Astros - One of the coolest Twitter ideas. Follows the season of the 1967 Astros through one of their old players, John Bateman. Love this account.
• @TWEETSfromNANA - How can you not love a baseball grandma?
• @JacobsonSports - Bruce Jacobs is a sports radio personality.
• @CColeman802 - Baseball writer for the wonderfully named, "Aaron Miles Fastball." And a great nice person too.
• @BaseballRanking - Tim Goehlert is the proprietor there.
• @ecwiscott - Scott Scott loves Wisconsin sports. Enjoyable.
• @MrAniki - Loves the Fan's daily Game Picks posts. Tweets the most interesting articles he finds around the world.
• @DKulich44 - Mariners and Eagles fan. All around great guy and an optometrist. Follow him despite the latter fact.
• @CharlieSaponara - Charlie writes for The Outside Corner, but he is a real all around guy who is very interesting.
• @SportsPlum71 - Jeremy Plumley is a Texas sports fan extraordinaire. Tweets a lot. But never boring.
• @MonkeysWithaHalo - Garrett Wilson is at the top of the heap of Angels' bloggers.
• @uniformcritic - Probably the Fan's favorite Twitter account. Always posts great old pictures of baseball.
• @Chip_Buck - A must read for this writer, Chip is hysterical and writes for Firebrand and TPA among many others. Love this guy.
• @clairbearattack - Michael Clair runs the most fun baseball site on the web at Old Time Family Baseball. Now contributes to TPA as well.
• @WIUScott - Scott loves baseball, but that is just a part of what makes him interesting.
• @Tomahawk_Take - Bob Horton runs this FanSided Braves blog. Enjoy following him despite how much this Fan hates that tomahawk thing.
• @jlwoj - Jason Wojciechowski's name is easier to remember if you say it fast. Great writer. Smart as all heck. A guy whose opinion on things is greatly valued. Funny too.
• @tonyframpton - Tony was one of this Fan's favorite bloggers. Now he is just a favorite Twitter follow and that's okay.
• @MnTwinkie - A Twins blog. Obviously. But fun to follow.
• @Tasso_SPORTS - Ian Tasso is an up and coming play by play guy that this Fan roots for.
• @29Sonski - Pete Sonski hosts a Blog Talk Radio show among his many other sports pursuits. Very good to talk to.
• @aBROCKalypse - Brock is just insane. And that is always entertaining.
• @bigmarinersfan - Brian is a fan. And he is also great to talk to.
• @yoshiki89 - Stevo-sama is a talented baseball writer who does the best baseball recaps anywhere. A colleague at Big Leagues Monthly.

Gosh this is taking forever. Hope you appreciate this!

• @cuppingmaster - Alan covers the A's and is a really great person. Love talking to him.
• @oakfaninva - Found Dave the same time as Alan above. Enjoy them both immensely. 
• @BaseballUnrated - A fellow BBA generalist.
• @ChuckKnoblaugh - Yeah, the former player. He's a follower. Cool.
• @larrybenrendt - Larry is a fellow Yankees writer and all around talented guy.
• @RedSox_Thoughts - Matt Collins is a terrific writer and we enjoy each other's company. Writes at Over the Monster and has a new gig too that is pretty exciting.
• @The5_5Hole - Justin Hunter is a baseball writer that is enjoyable to read and talk to.
• @MWLtraveler - Craig Wieczorkiewicz has easily the hardest last name to spell in history. He's also writing a book about visiting all sixteen parks in the Midwest League. Very gracious guy.
• @BlaineBlontz - Blaine is everywhere. A colleague at Big Leagues Monthly, a founder of MLB Injury News and a contributor at MLB Daily Dish.
• @SportsCenterMe - Greg Eloge wants to work for ESPN. Rooting for him.
• @RieMix - Rie Bahadur has many interests. Baseball is just one of them.
• @Chris_Carelli - Chris is a super talented guy. He's the executive editor at Big Leagues Monthly and a senior editor at Yankees Go Yard, a FanSided network site.
• @AMirch729 - Adam is just unique. How else is there to describe him?
• @chestnuthell - Janice is good at inducing smiles and is a Red Sox fan.
• @danduquette - Yes, Dan Duquette follows the Fan. Is there a problem?
• @AATH_baseball - Ryan Sendek is a talented writer. Hasn't been around much lately. Worried about him.
• @BruceSpitzer1 - Author of Extra Innings, a novel.
• @birdbrained - Chris Reed blogs about his favorite team, the Cardinals.
• @RobbSaul - Editor of Redbird Rants.
• @Ourlads_Shonka - Dan Shonka is a former NFL scout now moved on to other cool things.
• @ChickenFriars - Robert and Kevin have a great blog on the Padres.
• @LarryBaseball - Larry Cicchiello has a passion for teaching baseball. Very faithful #FFer for the Fan. Appreciated greatly.
• @MHealeySports - Mark Healey is a writer, editor and host on SiriusXFFantasy. His opinions take no prisoners.
• @NathanConley - A radio producer in Charlotte for a big station there. Cool guy.
• @davidwiers - David is a terrific writer whose work is everywhere. A colleague at Big Leagues Monthly.
• @Bluedudesports - AJ Harris is just cool, that's all.
• @AshMarshallMLB  - Ash is a writer for MLB.com.
• @condiaFF - Big contributor to @RotoWar.
• @M_Holloway - Michael is a fellow BBA generalist.
• @john_pielli - John hosts the Passed Ball Show.
• @Prospect_corner - Bryce Kucko is a contributor at mlbdepthcharts.com
• @Jason_IIATMS - Jason Rosenberg. Was a fan of his for a long time. Now his colleague. Life is grand.
• @TheRaysRanter - Yossi Feins is the founder of The Rays Rant and chief editor at TheRaysWay.com and writes for The Bleacher Report.
• @MyRangersNotes - Nate is a good follow for Rangers fans.
• @lau56 - Larry Underwood is a published nonfiction writer and Cardinals fan.
• @DickYoungsGhost - One fake or novelty account that is enjoyable.
• @bdobbs23 - a seamhead by his own admission.
• @BarnabasPiper - Loves Minnesota sports. Writes about them too among other things.
• @AdamDunagan - Adam is a passionate fan of baseball and its history.
• @MRJManiac - Michael Jong is one terrific baseball writer who has his hands full since the Marlins are his team of coverage.
• @mighty_flynn - TJ Flynn understands that it is a long season. Highly entertaining to talk to.
• @sethlvgolf - Seth Kolbrenner loves to talk sports.
• @Gobroks - Josh Gaab is an intern with the Houston Astros.
• @Justinjabs - Journalism major. Baseball obsession. Fellow BBA generalist.
• @BaseballbyTom - Tom Froemming writes for MLBDailyDish on the SB Nation Network. Name reminds the Fan of an old umpire, Bruce.
• @redfawn - Runner and fantasy baseball addict. Roots for the Blue Jays.
• @wezen_ball - Larry Granillo is flat out terrific and writes for Baseball Prospectus.
• @soozeonsports - Susan Lulgjuraz writes about baseball. Does it well.
• @BABIP_Roberts - Steven Nichols has the best moniker on Twitter. Big Red Sox fan.
• @jeterian - Tamar is a colleague at IIATMS and sometimes my confessor. Wonderful person.
• @Dave_Gershman - Dave used to write for ESPN. Been missing a while since a major Twitter blowup.
• @KC_Nihilist - Jacob Hurley typifies the angst of being a Royals fan.
• @KCPopFlyBoy - Jeremy Sickels is the co-founder of the Pop Fly Boys website.
• @MikeGianella - Mike is a most respected fantasy expert and all around great guy.
• @Jomeara555 - Jeff O'Meara is an illustrator / writer. Loves baseball.
• @GreenLineoutfit - John Leary loves him some Red Sox.
• @MikeChernow - Mike is a clubhouse attendant for the Phillies. How cool is that?
• @BoltingVultures - William...like that name...is a unique baseball personality and that is a good thing.
• @jasonjpevans - Jason Evans is everywhere. Writes for rantssports as a Yankees blogger, writes for Through the Fence Baseball and also Halos Hangout.
• @TheRotoCommish - Must follow for fantasy sports.
• @BaseballParkEGuides - Kurt Smith does a cool thing and you can have your own PDF version of one of his ballpark guides for a reasonable price.
• @blogredmachine - Fansided Reds site.
• @stoltz_baseball - Nathaniel Stoltz is a great guy who writes for Beyond the Box Score and is a colleague on Big Leagues Monthly.
• @Rotoinfo_com - Another good fantasy resource. Gosh. A lot of people must do that sort of playing.
• @Lana - Lana Berry is a baseball fan. But her account is most fun watching guys act stupid trying to impress her.
• @mickey_baseball - Mickey Brignall. Who can't like a guy named Mickey?
• @veritas7 - Monty Taylor loves the Nationals and MLB.
• @KirbysLeftEye - Myjah is hugely entertaining and belongs to TwinkieTown.com.
• @HunterFelt - Hunter writes for The Guardian. Offbeat to the hilt. And again, that is a good thing.
• @CobraDave - David Fung is one of those guys that can make a computer do anything.
• @lesabotage - The better half a Larry Granillo. And nearly as good a writer. Be warned - changes name often!
• @brokenbatsingle - Nate Scott covers the Royals.
• @unexpectedbass - Brendan writes for OvertheMonster.com. Lovely guy. Enjoy him a lot.
• @Theghostofrocky - Started as a parody account, but a big, passionate fan of the Tigers.
• @russwight - Russ is a baseball fan and blogger. Nice guy.
• @BrettKaplan - Brett works for MTV. You know...that station that used to have videos.  :)
• @raschatz - Allen Schats is a fiction writer who combines mystery and baseball in his work. Cool.
• @baseballtwit - Love Adam Darowski's moniker. Anything but a twit, Adam created @HallofStats and writes for High Heat Stats, Beyond the Boxcore and more.
• @SorianoJoe - Joe is the lead writer on the FanSided @Musket_Fire and staff writer for @NFLSpinZone.
• @Niktigs - A fellow BBA generalist.
• @LorinBigD - Laura Schulte is a must follow for those who love their Texas sports. Great personality too.
• @RationalPastime - J-Doug is one terrific talent that has been on hiatus finishing up his PHD. Hurry!
• @RobAbruzzese - Rob is one of the saner Yankees writers whose blog is a part of the ESPN Sweetspot Network.
• @baycityball - The Duke of TOOTBLAN. No need to say more.
• @Sport_Hippeaux - colleague on IIATMS. Way smarter than this Fan.
• @Mike_Hllywa - Fun to tweet with. Writes for Halo Hangout and Off Base Percentage.
• @DanielRathman - Writes for Baseball Prospectus. And yet lives and talks to us average joes.
• @CoreyRievley - Corey is the admin for MLBTradeRumors.com. Very cool. Also started BaseballNation.net.
• @gregkihn - Hey! When a rock legend follows you, that is very cool.
• @TrishVignola - Writer and satirist who currently contributes to Full Spectrum Baseball.
• @captainlatte - Love this twitter account. And it's okay she roots for the Blue Jays.
• @jpmccord - Paul McCord is fun to talk baseball with.
• @HighHeatStats - Founded by the guys who used to blog for baseball-reference.com. Their site is terrific and a lot of the Fan's friends write there now too.
• @BigLeaguesMthly - The e-magazine that proudly boasts the Fan's writing. Proud.
• @MLBeef - Taylor Wolfe writes for his site. Good baseball guy.
• @instreamsports - M.V. Pieces is a very earnest and hard working up and comer.
• @MGVanwormer - Indians fan and beer lover.
• @LandoBC75 - Landon Evanson is the songbird of his generation. Writes for Bugs and Cranks. Introduced the Fan to YankeeMegs. Grateful.
• @mattymatty2000 - Matthew Kory writes for Over the Monster and Baseball Prospectus. Really like this guy a lot.
• @juniusworth - Dave England is a prolific writer who has written everywhere. A colleague at MLB Dirt
• @Mike_Schwartze - Mikey is becoming a real up and comer on scouting prospects. Colleague and co-founder of MLB Dirt.
• @StaceyGotsulias - Writes EVERYWHERE. Always well too. Colleague at IIATMS. Love her.
• @ChuckBooth3024 - Chuck is a lead writer at MLB Reports. Terrific.
• @pitchingstats - Dylan Cain is a fifteen year old baseball writer. I was still playing Strat-o-matic at that age.
• @MikeTSchmidt - No, Mike is not the former third baseman. But he is as good as that guy was when it comes to writing about baseball.
• @FeliciRose - Baseball fan and model. Great photography. Farm girl. Gentle soul. Laughs easily.
• @AskROTObaseball - David Kerr is a colleague at MLB Dirt.
• @CCaylor10 - retweets the Fan a lot. Good for the ego. Fun to talk to.
• @DevinPangaro - FanSided Network A's blogger. Colleague at Big Leagues Monthly.
• @dianagram - Writes for ESPN Sweetspot Network. Wonderful writer and person.
• @MLBInjuryNews is a new baseball site picking up steam and started by some good friends.
• @jamesschuck - James Edward Schuck is a renaissance man who also has a goal in life to keep the Fan's ego in check.
• @hangingsliders - Wendy Thurm writes for Fangraphs, ESPN, SBNation among others. Her follow meant the Fan was getting somewhere with this baseball thing.
• @replevel - Bryan O'Connor. What took you so long to get to Twitter?
• @Anna_McDonald - Writes for ESPN. The sweetest of ladies too.
• @YankeeMegs - Yay! Megs follows moi.
• @pjmclaugh - Peter McLaughlin is just about the most erudite Yankees fan ever.
• @williamnyy23 - Proprietor of The Captain's Blog and writes for other Yankee-centric sites. Strong opinions, but that's okay.
• @mccoveycovedave - Dave Edlund writes for the premier Giants blog. Cool guy. New follow.
• @AnswerDave - Dave Brown writes for Yahoo's Big League Stew. Very funny tweeter too.
• @jhacohen - Jonathan Hacohen is the founder of MLB Reports and has established that site as a must see site.
• @23yanksgoyard - Andy is the Fan's newest follower and writes (obviously) for Yankees Go Yard.

Phew! That took forever. All of these are great follows for more than just baseball. They all make this Fan's Twitter experience extraordinary.

Four generations of Schofields

Most baseball fans know of three generational baseball families. There is the Boone family and the Hairston family, for example. Perhaps fewer know that Jayson Werth is a third generation baseball player. His grandfather is John Richard (Dick) "Ducky" Schofield who played nineteen years in the majors from 1953 to 1971. Schofield's son, Dick Schofield, was a very good shortstop whose career spanned fourteen seasons from 1983 to 1996. Werth has now logged ten seasons of his own bringing the trio's big league experience to a total of an amazing 43 seasons.

But there is something unique about this story. If you look at the origins of the Hairston, Boone and Bell families, as far as this research could tell, the fathers of the original generations did not play professional ball. But in the Schofield's case, there is a fourth generation. It started with John Schofield who played eleven years or more of minor league ball from 1924 to 1938. Further research is needed, of course, but for now, four generations of professional baseball players seems rather unique.

A great big thank you has to go to the elder Dick Schofield who was gracious enough to talk on the phone about his family for over an hour. The original call occurred on the same day as the wake of Schofield's wife who just passed away. Despite the horrible timing of that call, the 77 year old former player was gracious and invited the caller to try again this week. His interview added much to the research already compiled for this piece.

The conversation started with a discussion of his father. The original John Schofield was also the originator of the nickname, "Ducky." That was his nickname and what his son would call him his whole life. When the second John Schofield or Dick Schofield broke into the majors, he introduced his father to some of his teammates and somehow the nickname was transferred to the son even though nobody had ever called him that before.

The original John Schofield was born December 20, 1904 in the Linwood neighborhood of Lower Chichester, Pennsylvania, a small town in Delaware County. He was the son of Richard Gray and Hannah (Ball) Schofield. Hannah was born in England. Richard was the son of John W. Schofield who was born in England in 1826 and came to the Delaware County area as a young man and is the American ancestor of the family. John W. Schofield was a butcher and Richard worked in the mills.

Richard Schofield and one of his son's died when John was ten years old. Richard was in a pickup truck on an errand and the truck was struck by a train killing both instantly. His son recalled on the phone that his father heard the news from a boy on a bicycle who told him his dad just died down the street.

John, a shortstop, played his first three professional seasons for the Crisfield Crabbers in Crisfield, Maryland in the Eastern Shore League, a D-level league. He then played for the Hagerstown Hubs, another Maryland team, this time in the Blue Ridge League. Two seasons followed in the Carolina League for the Wilmington Pirates.

Baseball-reference.com lost him for two years, but he played at least in 1930 for the Joplin Minors in the Western Association. His son has a picture in his living room of his father in a Joplin Minors' uniform.

Somewhere along the line, the elder John Schofield seriously broke his leg. Not only did the broken leg limit how far his baseball career would go, the injury would affect him the rest of his life.

John married Florence Campbell in San Antonio during 1932 when he played for the Indians in the Texas League. Two years followed in the New York - Pennsylvania League and perhaps this is where he broke his leg as there is a four year gap in his record. What is known is that Florence was from Springfield, Illinois and John's last season was in 1938 playing for the Springfield Browns in the Triple-I League. Springfield would be the family home and where the Dick Schofield lives today.

The elder John Schofield died February 14, 1991 at the age of 87.

By 1940, the elder John Schofield had retired from baseball and he and his wife lived with their son on a farm with Florence's parents. Father and grandfather worked the farm and both had jobs besides. John was a clothing salesman in 1940. During the phone call, Dick believes that his grandfather, Sherman Campbell, died around 1942 and since John did not grow up a farmer, he moved his family closer to town.

Though the son never got to see his father play in the minor leagues, the elder John did play for the House of David baseball team from time to time and would take his son along. So the son did get some hint at how good a player his father was and was also entertained by the real and fake beards the team sported.

Dick, while on the farm, did not have friends close by to play ball with so he played with his father. His father was a tough coach and worked hard with his son to teach the son how to play properly. The tough love worked as the son became one of the best players in the area.

As mentioned, the second Schofield became a terrific young baseball player and was highly sought after. His entry into professional baseball came during the Bonus Baby era. Prior to 1949, wealthy teams could sign the best talent and hide that talent in the minors. Concerned about the balance of power, Major League Baseball came up with the Bonus Baby rules. The rules basically stated that if a prospect was signed for over a certain amount of money, that player had to remain on the major league roster for two seasons or be lost to the other teams.

Dick had several teams interested in him. But several of the teams "wanted to do funny things with the money" as Dick put it. What he really wanted to do was sign for the Boston Red Sox. But they had already given a huge amount of money to Billy Consolo and had other high price players. The St. Louis Cardinals offered him $40,000 and he took it.

The obvious failure of the Bonus Baby system was that eighteen an nineteen year old kids were forced to ride the bench for two years tying up a roster spot. It is hard to develop as a player without regular playing time. Dick, desperate for some experience, played in Cuba after his second season. Many of the Bonus Babies never amounted to anything because of this terrible way to break into baseball. Al Kaline and Sandy Koufax were notable exceptions even though Koufax did take time to develop into the Hall of Fame pitcher that he became.

Not only did such players get stunted in their development, many were resented because of the bonus and for the special treatment. Dick Schofield felt he was lucky in that he was treated really well by his teammates and he really enjoyed his manager, Eddie Stanky. But even if he was treated well, he was eighteen years old when the rest of the team was made up of men 25 years of age or older. And it did not help when he received 48 plate appearances in two years and would go months between walking up to the plate.

Once the mandatory two years were over, Dick played most of the next two seasons for Omaha in Triple A and a few games for the big league club each season. He spent the entire 1957 season in the big leagues, but again saw little playing time. The Cardinals traded for Al Dark and the original plan was to play Schofield at short and Dark at third. But Dark said that he did not play third and that was the end of that.

Just as he started to receive a little more playing time in St. Louis in 1958, the Cardinals traded him away to the Pirates on June 15. Schofield wiled away on the bench for the next year and a half. By the time the 1960 season started, Schofield, now 25 years old was a veteran of seven seasons and had only compiled 707 plate appearances.

The Pirates had a great shortstop in Dick Groat and Groat had his best season in 1960. So Schofield spent much of the season again on the bench. Groat was the MVP that season and won the batting crown. But Groat broke his wrist on September 6 and the Pirates lost their star shortstop. Schofield took over and hit over .400 down the stretch and did much to help the Pirates win the pennant.

That was the great World Series where the Pirates beat the Yankees despite being heavily outscored. Groat had returned for the last four games of the season and was again the regular during the World Series. Schofield only received four plate appearances and singled and walked. During this part of the phone conversation, that series, while the biggest thrill of his life, was also the only time during the conversation where his voice betrayed a little bitterness. He wanted to play and who could blame him.

Schofield would finally become a starting shortstop for the Pirates during the 1963 and 1964 seasons. But on May 22, 1965, he was traded to the Giants for Angel Pagan. He finished out the season as the Giants' starting shortstop.

He developed a sore arm in 1966 and there was not the kind of sports medicine there is today. Even today, he has no idea what happened. But it prevented him from playing like he could and he ended up struggling through the season and was shipped to the Yankees and then to the Dodgers. He would never again be a starter.

He played one more year in Los Angeles and then a season back in St. Louis, two years in Boston, another half season in St. Louis and the last half of the 1971 season with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was promised a spot on the Brewers in 1972 but the season was delayed due to the strike and that promised was not lived up to. When the Brewers released him, he retired.

The pride in his voice really picked up when talking about his son, Richard Craig "Dick" Schofield. When asked when he thought his son was going to be a good baseball player, he quickly mentioned when young Dick was twelve. "He was twice as good as others his age and I thought he had a shot at it."

Schofield mentioned that he was just as tough on his son as his father had been with him. And again, that tough love made another Schofield one of the hottest high school prospects in the country. He was the third overall pick by the then California Angels in the first round of the 1981 draft and by 1983 was already playing in Triple-A.

After a cup of coffee in the majors in 1983, Dick Schofield became the Angels' starting shortstop and would remain so from 1984 through 1988. 1986 was his best season and the only season with the Angels that the Angels made it to the playoffs. That was the year that Donnie Moore served up a change up to Dave Henderson and broke the hearts of Angels fans everywhere. Schofield had a great series too which no one will remember.

Schofield was always terrific in the field and had a case for the Gold Glove in both 1986 and 1988 but was beat out both times.

Starting in 1989 and into 1990, Schofield started to share his playing time with Kent Anderson despite Anderson not being as good in the field and not much better at the plate. Early in the 1992 season, the Angels traded Schofield to the Mets where he finished out a miserable season on a miserable team.

A free agent after the 1992 season, Schofield signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and 1993 was the second season of their back to back World Series titles. Unfortunately, Schofield did not get to enjoy it. The shortstop was badly injured on a relay at second on an attempted double play and would miss 108 games. During his absence, Tony Fernandez would take over and had a sensational stretch of games and though Schofield made it back for the last few games of the season, he would not play in that post season. He did get a World Series ring though.

Dick Schofield would play one more season with the Blue Jays and finish his career with short stints in Los Angeles and again with the Angels.

Dick Schofield's sister, Kim, was an athlete in her own right. She was a track star and would compete in the Olympic trials as a long jumper and sprinter. She had a relationship with Jeff Gowan, the Division 1 leader in pass receptions for Illinois State University. Jayson was a result of that relationship.  Kim would later marry Dennis Werth, another former Major League player.

But before that, Kim and Jayson lived for a time with the elder Schofield and his wife. The elder Schofield credits Dennis Werth and gave him an "A+" for helping Jayson become a terrific baseball player. Schofield mentioned that he saw every one of Jayson's high school baseball games.

When it was mentioned that Jayson did not become a shortstop like the first three generations, Schofield laughed and said he had become too big!

Werth, of course, would win a World Series with the Phillies and thus all three generations have a World Series Ring. Schofield credited a bigger right-center field in Washington along with a wrist problem for Werth's struggles his first season with the Nationals.

Werth also makes much more money than the previous two generations and certainly much more than the the nineteen years that the elder Schofield played. Schofield does not begrudge the money the players are making now though he thinks the numbers are outrageous. What bothers him the most, he says, is that lousy players are even making a couple of million a year.

A few other notes from the conversation:

- Ducky Schofield was the first official batter in a new Shea Stadium in 1964. He went back as a part of the ceremony in 1984.

- Schofield thinks the field conditions are vastly improved since when he played. He marvels at how manicured the fields are now. He hated the infields in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh when he played in those parks.

- Schofield played with over thirty Hall of Fame players during his career from Musial to Mays to Mantle to Clemente to Koufax and many, many more.

- He was far from impressed with Frank Lane as a general manager.

All in all, it was a wonderful conversation covering a remarkable story. Imagine. Four generations of professional baseball players including three straight in the majors. The first of those was a Bonus Baby and the other two were first round draft picks. The time on the phone was pleasant and Mr. Schofield spoke like a regular guy with no airs. The time was a treat and the story here probably does not do him or his remarkable family justice.