http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-4FSRYagc

Just classic stuff here. In no way safe for work, but who feckin’ cares. Vintage footage of Earl Weaver losing it on an umpire, who quite frankly gets the better of him. Nice cameo appearance by Eddie Murray as well. (NSFW)
Earl: “What are you doing here now?”
Ump: “Why don’t you call [...]

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Taiwanese baseball fans eager to catch a glimpse of some big league action are expressing dismay over the L.A. Dodgers roster sent to participate in this month’s upcoming exhibition match against the CPBL’s finest.
The roster includes Manny Ramirez and James Loney, but after that features only 17 players with big league experience.  Fans hoping to [...]

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As we’ve all heard by now, Wang Chien-ming is on his way to the Washington Nationals.  The writing was on the wall when the Yankees non-tendered Wang in December, but there was still speculation Wang would re-sign with the Bombers at a reduced rate in the end.  Now the break-up is official.
I’m looking forward to [...]

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.301 lifetime.  521 HR.  1704 RBI.  Sure first ballot HOF’er.  EWC salutes Frank Thomas, who announced his retirement Thursday.

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Required Reading for NPB fans and followers: The Japan Times is currently running Robert Whiting’s four-installment series detailing the rise and fall of Bobby Valentine’s career with the Chiba Lotte Marines.  Whiting’s meticulously researched account describes a clandestine campaign to oust Valentine.
Whiting takes readers through Valentine’s meteoric rise to stardom after leading the Marines to [...]

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I think anyone who’s read EWC for any length of time knows we’re usually good for a post or two per day most of the time. However, that just hasn’t been the case during the past 3 or 4 months. The readership has declined somewhat, and I think the quality has suffered at times, but [...]

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As expected the U.S. won the World Cup, winning its 14th consecutive game in Europe without all that stiff of a challenge. The victory gives the U.S. its second consecutive World Cup championship and fourth overall.
But I want to point people to the lede written by BA’s John Manuel in his game report….
Once again, America’s [...]

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I recently submitted an entry into a fun project called the Rogue’s Baseball Index, the brainchild of the blog Pitchers and Poets, of whom longtime EWC friend and occasional illustrator Ted is a part of.
In short the Index, in the words of the creators, is “a growing dictionary of the baseball terms that they didn’t [...]

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Neat article at Baseball Analysts detailing who has the Best Fastballs in Baseball, as broken down into measurements of Control, Velocity and Movement. The writer is using his own method of pitch classification, which is different from that of MLB.com’s Gameday. As I think people are finding out with Pitch F/x, some pitches aren’t easily [...]

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I thought I’d put a twist on the usual Justin Smoak pun by employing it, but in a completely opposite and incorrect way. But six HRs in six games is impressive, as is the U.S. team, which has been hitting it’s stride. The Americans will play Taiwan tomorrow in what might be an interesting contest [...]

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[Note: For readers with 'a life' who don't enjoy reading about roto baseball or me beating Aaron in fantasy sports, you can stop reading here].
It’s been a downright miserable year for the Stinky Tofu, my team in the EWC-sponsored Champions Rotisserie Baseball League.  Nothing has gone right. I’m in 10th place, in danger of being relegated.  Reyes [...]

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The Detroit Tigers remained active in Taiwan this week, signing 5′10 plus lefty Lo Hua-wei.  Lo, who enrolled in Kainan University post graduation, came out of San Hsin high school, which also produced recent Cubs signings RHP Wang Tsu-an and RHP Wang Yao-lin. 
Lo is undersized but athletic with a clean arm action and tops out at 91 [...]

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Thanks to Hansioux for his persistence in posting info about the World Cup, which I’ve had no time to try and update. The U.S. team, which has some pretty good mix of vets and up and coming minor league talent, lost to Venezuela 13-9 despite a 2HR 4-for-6 performance by Rangers prospect Justin Smoak. Good [...]

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Great quote by Scott Williamson, who is quoted in the recent New York Times article In Newark, Playing for a Return to the Big Leagues. Living in Korea, where there’s a pro league established enough to attract some decent minor league players, I’m already pretty tuned in to guys on the major league fringe. I’d [...]

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People must not be buying much sushi in the San Diego area because Byung-hyun Kim is looking to make a comeback according to some reports in the Korean media today. Kim was last heard of around the time of the WBC when he joined the team, came to the introductions looking overweight, then had to [...]

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I was going to just post this in reply to a comment that Sergei made here, but I think it’s worth a post in itself. Sergei linked to this post by MGL on The Book blog in which the UZR creator speculates as to how scouts watch games and evaluate pitchers. What he writes is a [...]

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Still the second sixth most popular post ever here at EWC, the Where Have You Gone Mark Wholers? question is still being answered by thousands. Or, twice, anyway. Received this email today…
Hello,
I just came across an old blog article of yours from October 26th, 2007 titled “Where Have You Gone Mark Wohlers?”
Well… I have a [...]

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This one is getting passed around the blogosphere.  Pure genius:
“Chicks who dig home runs aren’t the ones who appeal to me…I think there’s sexiness in infield hits because they require technique. I’d rather impress the chicks with my technique than with my brute strength. Then, every now and then, just to show I can do [...]

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Usually when Jackson or myself are busy the other one is able to pick up the slack. However, for the first time ever we’ve been working in the very same place — the AA Championships in Taichung, Taiwan.
As a result there hasn’t been much going on at ol’ EWC, except for the odd comment here [...]

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Seems like you can find this kind of article pretty easily these days — here’s Tom Seaver blowing his top in regards to the way the Yankees are protecting Joba Chamberlain’s arm. Seaver thinks the Yankees are doing Joba a diservice by keeping him on such strict pitch and innings counts. I guess time will [...]

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