Bond's Elbow Armor: A Hitting Machine

Everyone knows that Barry Bond's elbow protector gives him an advantage by allowing him to lean over the plate without fear of being hit. Michael Witte of Editor and Publisher says that is not the only advantage of the armor. Witte claims that the protector is literally a "hitting machine", hinged at the elbow, that allows Bonds to release his front arm on the same plane during every swing. Witte concludes that Bonds' armor "may have contributed no fewer than 75 to 100 home runs." Unfortunately, no evidence or reasoning is provided for this conclusion, and the total of 75 to 100 home runs appears rather arbitrary to me.

As a student of baseball – and currently a mechanics consultant to a major league baseball team -- I believe I have insight into the Bonds "achievement." I have studied his swing countless times on video and examined the mechanical gear closely through photographs.

For years, sportswriters remarked that his massive "protective" gear – unequaled in all of baseball -- permits Bonds to lean over the plate without fear of being hit by a pitch. Thus situated, Bonds can handle the outside pitch (where most pitchers live) unusually well. This is unfair advantage enough, but no longer controversial. However, it is only one of at least seven (largely unexplored) advantages conferred by the apparatus.

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Fastest Growing Brands in Sports

Forbes has published a study in which they determined the fastest growing brands in sports. They calculated the brand value of the 122 teams in the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB by adding up their revenues from sponsorships, naming rights, local media, tickets and merchandise not attributable to demographics. Since their study focused on growth rather than absolute value, that most of the teams on our list are turnaround situations.

According to Forbes, the fastest growing brands in each sport are as follows:

• MLB: Toronto Blue Jays
• NFL: Philadelphia Eagles
• NBA: Cleveland Cavaliers
• NHL: Buffalo Sabres

from Peter J. Schwartz of Forbes

There's more competition than ever before when it comes to vying for the entertainment dollar, making a powerful brand a top priority for many professional sports teams.

No American sports team has done this as well as the New York Yankees, who are worth $1.2 billion and have set themselves apart by establishing their own cable TV network and forging a $95 million partnership with German apparel maker Adidas. Parent company Yankee Global Enterprises has also reached player development and sponsorship agreements with Chinese and Japanese companies in hopes of broadening its reach.

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Nielsen Ratings for Glavine's 300th Win

The ratings for ESPN's coverage Sunday night of Tom Glavine's 300th victory have been released. Neil Best of Newsday is reporting the game was seen in 3% of the 94 million homes with ESPN. The total estimated audience is 2.89 million households and 3.83 million viewers. It was the biggest viewership for a Sunday night game since 1998, when the Braves faced Mark McGwire and the Cardinals.

How Much is Your Favorite Sport Covered in the News?

During the month of May, over 37% of ESPN's SportsCenter was devoted to covering MLB. The NBA playoffs took up 25% of the coverage. The NHL playoffs: less than 5 percent. Even the NFL offseason received more coverage than the NHL at 7%.

Street and Smith's Sports Business Daily has put together a chart detailing how much coverage each sport received from 5 major outlets during the month of May. The five outlets are the USA Today, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, SportsCenter, and FSN's Final Score.

In another interesting comparison, coverage of Boxing exceeded that of MMA events in 4 of the 5 outlets. The only outlet that gave more coverage to MMA was FSN Final Score. Coincidentally, FSN has the television rights to the IFL.

Just How Much is A-Rod's 500th Home Run Ball Worth?

The baseball Alex Rodriguez hit for his 500th home run may be worth as much as $100,000. Rodriguez is the youngest player to ever reach this milestone, and is a certain future Hall of Famer. The Yankees media relations director so far has been unsuccessful in his negotiations to get the ball back for Alex. His first offer included memorabilia from high-profile Yankees.

If the ball is valued at $100,000, one of those Yankees better be named Ruth or Gehrig.

from Jim Baumbach and Anthony Rieber of Newsday

Walter "Sonny" Kowalczyk awoke yesterday with an interesting and lucrative question to ponder: What should he do with the valuable baseball that Alex Rodriguez hit for his 500th career home run?

The 6-4, 230-pound Rutgers graduate student, who emerged from the scrum with that ball Saturday, could keep it for his own collection. He could sell it to one of those memorabilia collectors undoubtedly waving blank checks in his face. Or he could work out a deal with the Yankees on behalf of Rodriguez.

And A-Rod has made it clear he wants that ball.

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YES Network for Sale

The New York Yankees' cable network, the YES Network, is for sale, Fortune has learned. And some baseball insiders and Yankees limited partners are wondering whether the team itself might be next. This story was written by Jon Birger and Tim Arango of Fortune.

The highest-rated regional sports network in the country and the cable home of the Yankees and the NBA New Jersey Nets, YES is jointly owned by the Yankees, investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co. (Charts, Fortune 500) , and former Nets owner Ray Chambers. Goldman and Chambers would like to cash out, YES and Yankees insiders say, and one source says to expect a deal by summer's end. Some possible bidders: Cablevision, Comcast (Charts), News Corp. (Charts, Fortune 500) and Verizon (Charts, Fortune 500).

Publicly, Yankees and YES officials are noncommittal. "Absolutely not," Yankees president Randy Levine replies when asked whether YES is for sale - though not before acknowledging some "testing of the market." Gerry Cardinale, a Goldman managing director and YES board member, is more forthcoming, conceding that YES is in fact being shopped. "We're testing the waters with a limited universe of quality buyers," says Cardinale. "We would consider selling only if we receive a full and fair price."

And what might a "full and fair" price be? Try a cool $3 billion to $3.5 billion. At that price, one could argue that the true gem of the Yankees business empire isn't the team itself but YES.

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Odds to Win the World Series

Now that the MLB trade deadline has passed, and rosters are mostly set, I thought this would be a good time to check out the latest odds to win the World Series. According to Intertops.com, the Red Sox are the clear favorites at 4.25 to 1. The Sox certainly did not hurt themselves at the deadline, adding yet another quality reliever. Rounding out the top five are the Tigers, Angels, Mets, and Indians.

I find it surprising that the Braves and Phillies, only 3.5 and 4 games behind the Mets for first place in the NL East respectively, are so far down the list. The Phillies are at 26 to 1 and the Braves 21 to 1. It should also be noted that the odds on the Braves did not change after the deadline, despite the fact that they are much improved with the addition of Teixeira.

The following is the complete list of odds from Intertops.com to win the World Series.

Odds Team
4.25 Boston Red Sox
7 Detroit Tigers
8 Los Angeles Angels
8 New York Mets
10 Cleveland Indians
11 New York Yankees
13 Los Angeles Dodgers
13 Milwaukee Brewers
15 Chicago Cubs
15 San Diego Padres
21 Arizona Diamondbacks
21 Atlanta Braves
21 Seattle Mariners
26 Philadelphia Phillies
67 Colorado Rockies
67 Minnesota Twins
67 St Louis Cardinals
126 Toronto Blue Jays
151 Florida Marlins
201 Oakland Athletics
501 Houston Astros

Tony Gwynn's Strikeout Rate

This morning a friend emailed me Tony Gwynn's career stats. He had highlighted some of his single season strikeout totals, which were ridiculously low considering the number of at bats. So I did a little research, and found this article which graphs Gwynn's strikeout rate throughout his career versus the league average.

Gwynn had a tremendously low strikeout rate throughout his career. Just as interesting, however, is what happened to the major league rate at the same time. It trended steadily up. As I’m sure you remember, these were the days of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Everyone was swinging harder, trying to hit the ball over the fence. But not Tony Gwynn. He resisted the trend and still wound up in the Hall of Fame.

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The Strikeout Homerun

Of course, you've seen a batter strikeout and get to first base safely when the catcher drops strike three. You might even have seen a batter or two get to second when the ball is thrown past the first baseman. But I am pretty sure you've never seen a batter strikeout and come all the way around to score. While the other team is in the dugout. Well, now you have.

Mets Present Top Ten List on Letterman

Ten Mets presented the Top Ten list on the Late Show with David Letterman Friday night. Here are the "Things You Never Knew About the New York Mets."

10. Paul LoDuca: “Team forfeited Sunday’s game because we were all reading ‘Harry Potter.’”
9. Shawn Green: “Mets is short for metrosexuals.”
8. Carlos Delgado: “We all carry Blackberries so we can blog on the field.”
7. Jose Reyes: “During month of May, all we did was bunt.”
6. John Maine: “Proud to be in the same city as our favorite talk show host, Conan O’Brien.”
5. Aaron Heilman: “We always give 110%, except on Tuesdays, when we give 111%.”
4. Lastings Milledge: “For one season in the ‘80s, every player on the team was named Mookie.”
3. Marlon Anderson: “Our stadium nacho cheese is made with pine tar.”
2. Tom Glavine: “Blew entire budget signing David Beckham.”
1. David Wright: “We’ve really bonded since watching Oprah as a team.”

Are Other Sports Leagues Safe from Gambling by Officials?

In wake of the NBA referee gambling scandal, ESPN.com questioned other sports leagues to ask what they do to protect against gambling in their sport. In NCAA basketball, for example, all officials eligible to be selected to work the championship are subject to random, thorough background checks. Furthermore, the NCAA does not bring the referees who work the national title game into the city until the day of the game. MLB, which previously experienced both the Pete Rose and Black Sox scandals, monitors baseball gambling trends to look for irregularities.

At his televised news conference on Tuesday, NBA commissioner David Stern presented a lengthy list of safeguards the league had in place to prevent the sort of disgrace brought on in the last week by a federal investigation of suspected gambling by a referee.

The safeguards, clearly, weren't fail-safe.

"I can't believe it's happening to us," Stern said about the alleged gambling by referee Tim Donaghy on games he officiated.

Among other firewalls the NBA thought would protect it from gambling scandals are the presence in the league office of security representatives with experience in the
FBI, the Secret Service, the U.S. Army, the New York Police Department and New York State Police Investigation. The league, Stern said, maintains constant communication with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security. It subjects its referees to extensive security checks, and it retains a security rep in Las Vegas to monitor unusual movements or trends on betting on NBA games in that city's legal sports books.

It wasn't enough.

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Minor League Coach Dies After Being Hit by Ball

from Teddy Kider of The New York Times

A foul ball jumped off the bat of Tino Sánchez on Sunday night in North Little Rock, Ark., then took a hard and straight path down the first-base line. At first glance, it might have seemed like a routine line drive, but the ball crashed into the head of the first-base coach Mike Coolbaugh, knocking him to the ground at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Coolbaugh, a 35-year-old coach for the Tulsa Drillers, was pronounced dead at 9:47 p.m. Central time, according to a Pulaski County Sherriff’s Office report, about an hour after he was hit and knocked unconscious.

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Sheffield: Yankees Treat Black Players Differently

Gary Sheffield no longer plays in New York, but he is still causing headaches for the Yankees. This time, Sheffield told HBO's "Real Sports" that Yankee's manager Joe Torre treats black and white players differently.

Sheffield says in the interview that Derek Jeter "ain't all the way black," referring to the fact that Jeter's father is African-American and his mother is white.

During the interview which will air Tuesday at 10pm, Sheffield goes on to tell Andrea Kremer that he did not think Torre was racist, only that he treated black and white players differently.

Isn't that the definition of a racist? I am certainly not accusing Torre of being a racist, but it sure sounds as if Sheffield is.

from By RICHARD SANDOMIR of The New York Times

Gary Sheffield, who is known for making candid and controversial comments, said in an HBO Sports interview that Yankees Manager Joe Torre treated black players differently from whites during Sheffield’s three seasons with the team.

“When I was there, the couple of blacks that was there, every one of them had an issue with the organization,” he told “Real Sports” for its July 17 program. “They had an issue with Joe Torre.”

He added, “They weren’t treated like everybody else.”

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Odds & Ends: Cubans and Blacks in Baseball

• According to multiple sources, Mark Cuban has submitted an application to purchase the Chicago Cubs. I wonder where someone gets one of those applications.
  
  
• Chris Isidore of CNNMoney discusses why there are so few black baseball players. Interestingly, the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros have no black players on their rosters. Isidore attributes much of the problem to two trends: 1) More players are being drafted out of college rather than high school, and 2) Teams are signing more players than ever from outside the U.S..

Reason for Pujols All Star Benching Possibly Uncovered

Chris Russo of the Mike and the Mad Dog Show today quoted "reliable sources" as telling him that Tony LaRussa did not bat Albert Pujols in the ninth inning of the All Star Game because Pujols had already undressed. Russo did not name his sources, and the story has not been confirmed by a second independent source. I am very curious if there is footage of the dugout during the ninth inning, and if so, whether Pujols appears in it.

Alex Rodriguez: The $30 Million Man

The New York Yankees are reportedly breaking their own team rule, and negotiating an in-season contract extension with Alex Rodriguez. As amazing as it may sound, Rodriguez may opt out of his current contract even though he has approximately three years and $81 million left on the 10-year, $252-million deal he signed with Texas before the 2001 season.

Wallace Matthews of Newsday argues that not only do the Yankees have little chance of renewing A-Rod's contract, they risk upsetting their longtime stars Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada, with whom the Yankees will not discuss new contracts until the season is over.
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Joel Sherman of The New York Post claims that even if Rodriguez does not opt out of his contract after the season, stipulations exist in his current deal that guarantee Rodriguez's salary will climb to $32 million the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

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"The Cheater's Guide to Baseball," and Bonds/Steroids Evidence?

This article is a review of Derek Zumsteg's book, "The Cheater's Guide to Baseball." Zumsteg discusses some of the more famous incidents of cheating in baseball, such as the steroid scandal, the 1919 Black Sox , Pete Rose's betting, and the Twins experiment with the Metrodome ventilation system, getting air currents to blow out when the Twins were batting, and blowing in when the opposition was at bat. Also included are lesser known tactics, such as the Indians watering down the infield when they had a a ground-ball pitcher on the mound, so that opposition balls would die in the infield.

Zumsteg quotes various sources who estimate the number of games won as a result of their cheating.

-- Lou Boudreau said "I wouldn't be surprised if [Bossard's groundskeeping] helped us win as many as ten games a year."

-- Earl Weaver argues that groundskeeping increased the Orioles' batting average by "more than 30 points."

-- Zumsteg himself argues that exceptional grounds crews "might be worth a few games a year."

-- And George Steinbrenner argued that Earl Weaver gained "eight or ten games a year" through intimidation of umpires.

Zumsteg also includes a study that he claims proves when Barry Bonds was on steroids. Phil Birnbaum of Sabermetric Research, runs his own simulations which he claims disproves Zumsteg's argument.

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Should the MLB All Star Game Determine World Series Home Field Advantage?

The winner of the MLB All Star Game determines which league gets home field advantage in the World Series. But if the All Star game is going to count, shoudn't it be managed that way? And should Tony LaRussa, who's team is under .500 and 7.5 games out of first place, be making the decisions that affect World Series home field advantage?

There has been a lot of debate on the topic of whether the MLB All Star Game should determine home field advantage in the World Series. Critics of this policy believe that something as potentially crucial as home field advantage in game seven of the World Series should not be determined by what is basically an exhibition game. What these critics have to keep in mind is that previously, before Bug Selig decided that the All Star game “should count”, World Series home field advantage alternated between the AL and NL every other year. At least this way, it is determined by the winner of a contest that includes the best players from both leagues.

The one change I would make to the format, is who manages the All Star Game. If the game is going to count, then it should be managed that way. Currently, the teams are managed by the skipper of the two teams that played in the World Series the previous year. The problem is that these teams may not be in contention for the World Series this year. And when that is the case, the manager does not have the proper incentive to try to win the All Star game. If your team is not going to be in the World Series anyway, then why would you care who gets the home field advantage?

Take Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals as an example. The Cardinals played in the World Series last year, so Tony LaRussa got to manage the NL squad in this year’s All Star Game. But the Cardinals are under .500 and 7.5 games out of first place at the break. So where is LaRussa’s incentive to win this game to get home field advantage for the NL?

Instead, the team should be managed by the skipper of the teams with the best record in either league as of June 15. These managers would then gave great incentive to win the game, since it could potentially give them home field advantage in game 7 come October. And if Padres manager Bud Black or Mets skipper Willie Randolph were managing this years’ NL team, do you really think Albert Pujols would have been sitting on the bench in the ninth inning while Aaron Rowand was flying out with the bases loaded to end the game?

Networks Take Bold Steps to Offer All-Access Viewing

from Michael McCarthy at USA TODAY

Over the last two nights, we've seen Fox contributor Eric Byrnes and ESPN's Kenny Mayne paddle around McCovey Cove in kayaks in search of home run balls at Major League Baseball's Home Run Derby and 78th All-Star Game from San Francisco.

In the future, ESPN would like to have one of its reporters ride along during an actual NASCAR race. NBC wants to put a cameraman in skates on the ice during NHL shootouts. It also wants to add tracking devices to horses in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes so viewers can better gauge their speed and position in the race.

The suddenly gonzo correspondents of TV sports are showing up with their mics and cameras in unexpected places. It's a smart idea. In a world of 24/7 sports coverage, networks have to provide viewers with access to areas that used to be off-limits. Or get left behind.

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Why Do Baseball Players Make So Much?

from CBSNews.com

Baseball plays out from one end of the country to the other — from one end of the lifespan to the other. It’s a game, a sport and a pastime.

But at the highest levels, it is a $6 billion a year business where the extraordinary skill and talent of the best reaps once unimaginable rewards. The minimum wage in major league baseball is almost $400,000 more than half the players make $1 million or more. New York Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez takes in $25 million — some 500 times what a teacher or a cop or a paramedic makes.

“My wife’s a school teacher, and she works 12 hours a day, 10 months a yearand she doesn’t make a whole lot of money," baseball fan Tom Nighe told CBS News correspondent Jeff Greenfield. "And it is sort of disheartening to see a ballplayers make the kind of salary they do when a teacher doesn’t make what they really deserve.”

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Why does Alex Rodriguez make 500 times what a teacher makes? The last time I checked, no one was willing to pay $100 to watch a teacher do her job for 3 hours.