Boston 25 News: Red Sox fan’s $650 World Series ticket stolen by scammer on Instagram. “A simple social media post ended up costing one Red Sox fan a big amount of money. Robbie Johnson, a 28-year-old after school instructor from Wellesley got tickets for Game 2 of the World Series and, as most people are inclined to do, posted a picture on Instagram. When he arrived at Fenway Park with his sister, the $650 ticket his family bought for him did not work.”
baseball
Smithsonian Magazine: Preserving Negro League History Has Never Been Easier, or Harder, Depending on Who You Ask
Smithsonian Magazine: Preserving Negro League History Has Never Been Easier, or Harder, Depending on Who You Ask. “As the 100th anniversary of the birth of ‘black baseball’ approaches, a perplexing issue remains: How do historians extend the mainstream reach of Negro League history? The bulk of this recent interest has been in the statistical realm, which is expanding and becoming more accurate, but focusing on the numbers and trying to compare Josh Gibson to Babe Ruth tends to attract a distinct subset of baseball geek.”
Society for American Baseball Research: SABR member Bob Tholkes provides massive update to Protoball early baseball games database
Society for American Baseball Research: SABR member Bob Tholkes provides massive update to Protoball early baseball games database. “SABR member Bob Tholkes has provided to Protoball.org his impressive new database, the ‘Registry of Interclub Matches’ (RIM), which comprises more than 5,000 interclub baseball matches from 1845-1865. This represents a major addition to Protoball’s pre-professional database, which began with Craig Waff’s contribution of about 2,300 of the earliest modern games and increased with the SABR Origins Committee’s ‘Spread of Base Ball’ project, many of which were unearthed by Bruce Allardice, and Peter Morris’ fine tomes on Base Ball Pioneers and Base Ball Founders.”
Harvard: The First Baseball Novel
Many thanks to John O. for the heads-up. From Harvard: The First Baseball Novel. “Noah Brooks (1830 – 1903) is most notable as a journalist, editor, and early biographer of Abraham Lincoln. In fact, he was a close friend of Lincoln and a regular visitor to the White House. Brooks was even invited to the presidential box at Ford’s Theatre the night Lincoln was assassinated, though he was unable to attend due to an illness. Seemingly trivial in comparison to his work on Lincoln, Brooks is also credited with writing the first novel about baseball in 1884.”
Inside, Inside Baseball: A Look at the Construction of the Dataset Featuring the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Library of Congress Digital Collections (Library of Congress)
Library of Congress: Inside, Inside Baseball: A Look at the Construction of the Dataset Featuring the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Library of Congress Digital Collections. “After weeks of preparations and four days of fast-pitched ideation and creation, this Friday LC Labs will unveil the efforts of ‘Inside Baseball’ – a collaboration between the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and JSTOR Labs. Joining the Baseball Americana batting lineup, this week of flash-building and design-thinking will debut new visualizations and prototypes to bring baseball-related digital collections to center field!”
Dark side of fandom: Study on Blue Jays fan tweets argues sports aren’t always unifying (National Post)
National Post: Dark side of fandom: Study on Blue Jays fan tweets argues sports aren’t always unifying. “After sifting through thousands of tweets about the Toronto Blue Jays, a researcher in Regina is challenging the notion that fandom has a magical ability to unite people. It was a notion peddled constantly during the Jays’ electrifying reign as a playoff contender in 2015 and 2016 – beer commercials, politicians in ball caps, all heralding the official Blue Jays slogan: Come Together. But according to University of Regina PhD candidate Katie Sveinson, Blue Jays fans on Twitter give a starker portrait.”
New Online: Branch Rickey Scouting Reports (Library of Congress)
Library of Congress: New Online: Branch Rickey Scouting Reports. “Opening day for Major League Baseball took place last week, on March 29—the earliest opening date in MLB history, excepting for special international events. This year’s opening day also marked the first time in 50 years that a full slate of games was scheduled for the first day. The Library of Congress is marking the beginning of the 2018 season by posting a series of scouting reports compiled by Branch Rickey (1881–1965), a former player, manager and baseball executive, best known as the man responsible for bringing Jackie Robinson into Major League Baseball in 1947, thereby breaking baseball’s long-established color barrier.”
