Link Love

Today's a busy day, so The Common Man wants to send some link love out to the peoples:


If you're going to read one take on the Arizona Immigration Law (AZ 1070), make it Bill's at The Daily Something. Bill even manages to make an appropriate baseball analogy. Bill's take on the bill is reasoned, calm, and detailed. If you read it and still can't see problems with this bill...The Common Man just doesn't understand....

But if you're going to read two takes on the Arizona Immigration Law, read Jeff Passan's terrific article about how the law could influence baseball players. More than a quarter of major league players come from outside of the United States, and the percentage of minor leaguers is even higher. Many teams, as a precaution, hold onto these players' documentation for them, given how often players are asked to fly around the country, in order to ensure that passports and work visas are not lost. And not only do the Diamondbacks and their opponents play in Arizona, but half of the league trains there, and minor leaguers play there at extended spring training and in the Arizona Fall League. Why isn't Guillermo at the ballpark? No one knows, but somebody should probably check the local sheriff's department. After all, he's brown and in the state of Arizona. Obviously, he's a suspect.

The Players' Union is also weighing in on the controversy (h/t to Maury Brown), threatening potential legal action if the law is enacted.

Lar's chart at Wezenball makes The Common Man miss Herb Carneal almost as much as having to listen to Dan Gladden and Jack Morris broadcast Twins games. And that's saying something. By the way, feel better Bob Uecker. You, Moe Berg, and Mike (naked batting practice) Redmond are the greatest back-up backstops of all time.

Padres 2B prospect Matt Antonelli posted video from the aftermath of his wrist surgery the other day. Antonelli had to have his hamate bone removed.

Matt is awfully chatty, but seems very good natured about the whole thing. Best of luck to him. The worst part, however, is that he'll undoubtedly have to take a break from his sideline career as a Nerf Basketball superstar.


Via MetsGrrrl, say what you want about the Mets, they really know how to engender loyalty in their season ticket holders. To paraphrase the great Norm MacDonald talking about a Kenny G Christmas Album, "Happy Baseball Season! Hope you enjoy crap!"

Morgan Ensberg is kind enough to take you through the day he was released from the Rays and his career ended. It is sad, but also poised and hopeful. TCM is really enjoying Morgan's writing and his willingness to share a ballplayer's perspective on the inner workings of the game. He writes with a great deal of humor and humility, and his topics are always interesting. For instance, just for his specialest readers, he showed off baseball's unwritten rulebook.

John Bonnes has been writing about baseball for a long time as TwinsGeek, and is an essential read for Minnesota fans. But he also does cool stuff like figuring out which stats are most predictive from year to year. Awesome.

Guest blogger Ryan Kath, writing on Howard Sinker's A Fan's View, asks an interesting question. How well will Twins fans travel in 2010 and beyond? Ryan, a Minnesota native and reporter in Kansas City, remembers Twins fans who wanted a change from the Metrodome flocking to Kauffman Stadium in previous years. With a brand new gleaming park in the Twin Cities, will so many fans follow their team to KC, Milwaukee, and Chicago?

Finally, James writes about the politics of booing over at TrueGrich. The Common Man happens to agree with him, that booing struggling players generallly sucks. That said, and TCM hopes James will forgive him, TCM plans to boo the hell out of Torii Hunter the next time he sees him.

Fig. 1 Booooooo!