Just for those of you sick of the 50th birthday of Michael Jordan, I now present to you a list of five baseball players who were born on February 17:
Rod Dedeaux (who would later be one of the greatest college coaches in baseball history)
…
So there you go. Oh, and Red Barber was born on 2-17 as well.
This image is from the State Library of Florida and has no known copyright restrictions. It’s of the Brooklyn Dodgers doing calisthenics at Spring Training in 1949.
Go below the jump for the latest news on the World Baseball Classic:
Today’s picture is from the Flickr stream of “Barnkat” and is used under a Creative Commons license.
In it, we see Reggie Jackson, in all of his afro’d glory, talking to Bill North during Spring Training, 1973.
It’s time again for World Baseball Classic news! Go below the jump for the latest:
Is it a problem that I could identify Justin Verlander and I think Phil Coke based simply on Verlander’s profile and I-Think-Coke’s facial hair (unless Todd Jones is now a coach for the Tigers or something…)?
This image is under a creative commons license and was taken by Roger “HueyTaxi” Dewitt.
The IBAF (International Baseball Federation) has a list of World Rankings for baseball, but that is a list for the production of national teams- not how successful a baseball country is at producing MLB players, or producing the best MLB players. Nor does it take into account how well teams from those countries do in competitions like the Caribbean Series.
The Continuum Baseball Rankings do that differently. Using an ELO rating system, the Continuum Rankings takes into account a few factors:
1. The IBAF rankings
2. The amount of MLB players produced
3. The amount of win shares of MLB players by country
4. Game results by both national teams and representative teams (such as a league champion in the Caribbean Series), as well as overall tournament performance (coming in first in a tournament, for example, versus coming in third or fourth).
Now, here’s how ELO Rankings work: each team has a rating (originally all the teams had their rating set as 0, but after running the first 3 parts of the rankings I used the rankings it produced for the first tournament covered with the Continuum Baseball Rankings- the Caribbean World Series). Based on how high or low one team’s ranking is compared to another, the winner or loser of a game is awarded anywhere from 0 to 15 points OR loses 0 to 15 points. The number of points awarded depends on the quality of the two teams. More impressive wins get more points, for example.
Note that the following rankings are just for fun, they are not scientific and are not meant to be definitive whatsoever. I have no background in statistics, and my knowledge on the ELO ranking system comes entirely from reading about it and such. Even the math itself was done using another website, not a personal calculator or spreadsheet.
Also, note that I counted just the Netherlands (and added together Netherlands, Curacao, Aruba. etc. into one for the Win Shares and Number of Players) for this, not each of the countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands individually, just for simplicity.
So, go below the jump for the current ratings (calculated February 14, 2013 but posted on February 15, 2013):
Sorry about the lack of updates last night. So, after the jump, the latest World Baseball Classic News:
Today’s World Baseball Classic news is available after the jump (due to length):
Go here for earlier news of the day on the World Baseball Classic.
Cuba’s national team roster has been confirmed completely for the WBC now. The only way it will now change will be if there is a last-second injury:
The roster is the following:
Catchers: Frank Camilo Morejon Reyes (IND), Yosvani Peraza (PRI), and Eriel Sanchez Leon (SSP).
Infielders: Jose Dariel Abreu Correa (CFG), Jose Miguel Fernandez Diaz (MTZ), Erisbel Arruebarruena Escalante (CFG), Yulieski Gourriel Castillo and newcomers Raul Gonzalez (CA), Luis Felipe Rivera and Andy Ibañez, both from Isla de la Juventud.
Outfielders: Alfredo Despaigne Rodriguez (GRA), Frederich Cepeda Cruz (SSP), Guillermo Heredia Molina (MTZ), Alexei Bell Quintero (SCU), and Yasmani Tomas (IND).
Hurlers: Odrisamer Despaigne Orue (IND), Freddy A. Alvarez Saez (VCL), Ismel Jimenez Santiago (SSP), Vladimir Garcia Escalante (CAV), Yadier Pedroso (ART) Norberto Gonzalez Miranda (CFG), Alexander Rodriguez Matos (GTM), Yander Guevara Morales (CAV), Danny Betancourt (SCU), Leandro Martinez (Gr), Diosdani Castillo (Vcl), Raciel Iglesias and Wilber Perez, both from IJV.
Victor Mesa will be the manager of the team.
What will Barry Larkin do before managing Team Brazil in the WBC? Why, he’s going to India to teach baseball as part of a State Department program. Between doing these while also doing work for ESPN and watching his son tear it up for the University of Miami basketball team, I must wonder: does he ever sleep?
More news tomorrow….
The Baseball Continuum 