Tech Talk : Baseball Fever – Apps, Scorecards and Upper 13

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The origin of baseball has been the subject of debate and controversy for decades. The first references to baseball are Rev Thomas Wilson’s writings from 1672 or 1700 (accounts vary), in which he expressed his distaste for people indulging in “morris dancing, cudgel-playing, baseball and cricketts” on a Sunday. But historians believe he meant stoolball rather than baseball. Stoolball is known to have been played by the eleventh century, and is often regarded as the ancestor of baseball, rounders, and cricket.

American baseball predates Welsh baseball, which was distinguished from rounders in 1892. Which means baseball is as American as Apple and Microsoft.

Baseball Fever has begun. Spring training has started and regular season is only one month away.  Here are online sources to enhance the season.

Scorecards

There are two types of fans: those who keep score and those who do not. Scoring a baseball game with paper and pencil is a dying tradition. Keeping score is a great way to get more involved as a fan and to make a great memento of all the baseball games you’ve attended.

To get started you need to pick a scorecard that fits your personality and attention to detail. I prefer a pitch count scorecard, which means each pitch requires scorekeeping. It helps keep the game moving prevents my attention from wavering.

You need to learn the basics of scoring. After you get the basics down, start adding your own style to keep track of scores. There isn’t a wrong or right way to do it. The trick is to find a system that will help you easily keep track of the progress of a game. Scorecards are like snowflakes; no two are alike. Most fans utilize creativity and score with their own symbols and styles.

I personally like watching sports with as little technology as possible.  But if you have a technology addiction bring your gadget to the games and use one of these:

Fantasy Baseball

“If you ever get a chance to buy a baseball team, do so. It’s very fun.” ~Ted Turner
Fantasy baseball is a game where players manage imaginary baseball teams based on the real-life performance of baseball players, and compete against one another using those players’ statistics to score points. It is the oldest form of fantasy sports and one of the most difficult and time-intensive due to the 162-game season of the MLB and the inconsistency of players.

Most leagues have monetary reward for the best season; the most expensive fantasy baseball leagues have been rumored to be over $100,000.  But most games that are available to most computer users are under $10,000, but you have to invest a bit to join and pay for any transaction.

There is a fantasy baseball magazine “Fanball Magazine” (http://tinyurl.com/ttfanball) which keeps fantasy players updated and assists in transactions.

Here is a list of a few places to play fantasy baseball:

Watch Local Baseball Games

Northland College (http://www.northlandcollegesports.com/)
Northland College has both a softball and baseball team.  Northland BB and SB season starts this month in Florida with home games starting early April.

You can get the sport calendar imported your personal calendar (http://www.northlandcollegesports.com/calendar.aspx) and keep up with txt messages, rss feeds and newsletters.

Northland Baseball Season Preview

This season will be the second year under head coach Andy Ham.  The Husson University alum and former Siena Heights assistant hopes for big things this season. “I am very excited for the upcoming season. I saw a lot of good things during Fall ball and I expect great things from the new players, as well as the returners. This year’s team will have more depth than in years past and we should see an improvement from last year.”

Northland will look to improve on their fifth place finish from a year ago. The 13 wins last season were the most since the 2005-06 season, but wasn’t good enough for the UMAC post season.

This years pitching staff has some depth with returners and newcomers. Senior Bryce Szymanski (Pequot Lakes, Minn.) has been the team’s most consistent pitcher over the past three seasons.

(Read More . . . )

Northland Softball Season Preview

Meshing a solid base of returners with newcomers who will be counted on to contribute will be the key to success for the 2010 LumberJill softball team. Three of the four infield positions as well as catcher feature returning starters, led by All Conference senior Asia DeVlaeminck at first base. The LumberJills also return experience in the circle with All Conference senior Brittany Schmitt, who picked up 12 UMAC wins last season.

(Read More . . . )

Upper 13 League

(http://www.leaguelineup.com/upper13)

Organized In 1948 For The Promotion of Baseball in North-Central Wisconsin “Baseball For Your Pleasure”. The Upper 13 League is a member of the Wisconsin Baseball Association.

Upper 13 League has two divisions. Both Ashland C&S Design and Ashland Merchants play their home games on Pufall Field (Hodgkins Park).

The league increased its schedule from 12 to 13 games and divided into two divisions as a result of expanding from seven to 10 teams. Teams will now face intra-divisional rivals twice and inter-divisional rivals once each season. The split is according to geography; the teams in the East Division are Ashland C&S Design, Ashland Merchants, Iron City, Marenisco, and North Shore. The teams in the West Division are Bayside, Oulu, Port Wing, Proctor, and Superior.

East Division

West Division
Ashland C&S Design Bayside Vipers
Ashland Merchants Oulu Blue Jays
Iron City Miners Port Wing Boilers
Marenisco Milltowners Proctor Padres
North Shore Whitecaps Superior Lakers

The league East vs. West All-Star Game will be played July 14 at 7:00 p.m. in Ashland, WI.

See you at the games. I will be the geek with a scorecard.

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