Last night, the baseball world was rocked by Texas Rangers second baseman shortstop third baseman designated hitter utility man team-leader-who-would-do-anything-to-help-the-team Michael Young’s revelation that he feels “misled and manipulated” by the Rangers’ front office. Young feels that the team has been trying to trade him throughout the off-season while telling him the opposite. Ever the consummate teammate, Young has declined to reveal specific details of exactly what went on behind closed doors. However, in a NotGraphs Exclusive (TM), we have obtained leaked video of what we believe to be Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels finally coming clean with the Face of the Franchise.

It’s hard to make out from the grainy video, but “Brenda” (they are using a bunch of clubhouse nicknames throughout) is obviously Michael Young. “Dylan” is Jon Daniels, even though in the footage he looks to be closer to Nolan Ryan in age. “Kelly” is Adrian Beltre (I’m telling you, you can’t complain about video quality when it’s as earth-shattering as this), although he seems to have gotten over his head thing; at least when “JD” is involved. “Brandon” must be Michael Young’s BFF Vernon Wells.

Despite the quality of the video, everything in the exchanged words and, above all, the evident emotions leave little doubt as to its authenticity. Look out for Michael, Vernon, he’s gonna need it.

A Garfoose was perhaps involved (and not harmed) in the taking of this picture.

We ponder the difficult questions here at NotG. What should it be like to attend, get dressed for or even play in a baseball game – these questions have occurred often so far in these pages. One thing we have yet covered is what sort of wild animals should be allowed loose in the bullpen.

Good thing Dirk Hayhurst, relief pitcher and author of the Bullpen Gospels, was out there imagining things for us before we ever existed. Well, what is a Garfoose? Hayhurst explained in an interview with DRaysBay arranged after the news that he’d be joining the team for spring training at the very least.

…I started kind of fleshing out this character. What would he look like? What would he be like? And so I started drawing pictures of it and wrote a story about it. Then it kind of caught on from there, and people started asking me to draw pictures of Garfoose on their cards or their baseballs and stuff like that, and I just started doing it.

All the sudden everyone wants this autograph from me. And it’s like, “Okay, sure, I’ve got like this really popular autograph now,” and it’s not because I’m a good player; it’s because I draw this thing on my autograph. It kind of came from that.

Now, the Garfoose of the present is nature’s perfect predator. He lives in the Tibeten mountain groves that you can’t find unless you were born there, or something. And there’s these tops of trees in this grove were the MLB gets its perfectly grown baseballs — because the best baseballs in the world are organic-grown from trees in the baseball grove. And the Garfoose protects the grove from intruders. Very few people that have seen the Garfoose in the wild live to tell about it.

The more you know.

On Friday night, Down Under, in the future, David Welch of the Sydney Blue Sox pitched the game of his life: A playoff no-hitter of the Adelaide Bite. It was the reincarnated Australian Baseball League’s first no-no, and Welch, a Sydney native himself, did it in front of his hometown fans. All 1,162 of them.

Welch struck out 10 and walked three. He was, as the kids say, “in the zone.” And, believe it or not, it was the third no-hitter Welch, 27-years-old, has been a part of. He combined with another Aussie, Simon Beresford, and two other pitchers, on a no-hitter for the Helena Brewers back in 2005, and in June, 2007, Welch threw a seven-inning no-hitter for the Huntsville Stars.

That’s a lot of no-hitters, yo.

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For those who are unaware, residents of Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood awoke this morning to find that a statue of broadcasting legend and famous drunk person Harry Caray had been tagged under cover of darkest night.

First off, let it be noted that this may or may not represent a case of real-live irony (I’m not very good at telling), as much of Caray’s commentary was of a similar level of coherence as the message his statue now bears.

Second of all, let it be stated immediately that the author has no intention of taking the high road with regard to this situation. I have no idea as to the whereabout of this high road and can find no evidence that Metro Transit of Madison, Wisconsin, offers access to said road. Which is to say: I am not outraged that someone has chosen to besmirch Caray or the Cubs or anything like that.

Rather, the real crime here is not the act of vandalism itself, but rather the manner in which said vandalism has been borne out. It’s obvious from the visual evidence that our pranksters have acted quickly and largely without a plan. While the Cubs have been tasked with physical damages and must clean the statue now, the greatest damage is to White Sox fans as a whole, who must wear a collective yoke of shame for this middling attempt at public mockery.

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Today, via twitter, the NBA fired a salvo at the MLB.

Although the NBA swiftly deleted the potentially incendiary tweet, the ever-vigilant denizens of the internet world were, as always, ready. Jon Bois (of Progressive Boink and SBNation) captured the tweet and posted it on his own twitter.

The MLB appears to have induced this fiery behavior on the part of the NBA because of their assertion that the completion of the Super Bowl and the NBA season represents the transition point between football season and baseball season – tweets here, and a disgustingly over-the-top ode to the oncoming season here.

Of course, the NBA season is in full swing and will be until June (or whenever the playoffs end this year, might be August by now). By no means would NBA fans around the country be happy with the idea put forward by the MLB that the only two American sports seasons are football and baseball.

Regardless of how you feel on the issue, I think we can all agree that there is only one legitimate way to solve any potential struggle that may erupt between the two leagues: the cage match. NBA Commissioner David Stern in one corner. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig in the other. Two men enter, one man leaves, and then the other man leaves. But one of them will be hurt, very badly. And then, once and for all, we can determine what season it is in mid-February.

Generation X is so often pilloried — rightly at times — for being too self-absorbed, too indolent, too prone to calculated ennui, off-brand cigarettes, liberal-arts degrees, and bouts of longing for Winona Ryder. I will argue with none of this.

But sometimes we’re capable of greatness. For evidence — evidence that not even Hollywood attorneys could assail — please take time to watch the video below. It’s the iconic 10th inning of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series re-imagined through the constraints of RBI Baseball. I just checked, and I’ve never used the phrase “profoundly beautiful” in my life. But I’m using it now to describe this. Highlights? See pixelated Marty Barrett win the Miller Lite Player of the Game, and then look on in mounting horror as the John McNamara of the NES keypad toggles desperately between foredoomed relievers. The dulcet tones on Vin Scully are but a welcome flourish.

Come with me, won’t you?

I’m skeptical of anyone who’s pointed his or her (but, really, mostly his) internet browser to this site but somehow decides he doesn’t have two minutes to watch Mr. Bradley Woodrum’s new video on LOB%.

When you talk about this video, you’re talking about a video that has pan flute-sounding background music, that features a pretty accurate rendering of famous Bermudan Sidney Ponson, and which, perhaps most notably, reveals the true identity of sabermetrical patriarch Tom Tango.

Other thing: don’t neglect to note that this video has also been preserved for all time in Mr. Steve Slowinski’s Saber Library, a project designed to hold you close as your traverse the wilds of sabermetrica.

Sad Mr. Met is sadly a useful graphic to have around.

The situation with the Mets is starting to look grim.

According to a lawsuit unsealed on Friday, the trustee representing the victims of Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme is suing Mets owners Saul Katz and Fred Wilpon for one billion dollars. Being sued for $1 billion is almost always a bad thing. Where does this big, bad, billion-dollar number come from? Read the rest of this entry »

In just a short amount of time, NotGraphs has distinguished itself for its heady content and hard-hitting reportage.

Now’s your opportunity to participate in this phenomenon that no one in particular is describing as “the most important thing there is.”

“How?” you ask. Keep reading!

The advent of The Year 2011 in Baseball brings with it a litter of baseball annuals and other published materials of the print and electronic variety. We at NotGraphs are interested in reading and shamelessly promoting such items under the guise of a “review.” But before we do that, we need you to send us this stuff for free.

The ways of contacting us are manifold — and many are unrepeatable in mixed company — but the most efficient way is by emailing us at not+tips@fangraphs.com with information about you, your finely crafted product, and other relevant information. We will almost definitely reply without delay. We will almost definitely want your free stuff.

We’re very pleased to introduce our newest contributor, Bethany Heck. As Ms. Heck notes here, she’s the proprietor of the Eephus League, a site that Andy Warhol has posthumously described as “the best thing available on your futuristic technology screens.” In what follows, she promotes shamelessly a thing the she herself invented. Prepare to exchange American currency for it!

Greeting, NotGraphs community! I have been blessed enough to be asked to join this wonderful writing staff; certainly not an offer I could refuse. I will commence my tenure with a bit of shameless self promotion.

My foray into the baseball ethos is centered around the Eephus League, a site with a growing community centered around baseball minutiae. I built the site from the ground up with the goal of creating an oasis of random facts, photographs, scorekeeping insights, stories, verbiage and product patents related to baseball. I particularly enjoy making graphic illustrations and infographics related to baseball, and that’s the main reason I have ended up here. The other reason, of course, is to convince you to buy my baseball related stuff, most importantly my scorebook.

I love scorekeeping. I don’t consider myself an expert by any means, but I am fascinated by the development of the art of keeping score and how intensely personalized it is. You can look at 10 different scorecards from the same game and though they will all have the same information, they will all tell it in a different way. It is a travesty that so many people have fallen out of the habit, or never got started in the first place. I want to change that. I want to make scorekeeping fun, easy and a natural part of going to the ballpark. That’s where my scorebook comes in. Here are some photos to get you excited.

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