Recently, in these pages, I made a case for a way of discussing books in a manner conducive to NotGraphs. You can read those exact words, if you want. Alternatively, you can just believe me when I say that the basic idea is to share lightly annotated passages and ideas from interesting baseball-related books.

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Reggie Jackson: The Life and Thunderous Career of Baseball’s Mr. October by Dayn Perry

A Note on the Notes
Today’s edition of Readings is both bullet- and trivia-heavy.

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The Washington Nationals introduce new outfielder Jayson Werth today at 1:00pm ET and, thanks to the wonder of the internet, you can watch the relevant press conference live, live, live via CSN Washingon’s website.

Though we’ve been unable to substantiate the rumors, NotGraphs has gotten word that the Nationals have had to employ extra security for the event on account of how everyone will be trying to throw their panties onto the stage.

H/T: Nats Insider

This is either (a) a special appearance by the Nationals’ Racing Presidents at the Washington Ballet, or (b) an excerpt from a film that Spike Jonze is making in the future.

You decide, America!

H/T: Let Teddy Win

As I noted in these pages yesterday while discussing D.J. Dayn Perry’s book on Reggie Jackson, former Phillie and Outspoken Black Man Dick Allen posted career numbers either on-par with, or slightly better than, recent Hall of Fame inductees Andre Dawson and Jim Rice — and, yet, never received even as much as 19% of the BBWA’s votes for said honor.

Since my last dispatch to these pages, at least five or six minutes of my life have been dedicated to the better understanding of Dick Allen and his contributions to society.

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Recently, in these pages, I made a case for a way of discussing books in a manner conducive to NotGraphs. You can read those exact words, if you want. Alternatively, you can just believe me when I say that the basic idea is to share lightly annotated passages and ideas from interesting baseball-related books.

Text
Reggie Jackson: The Life and Thunderous Career of Baseball’s Mr. October by Dayn Perry

On This Book and Its Familiar Author
It would undoubtedly represent a conflict of interest — and might, indeed, ring hollow — were I to submit a gushing review of my colleague Dayn Perry’s mostly new book about Reggie Jackson. On the other hand, it would also be an exercise in absurdity to expressly not mention how I’ve been reading and taking notes on that same book.

So, please, reader, accept these notes with the spirit in which they’re given — i.e. that of well-meaning impartiality.

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The New England Sports Network (NESN) — i.e. the primary broadcaster of Boston Red Sox games — has just posted to its site a video of NESN on-field reporter Heidi Watney touring the Willis (née Sears) Tower during a late-season trip to Chicago.

It may or may not be necessary for me to point out that Ms. Watney is what one might call “classically beautiful” — a fact not lost upon, for example, most of the internet.

Beyond serving merely as an opportunity to gaze upon Ms. Watney’s shining visage, however, the video also affords the viewer some of the Skydeck experience without having to pay the $16 admission fee.

Furthermore, it teaches us that most useful of lessons — namely, that smooth jazz is the appropriate soundtrack to most anything.

Yes, it’s baseball news only insofar as the Twins recently called it home, but I’m not so sure we really need much of an excuse to watch a building fall apart.

In any case, if you somehow missed it, the roof of Minneapolis’s Hubert Humphrey Metrodome ripped early Sunday morning, thus rendering the stadium unfit for the Vikings-Giants game and probably creating exactly 100,000 other problems.

On the plus side, FOX left their cameras running overnight, allowing anyone and everyone to watch a building fall apart.

One piece of advice on that note: if it all possible, do watch this video on some sort of surround sound-type thing — preferably with, like, seven subwoofers attached — on account of how the audio is simultaneously terrifying and awesome.

Given today’s earlier post regarding the pending release of Baseball Stars Professional for PS3 and PSP, this seems like an appropriate time to announce a project that should appeal to the readership.

The project is called the NotGraphs Baseball Stars Challenge, and it presents an opportunity for NotGraphs readers to participate in two pastimes simultaneously — i.e. those of (a) gaming and (b) roster-construction nerdery.

“What’s the challenge?” perhaps you’re asking. Well, further down in this post, you’ll find, among other things, a link to a savestate I’ve created for the Baseball Stars NES ROM. Modifying said ROM slightly, I’ve been able to produce a team in which the user begins with $1 million to spend however he sees fit.

The team, called FANGRAPH NERD, is set up in a league against Baseball Stars stalwarts: the American Dreams, Ninja Blacksox, Brave Warriors, Japan Robins, and Lovely Ladies. To play games, just go to League Play and then Continue Play.

The goal is to play out a season — managing the team however you see fit, using the money whichever way you’d like, changing the lineup however you want — to achieve the best record possible.

In order to adjudge most accurately the roster-construction skills of each user — and to avoid rewarding those users who just happen to be awesome at video games — the savestate dictates that all FANGRAPH NERD games are simulated by the computer.

Here’s everything you’ll need to get started:

• The emulator I’ve used is the FCEUX version, available here. Load this onto your computer first. (It’s possible that this is only available for PC users. Any information on making this accessible to Mac users, too, is appreciated.)

• A .zip file of the ROM itself is available here. Once you’ve extracted the file, open it from within the emulator.

• The savestate for the Challenge is available here. Open this once you’ve started playing Baseball Stars in the emulator. (Note: As a couple users in the comment section suggest, you may receive the following error when attempting this: “Warning: found unknown save chunk of type 31.This may be caused by using a different or incompatible emulator.” However, it appears as though just pressing “Okay” will allow you to play the game like normal.)

Some additional notes:

• I played out one season without changing anything, and came out with a 32-93 record (.256 winning percentage). We’ll consider this a “replacement-level” season.

• One note on changing your team’s lineup. First, go to VS. Pick FANGRAPH NERD and Player 1 and any other team as a C player. Set the lineup how you want it. Play through at least one batter like this. Voila! The lineup’s now changed in season play!

• Feel free to report any technological difficulties. I can make no claims as to being able to fix all of them, but it’s likely that if one user has a problem, another user will have a similar one.

• The prize is yet to be determined, but it will likely involve very public praise.

• Please note, finally, that it’s unlawful and shameful to ever, ever, ever, ever, ever use a ROM or emulator without already owning the game. Neither FanGraphs nor NotGraphs endorses this sort of behavior.

I’m quoting myself when I say that an underrepresented concern in the field of baseballing analysis is the question of what exactly makes watching and following the sport pleasant.

To this charge, at least one voice will raise the point that “measuring” happiness and its attendant causes is difficult, that there are too many variables to consider.

To those voices, I say: “Shut your little faces.”

I also say: “Maybe that’s the case. But the fact remains that people, by and large, don’t know what makes them happy. As proof, I offer the fact that anyone, at all, lives in the city of Dallas.”

QED, amirite?

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Washington University in St. Louis recently hosted “The Future of Sports,” a panel discussion featuring Bob Costas, Bill James, Joe Posnanski, Gerald Early, and Michael MacCambridge.

The first three of the names will very obviously be familiar to you. The latter two are professors at host Washington University. Early’s resume, in particular, is impressive, including a number of consultantships to Ken Burns on his various documentaries.

H/T: Tom to the Tango