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.

Name That Mustache!

That mustache is, of course, Robin Yount’s mustache (or is it? see bottom). This is just one in what I can only describe as a fantastic line of baseball t-shirts available at Nike’s website. Although I have to admit that I can’t identify all of the players from their designs, there are a few great ones.

My personal favorites, aside from the obvious Yount shirt, have to be the Mike Schmidt Phillies shirt, the Keith Hernandez Mets shirt, and the Reggie Jackson (glasses included!) Yankees shirt.

Personally, I think this is a great idea, and I would love to see some with more players, both historic and current. A Joe Mauer sideburns t-shirt would be excellent, and a Rollie Fingers t-shirt (A’s or Brewers) seems necessary here. I’m also a big fan of Gorman Thomas’s mustache, but that might be too powerful for one t-shirt to handle.

With only 13 designs already made and only three suggested by myself here, we’re left with what must be endless possibilities. Do you have anybody else you’d like to see added to this line? While I wait for my Robin Yount shirt to get shipped, let me know in the comments section!

EDIT: At first, I didn’t think the curl in the mustache was powerful enough to be Fingers (and I suppose the Brewers yellow of the shirt made me think it was Yount’s blonde mustache). Here are pictures for comparison (looks like it was indeed Fingers).
Fingers:

Yount:

Oh don’t worry B-R, I’ll be ready

The great Sports Reference Head Honcho Sean Forman has put out a bulletin looking for subjects to test the new Sports Reference sites. For only one hour of your time between February 9th and February 18th, you’ll receive $50 and the official uniform of the new world order a Baseball-Reference t-shirt. Of course, as with all great things, there is a catch. This time, the catch is that said testers must go to the city of Philadelphia, a fate survivable by only the most hardy.

Baseball-Reference is a tremendously useful resource, even given all we have available here at FanGraphs, and it’s in the best interest of every baseball fan to make sure that the site runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. If you live in the Philadelphia area, this would be a great opportunity to pick up a quick buck and help out the online baseball community at the same time, and that’s something we can all get behind.

One of the perks of attending such a fine educational institution as the University of Wisconsin-Madison are the fantastic lectures open to the public, such as Thursday’s first annual entry in the Allan H. Selig Distinguished Lecture Series. The series, funded by Commissioner Selig – an American History major at UW – looks to explore the history of sports and specifically the history of sports with respect to society. Bud Selig was present at the lecture as well – about four rows in front of me.

The lecturer on Thursday was University of Illinois professor Adrian Burgos (pictured), a SABR member who authored the 2007 book Playing America’s Game as well as the 2011 book (coming in April) titled Cuban Star, about Negro League owner Alex Pompez, the subject of Thursday’s lecture.

Despite the limited fanfare around the name Alex Pompez, the lecture shed light on him as a very influential figure in the game throughout the middle of the past century. Pompez was the son of a Latino father and an African-American mother, and his inclusion in the societies of both races shows in his involvement in the game of baseball. Not only did Pompez own the Cuban Stars of the Negro Leagues, but he also worked as an international scout, signing the first players to play professionally out of Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.

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Due to the shockingly low wages here at FanGraphs [Editor’s Note: Jackie is as disgruntled an employee as you’ll find. Don’t believe him!], I often find myself shopping on clearance racks. Every once in a while, my consumer’s eye directs me towards the clearance section on MLB.com, and rarely am I disappointed. Sometimes, it’s just impossible to imagine how these items don’t immediately sell out, but here are four items which have somehow found their way onto the virtual clearance rack.

1. Aminco Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 2010 All-Star Game Disney Pin Set

Disney and the MLB know that cross-branding rules! After all, if you’re a big fan of both Mickey Mouse AND the 2010 All-Star Game, how could you resist dropping 40 dollars on this limited edition set? Well, now that the MLB store generously dropped $8.02 off the price, I’m sure it’ll sell like hotcakes.

2. Mascotopia Oakland Athletics Mascot Puzzle

I get that this for really young children, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a nine piece jigsaw puzzle before. Almost the entire mascot is on the center piece! I would think that if a child has sufficient motor skills to even put a puzzle together, they would be able to finish this is roughly two seconds. Obviously, then, at the previous price – $14.99, or $1.67 per piece – this product was a total rip off. However, at $1.11 per piece, it’s a steal!

3. New York Mets Men’s Reactive Robe by Concepts Sport

What better way to show off your fandom than with a bathrobe? Wear it in the bathroom, in the hallway, and in the bedroom! Amaze your roommates, significant others, and/or kids! Now $20.02 cheaper, it can be yours for only $49.97!

4. Fantasia Philadelphia Phillies Tool Bag

Although it’s understandable, the name of this product shouldn’t be confused with that of many Phillies fans. For said fans, this could be a very useful gameday item. It’s the perfect carrier for blunt objects that can be thrown at outfielders from the bleacher seats!

Between these four and other items, I’ll be shocked if people can’t make full use of MLB.com’s current offer: take $10.00 off any clearance order of $50.00 or more. With such high quality and practical items on sale, products will be flying off the shelves.

I, for one, think I have a good thing going with my planned fantasy baseball team name for next season: “Kevin Cash Considerations.” Over at RotoHardball, where some colleagues and I (including NotGraphs own Eno Sarris and RotoGraphs’ Zach Sanders) have run a fantasy mock draft. We had a couple of creative names in our group (“Steve Garvey’s Billfish Classic” and “Punxsutawney Phil Hughes” were pretty good I thought), but many lacked spunk (“Sanders’ Squad”? Really, Zach?). It’s become abundantly clear that even though some of us are experts of fantasy baseball, we’re not experts on picking awesome team names.

For that reason, I ask you, the loyal and stalwart NotGraphs reader, to help us, fantasy experts and the fantasy community at large, with this problem which pervades the industry. Submit, for the greater good, excellent fantasy baseball team names so that we can rid our standings page of drab, boring monikers.

Along with “Kevin Cash Considerations,” I would also throw in “Harangutangs,” “Magic Wandies,” and any line from the song from The Simpson’s episode where Mr. Burns hires various MLB players as ringers on the company softball team. “Ken Griffey’s Grotesquely Swollen Jaw”, and “Steve Sax’s Run In With The Law” work particularly well in my opinion.

But enough about me. Commentariat, America is counting on you.

Vernon Wells isn’t exactly my idea of typical “American foxes.”

In case you missed it over the weekend, the Angels acquired Vernon Wells from the Blue Jays in exchange for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera. I have a feeling that the first line of negotiations went something like this.

ALEX ANTHOPOLOUS: Hey Tony, hey Arte. Sorry I’m late.

TONY REAGINS: No hassles, man. Hey, listen to Arte’s joke!

ARTE MORENO: (chuckling) Okay. How many astrosign medallions can you wear?!

ANTHOPOLOUS: I don’t know.

MORENO: Next time, try five of them!

So far, I have yet to see a reasonable explanation for why the Angels would make this trade. That is, until I saw this tweet: Angels GM Tony Reagins and owner Arte Moreno are just two wild and crazy guys, and there is no pair of baseball executives who cruise so successfully in tight slacks. In the words of Yortuk Festrunk, “Hosed? Count me in!”

This was a home run

Luckily, Baseball-Reference’s blog was all over it.

As the B-R blog covers exquisitely well, Steve Balboni was not a very good baseball player. However, he was an extremely entertaining baseball player. For one, he looked pretty funny. For two, and most importantly, the dude could hit some home runs.

The reason that I care about Steve Balboni goes back to a game in which I attended in the womb: this June 4th, 1989 game between the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers at County Stadium in Milwaukee. My mom shares some of my love of baseball, and she shared her love of Steve Balboni with me, which, if I recall correctly, was born from this game.

This game featured a few collectibles, including a home run from Yankee Deion Sanders (off of the stalwart Bryan Clutterbuck) and a two-homer game from Jesse Barfield. However, it was Steve Balboni’s sole at-bat (replacing Don Mattingly in the field) which makes this game live on for my family. Balboni saw 12 pitches in that at-bat, and nine strikes. That means that Balboni fouled off at least 6 balls in a row (my mom described it as 17, which unfortunately can be struck as exaggeration from the B-R box score) before blasting a home run into the seats.

Sometimes, it takes a player’s skill or one magical postseason moment for him to live on in a fan’s mind. In this case, it was simply one heroic at-bat in a game between two bad teams in a Milwaukee summer. For that, Steve Balboni, we (specifically, my mom) thank you. And happy (belated) birthday, Steve.

The fearless leader of Team NotGraphs – our own Carson Cistulli – and I both highly enjoy a game of Northwoods League baseball at the Duck Pond at Warner Park, home of the Madison Mallards. Luckily for denizens of Madison and the surrounding areas, it sounds like the experience is going to get even better, according to what I heard at the University of Wisconsin Dugout Club Winter Baseball Banquet.

Madison Mallards GM Vern Stenman made multiple announcements regarding the field. Most exciting to me is the fact that the Mallards will be replacing all backless bleacher seats with actual seats from Baltimore’s Camden Yards. Instead of bleachers, that means that fans will be sitting in something like these:

The field will also be adding more seats closer the plate.

The second update may not directly affect the fans, but it should increase the quality of the games. The field at the duck pond has been re-done with Miller Park sod. Having played at Warner Park before, I already thought the field to be of a high quality, but my frame of reference (high school fields and another Northwoods League field near my hometown) isn’t great. Still, taking a good field and improving the grass should only bring good things.

I highly recommend Mallards games to anybody who lives in or around the Madison area. The park experience is great and the talent level of the kids playing is quite good – multiple MLB draft picks play on every team in the league. Try and make your way out for a couple of games this summer if you’re around.

Saturday Night Live – George F. Will’s Sports Machine – Video – NBC.com.

Unfortunately, I can’t get the video to embed properly, so you’ll have to click over (gasp!) to watch.

According to the description on NBC.com, George F. Will’s Sports Machine is “The most exciting sports show ever.” Dana Carvey plays the part of conservative columnist George Will, lampooning the thick, unfeeling prose that fills his book “Men At Work.” Mike Schmidt is portrayed by Corbin Bensen (Roger Dorn of Major League fame, thanks commenters) and John Lovitz uncannily portrays Tommy Lasorda.

The players have to answer questions about baseball, such as “What was [Willie Mays’s catch in 1954] not unlike?” with answers just as thick and trite. Eventually, Lasorda, Schmidt, the audience, and even ABC News personality Sam Donaldson reach the boiling point, asking Will if he ever played the game (clearly, by his arm, he hasn’t), and finally chasing him out of the studio.

Dana Carvey has always been one of my favorite SNL cast members, and this is no exception. His impression, as always, is flawless. Enjoy.