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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As you may have heard, the Football Industrial Complex is about to have its big day. Yippee?

Anyhow, every gentleperson of highly evolved opinions knows that the football-related product put out by the NFL is inferior to baseball in a multitude of ways. My opinion or true fact? True fact!

Disagree? First, I’m sorry you hate freedom. Second, please take this opportunity to revisit Thomas Boswell’s classic, “Why Is Baseball So Much Better Than Football?” Best of all, it’s in list form for today’s busy executive!

Still not convinced? Then please fire up the video embedded below, jump ahead to the 0:30 mark and then ponder how much you regret having done so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezm66VaNL6o

Fierce or friendly?

Since we’re at the forefront of uniform reporting here at NotG, this little gem couldn’t co un-discussed. According to Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie blog, it seems the NBA will give its players the option of wearing only a skin-tight compression tank as the top portion of their uniform. The players wear the tight tanks anyway, so why not give them the option of changing it up?

This is, of course, in line with most fashion trends (and even sport fashion trends – see football jerseys), but there’s more going on here. It’s another chance for the apparel manufacturers to make more money and for the NBA’s stars to show off their physiques. Of course, they might have a problem suiting up Shaquille O’Neal, but hence the ‘optional’ portion of the decision. The NBA also is famous for tinkering with the game in the D-League and All-Star game, so this is just another example of forward thinking.

The obvious question from your NotG correspondent is if this would work for baseball. From a game play standpoint, it would make HBP decisions easier and could make swinging easier. And it would be interesting to see Manny Ramirez turn in his baggy get-up for a slim-fitting situation. But the baseball fan base is probably a little more conservative when it comes to game play and uniforms, so it doesn’t seem likely that this development hops sports.

And one last problem with the idea. Baseball players may be in better shape than they are given credit for, but there are still some outliers. Those outliers (saaay… C.C. Sabathia) might make us shudder if they put on the skin-tight tee. So, file under “maybe not.”