The Futility Infielder

Though the weather in New York City still frigid, I've been thinking warm thoughts while writing up my Florida spring training journey. It's three pages long, with about 30 photos (click them to enlarge) and a few more still to come. Check it out!

As you might expect, this piece has lately been absorbing most of the time I devote to this site, so I apologize to those of you who come here regularly expecting more content. Without trying to discourage anybody from checking in daily, things may remain a bit sporadic around here for the next week or so. The reason, and it's a happy one, is that I'm moving into a new apartment (still in Manhattan's East Village, now over near Tompkins Square Park) with my girlfriend of two and a half years. The move's a week from today, so I'll need to get crackin' with the packin'. Lord only knows how quickly I'll have Internet access, so if you're hungry for baseball content, be sure to check out my pals listed at left. A few of the recent highlights:

• Baseball Musings' David Pinto conducts an email interview with Bill James: "The game is very, very different from the game of 1977. . . it's almost hard to put a finger on any one thing. But probably the easiest thing to SEE is the change from a speed game to a power game, with the consequent change in the pace of the game and in the appearance of the game. The players of today simply don't LOOK like the players of the 1970s. They are much heavier, much thicker, much slower."

• Baseball Ranter Mike Carminati examines the 30th Anniversary of the Designated Hitter: "If the AL fans really want to see more .130 hitters, more power to them. Just don't say that it improves play, induces strategy, or eliminates one-dimensional players."

• The tireless Lee Sinins, who puts together the daily Around the Majors mailing list, is interviewed over at Netshrine: "I've been collecting about 250 articles a day during spring training. When the season starts, that number obviously gets a lot higher. If it's an AP article, if it's a feature article on someplace like ESPN.com or Sportsline.com, or if it's an item in the daily papers covering teams, if it's online, odds are good I collect it."

• Cub Reporter Christian Ruzich is back from a road-trip-enforced period of silence.

• In what we can only hope becomes a regular feature, Baseball Primer author and National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Manager of Program Presentations Bruce Markusen has penned a lengthy column full of all sorts of great trivia on DHs, Opening Day highlights, and the amazing afro of Rick Sweet.