A few follow-up notes...

Playing around on the internet over this long holiday weekend, I came across a few items that were related to past posts here on wezen-ball. It seemed like a good idea to share these pieces in a "follow-up" manner...

On the Pitcher of the '80s:
In the original post, I discussed an article in the 1990 Street & Smith's preview guide that named Jack Morris and Fernando Valenzuela as right-handed and left-handed pitchers of the 1980s. I thought it was note-worthy because it showed that contemporary writers put Morris and Fernando on even-footing in the "pitcher of the decade" argument, an argument that many use to bolster Morris' Hall of Fame bid even though Fernando never had so much as a sniff of the Hall.

Well, in a similar article written in the December 1989 issue of Baseball Digest, the authors come to the same conclusion: Morris and Valenzuela as pitchers of the decade. Again, I'm glad to find articles like this because a) it helps to show the relative weakness of the "Pitcher of the '80s" argument for Morris' HOF candidacy and b) it helps people remember Fernando and his legacy.

On A Charlie Brown Christmas:
I mentioned one of the best gifts I had ever been was a copy of Sandlot Peanuts that my brother had found in some random used book store. Well, it turns out that 1978 baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated included a review of the book:

"These inner struggles take place in a closed world in which we never see grown-ups or many of the opponents who roll up astronomical scores. Yet the outside world can intrude, as in the sequence in which Snoopy challenges Henry Aaron in an attempt to be the first to break Babe Ruth's home-run record. Lucy howls. 'It'll be a disgrace. You're not even human.' Ignoring her and his hate mail, the canine slugger ruminates, 'I just want to be a credit to my breed.'"

On Finding Preview Guides Online:
In a blog I just found through a post by TangoTiger, the good folks over at BaseballGB (as in Baseball - Great Britain) seem to be just as excited as I am about the availability of Baseball Digest on Google Books. They also provide a great service by pointing out that Baseball Mercury, a "modest British equivalent," is also available online. Thanks for that!