A Bit Twitterish

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?

Recently the NFL and NBA announced new rules that will oversee player and coach use of the social networking site, Twitter. Last year, Charlie Villanueva sent a tweet during halftime of one of his games with the Milwaukee Bucks. Kevin Love did him one better and announced the firing of his coach through a tweet. Prior to the NFL season getting started this year, Chad Ochocinco threatened to tweet during games.

The spread of social networking opportunities and a player’s ability to express himself outside of the standard media outlets initially caught the leagues off-guard. It used to be that the leagues had almost complete control over when and where a player spoke to the media. It was always during press conferences, in the locker room, or on the field after a game. Now, players could send a message to thousands of random followers at any time of day, even during games. They could talk about what they were eating, what they were doing, potential trades, their happiness or worse, unhappiness with their current team. It was unlimited, and this clearly has scared the NFL and NBA into action.

But is this action the right action? Aren’t these leagues built on the backs of their superstars? Why is self expression such a scary thing? True, you never know what Chad Ochocinco is going to say, but isn’t that what makes him such a polarizing figure, and don’t polarizing figures sell tickets, merchandise and ultimately television deals? These leagues need to deal with reality: this is the era of personalities in sports. The current growth of every major sport in America is due in part to the entertainment factor that surrounds sports. We love our characters, our personalities, our heroes and our villains. We care about more than just the score. The more we know about the players, the more we love (or hate) them. Twitter gives us a look into their day-to-day lives that provides more than just watching them play on the field. As insignificant as it is, we want to know what LeBron James is eating for lunch the day of Game 7 of the conference finals.

Overall, I think that both leagues have responded with policies that will limit team distractions while still encouraging the spread of their game through social networking. The rules don’t entirely discourage players from tweeting, but instead, they provide limitations. Don’t tweet during games, during practice, during any time when you are “working” for the team. Basically, you can tweet on your own time, just not on our dime. Initial player reaction has been pretty positive.

So where is Major League Baseball in this discussion? Nowhere to be found…yet. Some of that is because it is in the middle of the season. The NFL and NBA announced their policies prior to the start of a new season. I’d expect MLB to have a new policy come February 2010. But more importantly, this is one area where baseball has fallen behind the NFL and NBA. If you look at TV ratings, football dominates baseball and basketball is catching up. All of the top player story lines in baseball are focused on steroids. Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Roger Clemens…the list goes on.

The league needs to get more players to tweet, just not during games, and not to the point that it interferes with the team. If you take a look at the MLB players that currently tweet, it’s a list of middle relievers and utility players. Seriously, are you getting excited about tweets from Seth McClung, Coco Crisp or Jason Grilli (although Grilli’s username is very clever - @GrillCheese49). CC Sabathia has an account, but hasn’t tweeted for 150 days. David Ortiz posted this week…promoting his restaurant.

Let’s go MLB players! Whereas the NFL and NBA have to cut back on the amount of tweets their players are sending, the MLB needs to get their players to join the 21st century. Get the players out there so that the fans can reconnect with their favorites. The MLB needs to put a new face on that promotes the young stars of the game; the players that aren’t using steroids (or so we hope). What is David Wright doing after the season? How excited is Albert Pujols for the playoffs? Does Justin Verlander really think the Tigers hold off the Twins?

There’s an opportunity here, if the players are ready and willing to take advantage of it. They can successfully express themselves and regain the support of a new generation of fans, one that needs something more to connect with than the negative press surrounding the steroid era. It’s time to usher in the Social Networking Era in baseball.

Jason Budden is the Vice President of Operations and Marketing at Baseball Factory. Jason joined the Baseball Factory in 1997 while still a junior in high school. After going through the Baseball Factory's college recruiting program he was placed at Johns Hopkins University where he played two years of college baseball before graduating with a degree in Economics. After working part-time at the Factory throughout college, Jason joined the team as a full-time employee in January 2002 when he was promoted to Director of Marketing. He currently oversees all marketing projects and sponsorship opportunities at Baseball Factory. He is also in charge of development and marketing for Baseball University, the leader in online baseball education and a division of Baseball Factory.

Post Season Awards

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?

Early this year, I gave a rundown of my MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year selections, based on their performance through the early part of May. Now that the season is over, here are my picks for the end of season MVP and Cy Young awards.

AL MVP

Dustin Pedroia - If you told me at the beginning of the season that the Red Sox would make the playoffs, even though 1) Manny Ramirez would be traded, 2) David Ortiz, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew would each miss over 40 games during the season to injury, and 3) Josh Beckett would get hurt and only win 12 games...I would have said you're crazy. Hats off to Dustin Pedroia. He hit .326 with 17 homeruns, 83 RBI, 118 runs and 20 stolen bases. He carried this team when no one else could.

NL MVP

Albert Pujols - He quietly put together another monster year hitting .357 with 37 homeruns, 117 RBI and 100 runs. I don't know how that year was kept quiet, but this season there was not much fanfare around Albert Pujols. Maybe it was because the Cardinals faded late in the season. Maybe it was because the Cubs and Brewers were a more exciting story in the NL Central Division. Maybe it is because we have become used to seeing Albert put up these numbers. Regardless, he deserves the NL MVP award.

AL Cy Young

Francisco Rodriguez – I think I stand alone on this pick. Most all of the experts are selecting Cliff Lee, and I have no problem with that selection. Lee went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA, but 14 of his wins came against teams with losing records including eight wins against the lowly Mariners, Tigers and Royals. That might be nitpicking, but if KRod doesn’t win the Cy Young, after breaking the single season saves record by five saves, what closer will ever win the award? How could you give it to a closer, unless they break this record, which is very unlikely? The previous record stood for 18 years. Are closers really disregarded that much that KRod’s accomplishment could go unrewarded? Not by me.

NL Cy Young

Tim Lincecum – The stats of Lincecum and Johan Santana are almost identical:

Lincecum: 227 IP, 18 – 5, 265 Strikeouts, 2.62 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 3.15 K/BB
Santana: 234.1 IP, 16 – 7, 206 Strikeouts, 2.53 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 3.27 K/BB

So why Lincecum? I really can’t give you a good reason. In the end, I picked Lincecum because he struck out 59 more batters than Santana, no other concrete reason.


Jason Budden is the Vice President of Operations and Marketing at Baseball Factory. Jason joined the Baseball Factory in 1997 while still a junior in high school. After going through the Baseball Factory's college recruiting program he was placed at Johns Hopkins University where he played two years of college baseball before graduating with a degree in Economics. After working part-time at the Factory throughout college, Jason joined the team as a full-time employee in January 2002 when he was promoted to Director of Marketing. He currently oversees all marketing projects and sponsorship opportunities at Baseball Factory. He is also in charge of development and marketing for Baseball University, the leader in online baseball education and a division of Baseball Factory.

My Nemesis

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?

Why do I torture myself? Year after year I make the same mistakes. I don’t learn and in the end, it just leads to constant suffering. I’m talking about Fantasy Baseball, or as I like to call it…My Nemesis!

Fantasy Football and me are boys. We get along great. I check in with Fantasy Football a few times a week during the NFL season and our relationship always seems to be positive. Even when we fight, it is normally just for a week and then we’re great pals again once Sunday rolls around. And come December, we always make time to celebrate a few championships together. Fantasy Football takes a vacation during the first half of the New Year and then we reconnect again in late summer.

I’d even call Fantasy Basketball a good acquaintance. We get along great, but at times Fantasy Basketball struggles because I spend so much time with Fantasy Football. In the end, come March, things are always back on an even keel. We’ve had some good runs and in the end, we appreciate each other.

But Fantasy Baseball clearly hates me…and these days, I hate Fantasy Baseball. After a rough year last year, I thought we had made our peace this winter. We put in a lot of extra time researching players and preparing for the start of the season, but it seems to all be for naught. It was like a charade that Fantasy Baseball was playing with me. Trying to get my hopes us so that I’d come back and try to re-kindle the relationship. Fantasy Baseball has a way of pulling me back in each spring, even when I tell myself that I’m not going to get fooled again.

Too late…I’m stuck to rot out the rest of the season in the bottom of the league, waiting for David Ortiz to get healthy, Alex Rios to start hitting and Jimmy Rollins to figure out what has gone wrong.

Next year, I’ll be smarter. Next year will be the year that Fantasy Baseball and I can finally bury the hatchet. Next year, is our year…

Jason Budden is the Vice President of Operations and Marketing at Baseball Factory. Jason joined the Baseball Factory in 1997 while still a junior in high school. After going through the Baseball Factory's college recruiting program he was placed at Johns Hopkins University where he played two years of college baseball before graduating with a degree in Economics. After working part-time at the Factory throughout college, Jason joined the team as a full-time employee in January 2002 when he was promoted to Director of Marketing. He currently oversees all marketing projects and sponsorship opportunities at Baseball Factory. He is also in charge of development and marketing for Baseball University, the leader in online baseball education and a division of Baseball Factory.

Out Jinxing a Jinx

Jason Budden: Un-Common Sense?

So I’ve been watching more and more Baseball Tonight over the past few days. Not sure why I wasn’t catching it as often during the first few weeks of the Major League season. Maybe it was because my NCAA tournament bracket still had a chance to finish in the money. That chance didn’t last too long (thanks UCLA), but regardless, I caught a few of the Baseball Tonight shows on ESPN this weekend with Wade Boggs as a commentator and it got me thinking about baseball superstitions.

Boggs was one of the most superstitious players in baseball history. Most people know that he ate chicken before every game, but this was just the start. For all night games, Boggs sprinted toward third base at precisely 4:37, making sure to touch second base on the way, before taking warm-up ground balls. Boggs was always the first player out of the dugout to take his position for the start of the game. Once at his position, he found three pebbles (always three) in the dirt and tossed them off the field. He drew the letters for the Hebrew word chai, meaning life, in the dirt with his cleats before every at-bat. He chewed gum during the first at-bat of the night. If he got a hit, the gum stayed. If not, he tossed it.

How can anyone with common sense think that chewing gum has any affect on getting a base hit? Does any of this really work? Does it even matter? Not really. As long as you believe it works, then it works. In the long run, all of this superstition is just to help calm any nerves or doubts that an individual may have about their performance or their capabilities. Would Boggs have been a Hall of Famer without eating chicken every day? Probably, but that consistent rhythm was a calming factor in his life and put him in the right mindset to perform at a high level, leading to 3,010 hits and a career .328 batting average.

It is this “mindset” that led the Yankees to jackhammer into their newly built stadium in order to unearth a buried Red Sox jersey. Was it necessary…No! But it helped remove any chance that we hear about a “Curse of the Buried Red Sox Jersey” some 40 years down the line when the Yankees haven’t won another World Series.

I personally didn’t have any major superstitions back when I played ball, but I did hold my breath anytime I passed a cemetery, followed by a quick scratch of the car ceiling. Not sure where that one came from, but it seemed to make sense back when I was 12.