| 19 August 2009
Welcome to the newly redesigned Wezen-Ball.com!
I've followed my friend Jason from It's About the Money, Stupid! over to the Bloguin network, and I couldn't be more excited. Besides these fancy new digs (seriously, don't you just love that banner?), which even include a forum, I get to join a great network of sports and entertainment bloggers. You can find a link to the growing number of Bloguin blogs over there on the left. I seriously suggest you check them out when you have a chance.
As for me, well, it's going to be more of the same. For those of you who were with me at the old location, you know what the site is about, and it's not going to change at all. You can expect the same posts, the same topics, and the same general attitude. I was even able to import all of the posts from the other location (you can find them above in the Archives) and you shouldn't have to change your RSS feeds, either.
If you're new to the blog, though, I suppose a little introduction is in order. You can read more of the particulars over to the right in the "About Me" section (including the "reason" for the name of the blog), but for now here are a few things that you're going to find at Wezen-Ball.com:
- I'm a stats-oriented kind of a guy, and you're going to see that occasionally. Don't worry too much, though, since I'm not advanced enough to do anything too fancy or dense. A great example is this post about the best young teams of all time (or maybe this one looking at a player's career "range").
- But, as much as I love the stats, I think it's even more important to acknowledge the soul of the game, from how it's played on the field to how it impacts the people who watch it. You'll definitely see some posts along those lines, from this piece about Snoopy & Hank Aaron's home run chase to this one about scorekeeping.
- The most common posts that you'll see here, though, are those where I use various contemporary accounts (including old newspapers and magazines) to look at how the game of the past intersects with the game of today. To me, looking to the past like that provides an interesting and informative perspective, and I try to share that whenever I can (plus, you can usually find a good story there too).
- I should also mention my collection of annual preview guides (you know, the Sporting News or Street & Smith's or Athlon guides that you see everywhere during spring training) that you'll see me mention and use around here. At this point, I have about 70 of these magazines spanning the last 30 years, and I like to use them to look back at how certain teams, players, or events were viewed at the time.
Oh, and I tend to write long posts. It just happens.
I think that does a pretty good job of covering the bulk of what you'll find here at Wezen-Ball, though there's still plenty more that just doesn't fit into any of those categories. Please feel free to poke around the archives to see what you can find, or even head on over to the forums to start a conversation. I'm always up for a good talk about baseball or whatever else you want to bring up. I hope you enjoy yourself here and, if you happen to notice anything wonky with the site, feel free to let me know. This is a new setup, after all.
Enjoy the new digs, everyone, and I hope to see you all in the comments!
(P.S. Don't forget to use the links on the right to follow Wezen-Ball.com using Twitter, Facebook, or your personal RSS reader! And if you're already following us on Facebook, check on the new fan page I made for the transition. I like this one a lot better than the old Networked Blogs one. Thanks!)
