Hey baseball fans! No, this is not an April fools joke. Baseball with Matt is coming to an end today after existing for nine years to the day . I started this blog on April 2, 2012 with the intention of only doing it for a couple of years. Now, almost a decade in, I'm so happy about everything I've accomplished while blogging. It's been a wild ride, to say the least. I've talked with so many wonderful baseball personalities, got to go to some of the best baseball events in the Unit...
over 4 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! One of the reasons I enjoy baseball history so much is that it puts modern baseball into perspective. I always preach that understanding the precedence or background of a current subject is paramount if you want to be an expert in it. I don't consider myself an aficionado when it comes to talking about all 30 rosters of the MLB, but I do know how to judge teams, players, managers, and championships because of what I've learned about baseball's past. So, I figured that ...
over 4 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! We are officially in Spring Training, which means the 2021 regular season is less than a month away! Because of this, as is customary on Baseball with Matt, it's time for some of my bold predictions for the upcoming campaign, five of them to be exact. Although they have catchy-sounding nicknames, Belli and Yelli will not escape their season-long slumps at the plate from last year . Yes, Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich have won two of the last three NL MV...
almost 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! It's my birthday, which means it's time to talk about my Hall of Fame birthday buddy, Alan Trammell! I've done a post about Trammell pretty much every February 21st since I started my blog in 2012, so this birthday will be no different! Today, rather than just go over his career for the 1,000th time, let's take a deep dive into why he deserves to be a Hall of Famer based on the three categories I use to judge Hall of Fame candidacy: longevity, consistency, and intangib...
almost 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The 2021 Hall of Fame inductees have been released and, to be honest, I'm not surprised that no one got in. Schilling's stock fell a lot after the Capitol riots and I expected the steroid-users not to move up that much. There were a couple of big risers, but again, it makes sense that the 2021 Hall of Fame induction ceremony will only feature the 2020 inductees. But who's on the ballot next year? There are several very interesting first-timers on next year's ballot, na...
almost 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame inductees will be released later TODAY! So, as is customary on Baseball with Matt, here's my *unofficial* ballot. I've already discussed why I think Todd Helton and Jeff Kent deserve to be in the Hall (click on their names to see my posts about them), so naturally, they're on my ballot this year. But, as a quick summary, Helton's seasonal averages and synonymy with the Colorado Rockies organization and Kent's unique seco...
almost 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! It's my first post of 2021 and it's a doozy! Because we are officially in the month when we find out the 2021 Hall of Fame class, it's time to ramp up the Hall of Fame content on Baseball with Matt. With that being said, let's talk about Jeff Kent, who is appearing on the ballot for the eighth time this year. Given his voting percentage of roughly 27% last year, his Cooperstown chances are slim, but he is certainly a Hall of Famer. Here's why: Jeff Kent has a weird car...
almost 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! Big news came out recently about the Negro Leagues being elevated to Major League status. A lot of people had a lot to say about the racial sensitivity that went into this move (which was called "correcting a longtime oversight" by the MLB), but I'm going to tackle the story from a different angle and discuss the ramifications it has for the Hall of Fame. As I've said time and time again, Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby are not Hall of Famers solely because ...
almost 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! With 2020 coming to an end, the 2021 Hall of Fame class is the only thing on my mind. So, let's talk about some of the potential members of the class and why they should get in, starting with the guy who I think is the most underrated on the ballot: Todd Helton. I think the lifelong member of the Colorado Rockies from 1997-2013 and friend of Peyton Manning (they both went to Tennessee) deserves a spot in Cooperstown, but his sub-30% performance on last year's ballot do...
almost 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! We are about two months away from the 2021 Hall of Fame class announcement, but it's never too early to talk about the Hall, especially when the 2021 official ballot was just released! I'll get into my actual predictions as we approach late January, but for this post, I'd like to talk about some of the guys who I grew up watching who are eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time. In more ways than one, the 2021 Hall of Fame ballot first-timers shows how lo...
about 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The Miami Marlins have made history, a sentence that isn't so common, but when it's uttered, is monumental. Two days ago, they hired Kim Ng to be their new general manager, making her the first woman and East Asian to hold that position in Major League Baseball. But what does this hiring mean for all sports, and more importantly, what does it mean for us as fans? I've been thinking a lot about why I follow baseball, beyond the enjoyment I get out of it, and have come t...
about 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The 2020 season is officially over and the Dodgers are world champions! This is their first championship since 1988, a championship I'd like to discuss this, because of how interesting a team it was. The 1988 Dodgers didn't have a star-studded lineup. Only three hitters in their lineup had double-digit home runs that year and only one hitter had more than 20. One might call it a coincidence, however, that the hitter with 20+ homers for the '88 Dodgers was the Nat...
about 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The 2020 World Series is here, which means that it's time for me to give you a historical look on the matchup, which pits the Rays against the Dodgers! The Tampa Bay Rays are making their second World Series appearance in franchise history and their first since 2008. This marks the second time that a 1990s expansion team is making its second World Series appearance, joining only the Marlins. Having lost that 2008 World Series to the Phillies, the Rays are one of ...
about 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The World Series is only about a series away, so it's time to start imagining how the 2020 edition of the Fall Classic will be entered into the history books! Personally, I'm a big fan of the walk-off home run and hope we see some crazy game-winning dingers during the final stage of the MLB postseason. To honor this, let's run through my top five World Series walk-off home runs of all time. Number Five: Derek Jeter, Game Four, 2001 The game-tying home run by Tino...
about 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The 2020 playoffs are officially here, with a few notable curse-breakers in the bracket. The Marlins, White Sox, and Padres all snapped massive playoff droughts when they clinched playoff berths this season, with the Marlins and Padres going from last place in their respective divisions in 2019 to the postseason in 2020. Worst-to-first teams have become more common in baseball with the popularity of free agency and the rise of analytics, but I want to talk about the first wo...
about 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! Myself and two of my college friends have started a baseball podcast. It's called "Baseball for Breakfast," with new episodes releasing every Monday morning for the foreseeable future. Click here to access all our episodes so far. We're really excited for you to listen! So, why did we start a podcast? Well, me and my friends, Brendan and Logan, love baseball, but as you could probably guess, have different opinions going across all topics relating to America's Pa...
about 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! From 1946-2015, the Chicago Cubs failed to win the National League pennant. We can blame their struggles on a plethora of factors, but the Cubs actually sported some great players during that span. Here are my top five Chicago Cubs Hall of Famers during their grueling World Series appearance drought. Honorable Mentions: Greg Maddux and Andre Dawson The one major rule for this post is that the player has to go into the Hall as a member of the Cubs. Maddux and Dawso...
over 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! Even in a shortened 2020 season, we are sure to see some crazy home run numbers across Major League Baseball, a trend that will only continue to pick up as we advance deeper into the 21st century. But with an emphasis on power comes the slow demise of one of baseball's most underrated and exciting statistics: the stolen base. Most baseball fans like to think that base-stealing was always as common as it was right before the new millennium, but that's actually inc...
over 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! Thus far into the abridged 2020 MLB season, it seems that former and present members of the Colorado Rockies (DJ LeMahieu and Charlie Blackmon) are some of the best hitters in baseball in terms of batting average. DJ is now on the Yankees, but when he played a mile above sea level, he did, in fact, win a batting title. But why are hitters on the Rockies so good? The answer is simple, and I kind of already hinted at it when I said "a mile above sea level." That's right: it's ...
over 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! Relievers are sometimes called firemen because, well, they put out fires, "relieving" the starters they replace on the mound by getting out of jams. This didn't come from nowhere, however, because it was actually the nickname of one of the first modern-day relievers baseball ever saw, Johnny "Fireman" Murphy. So, let's talk about him! When I started blogging about baseball history eight years ago, my grandfather, who grew up in the Bronx, told me about how he used to work in...
over 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The Detroit Tigers are one of the most storied franchises of the American League, originating as a part of the AL's inaugural season in 1901. With this history comes many Hall of Famers, but no Detroit legend, whether it be Hank Greenberg or Al Kaline, can compete with the meteoric rise and fall of "The Bird," Mark Fidrych. Mark Fidrych was a non-roster invitee for the Tigers in 1976, officially joining Detroit's MLB roster in late April. He was lanky and curly-haired,...
over 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! The NFL recently opened discussions about changing the name of the Washington Redskins to something more appropriate. This has prompted the MLB to consider the Cleveland Indians, who got rid of their red-faced Native American mascot and logo, Chief Wahoo, in 2018 (on Columbus Day, of all days). The Redskins moniker is definitely worse than Cleveland's, but it still begs the question: if the Indians change their name, to what will it be changed? I'll be proposing five of thes...
over 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! It's Derek Jeter's birthday! However, because I'm sure some of you think I love him a little too much, we're not going to discuss the Captain today. Instead, let's talk about one of the best players who played in the state in which Jeter grew up. Yes, Mr. November is from New Jersey and rooted for the Yankees, but he attended and was drafted out of Central High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Let's see: who's an awesome player who played for the Tigers? Oh, of course! It's Mr...
over 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans! Carl Yastrzemski is one of the greatest hitters in Red Sox history, but he was not the only star outfielder that graced the grass of Fenway in the 1960s. The Red Sox used to have a right-handed hitter by the name of Tony Conigliaro. Conigliaro was a great hitter for the first few years of his career, and looked to continue that trend deep into that 1967 "Impossible Dream" season for the BoSox. Then, in August of that season, tragedy struck. Tony Conigliaro debuted in B...
over 5 years ago
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Hey baseball fans!
It's a somber time to be a baseball fan for plenty of reasons, so I wanted share my story of how I fell in love with America's pastime. I don't think I really talk about how I got involved with the game much, but it's a story worth telling.
Back in 2007, Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre and the New York Yankees were in the American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians. The Yanks had stars like Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon, while the Indians had recognizab...
over 5 years ago
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