The Hardball Times Annual

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Every week leading up to Christmas I’m going to have a post that details a terrific gift idea. Okay, not really. But I am going to plug the 2008 Hardball Times Baseball Annual!. Every year it is an incredible blend of commentary and hard core number crunching, so it has something for everyone - or at least baseball fans.

This year there is a little extra incentive for Tigers fans because there is an in depth profile of Detroit General Manager and President Dave Dombrowski. Oh yeah, and I wrote it so you better buy it.

But seriously, there is a ton of great stuff and Dave ’studes’ Studeman runs it all down in the link above. There are pieces by Will Leitch, MGL, Tangotiger, Bill James, John Dewan, Dave Cameron, Brian Gunn, and the list goes on and on.

And when I look at the list I can’t figure out how the hell I got in there, but I’m flattered and honored to be included with such an wonderful group. So thanks to Studes and Brian for inviting me to contribute.

As for how to get the book, you can pre-order it from Acta Sports. This method actually generates the most revenue for the Hardball Times site, which is a good thing. The guys aren’t getting rich off of this. They have to pay the authors, and all those stats that they present for free actually cost money. This helps in a big way to fund the site. Of course if you don’t want to buy the book, or want to get it from Amazon or some other outlet, you can always still donate to the THT on the right hand side of their home page. (hat tip to Inside the Book for the suggestion).

Thanks for allowing me this brief commercial. I now return you to your regularly scheduled Kenny Rogers speculation (the team and Rogers are negotiating again).