The criteria are also a few reasons why I believe that the call should be overturned by the Commissioner of Baseball:

• The game took place early enough in the season that it would not materially impact a pennant race for either team
• The call did not take place during a playoff game
• The call would not impact who would win the game
• The call would alter the historical significance of the game
• The umpire would admit to making the incorrect call

On a closing note, Galarraga would deliver the lineup the following day to a tearful Joyce who will never forget his blown call. This is not a plead to let instant replay into baseball. You will never hear that come from me. I hope that all baseball fans would agree that an overturned call in this instance will not be an example but an exception. Ultimately, it is a call for the Commissioner to exercise his authority to change the call that blew this perfect game. If overruled, the game will be perfect in the books but will forever be the imperfect in the eyes of many.

In order to better conceptualize the situation, it is important to note that MLBAM is it’s own entity. MLB Advanced Media controls everything digital for MLB. This includes mailing lists, iPhone applications, team websites, specific Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and the list goes on. In order for a club to get any interactive marketing campaign going, it all has to be approved by MLBAM. This creates a bit of a challenge when it comes to credentialing bloggers as members of the media. This new understanding of what is required behind the scenes puts things into a whole new perspective.

I would personally like to thank the Arizona Diamondbacks and their Marketing Director Karina Bohn for taking the time to communicate this to the audience at the AZIMA event. There is no doubt that this was a difficult item of discussion and their presence and candid response is invaluable to enthusiasts and bloggers. I, for one, will continue to blog and pledge to continue to keep my posts within the highest regard of MLB and it’s clubs in an effort to keep the community properly informed.

Having key words in your domain name that have to do with your content and that are prevalent in the copy really help out in search. Never have I stumbled upon a better case study than azfallball.com. Without going into too much detail on the stats, the particularly interesting statistic is the fact that the site has not been up that long and it gets heavy search engine referral traffic. I guess that would make sense but, actually seeing the different variations of “rangers fall ball”, “peoria az fall ball”, “az fall ball schedules”, etc. kind of blew me away. Quite honestly, this site has been up shorter than it’s parent and had more traffic in it’s first four weeks of existence than most of the Fall League of 2008.

Sorry for the rambling. It’s late, I thought that it was worth mentioning and I thought that I would share. Have you ever stumbled upon something on the web that has greatly benefited your traffic? Someone else’s bad links or similar domains?

A Called Strike

Originally uploaded by AZHardball

First let me begin by saying that MLB and MLB Advanced Media have done a fantastic job of integrating and developing new and cutting-edge technologies. They really have an immense understanding of their fan base and what their fans want. This was illustrated by the overhaul of MLB Live product that was sunset by MLB.TV. While MLB Live allowed fans to interact with each other during live streaming games, the new MLB.TV features extras such as picture in picture and DVR technology. Good stuff, but I am here to talk about MLB At Bat 2009 for the iPhone.

MLB At Bat is an iPhone application that debuted as At Bat Lite in the beginning of 2009. The Lite version was basically the 2008 version of the hot iPhone app that provided live game scoring. I saw this as a must have for all baseball fans that happen to have iPhones. While using it they would push a notification that the full version would be available by April, 2nd.

Software Project Management is a bit of a hybrid between art and science. Where am I going with this you might ask? Stay tuned. Ever-changing dependencies, software issues and challenges often make it difficult to deliver a project on time and on budget. This is why good project managers take the following into consideration:

• Project Scope

• Project Communication

• Risk Management Planning

• Quality Management Planning

• High Performance Team Members

• Project Time Line

• Project Budget

When and if proper planning is performed, a project is delivered on time and on budget to the delight of stakeholders, customers and consumers. MLB At Bat 2009 was delivered early and it’s out right now. You can get information about the application at MLB.com or in the iTunes application portion of the iTunes Store. Not to shabby of a job from a software project manager’s point of view.

While there are an interesting number of people complaining of the price point of 9.99 for the year, let me help put things into perspective. The application boasts live scoring, streaming video, pitch tracking and will stream live audio available for every game, for every team. The only alternative that allows all audio, both home and away teams, for every game is XM Radio.

The absolute cheapest XM Radio receiver that I could find is $50 and you are looking at around another $100 for the subscription of the service. I am not sure what other cost comparisons I could really do to illustrate the value more clearly.

To MLB and MLB Software Development Team, kudos to you for a job well done. Baseball fans, check it out if you have not already.

Is it the fact the Bird in Space artist Constantin Brancusi, had passed 52 years ago and could not have possibly been okay with it? Or was it the fact that he was paid such a large sum of money to give it to the city? Don’t get me wrong, I have done my fair share of parody logos (see the site logo) but, have never sought financial reward without either seeking permission or paying for rights. Maybe it will grow on me but, I like to think that I can appreciate art and this doesn’t resonate well with me right now.

In case you can’t tell. I am really having a hard time with this. Check it out. It’s massive.

“Constantin Brancusi: Bird in Space (1996.403.7ab)”. In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/euwf/ho_1996.403.7ab.htm (October 2008)

Learn more on www.metmuseum.org

See more works of art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of European Paintings and Modern Art.

Spring Training 2008

Originally uploaded by phxwebguy

Today I ventured out to the Mesa Historical Museum to check out the brand new Cactus League Experience exhibit. I was a little to late to catch Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry but, I was able to see some amazing pieces of history.

The plan is to get a featured article up on AZ Hardball but, we are going to be sure that the story receives the appropriate approvals before publishing it.

For those of you that are baseball fans, check out AZ Hardball in the near future for the January special feature.

Check out AZHardball.com as we kick off our website just in time for the Arizona Fall League. Feel free to provide any feedback that you might have as we work to make this site the premier location for everything Arizona Major League Baseball has to offer.

http://www.azhardball.com