I met Billy Hinton through the Ballpark Stampeders Facebook group. Last season he visited 17 ballparks on his quest for 30 and has many great stories to share. After going Nine with the Nerd check out Billy’s blog The Tenth Inning for his reviews and more on his ballpark adventures.Thanks Billy for sharing your story on Ballpark Nerd! [Read more…]
Nine With the Nerd – Erica Reniff
I met Erica Reniff through the BallPark Stampeders Facebook group. When she is not keeping track of East Coast stamps Erica is working through her quest to visit all 30 ballparks as well as the many minor league parks within driving distance of Central New York. Erica shares her fandom in this edition of Nine with the Nerd.
1st Inning – When did you become a baseball fan?
I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember. My grandparents would often take care of me when I was a child, and my grandmother was (and still is) a huge Yankees fan. She passed down a lot of her memorabilia, cards, and whatnot. I definitely learned a love of the game from her. [Read more…]
Nine with the Nerd: Joe Sheehan
I’ve been reading Joe Sheehan’s work since he started writing for Sports Illustrated in 2007. When I was struck by the Sabermetric bug I discovered his podcast The Baseball Show with Rany and Joe and subscribed to the Joe Sheehan Newsletter. (It’s the best money I spend on baseball all year.) Joe was one of the founders of Baseball Prospectus, helping to bring the analytical side of baseball mainstream. Whether it’s lineup construction or bullpen use Joe is always up to talk baseball and was gracious to share his ballpark experiences in this edition of Nine with the Nerd. [Read more…]
Nine with the Nerd: Rob Giancola
I’ve known Rob Giancola since Our Savior Lutheran Pre-School back in the mid-80s. We became good friends during our high school years at Xaverian where every morning we broke down sports with our classmates in the cafeteria over powdered egg sandwiches and bagels. (It was an all-boys Catholic school at the time). We also bonded over the NBC Police Drama “Homicide: Life on the Streets” which featured Yaphet Kotto as Baltimore Homicide Lieutenant and all around good guy Al Giardello whose squad affectionately called him Gee. At Xaverian we took a similar approach calling our friends by their last names which is how Rob Giancola to this day is Gee to me. Gee’s friendship has meant a lot since those days and even though he’s a Yankees fan we make it out to the ballpark every year where we break down the action like we did twenty years ago. [Read more…]