* Because you can keep the first first foul ball you ever caught on a bookshelf

Unless, of course, your toddler tosses it back.

From Big League Stew, a Yahoo sports blog:

Since being featured on the front page of Yahoo! on Wednesday afternoon, the Big League Stew post containing the highlight has been one of the most clicked in this blog’s history and I don’t think it’s hard to figure out why. In a time when all we’re seeing on the news are stories concerning a country bitterly divided over health care as well as a self-promotional stunt gone wrong by a rap star, the Monfortos moment was a simple way to escape it all.

Better yet, there was nothing manufactured about it at all. From Emily’s humorous response to Steve’s loving hug to sharing a nice night at the park with your family, it was completely organic. Every bit of attention they’re getting is warranted.

That family is going to have some very fond memories over the years.

Looking at the clip, it’s fortunate that dad didn’t fall over the railing reaching for the ball.

What’s that you say? You can’t see the clip? It was commandeered by MLB? Exactly the point of this entry on backporch.fanhouse.com, as it talks about sucking the fun and warmth out of the situation.

Bud Selig’s advanced media army is trolling the web and laying waste to any unauthorized copies of the video with pitch forks, torches and copyright claims.

Thanks a million, Major League Baseball. And really, great job.

This makes zero sense. In today’s viral era, it’s ridiculous that we can’t see this video across the web. Then edit in Keyboard Cat or a Kanye West diatribe. Then e-mail it to our grandma so she can send submit it to Digg.

I mean, when the Tom Brady blew off Suzy Kolber on Monday Night Football the incident became a hit on the web the next day. Sure, the NFL is notorious for taking down videos, but the league didn’t immediately eviscerate YouTube over the rights to the footage.

Look, Major League Baseball owns the footage. They can do with it as they please. But who is this helping? Not only is Selig raining on our internet parade, he is doing himself a disservice. How does it hurt Major League Baseball to have the internet masses viewing family fun at the ball park? Selig could use some folks in the stands.

Perhaps, if Selig had gone to preschool — instead of being born as a 60-year-old man — he’d know that sharing is caring. Then we could all enjoy this innocent moment of baseball bliss in peace.

Amen, brother.

Catching up with baseball fan Peter Sagal

I was catching up on my Tweets and found an entry by our old friend Peter Sagal referring to an interview he gave to the NY Daily News‘ “Touching Base” blog. It was  quite an in-depth conversation, he notes, “In which I wax on, at great length, about baseball.”

While reading through it my spider sense touched on an answer he gave to the question, “Who is one baseball person you’d like to have as a guest on the ‘Not My Job’ segment (of Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!…?”

Sagal notes the baseball guests he has already hosted, including former Yankees’ stalwart Moose Skowron:

* Baseball and a sick nation

An interesting trio team up in this Times op-ed piece comparing the tools used to analyze baseball and the American health system.

Oakland As GM Billy Beane, Newt Gingrich, and John Kerry — the new Tinkers to Evers to Chance? Or O’Brien to Ryan to Goldberg, perhaps?

Interesting excerpt:

“…a doctor today can get more data on the starting third baseman on his fantasy baseball team than on the effectiveness of life-and-death medical procedures.”

* It’s got to be in there somewhere.

Economics is one of those topics that is so important but that seemingly few people really understand.  Box Score, a new blog, sounds interesting in that its purpose is to break the components down into understandble concepts using baseball. So what could be bad?

In this entry, the bloggers refer to Moneyball and Strat-o-matic, two items that should be on every good baseball fans bookshelf.

* Of course, for females it’s longer

According to the Web site, MIStupid.com (“The online knowledge magazine”), the average life of a baseball is seven pitches.

* New title from Arcadia: Baseball in Long Beach

According to Long Beach’s own Grunion Gazette. The publisher, Arcadia, covers hundreds of topics in a photo album motif, heavy on the illustrations, light on text.

* Another Lost baseball “fact”

From the Lost and Gone Forever blog: (Spoiler alert: if you haven’t seen the episode in question “Something Nice Back Home”, avert thine eyes).

By virtue of the Yankees/Red Sox and Indians/Mariners scores in the newspaper article, only one date is viable for the publication of the paper: August 31, 2007. Article states Yankees finish their sweep of the Red Sox with winning pitcher Chien-Ming Wang beating Curt Schilling 5-0. The only occurrence of this game is the date above.

However, the newspaper also lists “Angels 8 – Astros 4″ but the Astros were playing the St. Louis Cardinals over these dates. As such, the newspaper most likely isn’t able to indicate the correct date.

The Angels-Astros result is from June 20, 2007. The Angels are in the American league, and the Astros play in the National. This was an inter-league game, and the first time these two teams had played against each other since 2004. The box-score is accurate.

The other side of the fold of the newspaper has an article with the headline “Dodgers 8-4 win over Astros” which conflicts with the Angels-Astros box score on the opposite side of the fold.

Personally, I find it a little hard to believe that the Lost prop guys would go to the trouble of painstakingly reproducing an accurate account of the Red Sox and Yankees game from August 31, 2007 – but wouldn’t look and see what other games actually happened on that day… or would include the same team playing two different teams on the same day.

* Twilight time

In the previous entry on Jose Canseco, I included a story from the original Twilight Zone series. Since there are no new stories, the familiar theme of a man thrust back into an alternate universe was repeated for the umpteenth time. Here, in Extra Innings, from one of the program’s later incarnations, Marc Singer plays a former big leaguer whose injury thwarted what was a promising career. He finds solace in the form of an old baseball card (the player, whose carer was cut short by a fatal pitch to the head, looks just like him, of course) and is transported back into time where he can still be a strong, youthful athlete. Needless to say his long-suffering wife thinks he’s a whack job and he’s forced to choose between the real world and his alternative life. Very cliched story, but, hey, it’s baseball.

* NPR: National Pastime Radio

Recent baseball segments on NPR programs include:

• A Man and His Mitt: A love Story, All Things Considered, March 28. The page includes the essay, which appears in the new anthology Anatomy of Baseball
• Also on March 28, The Leonard Lopate Show asked the question “Are Baseball Players Worth Their Salaries?“
• League Catches Fans Using Quirky Names, Mascots All Things Considered, March 31
• Cubs Mark 100 Years Since Last World Series Title, Morning Edition, March 31
• Former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent appeared on The Brian Lehrer Show, March 31
• Singers try out for minor league glory, All Things Considered, April 9 (With all due modesty, I was part of a group that sang the National Anthem last year at a Newark Bears game.)
• Cal Ripken Jr. pushes his new book on Talk of the Nation, April 13
• Throwback Baseball Leagues Catch On, Morning Edition, April 23
• Author Pat Jordan, Only a Game, April 26

* “I read it in The New York Times…

The New York Times has recently published baseball material in non-sports sections.

A review of the American Experience documentary on Robert Clemente ran on Monday, April 21. The program is available for viewing on the American Experience Web site.

In the “Escape” section of the Friday, April 25 weekend Arts, this piece about minor league baseball in Scarnton-Wilkes Barre, PA.

Leading off the Sunday New Jersey section on April 27, Kevin Coyne contributed a piece about “Black Baseball’s Rich Legacy.” The piece heralds the Newark Eagles and includes comments from Monte Irvin and Lawrence D. Hogan, author of Shades of Glory: The Negro Leagues and the Story of African-American Baseball.

Finally, in the Book Review section, Jose Canseco’s Vindicated dropped from No. 5 to No. 15 on the best-seller list. Coming soon to the remaindered section of your favorite bookstore.