3
December

Question for readers: Do you want contact email info listed on the League Profile?

I want to engage everyone’s opinion on something I’ve been thinking about. 

When I post League Profiles (like this recent one about the Southern California Baseball League), I don’t post email info for the contact person because generally, that’s a bad practice to get into.  I’m a big believer in protecting everyone’s privacy whenever possible in general and since in practice, it can lead to possible harvesting by spammers.  So I haven’t done it.

However, at the same time, I like the idea of more communication between APBA fans and the whole idea of a APBA League Directory is to foster more of that communication.  I feel leaving off that key piece of information is lacking.  In fact, many times I’ll get emails saying “Can I have so-and-so’s email address?”  I’m always happy to oblige but what if it were readily available?

So, I’m proposing putting an option in the League Profile form that asks if the contact person would like their email address displayed.  I would either display it in a format such as name (at) domain.com or employ a special method that will fool the spammers (of course, I would not post anyone’s email address unless they agreed to in the form).  

So what does everyone think?  Is this important to you?  If you already have a League Profile up on The APBA Blog, would YOU want your email displayed?  If I ever decided to put together a one-page League Directory would you want it listed there, too?

Let me know your thoughts in the comment section. 

2 comments

16
August

The APBA Blog hits 100 grand

100grandThe APBA Blog reached a milestone a couple days ago.  We passed 100,000 unique visits to the website since I started keeping track shortly after bringing up the blog in 2008.  In the grand scheme of things, that may not be a huge number but I’m proud of it especially considering the small niche it attracts and the fact that this is all done in my decreasing spare time.

I usually don’t pay a lot of attention to traffic count (I actually didn’t notice the rollover until last night).  That said, I am impressed by the amount of traffic that The APBA Blog does get (especially within the last year and half).  The daily hits are higher than most projects I’ve done in the past and I think it’s a testament to the love of the game by the fans and those who help make the website better. 

In the past year or so, I’ve made an attempt to diversify The APBA Blog content, that is, address issues and sports that I sometimes don’t always encounter.  I realized that not every APBA fan plays APBA Baseball, rolls dice and is in a league.  That meant drawing from readers’ experiences and even recruiting some guest writers and in some cases regular contributors.  I’m going to continue in that direction (more on that in couple days). 

Meanwhile, if any of you have an idea or want to suggest something, drop me an email or leave a comment. 

Thanks again for being a part of The APBA Blog!

3 comments

6
July

Guest post: Reds fan Mike Estep

APBA fan Mike Estep is interested in doing some writing for The APBA Blog so I thought I’d have him write up a little intro about himself… and his cool Crosley Field replica he built.  -Tom

Hello APBA fans and baseball fans in general!

My name is Mike Estep and I am a 49 year old school teacher from Indiana. I will be contributing guest articles here to this blog and I am extremely excited to do so. I have really enjoyed my experiences with APBA over the years and with my current APBA projects.

crosley field

(click to enlarge… lots of detail here!)

 

APBA has fostered my deep love of baseball history and I have many DVDs on baseball and have seen the Ken Burns Baseball series more times than I can count. Field of Dreams anyone? I love that movie as I am sure you do too. I have even built a field to scale using the measurements of old Crosley Field in Cincinnati. I put a wall with it and also the Scoreboard/Clock in left centerfield. I also have some old artificial turf from old Riverfront Stadium, an ushers vest from Riverfront Stadium and my prized item are six consecutive blue seats still linked together from Riverfront Stadium. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have grown up a Reds fan. However, I assure you that I respect all of the teams we root for and look forward to sharing my experiences. I am looking forward to writing more about those experiences.

I hope you return to this blog many times and read about my experiences and my hope is that those experiences that I write about fuel your desire and passion for this great hobby.

66’s to All!

Mike

3 comments

23
June

By Way Of Introduction: Jeff Papas

One recurring suggestion I saw got via The Great APBA Fan Survey was that it would be good if The APBA Blog could write more on various topics and perhaps from different perspectives.  To that end, Jeff Papas has graciously agreed to help write for the blog.  I’m excited for the help and am looking forward to his stuff. 

His first article introduces himself to you.  Thanks Jeff!  -Tom

Greetings, everyone!jeffpapas

My name is Jeff Papas, and over the last week Tom has graciously given me the ‘keys to his kingdom’. if you will … a backstage pass to The APBA Blog.

I came across this blog by chance, on a search, and frankly found it absorbing reading. Tom and I have shared correspondence on a number of topics and not long ago I wrote a review of the Ballscore/Ballstat software for this site as part of a larger discussion about statkeeping.

That led to this initial post. I’ll be a contributor to this blog henceforth and I’m very happy to be here.

I’ve played APBA games since 1973 and own the Basic and Master baseball games, APBA football, basketball, hockey and bowling.  I’m a replayer at heart when I roll the bones — currently my seamhead sense is indulged by my 1916 Major League replay

I am also an avid player of Baseball for Windows (more in past years than now due to real life and kids intruding), and am a three-time champion of the Three Rivers League through my mostly-conquering Duluth Lumberjacks.

My purpose here on the blog is to fill in the blanks on certain subjects — BBWIN bring one, baseball being another, and satisfying my own curiosity about the APBA games I don’t own being a third.

I’ll look forward to chatting with you about the game we all love in future entries. Don’t be strangers, now, y’hear?

Jeff "The Human 41" Papas

3 comments

31
March

Boring Blog Miscellanea (yeah, it’s still me)

I’ve changed the way that my name appears on The APBA Blog.  It will no longer show up as The Baseball Zealot.  Instead you’ll see my full name, Thomas Nelshoppen.  I’m letting everyone know just so you know it’s the same person. 

The nom de plume “The Baseball Zealot” came from my previous general baseball blog of the same.  That blog, from which The APBA Blog grew out of, is pretty much defunct but mostly I feel you all deserve to know my real name.  This blog is getting bigger each week and I feel a real name looks better anyway. 

I’ll be using a combination author tag for a week or two to avoid any confusion. 

Also, the Great APBA Fan Survey is almost ready for prime time.  The questions are done and I did a test run through.  I’d like to pretty up the front end a little.  The ETA is probably tomorrow. 

2 comments

9
February

This is why I do The APBA Blog

Can’t help but posting this email I just received tonight from reader Beignet…

“After twisting in the wind for a month about whether it’s time to move past my SOM/DMB fetishes, I figured out that I’ve never had more fun playing a baseball tabletop sim than I have with ABPA.  So I up and bought the APBA board game tonight.  Can’t wait for the game to get here and see those cards again.
Your blog is one of the things that helped recapture the love for this game.  Keep up the good work.”

This simply made my evening.

2 comments

25
November

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Just a short post to wish everyone a nice Thanksgiving. I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday.
Tomorrow, while the stores will be crowded with shoppers, I’ll be sending my Twin City Thunderchickens against Don S’ Molly Putts Marauders.  The Illowa APBA League is in its homestretch of its 2011 season and while I have nothing to play for, Molly Putts is in the hunt.
Once again, Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels for those on the road. 

No comments yet

12
November

Remodeling The APBA Blog

Don’t worry, you’re still at The APBA Blog.  I decided to give the site a facelift.  It’s been a while and I thought the old look was getting a bit worn.  That and there were a few features I wanted to implement that just weren’t possible with the old theme.  Hope you like it.

I like the layout better now.  Looks more professional in my opinion.  Also, the comment section is much easier to read.

If you like it , hate it, have any suggestions or if something is not working, please let me know.

4 comments

6
September

Let me hear from you

I’ve added a new improved contact form for The APBA Blog (as opposed to a simple email address).  I hope it comes in useful.

My point of this?  Feel free to use it.  I’d love to hear from anyone who has an opinion about APBA (believe me, I know you’re out there).  And if you just want to tout your league or even your replay, we’re all ears.

Don’t forget, if you haven’t told us about your league, I’m sure we’d love to hear about it.  There’s a form for that, too.  :)  Many leagues have already done so and you can read about all of them here.

Hope to hear from you.

1 comment

16
January

The APBA Blog has a Facebook page

The APBA Blog has a Facebook page now.  Those of you who use use the social networking website can now join us.  There is much potential for this, I suppose but the main advantage of this is that those of you on Facebook will get notifications whenever The APBA Blog gets updated with new articles.

This was probably a long time coming.  There is a large APBA crowd looming on Facebook.  The APBA Company itself has a Facebook presence and there is even an APBA Baseball group which is fairly active.  Time for me to get in the picture, I suppose.

And if Twitter is more your thing, don’t forget that The APBA Blog pushes out update notifications via Twitter too @theapbablog. 

So join The APBA Blog Facebook fan page.  We’ll make it worth your while.  

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