New Blogging Month of the New Year to be my Last

Happy New Year, everyone!

Over the past several years, the first post of the year has always been the one in which I posted the top five things I hoped to accomplish in the coming year of blogging. However, this year, that has changed.

After contemplating for well over a year as to when would be the right time to end my time blogging, I have finally decided that the time has officially come. Thus, on January 20th — the six-year anniversary of my blog — I will be posting my final ever blog post.

Getting to this point has been a difficult process, as I’m not one to quit anything easily, especially things that I love — or at least loved at one point. But I feel confident that 2017 will be a great year all-around in many different aspects of my life, and I am content with the decision to quit my blog.

I will be posting Hall of Fame related posts over the coming three weeks, with my final definitive reason for leaving and recap of my blog being posted on January 20th. Until then, I hope you all have a great first day of 2017.

Blogging Resolutions for 2016

Happy New Year, everyone!

As I’ve done for the past several years, I wanted to take the time to go over the main things I’m hoping to accomplish, blogging wise, throughout the coming year. All but one of the goals listed are basically the same as 2015, but I wanted to post them anyway just to give everyone an idea of what to expect in 2016.

The five main resolutions/goals I have for this blog in 2016 are as follows:

1. Blog at least once every 5 days:

This is the exact same goal number one that I set in 2015, but I feel it’s one of the most important ones. If I were to go more than five days in between entries, this blog wouldn’t be nearly as up-to-date as I would like it to be, or as I feel it should be. But any more often than once every five days on average would make things way too stressful for me to even want to attempt to tackle. For that reason, I’m keeping it at a maximum of five days. That number worked well in 2015, and I feel it will work equally as well in 2016.

2. Post 100 blog entries:

I didn’t succeed in reaching this number last year, but I’m going to make it a point to hit 100 somehow in 2016. It just seems like a nice round number. I was able to publish a record 128 blog posts in 2014, but I never feel that I will be able to come close to that again. In 2015, the number I hit was 95. That’s a lot of entries in a year, but I would like to hit 100 this year. Due to me being extremely busy throughout most of the year, I don’t have the time to dedicate to writing nearly as often as I used to, but I still wanted to keep this blog going. (For now, at least.)

3. Get more views than 2015:

My visitor numbers saw a huge drop in 2015 from 2014, so I feel this will be an easy goal to reach. If I can blog as often as I want to, I think my visitor numbers should also increase, but that’s out of my control. All I can do is write the posts and hope people continue to come back to read them. One of the things I would like to do and am planning to try to do is to write about things that aren’t necessarily being talked about by the bigger media markets. A lot of times I simply recycle news on here, but I’d like to have a few more original posts in 2016.

4. Go on a 4-post-blogging-streak:

In 2015, this was a three-post-blogging-streak. This year, however, I’ve raised it to four. Likely, this will occur around the All-Star break when there is a ton to write about, as it has in the past. However, it could be any time throughout the year. Getting posts up on back-to-back days is somewhat difficult, and doing so on numerous days in a row is obviously even harder. But I always like to post entries on multiple days in a row each year, and I feel confident that I can reach my goal of four days in a row at least once, if not twice, this year.

5. Reply to every comment that is left:

This has been one of my goals since this blog was first developed. Whenever a comment is left — being either a comment or a question — I like to always write the person back. It’s my way of letting the reader know that I’m paying attention and am interested in what they have to say. After all, it’s the readers that make this blog worth producing, and I feel that replying back to every comment is the least that I can do. This is always the easiest goal of the five for me to accomplish, but I feel like making it a goal once again anyway.

So, there you have it. My top five blogging resolutions/goals for 2016.

As I stated last year — a recurring theme in this blog post — I hope to make this my best year of blogging yet. If I can accomplish what I want to (and plan to), I feel it truly will be. That’s always the overall goal, to get better and better. I think 2016 is going to be an exciting year.

Three-Year Anniversary of ‘The Unbiased MLB Fan’

Today marks the three-year anniversary of the day I sat down to begin ‘The Unbiased MLB Fan’. Starting this blog was more of a spur of the moment thing than it was me looking to begin a long term blog. At the time, I never could’ve imagined that I would keep at it long enough to be typing up a three-year anniversary post; to his day, I’m still surprised that I kept with it. But I’ve come to love blogging, and interacting with fellow baseball fans; and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

To commemorate the occasion, I’ve decided to take a look back at the past three years, as I did last year on the two-year anniversary, using a timeline, of sorts, to tell the basic story of how my blog came to be where it is now. The first twelve recaps are the exact same ones I covered last year, in case you missed them, with the rest being since last year (click the headers to be taken to each post):

‘Explanation of Me’ – My first blog post

As the header would suggest, this was the first blog entry I ever published. It covered who I am and the fact that I have no favorite team that I root for more than another team. While it does a decent job at getting the general point across, looking back, I’m fairly appalled at how horribly written it is. The post doesn’t flow, the grammar is terrible, and my punctuation is sub par. Given, I’m by no means a professional writer now (I’m sure there are tons of issues with this post) compared to my writing style now, it’s almost as if it was a completely different person who wrote that first post. I suppose, in a way, it was.

‘MLB Logo and Its Designer’ – My first interview post

I didn’t start out with interview intentions. I merely emailed Jerry Dior (the designer of the MLB logo) to ask him questions I had about the design process and the story behind the logo. It wasn’t until a month later that I had the idea of putting the questions into an interview format for a post on my newly established blog. In the days after posting it, I noticed that people seemed to have a good reaction to the interview, so it was at that point that I decided to begin interviewing ballplayers. The interviews took off from there. I’ve now conducted over thirty interviews, and plan on continuing to do them in the future, as long as the players continue to be willing.

July 23, 2011 – Signed Up for Twitter

This has nothing to do with my blog, but it has everything to do with its success. Signing up for Twitter not only allowed for a way for me to get in contact with ballplayers for interviews, but it also served (and still serves) as a way of spreading the link to each new post around to baseball fans everywhere. If it wasn’t for Twitter it’s very possible that I would’ve discontinued my blog, as my reader base wouldn’t have been as fast to grow.

How Bernie Williams Became My Favorite Player Ever

This is more of a personal entry than it is an informative one. In this blog post, I detailed exactly how Bernie Williams came to be my favorite player to ever play the game of baseball. There’s a great story behind it, but I really don’t want to say much more than that. If you’re truly interested, feel free to click the header to be taken to the post I did on the subject.

Bernie Williams’ Reflects On 9/11/01 – Ten-Year Anniversary

Yet another Bernie Williams post, but this one is more somber than the first. With the ten-year anniversary of 9/11 approaching, I decided to contact Bernie Williams on Twitter to ask if he’d be willing to share his own personal experience and memories from that horrid day. He agreed to it, and after a bit of back and forth conversation, of me detailing exactly what I wanted him to talk about, I received an email from Williams, containing a fairly long response. If you don’t read another blog entry from this anniversary post, I suggest you read this one.

The Blog Post That Put My Blog On The Map

Ozzie Guillen and the Miami Marlins played a large part in making my blog as successful as it is today. The article I wrote on the “new look Marlins” caused my blog to absolutely explode in terms of views. In the months following when I first posted the entry, I received day after day of several hundred view days. In all, that one post racked me up over 11,000 views, all by itself. While things have backed off slightly since then, I still have a fairly large reader base, and it can all be traced back to that one post.

Ranking After the 2011 Year of Blogging

After a year’s worth of blogging, I was fairly anxious to see how I would stack up against all of the great blogs around the MLBlogs community. I was fairly stunned when the results came out, stating that my blog was the 35th most viewed blog of 2011. That alone gave me a reason to continue blogging.

The Blog Post That Got Me the Most Views For A Single Day

While my post on the Marlins netted me the most views for a single blog post, the entry I posted on the Cleveland Indians-Carolina Mudcats exhibition game, for some reason, led to the most views in the history of my blog on a single day. I’m still not all that sure as to why, but people came flocking to my blog on that particular day, netting me a total of 892 views. I haven’t had a day since that’s received more than 615 views.

First MLB Game Recap Entry

Living in North Carolina, I don’t get the chance to attend an MLB game all that often. As a matter of fact, this particular post recapped the first MLB game I attended since starting this blog. Therefore, it was the first MLB recap I’d ever done. I’ve since done numerous MiLB recaps, and will undoubtedly be doing several more this season.

Trip To the 2012 State Farm Home Run Derby

The all expense paid trip I received to the 2012 State Farm Home Run Derby, courtesy of State Farm, is by far the best thing to ever come out of this blog. While I’ve been fortunate enough to experience several blogging related benefits since then – which range from getting free stuff, to meeting ballplayers in person that I’ve interviewed – I feel confident in saying that nothing will ever top this.

Triple-A National Championship Game

As the MiLB equivalent of a World Series game 7, the 2012 Triple-A National Championship game is the most significant minor league baseball game I’ve ever attended, thus it’s the most significant MiLB blog posts I’ve done. Getting to see the Reno Aces win the National Championship, along with meeting 2011 American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, made this great game even better. (I plan on attending the 2014 Triple-A All-Star game in July, so that will probably top this.)

Ranking After the 2012 Year of Blogging

After coming in 35th at the end of the 2011 blogging year, I had no idea what to expect going into the 2012 results. While I received over five times the number of views this past year as I did in 2011, I was still eager to see where I would rank. When the rankings were posted, I was ecstatic to find my blog at the number 17 spot. I truly appreciate all of those who read my blog.

2013 Durham Bulls Fan Fest

I was really excited to attend this, as I had never been ON a professional baseball field. It was really cool to make my way, with my dad, out onto the field for a bit of catch. I didn’t take batting practice, though I could’ve, but if the Bulls have Fan Fest again anytime soon, I’ll be sure to take my shot at BP.

My Favorite Interview — Q and A With Negro Leagues’ President Bob Kendrick

Though not a baseball player, this was my favorite interview I’ve every conducted to this point in the history of my blog. Bob Kendrick is extremely knowledgeable of the history of the Negro Leagues, and he was very courteous throughout the process. I learned a lot about the Negro Leagues that I had no idea about. Take a look at it. You’ll probably learn something too.

Seeing Mariano Rivera for the Last Time

It wasn’t planned this way, but with Mariano Rivera announcing his retirement after the 2013 season, it happened to be that my dad and I were going to Baltimore for a game against the Yankees, and therefore he would be there. I was hoping to get an autograph, but even though that didn’t happen, seeing Rivera for probably the last time ever was memorable.

My Trip to Safeco Field In Seattle

Having only been west of the Mississippi River once (on my trip to the 2012 Home Run Derby), I was thrilled to visit this ballpark on my 24 day trip around the country. It is one of the best ballparks I’ve ever been to, located in one of the best cities I’ve ever been to. The Mariners lost, but all around it was a great time.

Chipper Jones’ Bulls Number Retirement Ceremony

As with Mariano Rivera, this was likely the last time I’ll ever see Chipper Jones, as he retired after the 2012 season. Coming back to Durham for the first time in twenty years, Jones had his number ten retired by the Bulls and gave a brief speech thanking the fans for everything. It was an incredible night out at the ballpark, and I doubt any night out at a minor league game will ever top this.

Recapping the 2013 Season Out At the Ballpark

This past season was the first full year that I have been into tracking the top major league baseball prospects and heading out to the ballpark to get an autograph from them. I plan on doing more of the same in 2014, and with the Triple-A All-Star game taking place in July, in addition to all of the top ranked talent that’s supposed to come, it’s sure to be an amazing year. (I’ll recap it all again after the season is over, as I did this past year.)

Ranking After the 2013 Year of Blogging

After my first year of blogging, I finished 35th on the top 100 list, in terms of views; after 2012, I finished 17th; and after this past year, I finished 8th. That’s truly amazing, in my mind, that I was able to do so, amassing over 75,000 views in 2013. I really had a fantastic time blogging in 2013, and with all of the great things that I foresee taking place in 2014, I think this is going to be the best blogging year yet.

Blogging Goals for 2014

This post wasn’t published all that long ago, but I wanted to include it nonetheless. Basically, this post covers my goals for the 2014 blogging year. I won’t waste time going over what each of my five goals are, for those of you who remember. (For those of you who’ve forgotten, and are curious, you can always click the header.) I plan on keeping to all of my blogging resolutions, which is better than I can say for my New Year’s Resolutions.

‘The Unbiased MLB Fan’ Fast Facts

• Total number of words written to this point: 193,824
• Total number of posts: 332
• Average number of words per post: 584
• Number of different country views: 124

As stated in previous posts, I hope to make 2014 the best blogging year yet; and that means posting content that you, the reader, enjoy reading about. So, if you have anything you’d like to see me do, or stop doing, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

Blogging Resolutions for 2014

Happy New Year, everyone!

As I did last year, I want to go over the main things I’m hoping to accomplish, blogging wise, this year. But unlike last year, this time around I’m making a couple of my goals a little more realistic.

The five main resolutions/goals I have for this blog in 2014 are as follows:

1. Blog at least once every 4 days:

I was able to accomplish this last year — with the exception of July/August when I was on vacation — and I don’t see any reason why I won’t be able to keep up the same pace this year. Although I had periods where I got up a post every 1-3 days, I feel four is a good number. Anything more would be too long to wait between posts, and anything less would make it too difficult for me to keep up. (I still want to have time to do other things, non baseball related. Imagine that.)

2. Publish 100 posts:

I was able to get 121 posts up in 2013, so I feel confident I’ll be able to do so again this year. But despite my optimism, I don’t want to increase my goal number of 100. Though I’ll probably exceed it, 100 is a nice round number (only 99 more to go). I guess a good goal would be to beat the 121 number in 2014, but we’ll see what happens.

3. Get more views than 2013:

Last year, this goal was to get 100,000 views. Considering the fact that I only amassed just under 76,000 views in 2013 (23,000 better than the previous year), I’m not shooting as high this season. Would 100,000+ views be nice? Yes, absolutely. I’m just not counting on it, and therefore my goal is to get more views this year than I did in 2013. That’s what I’m aiming for anyway — to get better and better every year. And more views is a part of that.

4. Go on a 5-post-blogging-streak:

Just like goal number three, I changed this goal for 2014. In 2013, my goal was to get more views in a single day (892) than I ever had. But that’s out of my control, so I don’t feel the need to keep that as a goal for 2014. Therefore, I’m changing that goal to having at least one streak during the year of publishing five or more posts in a row, day after day. I’ve never done that many, so it will be a challenging goal, but I’m going to do my best to tackle it.

5. Reply to every comment that is left:

This, as I stated last year, is the easiest goal of them all. But even so, I wanted to keep this as a goal, as I feel it’s a very important one — maybe the most important of them all. It may not seem that way, but although I don’t receive a tremendous amount of comments, anytime I do I want to reply back. Whether the comment is a question, about something I’m up to or the post itself, or a general comment or statement, I feel the obligation to reply back. Without the readers this blog wouldn’t be what it is. Replying is my way of saying that the reader is appreciated.

So, there you have it. My top five blogging resolutions/goals for 2014.

As I stated last year — a recurring theme in this blog post — I hope to make this my best year of blogging yet. If I can accomplish what I want to (and plan to), I feel it truly will be. That’s always the overall goal. I think 2014 is going to be an exciting year.

Last Blog Post Until 2014

This is my 121st blog post of the year and it will be my last of 2013. I’ve done my best to keep all the goals I originally set back in January, but it’s Christmas time, so I’m going to mess up my goal of blogging at least once every four days and take a break until the new year.

I’ve really had a great time with this blog in the past year, as I’ve blogged more often than I ever had before. With the exception of my 24-day trip around the country in July/August, I got 2-3 posts up every week. That’s pretty good if you ask me.

As I did last year, I’m going to be setting five resolutions/goals for the 2014 blogging season on January 1st (my next blog post). A few of them are going to be the same, however, I’ve changed a couple around, based on my 2013 blogging year.

After that, I’m going to be posting an entry on my Hall of Fame picks, followed by the players elected into the H.O.F. (on January 8th) and a post marking the three-year anniversary of this blog on January 20th. I also have the 2013 number one overall draft pick, Mark Appel, scheduled for an interview sometime next month. So a Q and A with him will likely come late in the month, or early in early February.

Lastly, I just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who’s read my blog throughout the past year, and throughout its nearly three year existence. Whether you’re a regular or just check in from time-to-time, if it weren’t for you all I’d have no reason to blog. So thank you. I’m going to do my best to make 2014 the best year yet — even better than 2013 — and hopefully you will all continue to come back every so often to read what I have to say.

Merry Christmas, and best wishes for a Happy New Year.

See you all in 2014.

Q and A With Ethan Chapman

Ethan Chapman was drafted by the Royals in the 30th round of the 2012 draft. Since the draft, Chapman has put together a couple of decent seasons, winning the 2012 Idaho Falls (Royals’ rookie league) player of the year award. During that season he batted .313 with a homer, nine triples, nine doubles, 29 RBI’s and 25 stolen bases, over 67 games played. A fairly good first year.

Dividing the 2013 season between Low-A and High-A, Chapman put together another similar year, though his offensive statistics were a bit lower than the previous year. But Chapman was able to show off his athleticism on multiple occasions, making great plays in the outfield, and stealing 32 bases.

If Chapman can continue to develop, he could find himself moving up the ladder in the years to come.

Ethan Chapman — prospect in the Royals organization — took the time recently to answer some of my questions:

1.) At what age did you first become interested in baseball? Who was your biggest baseball influence growing up?

There are videos of me hitting off the tee at two years old. My biggest influence had to be my dad. We always played catch; countless visits to the field for batting practice. He really sacrificed a lot for me.

2.) Who was your favorite baseball player growing up? Why?

My favorite player growing up was Ken Griffey Jr. We are both left handed, and he had the sweetest swing — a swing that every player strives for.

3.) You were drafted by the Royals in the 30th round of the 2012 draft. What was that process like for you? Where were you when you first found out? Initial thoughts?

Getting drafted was my biggest dream. Growing up playing baseball, every kid dreams of being drafted. It was a dream come true. All the hours of work I put into my craft had paid off. I was at home watching with my family. After hearing my name there were plenty of emotions: screaming, crying, smiling, etc.

4.) You were named the 2012 Idaho Falls player of the year, batting .313 with a home run and 29 RBI’s over 67 games. What did it mean to you to receive that accolade?

Being a later round draft pick, receiving the Player of the Year award meant a lot to me. It, in some ways, “put me in the map” in the Kansas City organization. This is a business, and keeping your name on the minds of executives is a must. It was a great honor that they were proud of me for the season that I had. A really great experience, and I thank the KC organization for that accolade.

5.) You divided this past season between Lexington and Wilmington. What difference, if any, did you see between the two levels, and compared to the level of baseball you had played up until that point?

When I started in Lexington (Low-A) most of the starting pitchers threw tons of heat. They were consistently throwing 96 MPH. In Wilmington (High-A) the starting pitchers toned down how fast they threw but added more movement, location and a secondary pitch. As you go up in organizations pitchers start to make less mistakes and know how to “fool” hitters more often.

6.) What do you feel went well in 2013? What are your goals for 2014?

I am proud of my 2013 season but there is always room for improvement. I will continue to work hard and grow in each aspect of my game. In 2014 I want to play hard, play the game right, and win a championship for my organization.

7.) Talk a little bit about life on the road: What’s the most difficult aspect of it? What do you do to pass the time?

Life on the road in the minors isn’t easy. It’s time away from family, friends and on buses for the most part. But we are lucky to see many parts of the world that I would not be able to see if it wasn’t for professional baseball. It makes you want to work hard to get to the big leagues so you can be with your loved ones and get the best of treatment.

8.) Is there any one stat that you pay attention to throughout the season? Or do you try to steer clear of them altogether?

Stats are important because we want to move through the organization, but you can’t focus on them as a player. Over 140 games, stats can change. You have to go out and focus on each game and getting wins.

9.) Favorite TV show? Favorite food?

I have a bunch of favorite TV shows: MLB Network, ‘Boy Meets World’, ‘Pawn Stars’ [and] ‘Law and Order SVU’. My favorite food has to be Italian food. I love pizza and pasta.

10.) Lastly, what advice would you give to kids who are just starting out that dream of playing professional baseball one day?

My advice to up and coming stars is to never give up and keep working hard. Be a sponge. Soak up all the advice you can. In this game, you are never too old or good to learn something. Play this game with passion and love. ——————————————————————————————————————————————

Big thanks to Ethan Chapman for taking the time to answer my questions.

You can follow him on Twitter: @EthanMChapman