Outside The Confines: Merry Christmas to all

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

If you happen to find yourself between opening gifts and making Christmas dinner, or you’re celebrating alone because of lockdown restrictions, or you don’t happen to celebrate Christmas at all and still want some good content to read, we here at BCB wouldn’t leave you hanging.

I wanted to do something a little different today, so I went on Twitter and asked my fellow baseball writers “what piece did you write this past year that you’re most proud of?” Their responses varied from the deep to the hilarious, and I’ve collected them all below.

We hope you’ll enjoy this mixed variety of writers you may not have read before.

Happy Holidays Bleed Cubbie Blue friends.

• Roger Cormier did not submit this to me, but it’s timely and I love Roger’s work. Here’s the story of former Cub Steve Christmas, which seems fitting for today.
• -Sam Gazdziak brings us the grave story of Theodore Turner for RIP Baseball, a site that’s new to me but seeks to tell the stories of former ballplayers.
• For Lookout Landing, Amanda Lane did a historical look back at Seattle Baseball in the 1918 pandemic.
• Tara Wellman brings us the complicated costs associated with contracting minor league teams.
• Matthew Roberson does a retrospective on the various fashion choices made during Ichiro Suzuki’s baseball career.
• In “headline of the year” contention, Sydney Bergman takes a look at pitchers who reinvent themselves. (Baseball Prospectus Premium required.)
• For The Hardball Times (may it come back to us again soon), Daniel R. Epstein explores women’s baseball across four continents.
• Eric Sanford takes an emotional look at 10 years of Seattle baseball without Dave Niehaus. (You’ll see a theme with a lot of Lookout Landing articles here, and I hope you’ll take it as a sign to start reading more Lookout Landing articles.)
• Chris Northrop looks at the pivotal role D.J. LeMahieu plays as a team leader for the Yankees.
• The ever-contentious rule changes coming in the 2021 season are the focus of Judy Kamilhor’s favorite piece this year.
• Jacob Markle explores the impact of minor league shuffling in the Tigers system.
• Tawny Jarvi forgot to do a normal links post at Twinkie Town and it descended into old timey madness.
• With a sentiment that surely holds up this offseason, Renee Dechert reflected on how terrible the 2019-20 offseason was for Rockies fans.
• Roger Castillo looks at the importance of events like Fiesta Tigres beyond just being promotional nights.
• Before the return of baseball this summer, Hayden A. of Twinkie Town reminded us all that missing sports was the least of our worries.
• Erica Block shares how Luke Voit has evolved into more than just a slugger for the Yankees.
• Josh Jackson uncovers an incredible scandal about the Vernon Tigers from way back in 1919 and 1920.
• Dan Hogan, a regular FanPost contributor at Bless You Boys was proud of his piece on how the shortened season would impact tanking teams.
• For funsies, Brandon Warne gives us Minnesota Twins free agents as Christmas gifts.
• Buster Olney loves to bet the farm, so Mike Carlucci decided to see how often the ESPN broadcaster was right to do so.
• Over at Cardinals Conclave, Cardinal70 reflects on what — if anything — we owe team legends.
• Darby Robinson wrote what might have been the hardest game recap of his life when he brought us the World Series Game 6 recap.
• There aren’t many things that hurt Red Sox fans more than the Mookie Betts trade, and Jake Kostik bid Betts a belated farewell.
• This one is at least two years old, but Alexandra Simon gives us a Jim Abbott double feature. (Let these remind you of what a gift The Hardball Times was.)
• And to wrap us up, a lovely Christmas message from Rays hero Brett Phillips.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.