Outside the Box

Big Bad Baseball: Swinging from the heels

Don Malcolm likes the new random player feature. Most of the additions happen when I say, "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if..." If you've got a good database, a lot of these sorts of things take an hour or less to implement. If you have a "wouldn't it be neat idea..." send it to me and we'll see what we can do. Though it may be some time as I really, really should be working hard on my thesis.

Don also has some good things to say on the MVP front. I think it is about time to have a real Ted Williams/Hank Aaron/Babe Ruth award, so that the writers can start voting pitchers for MVP again.

Speaking of ideas, I've been percolating an idea where I would provide a notepad area for anyone who wanted it. Essentially, it would allow you to easily and quickly create and publish lists of players, teams, leagues, seasons, etc. Whatever, the user wanted to do.

For instance,

1. Top ten funniest names


2. My all-time Pirates/Royals/D-Rays' team


3. The worst free agent signings of all-time


4. Shortstops with more than 20 SB and 20 HR in a single-season

Database-wise I'll have to be careful with the data structures as I want to make it really flexible. I wish I had Oracle, but MySql will have to do. The sign-in, password business is a little daunting to design, but I could do something like add a link at the bottom of each player/team/etc. saying "add to a list!". You would then click on the link and cookies would then tell me who you are (if you've signed up before). It would then ask which list to add them to (or create a new list).

You could hide lists and make them public. You could sort them in different ways, etc. You could allow others to comment on your lists. You could make a list of the best lists, perhaps. If you like this idea and would use it add a comment using the link below. If you have suggestions do so as well. You don't have to enter your e-mail or anything. A first name is fine.