At about 3pm, the news came down that Peter Gammons was leaving ESPN. At about 6pm, the rumors that he was joining the MLB Network started surfacing. And 30 minutes ago, came word from MLB-N that he is in fact making the switch. Here's the release....

MLB Network and MLB Advanced Media today announced that Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons has joined MLB Network and MLB.com as an on-air and online analyst. As part of a multi-year deal, Gammons will offer analysis and commentary on MLB Network for breaking news and special events like the Trade Deadline, First-Year Player Draft, Winter Meetings and Postseason. Gammons will also serve as a signature and regularly featured writer for MLB.com’s new columnist initiative, writing commentary on breaking news and posting several articles online each week.

“After 40 years covering baseball, the opportunity to move on to MLB Network is a great and daunting opportunity,” said Gammons. “My journalistic life has revolved around baseball, and to be involved with people whose network is devoted to baseball, and baseball only, is something I look forward to with excitement. We all wish pitchers and catchers reported tomorrow. One of the greatest things about baseball is that it is held to a higher standard than any other sport, which holds those of us who care about it to a higher standard. I hope I can contribute to that standard.”

“For generations, baseball has been the writers’ sport, from John Updike to Roger Angell to Tom Boswell,” said Gammons. “To be afforded the opportunity by MLB.com to write about breaking news, inside information, issues, players, people, history and the perspective of the game’s place in society from Jackie Robinson to our current generation of socially-conscious players like Torii Hunter, Carlos Pena, and C.C. Sabathia is a forum that makes this next chapter of my journalistic life exciting and rewarding.”

Gammons will be appearing on Hot Stove to start out, but you can expect him on just about every single offering MLB-N has to offer. For someone who loves Baseball as much as Gammons does, the network choice is an obvious move. However, you have to wonder what it took to wrestle him away from the "Leader". If you asked me at the start of this blog, who are the two people ESPN couldn't lose from their Baseball roster it would be Gammons and Harold Reynolds. Both are now with the budding MLB Network.

Update: Brooks from SbB also has received word that Gammons could be part-timing with NESN soon.

Update #2: And here is your official NESN press release....

NESN, New England’s most watched sports network, announced today that Hall of Fame baseball writer and longtime ESPN and Boston Globe baseball analyst/reporter Peter Gammons has entered into a multi-year agreement to join NESN as a regular studio analyst, reporter and online contributor.

“I’m a New Englander who wanted to be Jackie Jensen,” said Peter Gammons. “I started out at the Boston Globe and wrote about Jerry Remy when he was at Somerset High School. I was lucky enough to be there for the Munson-Fisk fight in 1973 and The Sixth Game and the ’78 playoff, and when my local cable company wouldn’t put NESN on our system I signed the override petitions.”

Buzz Bissinger famously ripped on Sports Blogs (and Will Leitch) over a year ago, and you would think that in the time that elapsed he would have figured them out. Well you'd think wrong. Bissinger went on the Deadcast this week, and somehow came to the conclusion that Harold Reynolds himself, not the website "Hugging Harold Reynolds", added the Raul Ibanez Steroid Story to his site. Take a listen....

Well then. Now that's completely and utterly untrue. I think Buzz Bissinger is one of the best things to ever happen to blogs, but the guy still has a lot to learn about them.

It’s Family Hour With A Kinder, Gentler Buzz Bissinger (Deadspin)

There is a revolution in the world of home decor, and that revolution is "man caves". Men from coast to coast have been creating basements filled with bars, sports paraphenallia and arcade games, and Major League Baseball is getting involved. The MLB Network's Harold Reynolds and Mitch Williams will be appearing on the DIY channel's "Man Caves" in September, and will be giving away an officially licensed MLB cave. Via USA Today....

Major League Baseball will formally announce today that the DIY Network's popular Man Caves series will include a Sept. 29 show in which some lucky guy — and it has to be a guy — gets his own MLB cave.

The show transforms rooms in houses — usually basements — into pricy playrooms for really big boys. DIY, as in do-it-yourself, frequently creates sports-themed caves — ex-NBA player Brandon Williams gets his garage converted in the Aug. 4 show — in a series hosted by Fox NFL analyst Tony Siragusa.

But with the MLB tie-in will come lots of hype on MLB Network — viewers will be asked to send in videos explaining why they're cave-worthy — and MLBN analysts Harold Reynolds and Mitch Williams will show up for the cave creations.

Sounds like a great promotion, but I wonder if it's for a specific team, or the entire league? Maybe Bud Selig will make DIY create a "Selig Shrine" of sorts, so his legacy can be remembered???

'Cave' dwellers get MLB pitch (USA Today)

I've been watching the Yankees' first game at their new stadium on the MLB Network for most of the afternoon, to see how good of a transition Bob Costas is making back into the booth. For the better part of the game, he (along with Reynolds and Kaat) has been doing a great job, but he had a pretty big gaff during the fifth inning.

If you're going to get the opportunity to call the first homerun at Yankee Stadium, and people will hear the call forever, you might want to get the player's name right as he rounds the bases....

Whoops! Again, he's been great for most of the afternoon, but that was a pretty big slip up right there. I'm thinking the Yankees will file away the YES Network's call, instead of Costas'.

Harold Reynolds was up in Seattle for the Mariners home opener, and even got the honor of throwing out the first pitch to Ken Griffey Jr. Well, Baseball Tonight got a hold of the footage, and decided to critique the toss. Here's your clip....

Pretty funny. The Cincy Mayor caught me off-guard there for a second, and while the toss wasn't that bad, you've got to get it over the plate, Harold!

I don't claim to be anywhere near an expert on the ways of Sabermetrics, but I definitely think the thinking is important to the game of Baseball. Apparently the analysts at the MLB Network, namely Harold Reynolds, Barry Larkin and Sean Casey, aren't experts either. The trio, along with Matt Vasgersian, tried to discuss the topic on MLB Tonight recently, and here was the result....

Here's the thing that has always bothered me with this discussion, and you can almost compare it to the "battle" between bloggers and mainstream media members. No statistician thinks that scouts or scouting department needs to be replaced. Just like bloggers think that mainstream media shouldn't be rendered obsolete.

Sabermetrics is really just another way to gather information, and I really don't think a team that utilizes it, is completely basing their decision on just the stats. To think that a team would draft a player, without seeing him play or watching tape, is just ignorant.

You have to commend the MLB Network for trying, but if you don't really know anything about the topic, it's best to just stay away. Much like me talking about MMA.

Why The MLB Network Is A Failure (And That Happened)

The MLB Network took to the air last night after a stirring introduction from Baseball Commish Bud Selig, and while I got the channel clean and clear here at AAHQ, a good bit of America didn't get the broadcast so smoothly. Fang's Bites is saying that customers in Denver, Portland and Phoenix all had issues at the start, and Ken Schott also had problems up in upstate New York.

Cable things aside, I watched a good bit of the first night on the network, and have to say I was rather impressed. Victor Rojas led the roundtable for the night, and had help from Harold Reynolds, Al Leiter, and Barry Larkin at the desk. Hazel Mae and Trenni Kusnierek, as well as "Insiders" Tom Verducci and Jon Heyman, were also on hand with various reports. Each analyst started out by introducing themselves, and the first program "Hot Stove" completed a recap of 2008 and MLB's offseason. After that, the network slowly started bringing guests on to the set for various discussions and deoms.

Jimmy Rollins was on hand for a stolen base discussion surrounding Jackie Robinson's theft of home in 1955. Bob Costas then went onto host a discussion with Yogi Berra and Don Larsen, while airing the pitcher's perfect game from the 1956 World Series. While I still can't the use of "mini fields" on-set, both the Robinson and Larsen features were entertaining and light-hearted.

The only real issue I had with the network was the amount of "jumping around" that MLB Network did, and the amount of people used, but it was the first night and they definitely needed to highlight everyone and everything around the studio. Hopefully in the future they won't feel the need to cater to the ADD crowd.

Here is a little video collection I put together in case you missed the launch....

The First Four Hours of The MLB Network Did Not Necessarily Go Smoothly (Fang's Bites)
Late update on Time Warner/MLB Network problem (Schenectady Gazette)

Slowly but surely this whole MLB Network is getting put together, and it's really starting to look like a pretty good roster. While they're still trying to lock up Costas, the Network will announce today the hiring of four new analysts. Via SBD....

MLB Network today officially will add Al Leiter, Harold Reynolds, Trenni Kusnierek and Hazel Mae to its on-air lineup today. The network will use Leiter and Reynolds as studio analysts and Kusnierek and Mae as reporters. Leiter comes to the channel after three years at YES Network, and Reynolds had been a commentator on MLB.com, SportsNet NY and TBS in the past year. Kusnierek spent last season with the Brewers on FSN Wisconsin, following five seasons with the Pirates on FSN Pittsburgh. Mae had spent five years with NESN.

Mae and Reynolds weren't surprises, but I hadn't heard about Leiter (who's actually pretty good) and Kusnierek. Look for a few more people to put added in the coming weeks, and then perhaps a bigger name more towards the network's opening day on January 1st.

MLB Network Adding Leiter, Reynolds, Kusnierek, Mae To On-Air Roster (Sports Business Daily)

The MLB Network has been surfing the local talent pool and they've added yet another individual to its growing roster. It was announced yesterday that longtime Padres broadcaster Matt Vasgersian was leaving the team and today he's signed on with the MLB-N. Via John Ourand at SBD....

MLB Network is about to make its first official on-air hire, signing Matt Vasgersian as its main studio host for the nightly "MLB Tonight" show, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. Vasgersian had been the lead play-by-play announcer for Padres' TV games and has done work with Fox, as well. As the main host of MLB Network's nightly show, Vasgersian will be the net's most visible on-air personality. An official announcement could come as soon as tomorrow.

MLB Network is launching January 1 to about 50 million homes. It has been
talking with Harold Reynolds and Hazel Mae about on-air positions and has
had conversations with Bob Costas about an on-air role.

It's not Costas but it's still a good pickup for the new network that launches January 1st. They seem to be making all of the right moves before opening up shop, and this is just another move that illustrates that. I've long been a fan of Vasgersian, and the studio work he put in for the Olympics will definitely help him in this role.

MLB Network to Tap Matt Vasgersian (Broadcasting & Cable)

Hilarious find by Dash over at Deadspin today. Harold Reynolds was on the "Killer B's" radio show today, which airs on ESPN 1470 in Tampa Bay, and he had some choice words for the former GM and current ESPN analyst. And by choice, I mean that he said he wanted to "slap him"....

Obviously it's pretty harmless, but it's just another person in the long line of many to take a shot at an ESPN employee in the media lately. Hopefully this leads to ESPN making note of who their lesser analysts are (*ahem* Phillips), but I doubt it.

Harold Reynolds Contemplates Inappropriate Use Of His Hands Again (Deadspin)

P.S.- Trying to figure out which game to live-blog tonight. Be sure to vote on the righthand side, and I'll put a pregame post up around 6pm or so announcing the winner.

There's throwing people under the bus, and then there's this. Following last night's Rays win, Ernie Johnson decided to pose a question to the rest of the crew about where Fenway got it's name. He of course went to the only former Red Sock on the set, Dennis Eckersley, and just watch the look on his face. Via Sox & Dawgs....

Now that is funny. EJ's Neato Stat of the Night also brought us the Kenny Smith car jumping moment, so it's pretty much a must watch at this point.

Ernie Johnson Throws Eck Under The Bus (Sox & Dawgs)

Thanks to Ian from Sox and Dawgs for sending these videos along, as they show the hard-hitting work that TBS is doing with the ALCS. First, a Craig Sager sideline report on what really matters in the game: how much gum Terry Francona chews.

There may actually be a reason he goes through that much, but it requires a bit more inquiry: did Tito chew tobacco back in the day?

And second, this Bon Jovi theme they're using has gone way too far now.



The Be Flats, everybody!