The phenomena of blogging has spread rapidly across the country over the last 10 years, and now it seems to have found its niche in Major League Baseball.
However, the bloggers covering the sport aren't just your typical baseball fan or reporter.
The new wave of bloggers covering the MLB are the players themselves.
The trend began last year when Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling started his blog, 38pitches.
Schilling brought Red Sox fans into his mindset by blogging about each of his starts, the condition of the team, as well as other issues around the league he cared to opine about.
While Schilling's blog had more to do with feeding his lifelong ego trip than anything else, it did provide fans with a new media outlet, one that no sports writer could possibly replicate.
Hearing from players provides fans a unique perspective, because the players know the game, and what's going on in the locker room better than anyone else.
Better yet, blogs help fans understand the true feelings or ideas being felt by a player. When a player makes a blog they can't say they were misquoted by the press.
A blog officially puts players on the record.
Take for example a post Schilling made Feb. 7 about his shoulder injury, an injury that some people around baseball felt he hid from the Red Sox before he signed a contract extension with them to play in the 2008 season.
"Speculation is rampant right now." Schilling said in the blog. "There was absolutely no reason for anyone involved to believe I would be anything other than completely healthy and ready for the 2008 baseball season. Things have changed since then and I contacted the team early last month with concerns … There have been disagreements these past few weeks in an effort to provide me with a solution that would allow me to pitch as much as possible during the 2008 season."
Even if Schilling was lying in his blog, he is officially on the record and can't go back on his word or make excuses that he was taken out of context.
That is refreshing from a baseball fan's persepctive.
Baseball players blogging regularly makes sense in a way - the grueling 162-game schedule creates a lot of downtime for players, especially pitchers. Players need to fill that gap somehow and writing a blog seems to be more constructive for players than taking a daily trip to the local strip club (although I'm sure they'll find time to do both).
This season, Yankees starting pitcher Phil Hughes has jumped on the blogging bandwagon with the start of his Web site, philhughes.wordpress.com. Hughes' blog is unique in that he takes questions from fans and then answers them, creating the ultimate interactivity between fans and players.
Detroit Tigers outfielder Curtis Granderson is also blogging. His experience is the most unique of all the players because he has been hired by ESPN to post a weekly blog about the goings on in his life and his team.
With all this free flow of information there are dangers involved. The clubhouse is considered a sanctuary for players, and if someone decided to divulge too much information about what is going on in it, team chemistry can be damaged.
Imagine if a player used his blog to "out" steroid abusers. You can imagine the reverberations a player would face from writing something like that. He would not be trusted in the locker room and would be looked down upon by players across the league.
Nevertheless, while players may have to watch they write, fans are the true beneficiaries. The more information players give the fans the better connected they will feel to their teams.
Greg Bordonaro's MLB column runs
every Wednesday. He can be contacted
at Gregory.Bordonaro@UConn.edu.
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