By: Mike Carter
It’s hard to believe that I have written fifty of these pieces for the wonderful people at 9 Inning Know It All. I remember Kelly asking me to write one of the first “What Baseball Means to Me” articles that so many great writers have shared over the years. I will forever be grateful to Kelly and Josh for giving me an opportunity to start writing about baseball. Now I am writing about fantasy baseball for RotoFanatic, SP Streamer and Fantrax. I am busy but happy with the writing and camaraderie of fellow baseball writers. If you are on Twitter, and you wish to see my ramblings, you can follow me at @mdrc0508.
I wouldn’t have been given these opportunities if not for Kelly asking and pushing me to keep writing after my initial guest spot. It’s the wonder of social media that we even met! Kelly and Josh live in the Pacific Northwest and I live 40 miles outside of Chicago. What a cool experience; it’s just another example of how baseball brings people together, always. We met on Facebook through baseball sites and have become friends. I am lucky and grateful for that!
Here are my five favorite pieces I have written for the 9 Inning Know It All over the last few years:
1) Small Town Baseball (June 2020)
I love this one and as fortunate to be able to interview a good friend, Josh Miller, in my town, Batavia, who has devoted his life to baseball and coaching the young kids and young men in our town. If you haven’t read this one, it is probably the one I am most proud of over the last few years.
2) Unwritten Rules: Time for a Change (June 2019)
I am an older guy, 47 as of this writing, but I will say this about me: I am totally for changing the game. I absolutely love watching the young guns playing today, like Fernando Tatis, Jr. Tim Anderson, Ronald Acuna, etc. These are emotional players who wear their hearts on their sleeves and play with a passion not seen much before their time. Facts are facts, and everything changes. It is time for fans to accept and adapt to the growth and changes in the game. Now if only the MLB executives could figure out how to market this great game…
3) Finding a New Normal (May 2020)
Like many of us during the time since last March 2020, I have been trying to determine, when things will return to “normal” in our lives. Alternately I have been thinking about what of the old normal I would like back, and how much of the new normal I will retain as we seemingly move into a healthier summer of 2021. I really missed baseball last year: going to games, having the whole experience, but at least we had the local teams to follow, so it was not a total loss. I was watching things like World Axe Throwing championships. “I remember sitting on my front porch, mulling over what to say in May 2020 in the middle of a pandemic. I opened a beer and just started writing stuff down, watching that blinking cursor mock me. I actually think this piece helped me wrap my mind around what I was experiencing last year, what I missed, while also being fortunate to have what I do in my daily life.
4) Have Some Integrity (Jan 2020)
This one was truly difficult to write; it had been revealed days earlier that the Houston Astros has been involved in a fairly elaborate cheating scandal. It was so obvious that MLB and Rob Manfred wanted it to just go away, announcing that they had suspended GM Jeff Luhnow, and managers AJ Hinch and Alex Cora for a year each, and fining the Astros $5 million. Come on. Don’t lie to yourself and think that solved the problem. Baseball has policed itself for decades, and hopefully it will do so again. Rumors abound now that pitchers are doctoring the baseball…could we be headed down this road again?
5) When I Was a Younger Man (April 2019)
I was jotting down thoughts about the impending retirement of Ichiro Suzuki when I realized that he and I were born in the same year, about a month apart. Guys my age are no longer in the Show. They have retired and moved on to other things. It was a reminder of aging for me; but that’s not all bad, as I realized that I am still alive, and that aging is something many folks do not get to do. I have seen several folks in our town die very young of terrible things, and I think I appreciate being alive now more than ever. That being said, I also realize that I am never making it to the major leagues at age 47…
Mike’s Most Viewed Posts
1) Unwritten Rules: Time for a Change (June 2019)
2) When I Was A Younger Man (April 2019)
3) Small Town Baseball (June 2020)
4) The Case for Joe Mauer (Nov 2018)
5) Hot Stove Free Agent Predictions (Nov 2020)
6) Finding a New Normal (May 2020)
7) The Definition of Fun: Adrian Beltre (Nov 2018)
8) Have Some Integrity (Jan 2020)
9) Ready for Spring Training (Feb 2019)