I’m a little late posting to this one, but Pam Gardner may be the most impressive woman in baseball article yet. As Houston Astros President of Business Operations, Gardner was recognized as one of the 20 most influential women in baseball in 2005.

Read all about it.

Just as AOL’s “partnership” with the scantily-clad-and-poor-cue-card-reading Fantasy Sports Girls was giving women sport bloggers a bad name, 15 women who don’t need a sleezeball pervert to write their suggestive commentary for them were launching Playing the Field.

Per their–our–about page:

Featured on this site are some of the best female sports bloggers on the net. These women are smart, sports savvy, and will kick your butt in fantasy ball. Consider this your hub for the best writing women in sports have to offer. You’ll find stuff that will make you laugh, make you think, and sometimes make you crazy. But that’s just like a woman, isn’t it? Throughout this site we will cover everything and anything about sports that deserves our attention. And probably a few things that don’t. But we promise to always entertain you and make you wonder why women don’t rule the sports blogging world. Yet.

Ideas for PTF content include everything from fantasy sports advice to our vision of what our favorite players’ blogs would say, (if they actually wrote them for themselves). Whatever the topic, you’re sure to find something interesting in each woman’s box.

Unlike many baseball fans, I have not been following the sport my entire life. My fandom has not been passed down through the generations. I have no heart-warming memories of afternoons at the ballpark while my father drank beer and shouted profanities at the umpires.

Quite the opposite, in fact: I couldn’t have told you the difference between the AL and the NL until I was 22, my family was primarily peopled with hippies who couldn’t have conceived of the loss of identity that would have come with donning a uni, and my father rarely drank anything at all, unless you count wheat juice and linseed oil.

But when Griffey came to Cincinnati in 2000, my husband’s long-dormant baseball fanatic re-emerged and soon I found myself a regular attendee at baseball games. I had a lot to learn, such as the rules of the game, and I depended on my Crack Baseball-Rules Staff to get me through. Fortunately for me, Jonny was a relatively patient co-game-attendee and helped me get up to speed on the basics.

However, I took notice of other baseball newbies in the stands–mostly women–who also were counting on their significant others to help them learn the game, usually with much more condescension and annoyance. And at the office, I saw women unable to participate in the water-cooler sports talk because they didn’t have the requisite knowledge to come up with something witty.

Enter Red Hot Mama. After her primary goal of getting my sense of humor back (a horrible job had me to the brink of chronic wet-blanket-hood) was another goal of serving the community of would-be female fans. Don’t know Adam Dunn from Adam? Check out the Human League. Need a quick summary of last night’s game? Read the Game Wraps. Want something smart-alecky to say when the Angels fan in your office keeps complaining that all the other California teams get all the media attention? I recommend, “Maybe they should try changing their name.”

Which is why I’m pleased to be listed among the informational sports blogs by women in The Sports Diva Magazine. Go girls!

Don’t forget to cast your vote for the NLC’s Hottest Baller championship round. We’ve already had more votes this round than ever before, and Bubba Crosby is well in the lead over Brandon Phillips. Vote early and often: time is running out.

…candid photography, snap-snap, click-click, know what I mean, nudge-nudge, say no more.

I got back from Florida last night. Two days of driving each way…but probably the smarter choice, given all those people sleeping in airports while the planes are inspected for cracks. (And yes, if I’d flown, it would have been Delta.)

I went to six baseball games in six days, and took a ton of photos at all of them. Weirdly, one of the ushers at a Reds game told me that cameras were not allowed in the stadium. WTF? Who ever heard of a rule like that? Practically everyone there had a camera and was snapping photos left and right, but he singled me out and told me to put the camera away. Jeez. I thought they were Nazis at Yankee Stadium, but they allow cameras there. (I simply moved to another section and continued taking photos.)

Yup, I’m afraid it’s the moment you’ve all been dreading: I’m inflicting my vacation photos on you.

Continue Reading »

Welcome to the championship round of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus one guy in limbo (again)) faced off in a single-elimination tournament that culminates with tonight’s match up.

This is it. The final round. Your votes this week will decide who is the NLC’s hottest honey and who is just a modestly famous athlete with a bunch of online fans.

Bubba Crosby has been the cult hero of the competition, and certainly wasn’t a favorite at the beginning, considering that he hasn’t truly been a member of an NLC team the whole time. Now, it’s looking like he’ll sit a year out while he rehabs his shoulder, which at least would give him more time to enjoy his inappropriately named reign as NLC’s Hottest Baller, should he win. And right now I’d give him the odds; no other player has been able to rally the groundswell of support.

Brandon Phillips has been a front-runner from the beginning of the competition. Most recently, he nudged out perennial hottie Jason LaRue with 51% of the vote. As the Reds’ second baseman for years to come, Phillips certainly seems to be a more natural choice for the competition, but it’s going to take an inspired populous of Phillips fans to overcome the Crosby mafia.

Bubba Crosby
ht: 5-11 wt: 195 dob: 8/11/1976

Brandon Phillips
ht: 6-0 wt: 195 dob: 6/28/1981

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Welcome to the semifinals of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest ex-Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Brad Ausmus comes to the final four by way of the nonReds bracket. He defeated Sean Burnett in the first round and Chris Duffy in the second round. Ausmus brings a very traditional tall-dark-and-handsome kind of hotness to the competition.

Even so, Ausmus has his work cut out for him against…

Bubba Crosby is a cult favorite in the competition. He’s already taken down Bronson Arroyo and Matt Belisle, two very well-liked Reds’ pitchers, to make his way into the final four.

Brad Ausmus
ht: 5-11 wt: 190 dob: 04/14/1969

Bubba Crosby
ht: 5-11 wt: 195 dob: 08/11/1976

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Welcome to the semifinals of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest ex-Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Two rounds of fierce competition have made the players glisten with effort and anxious to take it all home. In my imagination anyway. In real life, they almost certainly don’t know they’re even in the NLC’s Hottest Baller tournament, but that’s OK. My imagination is very good.

Jason LaRue, backing up the plate in St. Louis, may not be the top catcher these days, but he’s still the hottest backstop in town. He took down Rick Ankiel in the second round to advance to the semifinals.

Brandon Phillips, enjoying a long-term contract in the Queen City has the moves to go with the smile. He’s already hot this spring, and not just on the field.

Jason LaRue
ht: 5-11 wt: 205 dob: 03/19/1974

Brandon Phillips
ht: 6-0 wt: 195 dob: 6/28/1981

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Welcome to round 2 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Our final match of the quarterfinal round is going to be a doozy. Matt Belisle, hottie starting rotation candidate for the Reds goes up against cult hero Bubba Crosby. Belisle has been a fan favorite at Red Hot Mama since he came up, but Crosby brought down 78% of the vote in the first round against Bronson Arroyo is the most heavily voted-in contest of the tournament so far.


Bubba Crosby
ht: 5-11 wt: 195 dob: 08/11/1976

Matt Belisle
ht: 6-3 wt: 230 dob: 06/06/1980

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Welcome to round 2 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest baller contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus the newest Mariner) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Today’s match is a showdown of a couple of Reds, second-baseman Brandon Phillips and barely-more-than-prospect Joey Votto. An NLC’s Hottest Baller award and a breakout season would do wonders for keeping Votto out of a 5-player trade, but it would also go very nicely with Phillips’ shiny new 4-year, $27 million contract.

Joey Votto
ht: 6-3 wt: 220 dob: 09/10/1983

Brandon Phillips
ht: 6-0 wt: 195 dob: 6/28/1981

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