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MLB Continues Strong Push in Social Media

April 6, 2012 by

While doing basic baseball research, i.e. watching a bunch of Opening Day games on television, I noticed a funny thing happening on Twitter, as a huge number of postings were coming with the #MLBTVme hastag.

The hastag is apparently part of a bigger effort to promote MLB’s MLB.TV according to a number of sources, which all seem to lead back to Mashable. The official site for MLB.TV had no press release on this topic, at least one that is easily found.

Apparently what is happening is that MLB’s @MLB account tweeted a number of trivia questions, and fans that answered correctly were entered into a drawing for a number of nice prizes including iPad and Xbox 360s.

The network used a very clever ploy to get the event out in front of fans that use Twitter. The longer the hastag trended at Twitter’s national and global trending charts the more prizes were awarded to fans that participated. Since it was a trivial contest, and most baseball fans that I know love baseball trivia (and most other forms) this was sure to be a hit.

According to the article MLB has also launched a series of social media correspondents at each of the ballparks, and if you are interested in what it takes to be one some of the job listings are still available online. There will also be a tumblr and pinterest accounts for each team.

I was amazed at the range of additional offerings that MLB has for fans. While I dig around at its site fairly regularly, there were a number of offerings that I was not aware of including a variety of contests, including one where fans pick a player a day and see if they can get a hit with each one until they pass Joe DiMaggio’s famous hit streak.

In addition, for those of you that like to follow individual players on Twitter, here is a pretty good list, courtesy of the MLBLogs Network of almost 300 MLB players that have twitter accounts as well as a few additional important baseball hashtags that you might want to follow.

As we have noted n the past MLB has been very aggressive in pushing all forms of social media and interactive content in the last decade and this is a extremely nice push. Fans love their teams and can now show it in additional ways, helping to strengthen the bond between them, while at the same time rewarding the fans for participating.

Filed Under: Apps, Athlete to Follow, Baseball, Contests, Live sports via mobile, Major League Baseball, Mashable, Social Media, Sports Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: ,

MLB has App to Wirelessly Order Food at Select Ballparks

April 4, 2012 by

Minute Maid Park

As I was perusing the iTunes store, primarily looking for the Civil War Today app, but being easily diverted I wandered over to look at what MLB has to offer, which seems to be growing every time I head over.

I tend to gloss over established apps, just taking a quick look at what new features that they might include, now often just additional hooks into social media, but also there can be some surprises, which I found at MLB.Com At the Ballpark.

The free app does tout new social media integration, park info such as layout, parking, security and a rewards program but what really caught my eye was access to mobile food and beverage service at select ballparks.

Currently this is only available at is accessible at the following MLB ballparks: Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia), Minute Maid Park (Houston), Chase Field (Phoenix) and Marlins Ballpark (Miami) but MLB has said that additional ones will be available.

I imagine that the parks the league is currently looking to establish networks in will be the next in line as these will likely have enough capacity to handle the additional traffic. While it may seem like a no-brainer that the network could handle it, heavy use can swap the network, which is why increasingly parks need separate networking equipment, such as the new Marlins ballpark.

The one piece of information that is not included, but which we will check in with MLB is where will this be available in the park? For all fans with iPads and iPhones or just ones in select section?

This is not the first time that a service has been available at a ballpark, but it looks as if MLB is going to take the bulls by the horn and establish a standard method to do so. Last time I was in box seats behind home at AT&T you could order food electronically from a server in the stands and even back at old Candlestick Park the service was available, however there was a fairly steep premium on beer carrying charges, as I recall.

Now I wonder if it will be available at the Anaheim er… Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s ballpark., They have just expanded the menu, primarily for fans that are traditionalist in that they need their hot dogs (like me ) at the game, but are willing to try new versions (like me). The Angels now offer a bacon wrapped dog, a hot dog wrapped in a tortilla and then deep fried and a hot dog topped with BBQ beef. For dessert there is now the Arctic Nachos which are cinnamon-sugar nachos topped with vanilla ice cream, then doused in caramel and chocolate sauce. Too much you say? Hah!

Next up larger seats?

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apple, Apps, Baseball, iPad, iPhone, Los ANgeles Angeles of Anaheim, Major League Baseball, Tablets Tagged With: , , , ,

Verizon Puts DAS Network Into Miami’s New Ballpark

April 4, 2012 by

An example of a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) antenna atop a light pole. Credit: Sidecut Reports.

Verizon Wireless announced it has installed a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) inside the new Marlins Park in Miami, to better serve fans who want to use their Verizon phones and tablets at the games.

Though Verizon also notes that its new 4G LTE wireless network is up and running in the Miami area, big crowds with cellphones can easily swamp the regular cellular network in and around stadiums. One of the steps providers like Verizon and AT&T are now taking is using DAS deployments to install a number of small cellular antennas inside and outside arenas, to provide more connection points.

While today’s press release doesn’t try as hard as previous ones, it is still interesting that Verizon tries to make good news about the fact that their previous network installation simply can’t handle the new demands of the always-connected fan. Still, any capacity increases are good news for the fans who have in the past been frustrated by the lack of connectivity at the ballpark.

Here’s a look at the new ballpark, with its fish tanks and retractable roof.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Baseball, iPad, iPhone, Major League Baseball, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , ,

Rangers Catcher Videos Tornado’s Fury at Ballpark

April 4, 2012 by

While preparing for last night’s exhibition game against the Mexican City Diablos Rojos, Texas Rangers bullpen catcher Zach Zaneski caught a bit more than he expected- a video of the effect that the numerous tornadoes that swept through Dallas leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.

The video then went worldwide when regular catcher Mike Napoli tweeted a version of the video which showed the impact the storm was having at the pall park including the wind and rain driving a tarp across the field.

The weather service reported that there was anywhere from six to 12 tornadoes that set down in the North Texas area around Dallas with a pair of them sweeping through the city, tossing big rigs around and destroying most everything in their path.

Even with all of the destruction and parts of the city recovering the teams went on to play the game with the Rangers beating the Diablos Rojos 14-3. Here is a set of videos including the one from Zaneski showing the storms impact in the city.

Filed Under: Baseball, ESPN, Live sports via mobile, Major League Baseball, Sports Social Media, Texas Rangers, Twitter Tagged With: , ,

Look to Mobile Apps to Stay Competitive in Fantasy Baseball

April 3, 2012 by

With the second start to this year’s MLB season, and I am still not sure what the league gained by starting last week in Japan followed by a long layoff, all fantasy teams should be in place for the long haul to October greatness.

However the fact that the draft is completed means that only the first step is finished, and then comes the monitoring of teams and players, keeping a hawk eye not only on the waiver wire and the injury report, but also how your own roster is performing so that gaps and shortcomings in a lineup can be repaired quickly and efficiently.

I still know one or two people that primarily use one source for all of their information, but with the growing number of sites that are available it makes sense to have multiple sources for data, and to have an app or two loaded in your smartphone or tablet so that you can react instantly.

Most of these are available on both Android and Apple’s iOS. One or two are available on a BlackBerry and I did not find any that specified Windows Phone, although I imagine that will change in a year.

These are in no particular order and with that we will start with Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball ’12. Many fans are familiar with this free app and a few new features have been added including Facebook and Google logins as well as features such as real time score updates and player stats.

Another I am sure most are very familiar with is ESPN’s free Fantasy Baseball app, although when you say free there is a pay option of sorts. The basic app gives you team management, the ability to accept or reject trades from other managers and a host of news, tweets and video from ESPN’s Fantasy Baseball analysts.

If you are an ESPN Insider, or want to join for the extra features you also get push notifications when players are benched or are send to the DL. It also has exclusive video and news from the ESPN team. For those looking towards next year it is good to remember that it also has Spring Training notes so get the app early. A user must have an ESPN Fantasy Baseball team.

Fox Sports is not about to be left out in the cold on this and has a new version of Fox Fantasy Baseball. It allows you to join an established Fox league or form a private one with customizable rules and offers a variety of scoring systems including rotisserie and head-to-head.

The app allows a great deal of league customization with leagues ranging from four to 20 teams and a variety of draft, trading, and score keeping options available.

CBSSports.Com has its Fantasy Baseball app that has three different main settings. For the casual fan or those new to a fantasy league there is a setting for you, and you can organize a league or enter into an established one.

At the second level, called Premium Games, a player can win up to $3,500. This has four levels of participation, in part determined by the fan’s experience and the entry fee that they wish to pay, with fee’s for a first team ranging from $29.99 for the $150 prize to $499.99 for the $3,500 prize. Cash prizes awarded to the winner of each ten team league.

For the experienced that want a customized experience there is the Commissioner- where you can set customized rules for the league, rosters draft format and a variety of other features. CBSSports offers a range of apps that will work with the league.

We have already covered Bloomberg Sports Front Office 2012 here so all I will say is that it is a very full featured app that covers a wide range of areas that fans would want or need information about players or teams.

For those that are late or waiting until the first week of the season to hold their draft there is GlassWareMobile’s Fantasy Baseball Draft Wizard for Android. While not specifically for stat heads it helps to understand simple terms such as VORP. It provides three years of stats for players and gives dynamic adjustments to players’ value in real time.

Roto Sports RotoWire Fantasy Draft Kit 2012 is another place to go for the draft information that you need. You enter your league parameters and it will generate a draft either based on player rankings or dollar vaue. It contains 2012 projectsions for over 1,000 players and continuously updates them

Interested in tracking minor league players in case you are in a league that allows September call-ups to count? Try MiLB.Com Triple-A 2012. No video on the $4.99 app but it has pitch by pitch tracking for the International and Pacific Coast League teams as well as standings schedules and other information.

For those that do not bother tracking minor league players you do not know what you are missing. I love how some guy in a windswept PCL team will come to the majors with gaudy numbers that just do not translate well the MLB parks and pitching. This is a way to stay ahead, especially if your league requires a rookie each year.

There is just about something for everybody here, aside from operating system limitations. Most but not all are free, a positive price in my mind, and deliver and increasing array of information to fans. I would be interested to hear any pros or cons on these apps from any users out there.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, Baseball, Bloomberg Sports, CBS Sports, ESPN, Fantasy Baseball, Fox Sports, Google, iPhone, Live Sports Video Consumption, Major League Baseball, RotoWire, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: ,

Sometimes it’s what’s Outside the Ball Yard that Counts!

April 2, 2012 by

A friend directed my attention to a web site called Series Eats and its topic of the day is one that is near and dear to my heart: where are the best places to get hot dogs near major league ballparks? If you have ever struck out when buying a dog while walking up to the park you will know why it is important.

I had a terrible one outside of Safeco Field a few years ago and a very good one outside of Fenway (was that really 11 years ago?) in Boston. Then in the Bay Area nether the A’s at the Oakland Coliseum nor the Giants at AT&T Park seem to have had much of anything going on in terms of food being hawked outside the gates, for very different reasons.

There are a number of other parks that I have enjoyed a dog outside of, including Wrigley while it was snowing once. It is a great thing to sit or walk around and watch the festivities, particularly early in the season when optimism abounds and before you realize that your star outfielder is 40 pounds overweight and has lost two steps and birds land on his bat mid-swing.

So take a walk through the slideshow and maybe next time you head out to the ball yard you will have a new place to nosh pregame. I cannot tell if the Colombian dog available near the Marlins new stadium makes my heart twitter or prepare to explode. Not recommended for the squeamish or the vegetarian.

Filed Under: Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Humor, Major League Baseball, San Francisco Giants Tagged With:
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