At noontime on Saturday a small crowd of baseball enthusiasts gathered in the theatre of the SkyDome for a book talk by Alan Schwarz. The crowd was diverse, ranging from SABR members to a man with his two young children to a Blue Jays employee who is also attending the 34th Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) convention. Schwarz’s book talk was sponsored by the Learning Annex and centered on his acclaimed book The Numbers Game. Schwarz also writes a weekly column for www.espn.com, a biweekly article for The New York Times and is a senior writer for Baseball America. The Numbers Game was his first book and received much acclaim, as it was named the best baseball book in 2004 and nominated for the 2004 Dave Moore Award, handed out by SABR to the “most important book on baseball” published in that year. It has recently been released in paperback.

Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie's joint
And the highway she's deserted down to Breaker's Point
There's a lot of people leaving town now
Leaving their friends, their homes
At night they walk that dark and dusty highway all alone

Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the idiot nation
Everything isn't meant to be OK

Floating in the river with a saturated liver
And I wish I could forgive her but I do believe she meant it
When she told me to forget it
But I bet she will regret it
When they find me in the morning wet and drowned

I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
Which you can't reveal to the ears of youth
Except to say it isn't worth a damn

Welcome to yet another month-end report card for the Blue Jays, in which I presume to grade players from A+ to F. All grades are strictly non-scientific.

Now its a mighty long way down the dusty trail
And the sun burns hot on the cold steel rails
And I look like a bum and I crawl like a snail

We come from the land of the ice and snow
The midnight sun, where the hot springs flow
Hammer of the gods

I was messing around on ESPN, when I saw a link to a page I had never visited:

Lifers: This lists the rare players in MLB who have been with only one team throughout their careers with at least 10 years in the pros.

It's a nice four-game set against the division leaders for fans to sink their teeth into. Tuesday features Pete Walker's debut in the rotation after a stellar year so far in the pen. Wednesday sees Chacin face Daniel Cabrera and Doc hopes to end the series with a bang on Thursday.

Milwaukee heads into town, just like in the goold old days before they switched leagues.

Following a miserable roadtrip the job doesn't get any easier with the St. Louis Cardinals making their first ever appearance at the Dome. The boys in blue are going to need our support and there should be some great games to watch.

Noted Baseball Author/Journalist to Highlight
Inaugural Box Live Chat Group Interview

As announced here last week, noted baseball statistician/author/historian Alan Schwarz will be appearing in Toronto shortly to talk about his new book, The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination with Statistics. Also appearing on the bill with Schwarz will be a journeyman outfielder named Vernon something-or-other.

And as speculated during that announcement, Schwarz will be featured in the first-ever Batter's Box Live Chat group interview, this Thursday at 7:30 PM Eastern time; there is no game Thursday, so we will use the regular IRC channel and process, though it is likely that this chat will be moderated in some way; additional instructions, if necessary, will be posted to the site closer to the time of the actual chat.

To prepare for the group interview, let's use this thread to brainstorm topics and specific questions ... here are some starter points:

The Blue Jays visit Chicago and Houston this week. When they do, they will be playing by National League rules. And you know what that means.

Are you as excited about seeing Gustavo Chacin swing the bat as I am?

Here, as usual, is my monthly report card for the Blue Jays.