Hi. Welcome to my website;
it's called DOUBLESWITCH.COM, named after everyone's favourite late-inning managerial move. The site went online in March 2000; it used to be called BASEBALL 2000, but that year has come and gone, so it was time to move on.
The site is all about baseball, and the content covers the years 1901-2003. All of the writing is mine; I've been studying
baseball and its history for most of my life, and I decided that if
I was going to venture onto the internet, baseball would be a fun topic to
cover.
The site has two main
sections, a History section and a Preview section for the current season. The History section
covers the years 1901-2003, starting with the inception of the American League. The Preview section is a preview of the upcoming season, which may already have started by the time you read this (you can also read all the previews I wrote for the previous seasons).
For the History section,
I have used the major awards (MVP and CY YOUNG) as the context for a year-by-year
chronicle of baseball history, covering all of the great (and some not-so-great)
players, the great teams and the great moments, and just the evolution of
the game in general. For each season I have written a short article, and have included some statistics, and have chosen an MVP winner and a Cy Young winner for each league.
(2005 update: the pages are still there, but have been renamed. From now on, I am picking Stargell and Mathewson Awards. Hooray for originality!)
My choices don't always
agree with the results of the actual awards, which are voted on by the BBWAA;
quite often, I choose another player or pitcher who I think was more deserving,
and I try to defend each choice. These selections are my own opinion, and
are not to be confused with the God's Truth. The total number of historical
articles is 103*4=412; if you are a baseball fan, or are thinking of becoming
one, I hope these articles are both entertaining and informative.
The first year that the site was online, I also wrote about 900 player comments for the upcoming season. I grew up reading the old Bill James books and various preseason magazines, and missed them, so I thought I would try my hand at doing my own. I did the same thing in 2001, which was a big mistake because I was working full time and didn't have time to finish them. Since I started this site, many others are flourished and can provide more information about today's players than I can, so I have cut back, and spent more time improving and rewriting the historical pages.
This is a highly personal
site. It's partly about writing and editing a large volume of articles on a subject I
know something about, and having people read it. More importantly, it's
about visitors enjoying what they read, and learning something at the same time.
This is also the first web site I have designed, and I have done it in
my spare time. I have tried to make it as engaging and easy to use as
possible.
If you have any
comments about the content or the design of the site, feel free to
write. Most of the pages have an e-mail button on them, so you can send
a message about the site or about baseball history or the new season
or anything. If I have time I will attempt to respond, and perhaps post
some comments as well.
At this point, you can return
to the main menu and enter one of the main sections, or you can read additional
pages of the Introduction. I hope you will stay awhile, and enjoy what is inside.
-Brett Smith