Links for May 8

Quick: Who is the best pitcher in baseball? For years now -- a generation even -- the answer was obvious and immediate: Clayton Kershaw. Well, for the first time in a long time, that's not the answer.

The Athletic: Starting a series where we are trying to get some parameters for the Greatest of All Time discussions in each sport. The idea is to get our nominees. We start with the NBA.

Also a personal note:

I have this idea, and I could use your advice because I can't quite tell if it will work. I very much want to rebuild this blog, get it going again the way it was before my life got so crazy busy. I love writing for this audience, always have. This has always been a fun little corner of the Internet and a nice escape from the rest.

But, now I only have time to post infrequently ... and realistically, my life shows no sign of getting less crazy busy. I think I have figured out a way to get it rolling again ... but that way will require hiring some help. Which requires, yeah, money.

As you know, this blog has never been about money. It has always been about trying to build a community. No advertising. No clickbait. None of that stuff. Sure, I might have asked you to buy a book or two, and maybe you did, maybe you didn't (did I mention I have a Houdini book coming out next spring ...)

So the question at hand is: Do I create a Patreon for this blog to try to get it going again? The idea of Patreon as I understand it -- and I readily admit I don't fully understand it -- is that people are asked to chip in a little money per month to get stories or art or video or whatever plus various other PBS tote-bag like perks. It seems to me the idea is more about chipping in to keep the project going than it is about a straight subscription thing. At least that's how I understand it.

I'm still trying to work out the details. I guess what I'm asking is if you would be willing to come along and pay some money for regular stuff on this blog. Baseball 100. Crazy rabbit hole dives. Springsteen worship. Infomercials. All that stuff. It's perfectly fine if you're not, I get it. My kids wouldn't pay to read this blog, and half of it is ABOUT them.

But would love to hear from you in the comments as I try to figure this out.