General commentary
Living the Ultimate Fantasy
When fantasy baseball started, it was all about control. It was all about the prospect of making better decisions than Major League general managers. It was about being able to pull the on-field strings better than field managers. We were hell-bent on proving that we could assemble a winning ballclub better than the professionals. Fantasy…
Read MoreImportant Articles – Please Read
The following three articles are important updates on current DFS legislation. If you are about to click away because you don’t play DFS, stop. This directly affects season-long games. Fanduel and DraftKings have been pushing forward their own goals at the expense of the industry as a whole. That is why I have been advocating for…
Read MoreFantasy Curmudgeon
(FREE ARTICLE) Mort lives down the street from me. He is probably in his late 70s, is a huge Yankees fan, reformed gambler (as he describes himself) and has been playing fantasy for about 10 years. Whenever I run into him, he cracks me up; admittedly, I feed him. The following is a composite of…
Read MoreThe baseball season begins now. Again.
To all my friends: It’s been a transitional year for me. Back in May, I parted ways with BaseballHQ.com after having founded the site 19 years ago. In June, I decided to pull up stakes at ShandlerPark.com after finding the short-run gaming space too volatile. (And not a day too soon, apparently.) So, folks have…
Read More2016 Baseball Forecaster Excerpt
I joke with others that my biggest fear is that my tombstone epitaph will read, “Fantasy Baseball Expert.” If that is how my life’s work will be encapsulated, then I must have done something wrong. But the fact remains: the Baseball Forecaster celebrates its 30th Anniversary edition with its release this week. And as I…
Read MoreMy fandom has been contaminated
Once upon a time, I was a New York Mets fan. I never had to think too hard. I just root, root, rooted for the home team, and immersed myself in the social aspect of fandom. That meant beer, dogs and yelling a lot. This morning I woke up feeling sick. Yes, my Mets lost…
Read MoreThe Trolls
By Ron Shandler Back in 1987, when I first started writing regularly about baseball, I received a disturbing letter from a guy named Ward Something-or-Other. He did not like an article I wrote for my Baseball Forecaster newsletter, and pointed out several errors in my assumptions and analysis. This occurred during those ancient, pre-internet days, and this…
Read MoreSeymour’s Luncheonette
Seymour’s Luncheonette was located on the corner of 164 Street and 69 Avenue in Flushing. It was next door to the Cracker Barrel market and across the street from a strip of stores that included the Royal Deli, Africk Drugs and Homer’s Toys. There were lots of places to hang out for us kids who…
Read More