We are live, up, and running!
If it’s your first time here (and given this is the launch post, it easily could be), please read our “mission statement” rundown on the First Time Here? page. It lays out in a lot of detail (a lot) what we’re trying to do here.
A bit of history: The idea that eventually became this site arose from my frustration with Hall of Fame voters who kept overlooking Tigers great, Alan Trammell. I was originally going to do a small site laying out the statistical case for Trammell and name it something like “Tram4Hall.com” (similar to how Rich Lederer worked to get Bert Blyleven into the Hall).
However, as I started thinking about it I realized how much I loved discussing all aspects of the game of baseball – especially introducing advanced stats to folks who weren’t yet familiar with them. I was also really frustrated by the number of people I saw dismissing or bad-mouthing advanced stats (especially WAR) when they didn’t understand how they worked.
I finally decided to kill two birds with one stone and create a site designed around presenting advanced analytics in a more accessible manner. I’m definitely not the only person doing so (there are a number of great writers out there), but I think we’ve got something unique to provide to readers and I hope you agree.
The arguments I was planning to make regarding Trammell’s Hall of Fame case ended up forming the basis of the site’s first two full articles. They’re available here: Underrated: Alan Trammell and Re-write the Past: 1987 American League MVP.
Welcome to A Very Simple Game, hope you enjoy your stay.