I received this very interesting newsletter/press release from Imagine Sports, the owners of Diamond Mind Baseball who purchased a stake in the company from Tom Tippett. I guess this is good for the Diamond Mind player, but MLBAM just gets bigger and bigger by the minute.

IMAGINE SPORTS® SCORES DEAL WITH MLB ADVANCED MEDIA
Leading Online Baseball Simulation Game Secures License to MLB Content and Promotion on MLB.com 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – September 6, 2007 – Imagine Sports® Inc., a leading online multiplayer sports gaming company, today announced a deal with MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, to bring officially-licensed content to its award-winning, online baseball simulation game, Diamond Mind Online®. The agreement grants Imagine Sports the rights to include Major League Baseball league and team logos, data, player names, and images in its innovative online baseball game, making Diamond Mind Online the most authentic baseball multi-player simulation game available. As part of the deal, MLBAM will also promote Diamond Mind Online® on the homepage of MLB.com’s popular fantasy section.
 
“Our mission has always been to bring our customers the most authentic, realistic, and fun baseball experience possible,” said Dayne Myers, founder and CEO of Imagine Sports. “With this relationship with MLBAM, we’re adding even more realism and features to the game for our growing fan base of baseball and online gaming enthusiasts.”
 
“Imagine Sports shares our passion and deep understanding of the game of baseball,” said Kenny Gersh, SVP of Business Development of MLB Advanced Media. “Baseball simulation game-players demand statistical accuracy, and Imagine Sports’ unparalleled technology and commitment to authenticity made it a natural fit for expanding our brand into the online multi-player simulation market.”
 
The deal adds significantly to the large list of features in Diamond Mind Online®, which allows game-players to compete like a real baseball general manager, including drafting players, setting lineups and making trades. With this relationship with MLBAM, game-players will be able to utilize all of these features with over 3,500 current and historical MLB players. Utilizing a game engine developed and refined over the course of 20 years by renowned baseball statistics expert Tom Tippett, today Diamond Mind Online® is widely regarded as the most sophisticated and accurate baseball simulation game available.
 
In celebration of the partnership, Imagine Sports will be offering all fans free trials of Diamond Mind Online® on their website at: www.imaginesports.com. In the free trial, fans will be able to choose from 24 historical teams like the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, as well as current teams from baseball’s modern era.
 
About Imagine Sports
Based in California’s Silicon Valley, Imagine Sports is a leading developer of multiplayer online sports simulation games. Diamond Mind Online was developed using the Diamond Mind game engine – which has been refined over the last 20 years. The Diamond Mind engine is now widely regarded as the most sophisticated and realistic baseball simulation software. For more information about Imagine Sports, please visit: www.imaginesports.com.
 
About MLBAM
Established in June 2000 following a unanimous vote by the 30 Major League Baseball club owners to centralize all of Baseball's Internet operations, MLB Advanced Media LP (MLBAM) is the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. MLBAM manages the official league site, www.MLB.com, and each of the 30 individual Club sites to create the most comprehensive Major League Baseball resource on the Internet. MLB.com offers fans the most complete baseball information on the web, including up-to-date statistics, game summaries, extensive historical information, and exclusive features about Major League Baseball events and programs, including on-line ticket sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live and archived radio broadcasts of every game, live and archived video webcasts of entire games, pitch-by-pitch enactment of games, and hosted post-game video highlight shows. MLB.com offers more live events on the Internet than any other website in the world.

If you missed our interview with Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore this morning, do yourself a favor and check it out! It’s really good stuff. Head on over to Blog Talk Radio and listen online or download the podcast…I hope all you guys out there realize now that there’s no such thing as a jinx…especially in Boston!!! Lighten up you guys J…I was surfing around the web yesterday and checking out a few player sites when I came across the Yankees’ Phil Hughes and Detroit’s Cameron Maybin. On Hughes’ site, there’s a link to our top 100 prospects from last year in which Phil came in at #2. And on Cameron’s site, not only is our article mentioned in his news section (“The Next Great Detroit Centerfielder?”), we’re also listed as one of his “Related Sites” along with Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, Yahoo, and Wikipedia! Great stuff!

Many people have asked why we are downsizing BDD so I figured I’d address the topic briefly. There are 3 main reasons…1) Lack of time, 2) Cost, and 3) Not enough regular article contributions. I realize the newsletter is a great resource for many people, but it takes an enormous amount of time that I just don’t have anymore. The player tracker is very popular, but the cost of our stats feed (and programming) is approximately $2,500 per season. I just can’t pay that bill anymore. If someone wants to sponsor our site or generate a fund raiser to bring in the necessary dollars, I’ll be happy to continue the player tracker. And finally, while we’ve had a number of top notch article contributions, we have not had enough regular stand-alone contributions that don’t require editing. And again, either time or money comes into play when we talk about editing articles. So there you have it.

Thanks and have a great holiday weekend everyone!

I'd like to take a moment to introduce the newest member of BDD, Ed Lilly!

Ed Lilly lives in Medford, New Jersey where he and his wife Jane own an Insurance Agency.  They have two daughters, ages 18 and 11. He is a lifelong fan (more than 40 years) of the Philadelphia Phillies so therefore he is used to heartache and disappointment.  He is a big fan of minor league baseball with affiliates of the Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and two independent teams within an hour of his home.

Ed enjoys the sabermetric side of the game and looks to the numbers for answers. He promises to write with a sense of humor and look for the lighter side of the game while hopefully providing insights from a fans perspective.

Welcome Ed!

I'll be on the the radio again this weekend for those of you who would like to listen in. At about 10:30 AM Eastern time on Saturday, I'll be appearing on 1570 The Zone, Louisville's local sports talk radio station. You can listen live to the broadcast via the the Internet by visiting the Zone's web site at www.1570thezone.com.

The Readers Have Spoken!

Beginning July 1st, we will revive the daily newsletter information...but this time, it will be available only on the site. Additional information on where to find the daily report will follow next week.

Recaps, scores, probable pitchers, the previous night's home runs, and Who's Hot and Who's Not will make an attempt to come out of retirement for those of you begging for the information! The only twist is that you'll have to visit BDD to get your fix.

College World Series Game One Recap

Under normal circumstances, I would have posted this article during the course of the game with additional analysis and commentary. Unfortunately, NCAA regulations do not permit simultaneous reporting. Therefore, I present this inning-by-inning recap as my post-game analysis of game one of the College World Series Finals...Charting the Game: CWS Finals Game 1

Coming Soon

For those of you that aren't interested in the College World Series, we'll return our focus to professional baseball on Tuesday.

Look for Nate's articles on the American League rookies. Steve will continue with his MLB weekend previews. And Dean shifts his attention from college baseball to the minor leagues.

We also have a few interviews in the works. Look for the transcript from my interview with New York Yankees prospect, Brett Smith, later today.

Call for Writers

We're once again looking for enthusiastic, polished writers who are able to contribute at least one or two articles per week to BDD. Applicants must have a strong command of the English language and be able to edit his or her own work. These are non-paying positions, but they do offer some perks...various media credentials, interviews with professional baseball players, media guides, insider reports, etc...to name a few. Several members of BDD have gained valuable experience on their way to much bigger jobs within the business of baseball.

If you think you have what it takes, please email me at info@baseballdigestdaily.com and provide your name, email address, phone number, a brief description of why you want to write for BDD, and more importantly, reasons why we should hire you. Previous applicants are welcome to apply again.