Paul Proia is a lifelong Cubs fan and baseball nut who has at various times broadcast baseball games for the University of Kansas, studied baseball history, wrote a biography of Hall of Famer Rube Waddell, and likes to tinker with baseball statistics. For some things, he’s trusted the work of Bill James and Pete Palmer. For others, he’s invented his own routines – like figuring out the best way to determine a player’s defensive contribution in terms of range and runs prevented. If you want to know how, you’ll have to ask.
Mighty Casey Baseball
Baseball Research and Other Random Musings
Mighty Casey Baseball 
So, is this still in the hobby stages, or are you getting some compensation from sponsors? This is good stuff.
Thanks for your kind words… Just getting started – so still hobby for now… Would I like to turn this into something bigger, sure. Who wouldn’t? I’ll try to keep it current. If you like what is here, share the link with your friends!
Paul
Nice site! You sure put in a lot of work here and people do seem to enjoy your anecdotes and baseball insights. Since baseball is your passion and you spend a lot of time on the computer keeping this site up to date, you should get paid. You may have already started looking into this. However, if you haven’t, I know the owner of a website, dumblittleman.com. He has sponsors for his site and I’m sure if you contact him he would be happy to give you tips on getting sponsorship. Congratulations on all of your successes! Say “HI” to the P’s.
Nice site. No wonder you’re up till midnight every night!
Paul:
Love the website and I just added to “My Favorites”. I look forward to checking in often.
Let’s play ball!
Thanks for the visit!
Paul,
Great site! The Red Sox are turning me into a baseball nut. What are a couple of the best books on the early days of the game?
Just bought your book; can’t wait to read it!
All best,
John
Thanks for writing! (And buying!)
I’ll get the book out by the end of the week – I usually ship media mail, so it’s five days to deliver.
If you are looking for a nice “slice of life” read, I’d go with “Glory of Their Times”. All first person rememberances of the early days. There are plenty of pretty good baseball history books. The most complete is probably The Bill James Historical Abstract – which is probably in paperback now. You have to deal with some of his statistical modeling, but the history section (first third or so) is really, really good.
After that, it’s really subject to your taste.
Let me know what you think of the book. I haven’t gotten any reviews on Amazon.com, for example, and I’d like to get some feedback!
Thanks again, John – and drop me a note any time.
Paul
Very nice site !!!
What do the Cubs have to do for ’10 ???
Take care !
How much time do you got?
1) Infield… Need a full season from Aramis Ramirez, which doesn’t look like it will ever happen again. Would be nice to get a defensive upgrade, too.
2) Outfield… Do the Cubs have any real bangers in the outfield? Sam Fuld? Soriano, Fukudome and Bradley were disappointing (to say the least), but compare the offensive production in the outfield with the rest of the NL and they look very weak. And that was a lot of money spent on lousy production.
3) Catching… Soto can come back. He could use a fresh start next year – and start the season healthy rather than playing in the World Baseball Classic.
4) Starting pitching. I’d resign Harden, but this is a strength for the Cubs. Need Zambrano to be a lean, mean, pitching machine. So – hire him a personal trainer and chef.
5) Bullpen. Not horrible. Sure – every guy they tried as stopper made you wince the way Mitch Williams used to, but bringing back Kerry Wood won’t matter. The Cubs need more leads, and that means more offense.
Long and short, the Cubs win when they lead the NL in runs scored. So, finding offense in the outfield and a healthy Geovany Soto would go a long way to fixing that.
Paul,
What a great article on Ben Tincup! For years, I have heard numerous stories and read many articles on this family icon but none and in depth as this, all in one place. I loved hearing my Grandpa talk about his uncle Ben. Thank you for the great read!
Kellie Tincup
Apparently I cannot edit my typo in my last post.
Kellie – thank you so much for reading and visiting, and especially for your kind words. Would love to expand what I have written with more about his family and his non-baseball life. If anyone is willing to talk about those things, I’d love to hear it and incorporate it in an updated post.
I think Ben Tincup and his life in baseball is one of the most interesting stories I have read about this game.
Sincerely,
Paul Proia (my name at hotmail dot com is my email address).
Paul
My name is Kent Mahon and I played on those Jayhawk teams from ’89-’94. Always good to see mentions of those days when KU Baseball was on the map. I liked your piece on Curtis Schmidt. He was a good friend. Thanks for keeping the memories alive.
Kent Mahon
Kent – I remember you being on those teams. I took classes with a few of the guys. Jimmy Walker and I went through the honors program together. 25 years later, and I’m still a Diamond Club member, though I missed a few years in there…
Thanks for reaching out – hope all is well!
Paul,
Thank you, for the in depth biography of Wellington “Wimpy” Quinn. Wellington is my grandfather and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about his life.
Alicia Yvonne Quinn (Hansen)
Alicia – thanks for writing! I look at a list of birthdays and if a name catches my attention (assuming I have time) I try to look up as much as I can about that player. You must be Jack’s daughter?
Paul,
Yes, I’m Jack’s daughter. I was attempting to find out what I could about my father and surprisingly I found out more about my grandfather, thanks to your article. It was a nice surprise! Thanks again,
Alicia Yvonne Quinn Hansen
Paul,
Long time, no talk to….Hope all is well with you….Are you up to any new research projects.
Hi from Sam & Barbra…..Hope all is well with you and yours