March 24, 2019: Fields, Pride, and Ichiro



An update today to a very old (2006) graphic of the

An update today to a very old (2006) graphic of the fields of Major League Baseball . And a graphic looking at when and where Pride events will be happening in MLB this season. Plus a drawing of five Ichiros

October 31, 2016: Back



It's been nine months. Over that time I've done a bunch of stuff without the self-applied pressure of keeping this site up to date. It was good for me to have a break. But, time to do more. First things first, though, is to tell you about all the stuff I've done while the site was away. There's three things in the



There's also some tentative steps back into the world of information-based creativity. There's an incredibly rough thing about the



Another development over the past months is that I'm now selling stuff on



Anyway, it's good to be back. Once the World Series is over, the Cubs and Cleveland tree rings will be added.

It's been nine months. Over that time I've done a bunch of stuff without the self-applied pressure of keeping this site up to date. It was good for me to have a break. But, time to do more. First things first, though, is to tell you about all the stuff I've done while the site was away. There's three things in the Other sports section, four things in the Milscellany section, and 17 new drawings There's also some tentative steps back into the world of information-based creativity. There's an incredibly rough thing about the Cubs logo , some data art about the 2015 World Series , and a pretty big project that I'm calling Tree Rings , about every team's history. There are two teams missing from this project right now, due to the fact that they're in the World Series.Another development over the past months is that I'm now selling stuff on Society6 . There's a lot of baseball-themed stuff there, as well as stuff from my main arty life.Anyway, it's good to be back. Once the World Series is over, the Cubs and Cleveland tree rings will be added.

January 17, 2016: Site update



If you visit this site or follow me on any of the social media blah blahs, you'll maybe have noticed there's a lot less baseball-related stuff than there used to be.



Ten years ago I got into baseball (Twins vs. Yankees, Yankee Stadium, New York, 27 July 2005, to be precise). I've thought a lot about the ten years that baseball has existed for me. It took about four years for it to really take over, though. When I split off the sport-y stuff from my main site Flip Flop Flyin' into its own site, this site, it was purely to allow the FFF followers to look at my drawings without having to wade through baseball-related stuff. But, there was an unexpectedly large amount of interest in FFFB, and pretty soon I found myself with a contract to do a book about baseball.



And that was it for a few years. Looking at the archive on Flip Flop Flyin', I still did non-baseball stuff, but I did a lot more baseball-related stuff on Flip Flop Fly Ball. That began to swing back last year. I kinda felt that I had less and less to say about baseball. I still enjoyed it, still went to Diablos Rojos games, but on the whole, I was enjoying just enjoying it; it not being part of my "career." And personally, that has been a rewarding change. I've enjoyed doing and concentrating more on art than baseball. Baseball is a hobby. And I very much like having that as a hobby. So much of the Flip Flop Fly Ball stuff was about learning and trying to understand a sport and culture that were alien to me. By the time the book came out I began to feel like I was a part of the baseball world; certainly the baseball corner of the Internet. I had carved out the niche-y-est of niches on Baseball Internet: The English Guy Who Watches Mexican Baseball.



Something else that probably can't be ignored is the timing of things. At a point when my personal life was an absolute shambles, I had baseball and I had infographics to distract me. It was very very helpful to think about statistics and facts, organising information into neat infographics at a time when my mental state was the exact opposite: unorganised and emotional. If I read a book about the 1970s Cincinnati Reds then I don't have to think about my failing personal life. If I investigate the history of early 20th century players, I can distract myself from the fact that I am miserable every day.



But, there's only so long you can fool yourself. Several cities and loads of apartments later and I'm still not mentally splendid, but it's time to stop distracting myself. Which is one of the reasons why I'm not gonna be doing much baseball stuff on Flip Flop Fly Ball for the foreseeable future. I'm not killing it off, as much as that is tempting, but I am also not gonna feel guilty anymore about not updating it more regularly. If I want to do something, I will, and if I don't I won't. That may mean there's nothing for a few months or for a year. It's also possible that this simple act of writing about it might free up my mind enough to not feel any pressure to keep going with the site, and stuff might come flooding out. I don't know. But right now, Flip Flop Fly Ball is on an indefinite hiatus.



I will be back at some point, just not sure when. Thanks.



October 2, 2015: JRD



An update to my Jarrods infographic:

An update to my Jarrods infographic: Know your Jarrods . (Thanks, Ben!)

July 30, 2015: Derek Jeter





Back in September 2014, I did a series of charts on the career of the former Yankee captain for a special issue of Sports Illustrated. Due to the publication date, some of the charts were missing the last few games' worth of information. Here are those charts updated. Back in September 2014, I did a series of charts on the career of the former Yankee captain for a special issue of Sports Illustrated. Due to the publication date, some of the charts were missing the last few games' worth of information. Here are those charts updated.