A.L. Atlantic

	Boston Red Sox
Bill James	Author	www.billjamesonline.net
	New York Yankees
Matt Dahlgren	Author	www.rumorintown.com
Matt Dahlgren grew up in Irvine, California, a short 45-minute drive from his grandfather, Babe Dahlgren. With Big League dreams himself, Matt played high school and college baseball as a catcher and eventually signed with the West Virginia Coal Sox of the Frontier League in 1993. But after only 1 month, the Coal Sox went bankrupt and Matt returned to Southern California where he continued his love for the game by coaching young high school and college players for several years before entering the business world of sales and marketing. In 2003, Matt proposed to his girlfriend Jenny kneeling at first base in Yankee Stadium. They were married in 2004 and currently reside in Irvine with their beautiful little girls Abigail and Emmalyn.
	PHI-KC-OAK Athletics
Jonathan Mayo	Columnist/Author	www.jonathanmayo.net
Joe Cronin	Multimedia Producer	www.legendsport.com
Jonathan Mayo is a writer for MLB.com, where he covers the Minor Leagues and the Draft. He’s been with MLB.com since April 1999 and has covered numerous All-Star Games, World Series and international events. His first book, “Facing Clemens” was released in March 2008 and can be ordered through his website at www.jonathanmayo.net. Joe Cronin was a multimedia producer for MLB.com, focusing on the Minor Leagues. He worked with MLB.com for nine years, and prior to that, Joe worked for NBA Entertainment for seven years. He now has his own web site, www.legendsport.com. And no, he’s not related to THAT Joe Cronin.
	WAS-MIN Twins
Ross Bernstein	Author/Speaker	www.bernsteinbooks.com/
Born and raised in Fairmont, Minn., best-selling sports author Ross Bernstein grew up loving sports and went on to attend the University of Minnesota. It was there where he first got into writing through some rather unique circumstances. You see, after a failed attempt to make it as a walk-on to the University’s middle-ranked Golden Gopher hockey team, Ross opted for the next best thing — to become the team’s mascot, “Goldy the Gopher.” His humorous accounts as a mischievous rodent then inspired the 1992 regional best-seller: “Gopher Hockey by the Hockey Gopher.” The rest, they say... is history! After spending the next five years in Chicago and New York working as vice president of marketing for a start-up children’s entertainment company, Ross decided to take a leap of faith and come home to pursue his dream of becoming a full-time sports author. Since then, he has written nearly 40 books and is truly having a ball. From critically acclaimed national biographies, to regional coffee-table history books, to inspirational children’s memoirs — Ross has appeared on more than a thousand local and national television and radio programs over his career, including CNN and ESPN, among others, and was even recently featured on the covers of the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. As a sought after motivational speaker, Ross speaks to corporations and groups around the country about the inspirational legacy of the late hall of fame hockey coach Herb Brooks. To honor his friend and mentor, Ross speaks about the influence Brooks had on the world of sports, his unorthodox leadership style, and about the impact of the now legendary “Miracle on Ice,” which will forever live on as one of the greatest moments in the history of sports. Putting many of the life-lessons and ideologies he learned from the fiery coach into a practical business application, his presentation aims to inspire others to follow their dreams and maybe, just maybe, even create their own miracles. Ross and his wife have a five year-old daughter and presently reside in Eagan, Minn.

A.L. Midwest

	Chicago White Sox Sox
Mike Vaccaro	Author/Columnist	www.nypost.com
	Cleveland Indians
Joe Posnanski	Author/Columnist	www.joeposnanski.com
Joe Posnanski has been sports columnist at The Kansas City Star since 1996. He has twice been named the best sports columnist in America by The Associated Press Sports Editors. Joe started his blog to promote his book “The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America,” winner of the prestigious 2007 Casey Award as baseball book of the year. Soul was also named one of the ten best sports books of 2007 by Booklist, was called engaging and spirit-lifting by Sports Illustrated and was given a B+ by Entertainment Weekly, which was considerably better than Joe did in most of his English classes. Joe has written essays for several books, including ESPN’s best-selling College Football Encyclopedia and an upcoming book on football and philosophy called, uniquely, “Football and Philosophy.” His work has been anthologized in “The Best American Sportswriting.” Joe is currently at work on a book about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds tentatively called “The Machine.” Well, no, he’s CURRENTLY at work writing some stupid blog post about the old game show Passworld Plus or Pam Dawber or he’s creating some stupid baseball statistic. But he SHOULD be working on the book. Joe was a sports columnist at The Cincinnati Post and The Augusta Chronicle, and he began his career at The Charlotte Observer. Joe grew up in Cleveland, where he idolized Duane Kuiper, and he now lives in Kansas City with his wife, Margo, and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Katie.
	Detroit Tigers
Rod Nelson	Editor	www.emeraldsportsguides.com
Rod Nelson, former Research Services Manager for the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), is currently a Project Manager for the Tiger Stadium Conservancy, Inc. in Detroit, Michigan. www.savetigerstadium.org
	STL-BAL Orioles
Roy Firestone	Author/Entertainer	www.royfirestone.com
Critically acclaimed for his work in broadcast journalism, Firestone has won seven Emmy® Awards and seven Cable ACE Awards, he has interviewed more than 5,000 people, including nearly every major sports figure. The late Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Jim Murray called Firestone, "the best interviewer I've ever seen. That's not the best interviewer in sports, that's the best interviewer period." Firestone performs his multi-media review before audiences in Las Vegas, at major sporting events, meetings, formal events and conventions throughout the world. The accomplished singer, impressionist, and humorist has shared the bill with notables such as Frank Sinatra, Michael McDonald, country superstar Wynonna, Gladys Knight, the Four middles, and Frankie Valli. Appearances include Late Night with David Letterman, Later with Bob Costas, Nightline, and Larry King Live. In his home town of Miami Beach, Florida, Firestone began his career as a sports reporter and anchor before moving to Los Angeles as a sports anchor for KCBS-TV (1977-85). He was host of ESPN's SportsLook (1980-90) and Up Close Prime Time, as well as AOL's Time Out With Roy Firestone. He currently hosts Mark Cuban's HDNet Face To Face With Roy Firestone. Roy currently lives in Los Angeles.

N.L. Originals

	BOS-MIL-ATL Braves
J.C. Bradbury	Economist/Author	www.sabernomics.com
J.C. Bradbury is an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State University in metropolitan Atlanta. He is the author of The Baseball Economist and has operated Sabernomics.com since March 2004.
	Chicago Cubs
David Laurila	Author	www.baseballprospectus.com
David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He authors the weekly Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus and has been a frequent contributor to Baseball America, Red Sox Magazine, Boston Baseball and DieHard. The revised paperback edition of his first book, Interviews from Red Sox Nation, was published by Maple Street Press in March 2008.
	NY-SF Giants
John Buccigross	ESPN Anchor	www.espn.com
ESPN Sportcenter Anchor, Baseball Tonight occasional host, ESPN.Com columnist since 2001. Author of JONESY-The Improbable NHL career of Keith Jones. Hobby- Baseball park tours with my two sons. Once got a hole in one on a par 3. Once got a hole in one on a par 4. Once got a foul ball hit at a baseball game in 1983 at Three Rivers Stadium. It was hit by Marvell Wynne. The player, the park and the ball are now all retired. I gave the ball to Cheryl Wilson who was sitting next to me and she wasn't even my girlfriend nor became my girlfriend because of the gift from Haiti. Her dad was a mailman. Willie Stargell was my boyhood hero because I was skinny and couldn't hit home runs and he was not skinny and did hit home runs. And he acted like a man. My oldest son, Bret, got a BP home run hit by Eric Chavez in the summer of 2006 in Chicago. He gave it to his younger brother, Jack, because it was Jack's birthday. I wept.
	Philadelphia Phillies
James Dutton
Larry Fleisher	Datacaster	www.mlb.com www.pa-sportsticker.com
James Dutton lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where he works as an Office Administrator and IT guy for Jane Finch Community Legal Services, a Legal Aid Ontario community legal clinic. He's the former owner of Thunder Sport Cards & Collectables and is an avid baseball fan.

N.L. Association

	BRK-LA Dodgers
Ron Kaplan	Sports Editor	www.njjewishnews.com
Ron Kaplan is the sports and features editor for the New Jersey Jewish News where he writes “Kaplan’s Korner,” a blog about Jews and sports. His freelance work has appeared in such publications as Baseball America, mental floss, ForeWord Magazine, E, and New York Sportscene, among others. He also hosts a blog on baseball literature, film, collectibles, and similar media at Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf.
	Cincinnati Reds
Andy Andres	Data Analyst	www.baseballhq.com
Andy Andres teaches biology, physics, and natural science at Boston University as an Assistant Professor of Natural Science. He also teaches one of the first ever college courses in Sabermetrics (the objective analysis of baseball) offered at Tufts University. In addition, Andy teaches science and coaches baseball in the MIT Science of Baseball Program. A former Tutor in Biology at Harvard College, he taught a seminar in exercise physiology and ergogenic aids for athletic performance for 17 years there. As a Data Analyst for Ron Shandler’s BaseballHQ.com, he analyzes baseball statistics and writes research analyses for the site. A diehard Red Sox Fan, Andy lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife, Kate, and their three children, Maddie, Aubree, and Griffin. He also plays 3B/1B in various Tufts Softball Leagues, and has been schooled at Universities Brown, Harvard, and Tufts. Andy is currently working on a book on the physiology and biochemistry of baseball.
	Pittsburgh Pirates
Curt Schilling	Major League Pitcher	www.38pitches.com
Curt Schilling is a major league pitcher who began his professional career in the Red Sox organization in 1986 before he was traded to Baltimore in 1988. Schilling made his major league debut against the Red Sox on September 7, 1988 and has pitched for the Orioles, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Boston Red Sox during a career that has spanned 20 years to date. He currently owns a career record of 216-146 and an ERA of 3.46, and ranks 15th on the all-time strikeout list with 3,116. He helped lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series title in 2001 and was named co-MVP of the Series along with teammate Randy Johnson, and he was a main cog in the Red Sox's march to championships in 2004 and 2007, the former highlighted by the infamous "Bloody Sock" game, in which Schilling held the Yankees to one run on four hits over seven innings in Game 6 of the ALCS while pitching with sutures in his right ankle designed to keep his injured tendon in place. The Game 6 victory forced a Game 7, which the Red Sox won to complete a historic comeback from a three-games-to-none deficit. They then went on to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in four games to earn their first World Series title in 86 years. Off the field, Schilling and his wife Shonda have devoted themselves to the battle against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) for 15 years, establishing Curt's Pitch for ALS in 1993. He also has his own blog, 38pitches.com, and founded 38 Studios, a video game company, in 2006. The above was written by Mike Lynch
	St. Louis Cardinals
Dustin Mattison	Writer/Blogger	www.stlcardinals.scout.com
Dustin Mattison covers the St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league system for the Birdhouse, the online leader for exclusive, objective and independent coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals, providing the ultimate fan experience through community interaction with our team of experts, writers and reporters. A member of Scout.com an affiliate of Foxsports.com, the Birdhouse has been recognized as the leading content producer on the Scout.com MLB network. Dustin lives in Cape Girardeau, MO, with his wife, Christina, and their two children, Anna and Zachary.

Expansion One

	CAL-ANA-LA Angels
Chad Finn	Reporter/Blogger	www.boston.com
Chad Finn is a sports reporter and blogger at the Boston Globe and on www.boston.com, and is the founder of "Touching All The Bases". Before joining the Globe in 2003, he was the assistant sports editor at the Concord (N.H.) Monitor for nine years. He was twice named N.H. Sports Columnist of the Year, and won several state, regional and national writing awards, including an APSE award for column writing in 2000. He lives in Wells, Maine, with his wife Jennifer, children Leah and Alex, and a cat named after Otis Nixon.
	Houston Astros
Kevin Wheeler	Sports Talk Show Host	www.KMOX.com
Kevin Wheeler is a sports talk show host, baseball instructor and baseball writer based in St. Louis. His "real job" is at the legendary KMOX where he hosts the Ford Sports Open Line (6-8 PM CT Monday thru Friday - available at www.kmox.com). SOL is the longest running sports talk show in America and was hosted in years past by the likes of Jack Buck and Bob Costas. Kevin also works as a baseball instructor for All-Star Performance in Kirkwood, MO (www.all-starperformance.net) alongside former Major Leaguers Matt Whiteside, Scott Cooper and Scott Terry. He works primarily with hitters and catchers and also assists Cooper and Whiteside with their "Gamers" travel program (www.stlgamers.net) for players between the ages of 12-18. He played college ball for the Miami Hurricanes in the early 90's. Kevin was the Sporting News' minor league baseball analyst as well as a fantasy baseball contributor for the Sporting News Fantasy Source from 2001-2005. He also wrote Major League and minor league player reports for John Benson's Diamond Library publications from 1999-2007.
	New York Mets
Ted Berg	Senior Editorial Producer	www.sny.tv
Ted Berg works as the senior editorial producer for SNY.tv, where he writes the “Flushing Fussing” Mets column. He is a 2003 graduate of Georgetown University and received his Master’s in Arts and Culture from NYU. He loves Taco Bell, funk music and television.
	WAS-TEX Rangers
Jamey Newberg	Attorney/Author	www.newbergreport.com
By day, Jamey Newberg is a partner with the Dallas law firm of Vincent & Moyé, P.C., specializing in civil litigation, school law, insurance coverage and defense, and sports law. Outside of the practice of law, he is the author of the Newberg Report, the most thorough source of Rangers news and analysis outside the Rangers organization itself, focusing on the franchise on both the big league level and throughout its minor league system. Jamey’s reports, distributed several times a week, are available by e-mail, on the Newberg Report website at www.newbergreport.com, and as part of the MLBlogs community at http://newberg.mlblogs.com/. The Newberg Report began as a modest paragraph or two sent a few times a week to a half dozen of Jamey’s friends in 1998. Today the newsletter is sent directly to nearly 4,000 e-mail boxes, including those belonging to dozens of players in the Ranger system and their family members, front office personnel with the organization, and scores of local and national baseball media members. The Newberg Report is featured by the Rangers as part of their in-game Jumbotron presentation, game program, and official team website, as well as by Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket and ESPN 103.3 FM. It has also been featured in a number of national print and Internet publications, including Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA Today, the Dallas Observer, Texas Monthly, and books by renowned baseball writers Rob Neyer and John Sickels. Jamey has also published the Bound Edition of the Newberg Report before each of the last nine seasons.

Expansion Two

	Kansas City Royals
Sam Mellinger	Columnist	www.royalsblog.kansascity.com
Sam Mellinger is the national baseball writer for The Kansas City Star and feels like his baseball knowledge is utterly inadequate to be in this league. Thankfully, he's got the powerhouse Royals on his side, so some Eduardo Villacis here, Buddy Biancalana there, and a dash of Andrew Sisco should have him claiming first prize. His wife is Jessica (totally outkicked his coverage there) and his blog is called Ball Star (royalsblog.kansascity.com).
	MON-WAS Nationals
Jonah Keri	Author/Columnist	www.jonahkeri.com
Jonah Keri has written about baseball for ESPN.com, the New York Times, Baseball Prospectus, and numerous other publications. He's also the editor and co-author of the book "Baseball Between the Numbers".
	San Diego Padres
Geoff Young	Author/Blogger	www.ducksnorts.com
Geoff Young has been following baseball since the late-’70s, obsessing about it since the mid-’80s, and writing about it since the mid-’90s. In addition to his work here at Ducksnorts, he is a regular contributor to Hardball Times and Baseball Digest Daily. He's written two books, most recently the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual, and contributed to others, most recently the Hardball Times Season Preview 2008. For a complete listing, please see Other Writing and Media Appearances. Elsewhere on the web, Geoff maintains PadreBlogs.com, a repository for — you guessed it — blogs about the Padres. He's also active in several social networking communities; for more details, please see his personal web site. During the day he works as a technical editor/writer for a telecommunications company here in San Diego.
	SEA-MIL Brewers
Patrick Ryan	Minor League Pitcher	www.milb.com
Patrick Ryan is a pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. He was drafted by Milwaukee in the 19th round of the 2005 amateur entry draft. In 2005 he played for their Rookie league Helena Brewers, then was promoted to the Class A West Virginia Power in 2006. Ryan began the 2007 season with West Virginia, but was later promoted to the Class A-Advanced Brevard County Manatees. In 2008, he spent the entire season with the Double-A Huntsville Stars, where he went 5-5 with 6 saves and a 2.52 ERA in 39 appearances.

Expansion Three

	ARI-COL D-Backs/Rox
Derrick Goold	Baseball Writer	www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land
Derrick Goold is a baseball writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, covering the Cardinals and Major League Baseball and all sorts of other baseball-related things for the paper. He grew up near Boulder, Colo., marooned in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot and surviving on a diet of box scores, All-Star Baseball discs, a friend’s cable hookup, week-old Boston Globes, Sports Illustrated, and Nintendo’s Baseball Stars. After graduating from the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, he relocated like his real boyhood team – those mighty Denver Zephyrs – to New Orleans and worked at The Times-Picayune, ultimately covering LSU. Then it was back home, to cover the NBA and whatever Rockies sidebars he could get for The Rocky Mountain News. He was at the ballpark when the job offer came from the P-D. There Goold moved from the NHL beat to become, finally, a full-fledged baseball writer in 2004. Derrick has won some awards, for investigative, enterprise and breaking-news work, mostly. He’s been published in books, has the most-read blog at the P-D, and married a striking gal, who now has as many Emmys as he has softball trophies. When Skip Bertman met her, he puffed: "Somebody had a 4-for-4 day." He lives with his wife, Erika, and their talkative toddler, Ian, in St. Louis. Goold is also a World Record Holder. Seriously. Pictured with his teammates in this year’s Guinness Book of World Records for playing in the longest baseball game. He manned second base in a 32-hour, 29-minute, 25-second game. He is believed to be the only player who, after 92 innings, didn’t score a run.
	FLA-TB Marlins/Rays
Josh Kusnick	Sports Agent	www.doublediamondsportsmanagement.com
Joshua Kusnick has a long history working in the sports industry, culminating in his involvement in Double Diamond Sports Management, a sports agency devoted to representing baseball players. By the time he graduated from Florida State University with a degree in Sport Management in 2006, he had already helped, found and establish Double Diamond as a significant agency in the industry. Joshua has lectured at Sports Law symposia and has shared the podium with Donald Fehr, Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Double Diamond represents many professional baseball players ranging from Rookie ball to the major leagues. The agency also represents ESPN broadcaster John Buccigross. As Vice President with Double Diamond, Joshua has developed marketing strategies and negotiated endorsements for his clients, including baseball cards, memorabilia, and public and private appearances as well as player development with professional baseball organizations. Joshua is licensed as a certified athlete agent in California and Florida, and has other designations and certifications pending in other jurisdictions and with other governing bodies. Prior to his involvement with Double Diamond, he worked in scouting and player development, including working with several Major League Baseball teams, and interacted frequently with front office officials, scouts, and athletes. Despite his youth, Joshua has developed a reputation in the industry as a sharp evaluator of talent, and he has the ear of many baseball organizations in reviewing and drafting high school, college, and free agent players. Every contract negotiated in 2006,2007, and 2008 was over slot and including 500k for a player selected in the 30th round. In his personal life, Joshua is an avid hockey fan and runs a blog detailing the day to day life of being a sports agent. For a brief time in college, Joshua also did standup comedy however because of the nature of his career, Joshua has decided to rob the world of his immense comedic talents. On a serious note, Joshua and his family have avidly fund raised for the pediatric urology division at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
	Seattle Mariners
Seamheads.com Staff	Columnists	www.seamheads.com
Seamheads.com is the antithesis of Fox Sports. Twelve years ago when Fox bought the rights to air Major League Baseball games on its network, then company president David Hill laid down the law, “If anyone talks about dead guys during a broadcast, I’ll sack ‘em,” Hill promised his broadcast team. “I’m sick of dead guys! Whenever I turn on a baseball game, all I hear about is dead guys. If I hear a name, I’m gonna ask, ‘Is he dead?’ And if he is, you’re fired. You’re all fired!” We at Seamheads.com embrace dead guys. We celebrate dead guys. We love dead guys (in a strictly platonic sense, of course)! Here you’ll find stories about dead guys, anecdotes about dead guys, statistical analysis about dead guys; you name it, dead guys will be prominently featured here. We love the history of the game and think it should be celebrated, not swept under the carpet and ignored. But we’re not just about dead guys and the game’s history. We’re equally passionate about today’s teams, players, and middleics. Regardless of the era or the middleic, what you’ll find at Seamheads.com are well-researched, well-written articles that are intended to educate, inform, and entertain. Most of us are members of SABR and we take our baseball seriously. It’s our passion and I hope it shows through in our writing.
	Toronto Blue Jays
Neate Sager	Copy Editor/Columnist	www.neatesager.blogspot.com
Neate Sager is a writer, editor and occasional broadcaster who has been blogging about sports since early 2003. His writing and photography has appeared at Sportsnet.ca, Quill & Quire, the Halifax Herald, Halifax Daily News, The Coast, Kingston Whig-Standard, Ottawa Sun, Winnipeg Sun, Woodstock Sentinel-Review, Simcoe Reformer and Portage la Prairie Daily Graphic. His newspaper work was recognized in "The Best American Sports Writing 2005." Originally launched in 2003, Out of Left Field has often been linked by Deadspin and other leading sports blogs. Neate is originally from the Kingston, Ont., area and plans to publish his first book sometime in 2009.