Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from this MLBlog to yours.

Welcome to all the recent newcomers to the MLBlogs community. Before you know it, the lines will be forming for those Winter Warmups, Conventions, FanFests, Caravans or whatever you call the increasingly popular offseason club bashes. Then the pitchers and catchers will head for Arizona and Florida and we’ll start it all over again. I can’t wait, mainly because it’s the hardest thing to do in sports — hitting a pitched baseball with a bat — and it means all is right.

This time of year also means my annual Hall of Fame ballot gets checked and returned to my colleague Jack O’Connell at the Baseball Writers Association of America. I voted for three players on this year’s ballot: Mark McGwire (same as last year), Goose Gossage, Lee Smith. I have to say that after last summer’s incomparable Induction Weekend for Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr., I was very, very tempted to return a blank ballot this time. Here were my Induction memories from last July, and here was my Induction cover story. That weekend may never be topped.

All of the MLB.com writers who vote (am BBWAA lifetime honorary) will write a little something over on the mothership about who and why. Great topic for blogging if you want to say who you’d choose.

Everyone do Rangers closer CJ Wilson a favor and show him that he has more than three dozen viewers. That was funny. He’s a big six-figure page view blogger here, mainly because he blogs so often and he blogs whenever he feels like it and says whatever he feels like.

I hope your holiday season is a wonderful one. Off to St. Louis on my Christmas Eve sleigh…

Mark/MLB.com

Just came back to my computer after two hours in our MLB.com studios, and this is what I saw in my inbox. I am curious how other MLBloggers react. All I could think of was: This is the last time this annual release will ever happen for The House That Ruth Built:

NEW YORK YANKEES
TO BEGIN FINAL SEASON AT YANKEE STADIUM ON MARCH 31; WILL HOST
TORONTO BLUE JAYS IN 2008 SEASON OPENER

The 26-time-World Champion New York Yankees will begin the 2008 season — the 106th in franchise history and their last in the current Yankee Stadium — at home on Monday, March 31 at 1:05 p.m. vs. the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Yankees’ 81-game home schedule will feature three series totaling nine games with each of
the club’s four American League East rivals (Baltimore, Boston, Tampa Bay and
Toronto) as well as Interleague series vs. three National League opponents.  The
Yankees will host the New York Mets on May 16-17-18, the San Diego Padres on
June 17-18-19 and the Cincinnati Reds on June 20-21-22.  Additionally, the
Yankees will make their first-ever regular season appearance at Minute Maid Park
vs. the Houston Astros on June 13-14-15 and their first Pittsburgh appearance
since the 1960 World Series on June 24-25-26 at PNC Park vs. the Pirates.  The
Yankees conclude their 2008 Interleague schedule vs. the Mets at Shea Stadium on
June 27-28-29.

Holiday ticket
packages for the 2008 season are scheduled to go on sale tomorrow, Tuesday,
December 18, via the Internet at www.yankees.com.  For complete “Holiday Pack”
ticket information, fans should visit www.yankees.com.  On-sale information for
individual game tickets
will be announced at a later date.

“As we enter
the final season at the current Yankee Stadium, we plan to honor the history and
tradition of this iconic ballpark from the first pitch to the last,” said
Yankees Chief Operating Officer Lonn Trost.  “We look forward to celebrating our
past and our present throughout the 2008 season while watching our new,
state-of-the-art home come to life next door.”

TICKET
INFORMATION FOR 2008

 
In 2008, the
Yankees will renew at
least nine individual-game discount programs.

· Verizon Family
Games – On designated
Monday through Thursday games in April, May and September, all Tier Reserved MVP
tickets will be discounted to $26 and Tier Reserved tickets will be discounted
to $19.

· Fujifilm $5.00
Games – On selected
game dates, all Tier Box, Tier Reserved MVP, Tier Reserved and Bleachers tickets
will be discounted to $5.00.

· Coca-Cola Value
Pack Games – On 17
selected game dates, four Tier Box tickets, four Tier Reserved MVP tickets, four
Tier Reserved tickets or four Bleachers tickets—as well as four hot dogs, four
Coke products and one official Yankees item (to be determined)—will be available
at discounted package prices.

· MasterCard Grand
Slam Pack – On 18
selected game dates, four Tier Box tickets, four Tier Reserved MVP tickets, four
Tier Reserved tickets or four Bleachers tickets—as well as four hot dogs, four
non-alcoholic beverages and one official Yankees item (to be determined)—will be
available at discounted package prices.

· Poland Spring
Youth Games – All fans 14
and younger, when accompanied by an adult, can purchase half-price tickets for
Saturday games (excluding Premium Games) in the following locations: Main
Box, Loge Box, Main Reserved, Tier Box MVP, Tier Box, Tier Reserved MVP, Tier
Reserved and Bleachers. Available only on the day of the game at Yankee
Stadium and subject to availability.

· Senior Citizen
Games – On selected
game dates, a limited number of Senior Citizen tickets (for those 60 and older)
are available for $5.00. Available two hours prior to game time at Yankee
Stadium Advance Ticket Windows only.

· Con Edison
Tuesday Night Games – Every Tuesday
night all Tier Reserved MVP tickets are $26 and Tier Reserved tickets are
$19.  Excludes all Premium Games. May be purchased in advance or on
the day of game and are subject to availability.

· Student
Games – Any student
who presents his or her valid high school or college ID card at the Advance
Ticket Windows can purchase a half-price Tier Reserved
MVP or Tier Reserved
ticket to any Wednesday game (except Premium Games). Available only on
the day of game at Yankee Stadium and subject to
availability.

· Military
Personnel may present
their active military ID card at the Advance Ticket Windows prior to any Monday
through Thursday game and receive one complimentary Tier Reserved
MVP, Tier Reserved or
Bleachers ticket, or one half-price ticket in the following locations: Main Box,
Main Reserved, Loge Box, Tier Box MVP or Tier Box. Available only on the day
of game at Yankee Stadium and subject to availability.

Please
note: The term
“Premium Games” is defined as the Opening Day game, the Old-Timers’ Day game,
the final three (3) scheduled regular season games scheduled to be played at
Yankee Stadium, and all games played against the following teams: (i) Boston Red
Sox, and (ii) New York Mets.

GROUP
TICKETS:

Many of the 2008
ticket-discount programs may also be applied to group tickets (minimum: 20
tickets). Fans interested in group ticket information should call the Yankees
Ticket Office at (718) 293-6000 or visit www.yankees.com.  

INDIVIDUAL-GAME
INFORMATION

On-sale
information for individual game tickets will be announced at a later
date.

END

…and it’s happening at New York’s other ballpark, too. Just imagine what it’s going to be like around Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium in 2008.

Happy Holidays to everyone around the MLBlogosphere! Here’s a photo I took last night on my way home from our office at the Major League Baseball Advanced Media headquarters in Manhattan. I also got in some skating there at The Rink this past month. This place is amazing at this time of year, and feel free to post some holiday pics/vids of your own.

Hey, check out the brand-new MLB.com/Entertainment blog if you haven’t seen it already. Our crew out in Hollywood maintains that one and I know I like it already because they were about a half-day faster than CNN’s Anderson Cooper last night in spreading the buzz over the Nutty Buddy. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how the buzz from the youtube video got to AC 12 hours later.

The new MLBlogs just keep coming during the offseason, as usual, while we’re waiting for pitchers and catchers to report in 64 days. Welcome to Prose and Ivy, DodgerAddiction, Halo Fever and others who have just sprung up during the holidays. Welcome to our latest author, Timothy House, who’s here with The Blue Jays Beat. Also welcome back to Zoe at Pick Me Up Some Mets! and any others who took a vacation after the postseason. BTW, if you have a 3-column template such as Zoe’s, you may notice there’s a blank square in the top right; an ad space was deleted and Six Apart will have that matter fixed soon. It only shows up on the 3-column template. We’re also talking with our Six Apart partners about hopeful coming integration of their more modern capabilities, as we’re still using the Typepad 1.0 app (circa our 4/2005 launch) for now.

Hope everyone is having a Happy Holiday season! I’ve been a little busy with a month’s worth of being the gift guru every day on the MLB.com homepage since Thanksgiving…and this is typically the peak buying time for online holider shoppers. Check out those sales and also feel free to blog about your MLB.com Shopping adventures. It’s always cool to hear from people during the conventions/fanfests/winterwarmups/etc who discuss things they bought.

Mark/MLB.com