Our first pitch at Baltimore Baseball

When I took the buyout from The Baltimore Sun in December, I thought my baseballwriting/sports-journalism career probably had ended.

I was OK with that concept since I had had a good, 24-year run, which included 15 enjoyable seasons covering the Orioles. My No. 1 desire was to spend more time with my family and a little less time delivering updates about a middle reliever’s cranky elbow or shoulder.

But to quote Michael Corleone in Godfather III, “Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.”

OK, so I guess, technically, I was the one who pulled me back in. But, frankly, this opportunity is too good not to try it out and see if you, the readers, enjoy it as much as I expect I will.

This is the new landing spot, BaltimoreBaseball.com, for my full-time coverage of the Orioles. Steve Cockey, a longtime O’s fan, a blogger and an internet advertising specialist, and I have joined forces on this endeavor.

Steve will be doing some writing, but most of the content will be mine. Much of it will be in the same style, the same manner and the same quality (hopefully, that’s a good thing) that I delivered in my previous stops.

There won’t be any game stories here. I figure you have a TV, you have a radio and you have a phone that can deliver you every pitch sequence. You also have other talented journalists and bloggers in the Baltimore media that can tell you what happened in the previous night’s game.

What I hope to tell you is why it happened. Or why I think it happened. Or why I don’t think it should have happened.

I hope to break some news here and there; I’ve been a reporter for a long time, after all. But that’s not the point of BaltimoreBaseball.com. I’m hoping this site provides you with an extra helping of insight and analysis about the Orioles. It’s something I enjoy doing, and hopefully something that you’ll find interesting; whether we agree is incidental. But this platform should allow us to quickly and effectively share those views, too.

My plan is to write every day throughout the year about something Orioles-related.

My plan is to be in the Camden Yards’ press box and home clubhouse most nights the Orioles are there. I hope to continue to build on the relationships I’ve formed over the years with the players, staff, management, media, fans, etc.

My plan is to write some features, write some columns, write some observational blogs and interact with you as much as possible.

That includes a new fake dive in this town – Connolly’s Tap Room – where I’ll be serving up discussion about baseball and the Orioles, and you’ll be able to tap in with your opinions.

Steve and I are also hoping to provide some special, video/audio interaction with subscribers; hopefully the offerings will be cool enough that it will be worth a modest price of admission for the extra, premium content.

Much of the features offered here, including the daily blogs, will be free. There’s no cover charge for Connolly’s Tap Room either — though tips are always appreciated.

The bottom line is we want to be a place you go to on a daily basis for your baseball fix. And it doesn’t always have to be about Baltimore’s big league baseball club, either.

We’ll also have a weekly focus on Orioles’ minor league affiliates in Maryland and a weekly spotlight on high school baseball in and around Baltimore during the prep season. We’re really excited that these pieces will be created by Dean Jones Jr., former baseball editor at The Baltimore Sun who wrote the newspaper’s popular “O’s On Deck” blog about minor-league baseball.

That’s why we are calling ourselves Baltimore Baseball. We want you to think of us when you think of all things baseball in Charm City.

We know there are a lot of choices – good ones — for Orioles and baseball coverage out there.

We are hoping to be a little different. We’re hoping to have a lot of fun. We’re hoping you bookmark us, and like us on Facebook and sign-up for our free daily newsletter. We hope you follow us on Twitter and tweet at us and chat with us and, ultimately, subscribe to premium content — only $20 per year — to help keep this thriving. We also hope you download our phone app when that’s up and running, which should be fairly soon.

A few months ago, I thought I might hang up the computer bag. But now I’m back, and ready for the 2016 season – my 16^th covering the Orioles.

And I’m hoping you’ll join BaltimoreBaseball.com in this new, daily adventure.