February « 2009 « billsportsmaps.com

February 7, 2009

MLB Ball Clubs and their Minor League Affiliates: the Toronto Blue Jays.

Filed under: Baseball Clubs/Farm Teams — admin @ 8:20 am

Below: Toronto Blue Jays Auxiliary Chart, featuring selected Blue Jays’ logos and gear, through the years of the franchise (1977-2009):

Toronto Blue Jays page at Sports E-cyclopedia {click here}.

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page {Click here}. Thanks to MLB Shop {Click here}. Thanks to the contributors to the pages at Wikipedia {Toronto Blue Jays page, here). Thanks to the National Baseball Hall Of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines site, featuring team uniforms templates drawn by Marc Okkonen. {Click here}. Thanks to e-bay for image of the Ted Rogers memorial patch {click here}.

Comments (1)

February 5, 2009

Mexico: Primera Division, 2009-Clausura-Map and Club Profiles.

Filed under: Mexico: Fútbol,Zoom Maps — admin @ 7:42 am

…

…
The Clausura 2009 of the Primera Division de Mexico began in mid-January, and will run to the final day of May. {Wikipedia page, Click here}. The map features an explanation of the complex league format. The format was established to help the clubs create fixtures which draw larger crowds (ie, the playoff matches, as well as the US-based InterLiga matches which decide 2 of the 3 Copa Libertadores qualifiers). The byzantine format has helped get many of the clubs out of crippling financial situations, but it is rather complicated.

Here is a good write-up about the Mexican Primera Divsion from the US Soccer Players site: {Click here}.

Mexican Primera División table {Click here (ESPN)}.

Thanks to the Albion Road site {Click here}. Plus thanks to Jeremy for helping me get to the bottom of the sordid CD Irapuoto-to-ersatz Veracruz-to-Jaguares de Chiapas franchise movement.

In 2002, the people who ran the Veracruz club had the gall to buy another club and move the team to Veracruz and play as Veracruz in the first division, while the real Veracruz was in the 2nd division. They bought and moved the 1st division club CD Irapuato in early 2002, in between the Verano 2001 and Invierno 2002 half-seasons. For 19 games in 2002, there was a Veracruz in both the first and the second divisions (!?). So of course, the 2nd-division-Veracruz won promotion after the Invierno 2002. Management sold the formerly-Irapuato-now-Veracruz club to a group in the impoverished and fractious Chiapas state. [Remember the masked revolutionary-leader Subcommandante Marcos {see this}, from news reports around 8 or 9 years ago? That place.]. The original-Veracruz ended up being relegated back to the Primera División A (the 2nd division) after the Clausura 2008. A new club was created, in the 2nd division, for Irapuato for the 2002-’03 season. The club won promotion that season, and played in Primera Division in the 2003-’04 season, but were relegated in 2004. Irapuato were relegated again to the third division. 3 years later, Pachuca-B gained promotion to the second division, and the club was sold and moved to…Irapuato. Talk about full circle.

Note: In the link I put up from the US Soccer Players site, this affair is touched upon in the 11th paragraph, the one that begins… “Much like American sports, owners can throw a wrench in relegation plans by moving teams all over the country and changing names…” {Click here, and go to the 11th paragraph}.

Thanks to the contributors to the relevant pages at Wikipedia {Mexican Primera Division page, Click here}.

Comments (4)

February 2, 2009

Baseball Clubs and their Minor League Affiliates: the Washington Nationals.

Filed under: Baseball Clubs/Farm Teams — admin @ 7:23 pm

Thanks to Joho Maps {Click here}.

This starts a new series. I want to post one Major League Baseball team each week, or so. There are 30 ball clubs in the majors, so I started this series even before Spring Training has begun, because I want to get in all the clubs before the summer is over. I will do the teams alphabetically, backwards, so that the posts will show up in alphabetical sequence in the new Baseball Clubs/Farm Teams category I made.

So that means up next will be the Toronto Blue Jays, then the Texas Rangers.

On the main map is shown the location and logo of the featured MLB team, and their 6 minor league affiliates. These 6 levels are… Triple-A [AAA]. The 2nd highest level, Double-A [AA]. Single-A ball, with it’s three gradations [Advanced-A; A; and A-Short Season]. The lowest rung, the Rookie/ Instructional Leagues [R].

In the upper right hand corner is a block of text that includes the ball club’s 2008 divisional record, and their 2008 average attendance figures. Below that are the major league ball club’s 6 minor league affiliates. The teams’ cap insignias are shown, along with league, level, and length of time the minor league ball club has been part of the Major League team’s farm system.

At the bottom is a map that shows the other MLB clubs in the the division, in this case, The National League East Division. At the bottom of this section is shown the featured MLB team’s 2009 jerseys, caps, and logos.

2008 Major League Baseball attendance figures, by team {Click here (ESPN) }.

For the 5th straight season, Minor League Baseball set an attendance record. See this article, from the Minor League Baseball site, {Click here}.

Here is a list of minor leagues’ average attendance, per game, in 2008. I used this article {Click here}, from Street & Smith’s Sports Business Daily.

Here is an article that lists the best minor league ballparks {Click here (jaunted.com) }. Here is an article from the Washington Post.com, about visiting the Washington Nationals’ Double-A farm team in Harrisburg, PA {Click here}.

Thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page {Click here}. Thanks to the contributors to the relevant pages at Wikipedia {Minor League Baseball page, here}. Thanks to the MLB.com shop {Click here}.

Comments (6)

« Newer Posts