In Celebration of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (#BBA)

For those who might not know, The Golden Sombrero is a proud member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, an organization that has taken all of the great baseball blogs in existence and united them under one, all-inclusive roof.  Well, it just so happens that today marks the first-annual Baseball Bloggers Alliance Day, so we thought that we would take a few minutes to familiarize everyone with the BBA.  Here are a couple quick facts to get things going:

• Although the BBA was first organized in April 2009, it did not technically take off until December of that year.
• As of today, there are roughly 230 baseball blogs within the BBA, and the total will surely continue to grow with each passing day.
• Every Major League club is represented by the BBA, sans the Atlanta Braves.  Furthermore, some teams have an exceptional number of constituents, such as the New York Mets who have 28 representatives.
• The Golden Sombrero is a member of the General Chapter, which is headed by Aaron Sommers.  He has done a great job since assuming the position a few months ago, and be sure to check out his own site: Blogging From The Bleachers.
• Much like how the BBWA votes on the MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year, so does the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  Only twice in voting history have the BBWA and BBA differed in their selections – 2009 N.L. Rookie of the Year and 2010 A.L. Manager of the Year.
• Julian, from Splashing Pumpkins, lead the initiative in organizing the official BBA iPhone App – be sure to download it. Oh yeah, it’s free.

The mastermind behind the BBA is Daniel Shoptaw, who also heads the United Cardinals Bloggers, as well as his own site, C70 At The Bat.  A big thanks goes out to Daniel for his ongoing commitment to making the BBA unlike any web coalition I’ve been a part of, and I sincerely believe that it is only a matter of time until it is recognized for it’s greatness.

Here is a great interview with Daniel that really details what’s at the heart of the BBA…

So, from everyone here at the Sombrero, thank you to Daniel, Aaron, and all of the other great writers we have gotten a chance to interact with over the course of the year.  We look forward to the prospects of the BBA in 2011.