As MLB Opening Day approaches, there's been some excellent writing on baseball I've come across lately.
For the SB Nation Longform website close to a month ago, Pat Jordan wrote "The pain and pleasure of spring: How I lost my fastball but learned to love spring training." It's a beautifully written piece that covers from Jordan's time as an aspiring major league player through his career as a sportswriter. Really lyrical writing that makes me interested in reading his book A False Spring, rated #37 on the 2002 Sports Illustrated listing of the top sports books of all time.
In a similar vein of baseball writing leaning towards the sentimental was a recent piece by Bruce Jenkins in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Glove love never dies, it just falls apart" was on major leaguers and what for many of them is a cherished tool of their trade.
Another tremendously interesting baseball piece was by Scott Sargent from the Cleveland and Ohio State sports website Waiting for Next Year. "Trevor Bauer: Eccentric or just smarter than the rest of us?" was on the 23 year-old pitcher I first heard about from a 2011 SI profile by Lee Jenkins and who was traded this off-season to Cleveland from the Diamondbacks. Bauer is someone that takes a different approach than many to the game and it'll be interesting to see how his career progresses.
The last baseball piece to mention here also involves the Indians, but on a much older player trying to make the team. "Giambi Reinvents Himself, and Baseball Is Intrigued" was by Tyler Kepner for the New York Times and is a tremendously interesting profile of Jason Giambi, former steroid-using superstar and now well-respected managerial candidate.
