The Media Guide: A Fantasy Swiss Army Knife

Used as a go to piece of information by journalists, and a collectible item by diehard fans, the media guide has always been a multifaceted tool.  But in today's fantasy leagues in which players delve deeper and deeper into the control and building of a franchise, the media guide offers valuable information to the fantasy manager on all levels.  By bringing to gather valuable statistical information on players of all levels, the media guide also breaks down a players career, how they got to where they are today, and other personal information as well.


In leagues that try to mimic the professional organizational structure as much as possible, the media guide offers a fantasy manager a one stop shop for all of the player information, from the major league level down to the minor league affiliates.  Leagues that allow players to take control of a franchise and build it over years and years much like a team would in real life can use the media guide to see the most recent draft selections, and also look at the Rookie league rosters as well.  Most media guides are roughly 450 some pages, and provide background information on the organization, as well as the executive and coaching staffs that make the team tick on a day to day basis.

Beyond being incredibly useful for fantasy players and stat geeks, the media guides are just plain fun to read and browse through.  I stumbled upon the 2011 Oakland A's media guide this past week online, and found myself turning through the pages for quite some time.  For baseball fans, nothing is more interesting than seeing individual players broken down, both statistically and on a career wide level.  Fore example, a large number of players currently on the Oakland roster were all originally drafted by the Chicago White Sox.  The media guides also provide historical information on the teams, previous first round draft picks, former award winners, team record holders etc.  Some interesting draft picks I cam across in the Oakland media guide:

1966: Reggie Jackson, OF
1984: Mark McGuire, 1B
1985: Walt Weiss, SS
1990: Todd Van Poppel, RHP
1994: Ben Grieve, OF
1996: Eric Chavez, SS
1998: Mark Mulder, LHP
1999: Barry Zito, LHP
2001: Bobby Crosby, SS
2002: Nick Swisher, OF
          Joe Blanton, RHP


Most media guides can be found at the ballpark, and some are found on the teams website, or eBay if you're attempting to look for a bargain.  TPD did a little research and was able to find three media guides offered for free online, and those are listed below:

Oakland Athletics 2011 Media Guide
Detroit Tigers 2011 Media Guide
Cincinnati Reds 2011 Media Guide