UMDB Survey

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UMDB Survey

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 05 2005 07:47 PM

I know that many of you occassionally (or frequently) visit the Ultimate Mets Database. Somehow, I've never gotten around to asking these questions, but I'm curious, so I'll ask.

1. How many times, in an average week, do you visit the UMDB?

2. What usually prompts you to visit?

3. Which features do you find most useful?

4. Which features are you aware of that you don't find particularly useful? (Don't worry, I'm not planning on getting rid of anything.)

Thanks!

Edgy DC
Jul 05 2005 07:53 PM

1. How many times, in an average week, do you visit the UMDB?

15

2. What usually prompts you to visit?

To find out what hap'd on this date. To figure out a guy's Mets-only stats and chart his progress up the all-time Met charts.

3. Which features do you find most useful?

Interactive statisics. Player pages. Memories of old players.

4. Which features are you aware of that you don't find particularly useful? (Don't worry, I'm not planning on getting rid of anything.)

Daily standings, I guess. Get rid of it, and I'll kill you.

Bret Sabermetric
Jul 05 2005 08:05 PM

1. How many times, in an average week, do you visit the UMDB?

Seven to nineteen.

2. What usually prompts you to visit?

Boredom. Self-loathing. An understanding that if I never do my job again, probably it will be six months before anyone notices.

3. Which features do you find most useful?
Fans' mammeries.

4. Which features are you aware of that you don't find particularly useful? (Don't worry, I'm not planning on getting rid of anything.)

I don't look at stuff I don't find particularly useful. I rarely look at the Mets'-only stats.
Thanks!

Rotblatt
Jul 05 2005 08:25 PM

1. How many times, in an average week, do you visit the UMDB?

4 or 5.

2. What usually prompts you to visit?

Finding out more about whomever is represented at my current posting level. Other times, I might get a hankering to look at the memories or stats of a particular player.

3. Which features do you find most useful?

The memories section. I think they're really fun to read.

4. Which features are you aware of that you don't find particularly useful? (Don't worry, I'm not planning on getting rid of anything.)

I guess the Mets' only stats. I don't usually look at them too much.

seawolf17
Jul 05 2005 08:43 PM

1. How many times, in an average week, do you visit the UMDB?
10-20. I'm usually on there at least twice a day, sometimes more.

2. What usually prompts you to visit?
Question about a specific game or player or transaction (like "Who was in that Gary Carter trade again?"), or to check "this date in history," or to breeze through the "recently added memories."

3. Which features do you find most useful?
Interactive stats; I wish the hitting stats went down to 1 (instead of minimum 10), just for fun.

4. Which features are you aware of that you don't find particularly useful?
I can't think of anything. I happen to enjoy the Mets-only statistics; if I want total stats, I check b-r.com.

edit: I will reiterate my contention that the UMDB is the Best. Web site. Ever.

metirish
Jul 05 2005 10:13 PM

1. How many times, in an average week, do you visit the UMDB?

Several times a day/week, I'd say well over 10 times a week, not to blow smoke up yer arse yancy but it's a great site.

2. What usually prompts you to visit?

Like other people I'm usually prompted by a query, like today I had to go anf find out about Duffy Dyer, then I read fan memories and find myself reading them for a long time.

3. Which features do you find most useful?
Stats, fan memories, years played, things like that.

4. Which features are you aware of that you don't find particularly useful?

none that I have noticed.

ScarletKnight41
Jul 05 2005 11:07 PM

1. How many times, in an average week, do you visit the UMDB?

I'm more of an occasional user - maybe once or twice a month.

2. What usually prompts you to visit?

If I have a question about a specific player I'll look it up there.

3. Which features do you find most useful?

Being able to look up individual players

4. Which features are you aware of that you don't find particularly useful? (Don't worry, I'm not planning on getting rid of anything.)

I can't think of anything.

Johnny Dickshot
Jul 06 2005 07:04 AM

I go several times a week, usually just to browse. I like to start by hitting recent fan memories, then go from there.

The boxscores, game logs, transaction records and daily standings are all very useful and are what draws me there specifically.

TheOldMole
Jul 06 2005 09:57 AM

Irregularly, and it can be just as likely to look up something specific or just to browse. Either way, it's a satisfying experience, and I wouldn't eliminate anything.

cooby
Jul 06 2005 10:00 AM

Yancy, I love your site and I don't think I could say exactly how often I look at it because it varies, of course.

The only suggestion I can think of (and it is mild) is not to be too hung up on whether a guy is wearing a blue hat, just put a face up there no matter what he is wearing, even if its another team's hat, and then work from there.

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 06 2005 10:04 AM

Well, I do put up black caps when that's all that's available, and I don't see an imminent chance for a blue cap.

I'm going to stick with the Mets-cap-only policy, though. I'd rather see Mr. Met than Larry Bowa in a Phillies or Cubs cap.

cooby
Jul 06 2005 10:05 AM

I'd rather see Mr. Met than Larry Bowa, period :)

And some other guys, too

soupcan
Jul 06 2005 10:48 AM
Re: UMDB Survey

1. How many times, in an average week, do you visit the UMDB?

At least 10.

2. What usually prompts you to visit?

Curiosity about a specific Met.

3. Which features do you find most useful?

I like the season logs. Having a vague memory of a game in the late 70's and being able to easily find it and read the boxscore is just amazin'!

4. Which features are you aware of that you don't find particularly useful?

Oddly I don't care much for the 'Mets Only' stats. I like to see a players entire career, and then if I want to see how they performed for a particular team, I'll break it down myself.

Thanks!

Thank YOU. I love your site Yancy.

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 06 2005 10:58 AM

What's funny is that it was the "Mets only" stuff that prompted me to create the site in the first place, and that seems to be getting the most votes for "least useful." When the UMDB made its debut in early 1999, all it contained were Mets-only stats and the interactive page. And the mugshots, too, I guess, though they were only there for the most prominent players.

I think the first additions were the "This player also played for the following teams" info and the memories.

Some time in 2000 the game results came along, and box scores first appeared in 2002.

I don't remember when the transactions kicked in.

Johnny Dickshot
Jul 06 2005 11:14 AM

I recall the early days of UMDB and the discovery of an early glitch. I queried the database for info on walks, and it spit back strikeouts!

It was the greatest invention ever from the start. I wrote to the boss there and said I really liked it and had used it while preparing that other new mets site. As I recall, the response was "Really?"

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 06 2005 11:20 AM

I think you were the first person I heard from after the site went up. It has probably just barely hit the search engines when you discovered it.

I created it as a fun way to expand my database development skills to web applications. I didn't really expect it to be widely discovered. When Ed Kranepool took the early lead with a total of 14 hits, I was amazed at how high that was! (His hit count is now a five-digit number.)

seawolf17
Jul 06 2005 11:24 AM

Any word on the cookie development? I've started printing out boxscores from games I've attended, and I'm going to start compiling my "personal" stats soon. I only wish I had more ticket stubs from the old days.

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 06 2005 11:28 AM

It's probably a long way off. I don't see myself devoting any major attention to the UMDB for a while. Maybe if I end up with a period of unemployment I'll do some ambitious stuff, but otherwise I don't expect to do much more than a little tinkering, if that.

metirish
Jul 06 2005 11:33 AM

Here's one of the things I love about the site, I'm Duffy Dyer, fan memories is a great part of UMDB..

]Stu Paul
August 3, 2004
Bob P. is absolutely right. Duffy is a Mets scout. I live and work in San Antonio, Texas (where Jerry Grote is from and where he still lives) and I am the broadcaster for the San Antonio Missions, the Mariners' Double A affiliate. In the press box, through glasses, a moustache, and gray hair, lo and behold, it was Duffy. I introduced myself to him tonight, as a matter of fact. Great guy. I reminded him of the home run he hit in one of the games of the Banner Day Doubleheader on August 17, 1969 against the Padres at Shea. He just got recalled from Triple A Tidewater and was sent up to pinch hit. He hit a three-run homer to help the Mets win. He remembers that home run well. He still wears his World Series ring. Still looks great for a man soon to be 59 (next month on August 15th). Good luck to Duffy with the Mets. Welcome back. Hope he can recruit great talent that can help the Mets get back on track.

ON EDIT...I was Duffy Dyer, bloody knew that would happen.

Elster88
Jul 06 2005 11:51 AM

I like the Player Memories a lot. I was surprised that all (or at least the ones I read) of the Memories of Vince Coleman where the person actually met him, they reported that he was "the nicest guy", or "couldn't be nicer", etc.

Elster88
Jul 06 2005 03:26 PM

Found a place where MBTN and UMDB don't match.

MBTN lists Lance Johnson at 222 hits in '96. UMDB lists it as 227, which I pulled for the list of hits in a season in the Where Mets Rank thread.

seawolf17
Jul 06 2005 03:30 PM

227 according to b-r.com...

Johnny Dickshot
Jul 06 2005 04:33 PM

That probably explains it.

I never knew till just recently how varied the various stat databases can be.

To my discredit, I know this now but have not gone back and reconciled what's published on mbtn that has come from a variety of sources some of which may have been discredited or disagree with one another (bb-r, baseball encyclopedia-macmillan, retrosheet/umdb, yearbooks, baseball cards, total baseball, baseball encyclopedia-b&n, etc etc etc).

SwitchHitter
Jul 07 2005 12:01 AM

I go there when my posting level changes and duirng the parody contest to find out more about specific Mets. I love the memories. I even e-mailed one guy who wrote something about Doc Gooden.

Rockin' Doc
Jul 07 2005 12:55 AM

In a typical week, I will visit the UMDB 3-4 times a week. I like being able to quickly view the roster of players and coaches for a given year. I also like to see how players were acquired and/or released by the Mets. I only read the fan memories of players on rare occasion.

Edgy DC
Jul 07 2005 07:27 AM

The all-time roster was a good as any way to find the right Met for the "Gimme a Met Who..." thread.

mlbaseballtalk
Jul 07 2005 11:08 PM

Yancy Street Gang wrote:
Well, I do put up black caps when that's all that's available, and I don't see an imminent chance for a blue cap.

I'm going to stick with the Mets-cap-only policy, though. I'd rather see Mr. Met than Larry Bowa in a Phillies or Cubs cap.

It may be a Black and White, but Larry Bowa is in a Met cap on his card in the Wiz's "All Time Mets" set

Which is good, considering the 1987 hurler Bob Gibson is depicted as the 1981 pitching coach Bob Gibson

Steve

Edgy DC
Jul 07 2005 11:16 PM

Wow, mlbaseballtalk gets a lead on the most sought after Mets image.

On edit: BAM!!

What a resource for a database guy!

mlbaseballtalk
Jul 07 2005 11:20 PM

mlbaseballtalk wrote:
="Yancy Street Gang"]Well, I do put up black caps when that's all that's available, and I don't see an imminent chance for a blue cap.

I'm going to stick with the Mets-cap-only policy, though. I'd rather see Mr. Met than Larry Bowa in a Phillies or Cubs cap.

It may be a Black and White, but Larry Bowa is in a Met cap on his card in the Wiz's "All Time Mets" set

Which is good, considering the 1987 hurler Bob Gibson is depicted as the 1981 pitching coach Bob Gibson

Steve

Also I should add that the Wiz same time did mega sets for the Yankees of the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's as well (which prompted me to do a "of the 90's collection for both. Its dissassembled right now (instead of pages its in several boxes) but I've emassed quite alot of those players) and unlike the Mets set where 100% of the subjects were in Met caps the Yanks weren't so lucky. Some had caps blurred out, one I think was depected in an obvious Seattle Mariner jersey!

Steve

metirish
Jul 07 2005 11:24 PM

]The all-time roster was a good as any way to find the right Met for the "Gimme a Met Who..." thread.

So very true, that was a great thread, and the all-time roster was great for the name link thread, remember that great thread..

Roger Craig Anderson, so on, UMDB was in heavy use during those days.

mlbaseballtalk
Jul 07 2005 11:25 PM

Edgy DC wrote:
Wow, mlbaseballtalk gets a lead on the most sought after Mets image.

On edit: BAM!!

What a resource for a database guy!

Gee, again my dreams of a great Met site get dashed, first by Yancy and UMDB, and now this? =;)

Ah well, I will have a place on the web for one of my monkish hobbies of mine, one of these years/decades/whatever =;)

I actually have a few of that particular one floating around. Sadly not at the stage to go back and sort out my collection though, worth a nickel or two I guess...

Steve

mlbaseballtalk
Jul 07 2005 11:41 PM

Actually, I did have something started on Angelfire.com that was on one site a "current Mets" site for news, transactions, my thoughts, ect and the other one was going to be what Yancy's site is and what apparntly this Metcollector.com site is, though the latter seems to have just gone online since many features, including registering are "coming soon" ah well...

I did start something though with a "Fans Hall of Fame" and actually had it going a few years (ripped from the Miami of Ohio's Reds Listserv's Hall of Fame which is still going almost ten years now) basically I'd advertize on the AOL Met list, and various newsboards at the time that I was doing this and it was so.

Unfortunalty in 2001 I just didn't have any time/effort to keep things together. They may still be up somewhere though. The news page (which had headshots of all 25 guys on the roster...HEY WAIT A MINUTE!) was last updated early 2000 I believe, so who knows if you can still find it up

Steve

seawolf17
Jul 08 2005 06:46 AM

Wow... [url=http://www.metscollector.com]metscollector.com[/url] is really impressive, especially to a baseball card junkie like me.

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 08 2005 08:33 AM

Thank you, mlbtalk!

http://ultimatemets.com/profile.php?PlayerCode=0377

There's now a new number one on the most wanted list, one that I think will be impossible to find:

http://ultimatemets.com/profile.php?PlayerCode=0394

Edgy DC
Jul 08 2005 11:00 AM

You should link your most-wanted list in the banner at the top.

seawolf17
Jul 08 2005 03:47 PM

Speaking of fan memories, my posting level reminds me of my favorite UMDB memory:

jmb
February 10, 2005
Back in the Mets initial season my late father told me the Mets had a Jewish player by the name of Cohen. I went to check out their roster to locate a Cohen. I came back and asked him what is first name was. He told me Eliosha, Eliosha Cohen!

mlbaseballtalk
Jul 08 2005 07:00 PM

Edgy DC wrote:
Wow, mlbaseballtalk gets a lead on the most sought after Mets image.

On edit: BAM!!

What a resource for a database guy!

Here is the really amazing part. Same season, wasn't Tom Paciorek on the roster for less time that summer than Bowa did who finished with the Mets that year? Well Paciorek ends up in the Topps 1986 set while Bowa, in his what would be the final season in his big league career, gets shut out of any set that year

Ah well

seawolf17
Jul 08 2005 09:53 PM

Yancy-

When you click on "Opponents and Ballparks," then you click on a team name, it brings you to a weird half-completed "players who played for both teams" page. But when you access the teams from the drop-down menu at the top, it's fine.

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 09 2005 09:08 AM

seawolf17 wrote:
When you click on "Opponents and Ballparks," then you click on a team name, it brings you to a weird half-completed "players who played for both teams" page. But when you access the teams from the drop-down menu at the top, it's fine.

Fixed! Thanks for pointing it out.

Edgy DC
Jul 09 2005 09:38 AM

Seriously, that Mets Collector page has got give you more than a handful of shots you didn't have, no?

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 09 2005 11:22 AM

Probably. I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, though.

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 09 2005 04:38 PM

That site definitely is a big help.

I just uploaded mug shots of 15 players from my 25 most wanted:

Mike Kinkade
Dennis Bennett
Tim Burke
John Cangelosi
Mike Maddux
Bill Pecota
Tom O'Malley
Dick Schofield
Harry Chiti
Tom Paciorek
Dean Chance
Desi Relaford
Jon Nunnally
Mardie Cornejo
Ken Henderson

Edgy DC
Jul 09 2005 05:51 PM

Nice.

Who's the top 25 now?

Gibson is still first, of course.

Yancy Street Gang
Jul 09 2005 09:57 PM

Out of 765 Mets, only 221 remain. Here they are, in order of hit popularity:

1 Bob Gibson
2 Mauro Gozzo
3 Steve Bieser
4 Allen Watson
5 Alvaro Espinoza
6 Bobby Jones
7 Chuck McElroy
8 Billy Taylor
9 Bruce Bochy
10 Jorge Toca
11 C. J. Nitkowski
12 Cory Lidle
13 Toby Borland
14 Dale Murray
15 Wayne Kirby
16 Jay Kleven
17 Pat Tabler
18 Jim Gosger
19 Ron Herbel
20 Rick White
21 Herm Winningham
22 Mark Guthrie
23 Willie Blair
24 Jim Tatum
25 Rick Wilkins
26 Dick Stuart
27 Jack DiLauro
28 Mac Scarce
29 Donne Wall
30 Brent Mayne
31 Jerry Arrigo
32 Joe Sambito
33 Paul Siebert
34 Brook Fordyce
35 Tom Sturdivant
36 Damon Buford
37 Gary Matthews
38 Doc Medich
39 Chuck Taylor
40 Al Pedrique
41 Dick Tidrow
42 Jim Dwyer
43 Jorge Fabregas
44 McKay Christensen
45 Lee Guetterman
46 Pete Walker
47 Esix Snead
48 Orlando Mercado
49 Gene Woodling
50 Brad Clontz
51 Jack Hamilton
52 Mario Diaz
53 Dwight Bernard
54 Blas Minor
55 Norm Sherry
56 Brent Strom
57 Chris Jones
58 Pete Smith
59 Kane Davis
60 Jack Heidemann
61 Bob McClure
62 George Altman
63 Wes Gardner
64 Ryan McGuire
65 Eric Cammack
66 Darrin Jackson
67 Tony Phillips
68 Butch Metzger
69 Dennis Springer
70 Jerry Martin
71 John Thomson
72 Ricky Otero
73 Terry Bross
74 Joe Ginsberg
75 Phil Mankowski
76 Gary Bennett
77 Brady Clark
78 Yorkis Perez
79 Jaime Cerda
80 David Lamb
81 Ronn Reynolds
82 Tom Edens
83 Dave Telgheder
84 Tony Castillo
85 Jerry May
86 Brett Hinchliffe
87 Ralph Terry
88 John Christensen
89 Pedro Feliciano
90 Bob Johnson
91 Tom Martin
92 Jorge Velandia
93 Chuck Hiller
94 Ike Hampton
95 Edwin Almonte
96 Don Florence
97 Bill Latham
98 Jerry Cram
99 Leon Brown
100 Randy Milligan
101 Brock Pemberton
102 Ross Jones
103 Jason Middlebrook
104 Pat Strange
105 Roger Mason
106 Mike Birkbeck
107 Bart Shirley
108 Doug Linton
109 Kenny Greer
110 Dan Schatzeder
111 Tim Spehr
112 Bob Friend
113 Steve Reed
114 Shane Halter
115 Mike Draper
116 Barry Jones
117 Joe DePastino
118 Jeff Tam
119 Bob Johnson
120 Tito Navarro
121 Ced Landrum
122 Danny Boitano
123 Jonathan Hurst
124 Mark Dewey
125 Jeff Barry
126 Don Schulze
127 Bob Gallagher
128 Dyar Miller
129 Joe Nolan
130 Lou Klimchock
131 Pat Howell
132 Keith Hughes
133 Danny Garcia
134 Mark Little
135 Bob Miller
136 Jeff Gardner
137 Rick Parker
138 Hal Reniff
139 Tyler Walker
140 Mike Bishop
141 Joe Vitko
142 Dave Roberts
143 Sherman Jones
144 Shawn Hare
145 Rick Herrscher
146 Jeremy Griffiths
147 Joe Grzenda
148 Wayne Housie
149 Francisco Estrada
150 John Strohmayer
151 Jason Anderson
152 Mike Glavine
153 Chico Fernandez
154 Kevin Lomon
155 Bill Connors
156 Mickey Weston
157 Ed Bauta
158 Jeff Kaiser
159 Jim Mann
160 Steve Springer
161 Rob Gardner
162 Billy Cowan
163 Mike Fyhrie
164 Kevin Morgan
165 Bob Rauch
166 Tom Filer
167 Ray Daviault
168 Larry Elliot
169 Dan Murray
170 Todd Haney
171 Bill Hepler
172 Doug Saunders
173 Rich Sauveur
174 Joe Moock
175 Juan Castillo
176 Billy Wynne
177 Willard Hunter
178 Barry Manuel
179 Wayne Graham
180 Lou Thornton
181 Sammy Drake
182 Larry Stahl
183 Chuck Estrada
184 Terry McDaniel
185 Jack Lamabe
186 Jim Marshall
187 Don Rose
188 Dave Eilers
189 Manny Hernandez
190 Larry Foss
191 Bill Graham
192 Nick Willhite
193 John DeMerit
194 Carlos Mendoza
195 Joe Hicks
196 Bobby Gene Smith
197 Gary Thurman
198 Ricky Bottalico
199 Herb Moford
200 Darrell Sutherland
201 Bill Short
202 Ted Schrieber
203 Amado Samuel
204 Billy Murphy
205 Prentice Redman
206 Dave Hillman
207 Heath Bell
208 Don Rowe
209 Matt Watson
210 Jose Parra
211 Mike DeJean
212 Craig Brazell
213 Bartolome Fortunato
214 Brian Buchanan
215 Vic Darensbourg
216 Tom Wilson
217 Manny Aybar
218 Brian Daubach
219 Royce Ring
220 Mike DiFelice
221 Danny Graves

cooby
Jul 09 2005 09:58 PM

Yancy what ever happened with that guy that was coming here (the one with the picture)?

Edgy DC
Jul 09 2005 11:22 PM

Will you take a blue hat with blue insignia for Toca?