February 2026 Newsletter
February 16, 2026
Man, 2026
To paraphrase a scene from 30 Rock:
“Wow, what a year, huh?”
“Lemon, it’s February.”
If the first six weeks are any indication of the rest of the year, 2026 is looking to be [ fill in the blank ]. Take care of yourselves and those around you, which I’m mostly writing to remind myself.
On the positive side, I teased it last month, and I’m ready to release this portable scorebook. And wow, MY TIGERS ARE GOING ALL IN THIS SEASON.
Introducing the Small Ball Scorebook
Thanks to everyone who provided some amazing feedback for the new portable. I have been in the salt mines honing and crafting, and I am really excited for this release.
I don’t have all my raw materials in hand yet – so no official photography – but I have a lot of mockups that will come pretty darn close:
I went over the general concepts last month, so here’s a quickish rundown of the tweaks and changes:
Top and Bottom headers at the top, matching the Square Scorebook. It’s only natural to put the team names up there for easy reference. It cost me one pitcher slot, but that’s OK.
I changed up the boxes for the matchup / stadium reference on the Top page. (I used icons instead of light text, which some folks treated like a header.)
I added a dot grid pattern to the notes area – this will make it easier for those who might want to draw pitcher stat columns, write miscellaneous notes, etc.
It’s about as tall as an average pen, and the perfect width for a back pocket. Same thickness as a Square Scorebook.
I’m also very excited for the covers – this will be a big change. The extra tough covers y’all have seen on the Square Scorebooks are really expensive to produce, I can’t do them on-demand, and (being honest) I’m not sure people even like the designs.
Instead, I’m going with a choose-your-own base vinyl color – white, grey, royal blue, navy and red – and using a sticker to decorate. Infinitely more customizable, much much cheaper to produce, and my juicy new inkjet allows for on-demand stickers.
I’ve also got a Card series (shown above) that also looks hot (named so because it kind of looks like a playing card). I couldn’t decide which I liked better, so let’s offer both – nothing is stopping that possibility now.
The combinations are endless (got ideas?). You can even buy the book without a sticker – I know a lot of you put stickers on your covers already. [I’m pretty certain this will be the direction I go for the Square Scorebooks as well. So much more flexibility and less expense – win-win.]
OH and the name! Several sent in Small Ball – Isaiah B. was the first (who also sent in my second choice, the Squeeze), and I popped immediately at both suggestions. The Squeeze is probably more fun, but I had this icon idea for station-to-station “small ball” just as it would look in a scorebook, and there ya go.
Now available for pre-order
So at long last, these are available for pre-order – I should have all the materials in this week to start building and shipping (hopefully) by the WBC.
I also blew up … everything. My (kinda terrible) website has been completely redesigned (expect bugs), and the store pages are a separate website now. Plus I built a fun little tool to help visualize your Small Ball Scorebook color/sticker combination:
The price for each book will be $28 with free shipping. I’ll knock 10% off for people subscribed to this newsletter, just use code SMALLBALL. For those that sent detailed feedback and name suggestions, check your email later this afternoon.
This has been so much fun – I honestly don’t care if I sell like three of these. I can’t wait to take mine to Florida for Spring Training. Speaking of which…
My vacation dates
I’ll be leaving for my Florida trip around March 10 and getting back around March 18. If you want your books before then, get your orders in soon please. If you miss, no big deal … I will do everything in my power to get a book in your hands by the start of the season.
Thanks again, everyone. You all send such nice messages. And feel free to hop on the Tigers bandwagon with me, it’s might be a bonkers season.
– Eric