What’s next for VFTB

My plan for 2024

When I launched VIEW FROM THE BLEACHERS a little more than a year ago, I had no idea how quickly this little Substack would grow.

I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who subscribed for the 2023 season, and I continue to enjoy our conversations in the comments and offline.

My initial plan was to write 2-3 times a week, but as our paid subscriber base swelled and I had a title sponsor jump on board for the season (thanks TicketRev!), I felt an obligation to write on a near daily basis, at least 5-6 times most weeks. There were even a handful of days with multiple posts before we kept the content coming in smaller doses during a quiet Marlins offseason.

The start of another season was a good time for me to reflect on where I want to go with this, and I’ve decided to continue writing VFTB in 2024 but on a more limited basis.

There will still be Marlins content, but I intend to write more frequently about other baseball stories I find to be of interest.

Some of what I write, like Thursday’s post about the 1988 Orioles’ 0-21 start, will have a Marlins connection. Some days I’ll just write something I find interesting about the Tampa Bay Rays.

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AS FOR HOW THIS IMPACTS YOU…

Some of you may have noticed over the last several weeks I also decided that, for the time being, I will no longer charge a subscription fee. All of my content will be free for the foreseeable future.

While all who paid for a subscription in 2023 will continue to receive VFTB via email, no one who has paid for an annual or monthly subscription in the past will be auto-billed moving forward. Those payments were stopped a few weeks ago.

My plan is to write only occasionally in the new season. At times, that may mean several posts a week. At other times, you may go a week or 2 at a time without hearing from me. But I hope you’ll stick around as a free subscriber, and we’ll see where it goes.

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I’m grateful for the feedback I’ve received from so many of you as I returned to my writing roots over the last year, and I’m quite proud of the variety of content I produced, all of which is archived if you’d like to check out anything you may have missed.

Among my favorite pieces (and yours too based on the readership data) are the ones in which I took readers behind the scenes on things such as traveling with a big league club, participating in daily media sessions and attending the Winter Meetings.

There were a handful of long-form essays that ranked among my most-read and most-shared posts, some fun historical pieces, as well as various features and other posts in which I shared some thoughts, perspectives and opinions based upon my 30-plus years in the game.

I occasionally caught up with old friends and also checked in on other interesting stories around the majors.

Over the last year, I also reflected on some mentors and friends who were influential in my baseball journey who are no longer with us, people like Larry Lucchino, Jerry Coleman and—in a post that was published the day before he passed away—Tim Wakefield.

Moving forward, I’ll continue to celebrate the Marlins when merited, and I’ll continue to hold the team and its leadership to account when I deem it appropriate.

As any regular reader can attest, I have not been a rah-rah Marlins cheerleader wearing rose-colored glasses like many who rely on the club for their paycheck, for information and/or for access.

But for those who think I’ve at times been too tough, you’d be shocked to learn about some of what I’ve withheld. I’ll save the really juicy stuff for the book.

In the meantime, I look forward to continuing my VFTB coverage on an adjusted scale in the new season, and I remain grateful for your continued interest and support.

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While you’re here…

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• Learn more about one-on-one play-by-play coaching from Glenn Geffner via Zoom at GlennGeffner.com.