Announcing the BYB spring training FanPost contest

A few months ago we introduced something totally new for Bless You Boys. A FanPost contest in which the winners were rewarded with some very cool real-world more-than-just-bragging-rights prizes. Our grand champion, reader MichAndTrumbull, won a blueprint of Comerica Park from Ballpark Blueprints for a very interesting analysis of how Alfredo Simon and Shane Greene could benefit from the Tigers' skilled middle infield duo.

We received so many deserving entries to that contest that Don Kelly T-shirts stepped up and offered a couple of their own prizes to the two runners-up, SlurryCat and FrogTownFan, who each took home a "Martinez and Martinez: When Results Matter" T-shirt for their excellent submissions.

Well DK T-shirts has stepped up to the plate yet again and offered to sponsor another FanPost contest, which means that you have another shot at winning free Tigers gear. All you have to do is submit a Tigers-related FanPost to Bless You Boys before 11:59 p.m. (that's midnight, folks) on March 22, and you'll be automatically entered into the voting. As usual, plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated and if we find that you have lifted your work from somewhere else, you'll be disqualified.

This time around the prizes will be supplied entirely by Don Kelly T-shirts, and they have graciously donated a pair of shirts -- their spring training '15 design shown at the top of the page, and the Alan Trammell design shown below -- to the winner of the contest.

The best submissions will also be featured on the front page of Bless You Boys, so this is your chance to prove to all of your friends that you're interesting, popular, and knowledgeable about the Tigers! If you've never written a FanPost before and need a quick tutorial (or just want a refresher on the finer points of our text editor), click here.

The subject of your submission is totally up to you. We've left the rules pretty wide open, the only restrictions being that your post must be tied to Tigers baseball, and it must be your own work. For some great examples you can see the entire list of entries to the last contest here. Our readers got very creative, submitting everything from advanced analysis to gut-busting humor to touching personal stories. As an idea starter, the timing of this contest could provide you with some great material regarding how the team is shaping up for the start of the season.

Full disclosure: we'll probably be changing the voting process this time around. Most likely we'll require that voters have an account with SB Nation, like we did in this post regarding the bullpen, as a way to avoid ballot-stuffing. However, we reserve the right to change the voting procedures (with due notice) at any time.

Finally, be sure to check out the Don Kelly T-shirts website (they have a few great items for fans of the Lions and the University of Michigan too), and if you're on Twitter follow them @DonKellyTshirts.

Remember, the deadline is 11:59 p.m. on March 22! If you have any questions about the contest you can contact me personally at fielderschoice11@gmail.com or on Twitter @FieldersChoice5, or you can email bybtigers@gmail.com.