Here we are, nearing the end of July. Have you noticed that the days are getting shorter (unless you live in Spokane, I guess)? Certainly not getting any cooler, yet, but that’s another story for another day. The end of July has never – ever – been the start of the Major League Baseball season but in this, the Year of the Pandemic, it is. And all indications are that the baseball year may end quickly and, very possibly, tragically. And all because the 30 MLB team owners have lost sight of what the game of baseball is all about. Since the start of professional baseball more than 150 years ago ..read more

Now that all of us will be at home, sequestered and with a lot of free time on our hands, it’s high time we get back to reading books. You remember books: those things with printed, numbered, pages that contain lots of information and great stories? Sometimes, they even have pictures, many of which may be printed in color. It’s literature’s time to go back to the future. And maybe the best part is that many are available in paperback. For baseball fans, I know of no better way to get back into books than to read Tyler Kepner’s first title, “K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches.” Publishe ..read more

No high fives – fist bumps instead. Less “player/fan interaction”, which means no autographs (we’ll throw you a pre-autographed ball, maybe). A new infectious disease doctor on team medical staff. Welcome to Baseball, 2020, where if you’re not careful, your catch could be something other than a hard line drive to the left center field gap or a foul ball in the cheap seats. The threat of spreading/catching the novel coronavirus – better known these days as COVID-19 – is being dealt with by countries and their citizens in several different ways here and around the world as it leapfrogs over bord ..read more

New York City, June 18, 1976. Near the end of spring, the temperature in sunny Central Park reached a high of 81 – pretty normal for a day in late June. That evening, I was booked on a flight from JFK to Los Angeles for my job as a very young professional managing MLB’s Pitch, Hit & Run for a hotshot marketing agency with an office on the 17th floor of what is now the Met Life Building (at the time named for the long-defunct airline, PanAm). I had taken the same flight a few times and had my secretary book me an aisle seat in the first class cabin (agency policy was that any flight over 4 ..read more

Two score and four years ago (24 if you’ve never read the Gettysburg Address), the New York Yankees 1) had just lost their first playoff series in 14 years the season prior 2) lost their starting second baseman and shortstop to injuries 3) were banking on an unproven rookie at shortstop and 4) had a Panamanian starting pitcher on the roster who hadn’t shown much the year before. All of this, as pitchers and catchers were about to report to the team’s brand-spanking-new training facility in “Boss” George Steinbrenner’s adopted home of Tampa, Florida. The future looked so bright but, in some ve ..read more

Now that all of the marquee-level free agents have been signed/sealed/delivered (save for a team physical or two), the real fun can begin. Really – it’s not too challenging to assess/budget for a top-tier player. MLB GM’s all know what these guys can/should produce (thank you, analytical staff) and how much they can safely add to team payroll before a financial burden would occur (varies by team). If the tumblers click into place, you’ve got yourself a player who is highly recognizable and who should make a major contribution to your stated goal of winning the 2020 World Series. However – i ..read more

Boy, talk about a lead-in designed expressly to generate maximum buzz. Any fan of the game could no doubt reel off about 1,759 different (and unique) things that Major League Baseball should do to improve the game. And it also probably stands to reason that the longer you’ve been watching MLB, the more things you have in your head you’re convinced would help the game in many ways. Some good, some not so good, some downright awful. Nonetheless, all of the ideas any of us could provide can be boiled down to two major categories: money and product. Pretty simple, huh? I probably could’ve boiled t ..read more

If anyone claims that Major League Baseball is suffering financially, send them back up the bar and tell them that they’ve got to buy the next 3 rounds. Really. A cursory look at what the 30 MLB teams have committed to Free Agents before January 2020 is staggering – $1,401,250. That’s with a “B.” Granted, that money is spread over 37 players and multiple years, in most cases (not counting the two FA’s who signed deals in Japan), and includes several players who have inked Minor League deals, but still – $1.4 BILLION! And there are still many high-end players who have yet to sign contracts. Whi ..read more

I know – 2 of the top 3 free agents right now are starting pitchers (Cole and Strasburg), with several others (Wheeler, Keuchel, Ryu, etc) not far behind. But could this FA crop be the beginning of the end of the long history of starters? I think there’s a good possibility that it could be, but before you jump to any conclusions, hear me out. I’ve looked at three indicators that point to a rapidly increasing decline in both the number and “status” of starters. First, is VELOCITY. Today’s game is all about velo (followed closely by spin, but that’s for another blog on another day). The more ..read more

While most of the US shivers, down here in Paradise (a/k/a South Florida), today it’s a comfortable – but rainy – 74 mid-November degrees. And while our weather may bring on thoughts of strolls along the beach and buying extra tubes of SPF 50 lotion, the staff at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in the Abacoa community of Jupiter, FL is hard at work preparing for Spring Training 2020. To that end, I had the opportunity to sit down today with Andrew Miller, the Media Relations Coordinator at the Stadium to discuss what new and different things baseball fans can expect, beginning February 22, 2020 ..read more