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Think of the major league players in a clubhouse like the cool kids in high school. The world revolves around them. Their approval, friendship and respect are collateral in that universe. I have seen owners gravitate toward star clusters in clubhouses, GMs dumb down their language, curse and spit to try to be one of …
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Yankees president Randy Levine doesn’t envision the entire season being played in empty ballparks. Slated to start on March 26, MLB’s season is on hold due to the coronavirus. “I think the president’s guidelines have been very, very well done and that we have to abide by them. The sports industry can be an example …
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Was J.T. Watkins just another scapegoat? At the conclusion of MLB’s investigation into the Red Sox sign-stealing scandal, nearly all responsibility for the endeavor was pinned on the 30-year-old replay operator, Watkins, who has been suspended for the entire 2020 season and banned from working in the replay room in 2021. Watkins, the only individual …
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The Red Sox were no Astros in the opinion of MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. The commissioner ruled Wednesday that in response to the Red Sox’s sign-stealing during their 2018 championship season, the team’s video replay system operator is the only current Red Sox person penalized. That person, J.T. Watkins, is suspended for the entire 2020 …
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Eriko Takehama normally would be covering the Yankees this time of year, following Masahiro Tanaka with other Japanese sportswriters who are assigned to watch the right-hander’s every move. But Takehama and the rest of the Japanese media are stuck inside their apartments in New York due to the coronavirus pandemic — and unlike other New …
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Exhibition games begin Tuesday — in South Korea. There will be no spectators. Umpires will be wearing masks. Players will have their temperatures taken as they enter the stadiums. There even are supposed to be rules forbidding spitting and licking fingers. But the third-best league in the world after MLB and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball …
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“Can I kick you in the shins?” Strange questions have come my way during this pandemic, so I decided to play along. I told the veteran player agent who asked, “No, you may not kick me in the shins.” “Great,” he said. “Now, here is the choice, I am either going to kick you in …
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Earlier this week, in a conversation with a veteran player representative, I asked if the Commissioner’s Office and the Players Association would be the scorpion from The Scorpion and the Frog. In the fable, the scorpion convinces a frog to carry him across the river. The frog says no because you will sting me. The …
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Some won’t look at Roy Halladay the same after learning of the National Transportation Safety Board report, which stated the Hall of Fame pitcher was on high levels of amphetamines and morphine, while doing acrobatic stunts on the small plane that took his life in a crash in November 2017. Brandy Halladay sees her no …
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More than three months after suspensions were levied regarding the Houston Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal, results of a similar investigation into the Boston Red Sox still have not been announced. Multiple members of the 2018 Red Sox have come out this week to express doubts that the probe will reveal violations as substantial as those …
Think of the major league players in a clubhouse like the cool kids in high school. The world revolves around them. Their approval, friendship and respect are collateral in that universe. I have seen owners gravitate toward star clusters in clubhouses, GMs dumb down their language, curse and spit to try to be one of …
