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The 2024 Major League Baseball season has had a big problem with umpires making bad calls. Leading that charge yet again has been Angel Hernandez, who continues to be one of the worst umpires in the game. He unfortunately lived up to that reputation while working home plate in Sunday's New York Mets-Los Angeles Dodgers game when he called a clear strike a ball.

As Major League Baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson and his pioneering contributions to the game, I can’t help but think about the fact that the league is reporting a historically low number of Black American players in its ranks: only 6%. I think this is a teachable moment at a time when diversity efforts across various arenas (no pun intended) have come under attack. Major League Baseball, unfortunately, is a prime example of what it looks like to talk the talk without always walking the walk.

A woman who accused former major league pitcher Trevor Bauer of sexual assault has been indicted by a grand jury in Arizona on felony charges of fraudulent schemes and theft by extortion. Darcy Adanna Esemonu "knowingly did obtain a benefit from ... Trevor Anthony Bauer by means of fraudulent pretenses, representation, promises, or material omissions," according to an indictment dated March 19 and filed Monday in the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Esemonu also "knowingly did obtain or sought to obtain property or services ... by means of a threat to in the future expose a secret or...

Interview with Amber Roman who caught Shohei Ohtani’s first home run as a Dodger at Dodger Stadium last night (Wednesday, April 3). I post it because she was essentially extorted in to giving up the ball to Dodger staff. Security immediately went and got her, took her in to a room, would not allow her husband, or anyone else, to accompany her. They then told her if she did not give them the ball that the Dodgers would not authenticate it and it would be worthless. That there is illegal. The whole thing stinks. I post the pertinent transcript excerpt...

The Athletics, as part of their efforts to relocate to Las Vegas in time for the 2028 season, will play their home games for the 2025-27 seasons at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, the team announced on Thursday. The deal includes an option for a fourth season. The A's lease with the City of Oakland is set to expire at the end of this season, yet the A's rejected a five-year extension on the lease of Oakland Coliseum. That, plus an apparent desire to retain as much of their local broadcasting revenue as possible (a factor that my have...

One of Las Vegas’ longest-standing and most historic hotels is shuttering its doors after nearly 67 years to make room for a new Major League Baseball stadium. Tropicana Las Vegas closed on Tuesday, just shy of its 67th. anniversary. Demolition is slated for October to make room for a $1.5 billion Major League Baseball stadium. The hotel, which opened on the iconic Las Vegas strip on April 4, 1957, was nicknamed the “Tiffany of the Strip” for its opulence. When it was built in the late -1950s, the Tropicana cost $15 million to build. It was three stories with 300...

The Phillies and the Atlanta Braves reputedly are among the elite teams of major-league baseball, but if the quality of play at Citizens Bank Park during their season-opening series doesn’t quite measure up to expectations, go gentle on the booing. These players are experiencing a form of abrupt climate change, says Struan Coleman, a sports medicine specialist who practices in New York and Philly. When the Phillies left Clearwater, Fla., after their final spring training game Monday, the high was 83 degrees, and daily highs since the team began playing their practice games in Florida on Feb. 25 have averaged...

The Los Angeles Dodgers interpreter for Shohei Ohtani was fired Wednesday afternoon after questions surrounding at least $4.5 million in wire transfers sent from Ohtani's bank account to a bookmaking operation set off a series of events. Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime friend and interpreter for Ohtani, incurred the gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation, multiple sources told ESPN. How he came to lose his job started with reporters asking questions about the wire transfers. Initially, a spokesman for Ohtani told ESPN the slugger had transferred the funds to cover Mizuhara's gambling debt. The...

Sometimes, it feels like the San Francisco Giants just can’t help themselves. Another unforced error after an offseason spent repairing the damage from Greg Johnson’s “somewhat break even” debacle, this time in the form of letting longtime public address announcer Renel Brooks-Moon go after what appears to be a contract dispute. In a press release hilariously titled “Ahead of the 2024 Season, Giants Name Renel Brooks-Moon Public Address Announcer Emeritus” — I’m still dizzy from all of that spin — the Giants casually mentioned that after exchanging contract numbers with Renel, a new deal could not be reached and she...

HOUSTON -- Jason and Brady Johnston’s day on Saturday started in Aledo, Texas. The father and son jumped in their car at around 8 a.m. and began their trek towards Houston, which would be the first stop of their Spring Break trip. After the four-plus-hour journey, including a stop for lunch in College Station, the duo arrived at Minute Maid Park around 4:15 p.m. to attend the Savannah Bananas' first game in a Major League stadium. “We’re very excited,” Jason said. “It looks like a great show. Just seeing the dances, the crazy plays and flips and all of that.”...

New San Francisco Giants manager Bob Melvin has instituted a new rule for his club in his first year with the the franchise, and it’s difficult to miss during spring training. Melvin is requiring every person in the team’s dugout to stand for the national anthem, and he explained why. “It’s all about the perception that we’re out there ready to play,” Melvin said, per The Athletic. “That’s it. You want your team ready to play, and I want the other team to notice it, too. It’s really as simple as that.” Melvin also made it clear his reasoning has...

Twenty six years ago, in Nashville, Tennessee, during the first week of January, 1996, more than 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel for the 52nd annual ABCA’s convention. Like all conventions, there are an array of prominent individuals in whatever the convention is about invited as speakers.As the guests lined up to register with the hotel staff, the name of one of the speakers kept coming up in conversations. Usually with the same sentiment, "John Scolinos is here? Oh man, this convention is going to be worth every penny I spent on the airfare and hotel room."So...

PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) — MLB's new uniform reveal hasn't gone very well. Now some of the rampant criticism has moved below the belt. Major League Baseball Players Association deputy executive director Bruce Meyer confirmed on Thursday that the organization is relaying concerns from players to MLB about the new pants, which are somewhat see-through. The complaints — first reported by ESPN — are part of broader scorn for the new uniforms, which are designed by Nike and manufactured by Fanatics.

Media assisting in the details: Chicago police could soon issue a final report on the mysterious shooting at a White Sox game last summer. Two women in the stands were shot and injured, and theories have varied about how it happened. During the game, two women were injured by bullets that struck them while sitting in the left field bleachers. One 40 caliber bullet was recovered. Another bullet remains lodged in the leg of the woman who was most seriously wounded. So two bullets? Or one bullet (in a known location) and one shell casing? Because the media is famous...

Warner Bros. Discovery is preparing to launch a streaming service in partnership with ESPN / Disney and Fox Sports, as reported earlier by CNBC and Sports Business Journal. All three companies have agreed in principle to launch an as-yet-unnamed standalone app, of which they all share one-third ownership, this fall that streams a range of leagues and sports. It is poised to have sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, and truTV. The new service will air games from the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball...

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman isn't exactly extending a warm embrace to the Oakland Athletics, who plan to build a $1.5 billion stadium in her city. In fact, Goodman said the team's stadium plan "does not make sense" and that A's ownership should go back to the drawing board and pitch a new plan in the Bay Area. "I personally think [the A's have] got to figure out a way to stay in Oakland to make their dream come true," Goodman told the Front Office Sports Today podcast, which was released Tuesday.

Freeper gubamyster passed away on December 10, 2022 at the age of 59. His name was James Ryan Williams II. He was an accountant, and lived in Huntington Beach, CA. "Gub" was a regular on the Weekly Dose of the Trump Family Train, and was known for his wry sense of humor and his witty repartee. He was married with four children. He loved baseball, and we followed the exploits of his oldest son, who played for his college baseball team. At the link, there is a picture of Gub and video tribute. We noticed he was not posting sometime...

Bud Harrelson, the shortstop on the Mets’ first two World Series teams and later the club’s manager for parts of two seasons, died Wednesday at a hospice home in East Northport on Long Island. Harrelson, who was 79 was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. A good-field, no-hit player, Harrelson spent 15 years in the major leagues and was the starting shortstop on both the Miracle Mets’ 1969 world championship team which upset the Baltimore Orioles that October and their 1973 National League pennant winners who lost that year’s World Series to the Oakland Athletics in seven games.

Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani “will collect $2 million in each of the next 10 years” from the LA Dodgers, notes Reason’s Eric Boehm, with the other $68 million of Ohtani’s yearly salary being “deferred for a decade.” “The Dodgers will owe it to him in annual installments starting in 2034.” Why? “California has the country’s highest state income tax rates,” so “Ohtani could save as much as $98 million” if “he relocates out of California by 2034.” And the Dodgers might also reduce their own tax burden” by dodging the “MLB’s so-called ‘luxury tax’ ” that limits “how much money...

"The Yankees are profoundly saddened by the passing of former United States secretary of state Henry Kissinger, who performed varied and vital diplomatic and advisory roles throughout his distinguished career. A lifelong friend of the Yankees organization, he was a frequent welcome guest of the Steinbrenner family at Yankee Stadium. We offer our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and all who had the privilege of knowing him. He will be deeply missed.”