Players, managers intrigued by MLB’s all-Arizona optionVideo
Boston’s Chris Sale, out for the season following Tommy John surgery, thought about the prospect of his teammates sequestered in the Phoenix area for an extended period if MLB and its players adopt an all-Arizona start to the season. “I don’t know if I could look at my kids just...
Ex-MLB player finishes medical school, primes to fight virusVideo
NEW YORK — If he wanted, Mark Hamilton could show off his World Series ring at work. But the fill-in first baseman for the 2011 champion St. Louis Cardinals prefers to keep that prize safe at home. “The surgical scrub tub, not the most conducive place to wear it,” Hamilton...
MLB, union discuss playing all games in ArizonaVideo
NEW YORK — Putting all 30 teams in the Phoenix area this season and playing in empty ballparks was among the ideas discussed Monday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association. The sides held a telephone call to talk about paths forward for a season delayed by the coronavirus...
Detroit Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline dies at 85Video
DETROIT — Fresh off the train and only 18 years old, Al Kaline ran into an immediate roadblock trying to join the Detroit Tigers. Called up to the majors, he couldn’t get past the security guards at Briggs Stadium. “I finally convinced them I was the guy who just signed...
Will Phillies’ Andrew McCutchen still be elite after return from knee surgery?Video
PHILADELPHIA — Andrew McCutchen batted .709 as a high school senior. Of the 1,501 players drafted in 2005, he was taken 11th by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He’s a five-time All-Star, a Gold Glove Award winner and the 2013 National League MVP. And he did it all after blowing out his...
Fields of green: Mild winter, no games aid ballpark grass
Nicole Sherry poked some holes in the turf at Camden Yards, cut the grass and then left the ballpark about the same time the Baltimore Orioles should have been wrapping up their season opener. “What a beautiful day it would have been for a ballgame,” said Sherry, the head groundskeeper...
First Call: ESPN spruces up Myles Garrett again; Stephen A. Smith rips Antonio Brown; 100-game MLB season?
Friday’s “First Call” illustrates ESPN’s unending desire to shine up Myles Garrett. Stephen A. Smith lowers the boom on Mr. Business is Boomin’. Check out Tom Brady’s new place in Tampa. We may have a 100-game Major League Baseball season. And O.J. Simpson gives us his review of “Tiger King.”...
Former MLB outfielder Jim Edmonds feeling better after coronavirus diagnosisVideo
Retired Angels and St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jim Edmonds reported late Wednesday he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. In a video shared on his Instagram profile, Edmonds said he was “doing really well” and no longer exhibited symptoms of the covid-19 disease. He surmised he must have been...
Call to arms: Compressed schedule could mean more pitchersVideo
NEW YORK — When and if Opening Day comes around this year, New York Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake anticipates a brimming bullpen. MLB and the players’ association have talked about a compressed schedule to get in as many games as possible. That will set off a call to arms....
Rangers veteran Shin-Soo Choo giving $1K to each of organization’s 191 minor leaguersVideo
Rangers veteran Shin-Soo Choo is helping out financially strapped minor league players with the season on hold, giving $1,000 each to 191 of them who are in the Texas organization. Choo said Wednesday he remembers the financial struggles when he was in the minors. The 37-year-old outfielder-designated hitter hopes the...
MLB players receive advance pay during work stoppageVideo
NEW YORK — Gerrit Cole, Mike Trout and other veteran major leaguers will receive $4,775 per day in advance pay for the first 60 days of the season during the stoppage caused by the new coronavirus, a total of $286,500. That is 2.5% of the $193,548 the New York Yankees...
Tim Benz: Jim Rutherford is right about champions having ‘integrity’ in shortened seasons
Tom Glavine. Patrick Kane. Doug Williams. Tim Duncan. “Who are four men who have never been in my kitchen, Alex?” Yes, Cliff Clavin. Technically, that is correct. But I’m going to need you to be more specific. “Who are four MVPs of their respective sports championship round?” Also true. But...
Two Chicago Cubs employees test positive for covid-19Video
CHICAGO — Two Chicago Cubs employees who attended an annual training session at Wrigley Field on March 8 have tested positive for the covid-19 virus. One was hospitalized, and the other was recovering at home, spokesman Julian Green said Sunday. Green also said there was “nothing definitive” indicating the session...
Tech boom, MLB programs helping women find jobs in baseballVideo
MESA, Ariz. — Rachel Folden figured something out early on during her first spring training with the Chicago Cubs — long before the coronavirus pandemic wiped out team activities. None of the players care much that one of their coaches is a woman. As for the girls she encounters, they...
MLB owners ratify deal; final pitch could be closer to Christmas than HalloweenVideo
NEW YORK — If the final pitch of the 2020 baseball season comes closer to Christmas than Halloween, that’s fine with the players. MLB owners ratified a 17-page agreement with the union Friday in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, with players willing to extend the season as long as...
Fantasy podcast: How MLB delay is impacting drafts; pitching injuries; Ebron vs. Eifert; QB draft slot
Major League Baseball’s commissioner has spoken, and it looks like Rob Manfred is waving the white flag on a full 162-game season because of the coronavirus delay. Not only is that a big deal for fans of the game but also for those who play fantasy baseball. In our weekly...
Bill Bartholomay, who moved Braves to Atlanta, dies at 91Video
ATLANTA — Bill Bartholomay, the former baseball owner who moved the Braves from from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966 to become MLB’s first team in the South, has died. He was 91. Bartholomay died Wednesday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, according to his daughter, Jamie. Braves Hall of Famer Hank Aaron...
Cubs-Cardinals series in London reportedly canceled because of coronavirusVideo
MLB has made no formal announcement regarding the status of the London Series, but an England-based newspaper reported Thursday the two-game series between the Cubs and Cardinals has been canceled. The Sun reported organizers canceled the series, scheduled for June 13-14 at London Stadium, in the wake of the coronavirus...
MLB players keep service time in new deal; draft could be trimmedVideo
NEW YORK — Players agreed to a deal with MLB that would preserve service time in the event this season is canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, a person familiar with the agreement told the Associated Press. As part of the agreement Thursday night, management was given the right to...
MLB uniform maker switches to producing medical masks, gownsVideo
PHILADELPHIA — The Bryce Harper jersey that could have been worn this baseball season by the biggest Philadelphia Phillies fan is now a protective mask in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Fanatics, the company that manufactures uniforms for MLB, has suspended production on jerseys and is instead using the...
Doubleheaders? Winter windup? Baseball’s 2020 could be creativeVideo
PHOENIX — It has been another ideal week of March weather in central Arizona, with highs in the 70s and plenty of sunshine. Perfect for an Opening Day baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves that isn’t happening as planned because of the coronavirus pandemic. That reality was...
Tim Dahlberg: Enough greed, just shorten the baseball seasonVideo
Major league owners and players seem to be in rare agreement. They want to play as many games as possible, as soon as possible. Ordinarily that would be something to cheer for. But one look at the line of people in masks stretching outside Costco at 7 a.m. is evidence...
MLB ballparks will remain eerily empty on ‘opening day’
ARLINGTON, Texas — There will be no hot dogs on the grill, no beer on tap, no vendors in the stands selling peanuts and Cracker Jack. The shiny new stadium deep in the heart of Texas will still be waiting for its first Rangers game. Instead of warming up for...
First Call: Steelers embracing Watt Bros. fun, Jameis Winston chatter continues, MLB unlikely to play 162
Thursday’s “First Call” makes the Watt brother era official with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Jameis Winston chatter won’t stop. Major League Baseball is accepting that a shortened year can’t be avoided. Can Tom Brady still throw a decent deep ball? And Obi Toppin is off to the NBA. As much...
Even if there is no MLB season, players still can be free agentsVideo
NEW YORK — Mookie Betts and all the players set to be free agents after the 2020 season still would get that chance if there is no baseball this year, part of a broad deal being negotiated by the commissioner’s office and the players’ association. If there is no season...
