CNN: Is baseball on its way out?

“No one goes to baseball games anymore, its too crowded there.”

Except it’s untrue. Seventeen of the game’s 30 teams have poorer attendance than a year ago at this time. World Series television ratings get more disappointing year after year. Household-name players—I mean popular and scandal-free ones like Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter—have come to the ends of their careers, with no clear heir-apparents.

Is there a star player of today you’d go out of your way to see?

“Hey, Felix Hernandez ...

Bud Selig: Montreal ‘excellent’ choice for return

IF the build a fantastic new stadium.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig can envision Montreal making a bid to return to the major leagues…

“I think they would be an excellent candidate in the future. No question about it. That was very impressive,” Selig said Tuesday during a question-and-answer session with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

“They have much work to be done,” he said. “There’s certainly in my case no hard or angry feeling toward Montreal. We tried to keep a team ...

Former MLB player Luke Scott fired from Korean team after confrontation with coach

According to reports out of Korea, Scott, who was playing for SK Wyverns, had been placed on reserve due to plantar fasciitis and was not pleased with how the team was managing his injury. After an argument with coach Lee Man-soon in which Scott called the coach a “liar” and “coward,” Scott told reporters the team did not respect his way of handling his physical condition.

Scott, 36, had a .267 batting average and six home runs in 33 games for Wyverns, and he was on the injury list ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-16-2014

Pittsburgh Press, July 16, 1914:

Eight of the Boston Redsox [sic] were chased from the bench by the umpires yesterday for making uncomplimentary remarks about the Cleveland players.

I find it fascinating that this is buried deep in the “baseball notes” column. If eight players from one team got ejected in one game in 2014, it would be the top sports story everywhere in the country.

MGL: What’s in store for the Tigers in the second half?

Tigers don’t suck…at least according to MGL.

What does the rest of 2014 look like for the Detroit Tigers? We would expect their collective pitcher projections for the rest of the season to be nearly the same as before the season began. Their hitter projections might be a tad better and their defensive projections a tad worse. Overall, we wouldn’t expect their rest-of-season (ROS) win percentage to be much different from their pre-season win percentage, which was .543. That would give them a ...

Adam Wainwright says he grooved pitch for Derek Jeter to hit in All-Star farewell

Derek Jeter’s final All-Star Game went about as well as possible, even if it included a little help from the opposing pitcher.

Jeter went 2 for 2, including a first-inning double on a 90-mph fastball National League starter Adam Wainwright told a group of reporters he threw over the plate intentionally.

“I was gonna give him a couple pipe shots. He deserved it,” Wainwright said. “I didn’t know he was gonna hit a double or I might have changed my mind.”

Fivethirtyeight: Derek Jeter And the Other Worst All-Star Starters of the Past 40 Years

Wait Mark Loretta was an All-Star? Mark Loretta was an All-Star STARTER?????

Forty-year-old Cal Ripken Jr.’s 2001 All-Star Game start was awarded purely out of legacy, and it’s been frequently compared to Jeter’s this week. Ripken, however, had the worst first half of any All-Star Game starter from the past four decades, having played much worse than Jeter has thus far in 2014. Ripken’s first-half triple-slash line in 2001 was .240/.270/.324 (good for a 56 Weighted Runs Created Plus); ...

MLB Finally Acknowledges Glenn Burke, The Game’s Gay Pioneer

At tonight’s all-star game, MLB will recognize the career and contributions of Glenn Burke, a speedy outfielder who became the first baseball player to be out to his teammates, and the first to acknowledge it publicly after his career ended.

Burke left the game in 1979, citing the burden of keeping his personal life private.

Neyer: Get ready for Just A Bit Outside ... FOXSports.com’s new baseball destination

The future in sports journalism here - flannel-based reporting!

Welcome to Just a Bit Outside, coming to FOXSports.com on Wednesday. I’ve been doing this “work” for a long time now, and over the last 70-some years I’ve developed some pretty strong opinions when it comes to covering baseball on the Ultranet. You know, I was there at the beginning, covering such luminaries as Gus “No Shoulders” Wagner and Dale “Murderer” Sisler for the website of the Baltimore Picayune-Democrat, and I’ve seen it ...

MLB names Billy Bean its first ambassador for inclusion

Billy Bean should not have written that book.

One year after Major League Baseball issued a policy prohibiting players from harassing and discriminating against others players based on their sexual orientation, Commissioner Bud Selig appointed former outfielder Billy Bean to be MLB’s first ambassador for inclusion.

The announcement was made on Tuesday at the T-Mobile All-Star FanFest, following Selig’s annual Town Hall Chat on the set of the MLB.com stage at the Minneapolis Convention Center. ...Read More...

RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: July 15, 2014 at 03:54 PM | 11 comment(s)
  Beats: billy bean, gay rights, lgbt

SB Nation: The Many Crimes of Mel Hall

So if you thought the Chad Curtis story wasn’t creepy enough, there is the Mel Hall story.

“Mel Hall loved sex. Sex is what drove him,” said McMillan. According to a high school teammate, Hall impregnated two girls by the time he was a high school senior. The best guess of Texas authorities for the number of children he eventually sired is eight.

McMillan added, “He was a young guy who made a lot of money real fast, and he wanted to buy his way through life.”

So that was Mel Hall: a ...

Brisbee: Figuring out the Inside the Park Home Run Derby

There are all sorts of ways the Derby could be improved, of course. Just ask someone, they’ll tell you. Suggestions range from “Not having it” to “Not televising it,” though I’m partial to something like a Double Dare obstacle course. Hide the baseball in a gigantic nose with fake boogers, and make David Wright have to find it before he can hit it over the fence.

...

But what about an Inside the Park Home Run Derby? I’m not the first person with the idea, nor I will be the last. But I can’t ...

Rosenthal: Agent calls Foul on Astros, MLB in negotiations with No. 1 overall pick

“We are extremely disappointed that Major League Baseball is allowing the Astros to conduct business in this manner with a complete disregard for the rules governing the draft and the 29 other clubs who have followed those same rules,” said Close, who serves as a family advisor to Aiken.
The standoff could lead the Astros to lose their reported $6.5 million agreement with Aiken and $1.5 million deal with their fifth-round pick, high-school right-hander Jacob Nix, who also is advised by ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 7-15-2014

Pittsburgh Press, July 15, 1914:

A dispute over the color of uniforms is said to have a large part in the breaking up of the California State league, which has disbanded.
...
The freeholders of Modesto got up and declared themselves. The had had an independent team known as the Modesto Reds, which wore red uniforms; they put it in the state league and the uniforms were changed in color. If the State league backer would consent to Modesto’s team wearing red uniforms they would back the game; if ...

2014 ALL-STAR GAME OMNICHATTER

The “Hopefully The DNS Server Connections At Our Houses Are Fixed or Something” All-Star OMNICHATTER

NL: Adam Wainwright
AL: Felix Hernandez
Target Field

7:30 PM ET (game won’t actually start until 8 PM at the absolute earliest, because of festivities and FOX)

With hitting down, should MLB lower the mound?

Or as pulse of the notion, Keith Hernandez said about the death of Tommy Ramone: “Hey, you come and go. They had a good run.”

From his vantage point in the New York Mets’ broadcast booth, former NL MVP Keith Hernandez has an unusual analysis and an equally drastic solution.

“They should get rid of four teams,” he said. “Too many players. There’s too much dilution of talent. The pitching’s not better. It’s the same.”

“I think that the residuals of steroids and aluminum bats has affected how ...

Margalus: 10 minutes with Frank Thomas before his Hall of Fame day

On the vote

“The Hall of Fame committee told me to watch [the Baseball Think Factory Hall of Fame Gizmo] because it’s been pretty accurate over the last couple years. It’s a good judge, a good gauge, but don’t buy into it 100 percent.”

“You talk yourself into it, and that final day, you get really nervous about things, so I’m just really happy I got in on the first ballot and don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

On Jose Abreu

“I don’t have any questions about him. He’s a tremendous ...

Charleston RiverDogs to hold Bill Veeck Bobble-Leg Night

Only the Charleston RiverDogs can have Bobble-Leg Night, complete with a bobbling replica wooden leg to go with Bill Veeck’s bobbling head. And celebrate by destroying as many Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus CDs as possible..Bill Veeck, the father of RiverDogs co-owner Mike Veeck, lost a leg in an artillery accident while serving in World War II. He enjoyed making jokes about his condition as a way to inspire others at ballparks and beyond….It’s the 100th anniversary of his birth,” Veeck said ...

Rod Carew: Former Twins Oliva, Kaat, Morris deserve place in Hall of Fame

I haven’t seen twins neglected like this since Poto and Cabengo!

Rod Carew, the hall of famer and former Twin who was named to 18 All-Star Games and will make the ceremonial first pitch at Tuesday night’s All-Star Game at Target Field, served on the Expansion-Era Hall of Fame committee that in two weeks will induct ex-managers Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre in Cooperstown, N.Y.

But with a proviso.

“I told the president of the Hall of Fame that the only way I would be on that ...

Knobler: Inside MLB’s Cuban Pipeline: It’s High-Risk, High-Reward

Mr. Burns, I think we can trust the President of Cuba.

Eventually, the players who leave the island establish residency in another country and are declared free agents. Workouts are scheduled, sometimes attracting 200 scouts and executives if the player is a big enough star.

Sometimes, a player may work out for a specific team, as Abreu did for the Reds when they wanted to see if he could play third base or left field (he couldn’t, at least not to their satisfaction, and with Joey Votto set ...

OT: The Soccer Thread July, 2014

Link to June Thread

Finally we get to talk about what really matters: transfer rumors!

Oh, and there are some games too:

July 15: KR Reykjavik vs Celtic & other Champions League Qualifiers

July 16: Lanus vs Atletico Mineiro (Recopa Sudamericana Leg 1), Philadelphia Union vs NY Red Bulls, Champions League Qualifiers

July 17: Europa League Qualifiers, Hearts vs Man City (Friendly)

July 18: RB Leipzig vs PSG (Friendly), Tijuana vs Puebla, Querétaro vs Pumas UNAM

July ...

Bleacher Report: Jordan Brand Rolls out Moving ‘RE2PECT’ Tribute for Derek Jeter

Where are his sexual conquests? Didn’t they enjoy the gift baskets?

The best part of this ad might be the grudging acknowledgements of Jeter’s success. Boston bros with no love for the Yankees tip their hats, and Mr. Met might have to go into witness protection after doffing his cap for Jeter.

It’s a moving tribute for a guy who made it through baseball’s most turbulent era without an arrest or a PED scandal. This is Nike’s official salute to Jeter, whose legacy with the company is ...

Calcaterra: The Great Jucy Lucy Hunt

So a Ground Rule Double IPA can be expensed if you’re a baseball writer? Good to know.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The first thing I planned to do once I got into town and set my suitcase down on Saturday evening was to go get a Jucy Lucy. What is a Jucy Lucy, you ask? It’s a cheeseburger that has the cheese inside the meat patty in addition to on top. It’s a thing here in the Twin Cities. ....Getting my Jucy Lucy was a process. It started by me getting into the elevator in my hotel and ...

HR DERBY AND CELEB SOFTBALL OMNICHATTER 2014

Tonight on ESPN.

Batter Patience as a Team Sport

If plate patience was so important, why don’t they put it on the scoreboard?

But the problem with this narrative goes deeper than that. In truth, there is little evidence of any ultimate connection between team plate patience and production, on either side of the ledger. So far this season, the Red Sox (4.02 P/PA), Mets (3.87 P/PA), and Phillies (3.87 P/PA) all have significantly above-average plate patience, and significantly below-average offensive production. The Blue Jays, Athletics, and ...

Alex Gordon: The Eugene Cernan of the 2014 MLB All Star Game

Full disclosure, this writer works for me on another site. Also full disclosure: Alex Gordon is my favorite player, and Eugene Cernan is my favorite astronaut.

Alex Gordon, on the other hand, is a little bit more like Eugene Cernan, the 24th—and last—man to walk on the moon. Maybe you’ve heard of him, but probably not. “The 24th Man to Walk on the Moon” doesn’t have much musicality to it. His achievement is far from being as historical as Armstrong’s, but still, he’s been to ...

WATCH IT: Joey Gallo Takes Batting Practice - BaseballAmerica.com

Yesterday was Joey Gallo Day!

Rangers third baseman Joey Gallo has 31 home runs this season, more than anyone in the minors or majors. If we’re being realistic, his power is well past 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale. And on Sunday at during batting practice at the Futures Game, he showed off in a major way. He hit 13 balls out during the session, most of the soaring, majestic, sky-scraping variety. Here’s two rounds of his batting practice. Sit back, relax and enjoy.

Joey Gallo’s homer backs stellar U.S. pitching in Futures Game win | cubs.com: News

Does anyone have a link to see the game online? I missed a couple of innings on the cable broadcast.

New York Post:  Familar Cry of ‘Ya Gotta Believe’ Begins to Ring out Again

The Mets’ pythagorian record right now is 50-45.  Are they secretly good, or is there a talent-related reason they are so far below that record at 45-50?  Wright, Granderson, and D’Arnaud have all begun to live up to expectations. Murphy is better than expected.  Lagares has continued to perform at a high level. The starters have been solid, though oversold as a team strength.

Conventional wisdom is that with a record so divergent from the run differential, we should expect a strong ...

Arguello: Would you rather be the Cubs or the Yankees right now?

Ensign Cottrell...reporting for double-duty.

For those that may say you never know how prospects are going to pan out, the Yankees have shown that spending money is no guarantee either.  Even when they turn out reasonably well, as it has with the Yankees, it doesn’t necessarily tranlsate to more wins overall.  Some fans want to see the Cubs sign a star player they can identify with, but be honest here.  Would you really be more willing to go to a ballgame to watch Brian McCann or even Jacoby ...