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Braves Clippings Friday, April 2, 2020 Braves.com

MLB Network to air epic Game 7 of 1992 NLCS

By Mark Bowman

ATLANTA -- As MLB Network highlights the Braves’ impressive run through the 1990s, Atlanta fans will have a chance to relive the drama they felt the night that Sid Slid.

"Where were you when Sid Slid?" has become a question many Braves fans ask when reminiscing about Game 7 of the 1992 Championship Series. That classic game, which concluded with a dramatic ninth-inning comeback against the Pirates, will be shown on MLB Network on Friday at 9 a.m. ET, 2:30 p.m. and 10 p.m.

"We all rushed on the field afterward," former President told MLB.com’s Alyson Footer in 2013. "It was the most exciting moment of my experience with sports.”

That’s right. Carter was among those who rushed the field after Sid Bream slid across the plate to cap the three-run ninth inning that gave the Braves a 3-2 win over the Pirates in this thrilling Game 7 matchup. Barry Bonds’ errant throw to the plate concluded an inning that cemented Francisco Cabrera’s name in Atlanta lore.

“It was one of the most exciting plays in the history of our franchise for sure and maybe in all of baseball,” Hall of Fame said in "Atlanta Rules, the Story of the ’90s Braves," an MLB Network documentary that will also air Friday at 8 a.m. ET, noon and 7 p.m.

This documentary focuses on the tremendous success the Braves achieved while making five trips to the during the 1990s. Hall of Famers , , and all played prominent parts during what was the greatest decade in the franchise’s history.

"I remember asking Glavine what would it be like to play somewhere else and win," Smoltz said. "Then the 1991 season happened, and we were as confident of a team as you'll ever see, thinking we could do it for three or four years easy. Then 10 years happen, and then from that point forward, no one thought it could continue. When you get to 14 [consecutive division titles], it just doesn't seem real."

Along with reairing the game and this documentary, MLB Network will also show MLB’s 20 Greatest Games: Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS at 1 p.m. ET and 5:30 p.m. This show features Bream, and former Pirates outfielder Andy Van Slyke discussing their memories of the classic with Bob Costas and Tom Verducci.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Ahead of Braves’ would-be home opener, talks current landscape

By Gabriel Burns, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Friday will hit even harder than Thursday of last week.

The Braves were scheduled to play their first game at the newly named on Friday. They would be coming off their opening road trip, a seven-game swing in Phoenix and San Diego that would have begun on that Thursday. They would’ve left California after the 12:40 p.m. (Pacific time) Wednesday series finale, arriving in Atlanta with a Thursday off day to ready themselves for the home opener.

“It’s going to be weird,” manager Brian Snitker said. “I was thinking (Wednesday) night how nice this would’ve been to have gotten home (Thursday) and be with the family. And what a nice, beautiful day it is heading into a really cool weekend. It would’ve been neat. I probably would’ve went to the ballpark today at some point just to get moved in a little bit for a couple hours before getting ready for opening day.” Atlanta was sunny in the mid-60s on Thursday. Friday would be another lovely day for baseball, sporting a mid-to-low 70s temperature and clear skies. Perfect for ’s favorite professional sports franchise to launch its most promising season in years.

Instead, Friday we’ll be under the governor’s shelter-in-place decree. The coronavirus pandemic has swept the world, creating issues far beyond the cancellation of sports. The is trying to stop the spread, a task that – best case – won’t be completed for months, according to numerous health professionals.

Snitker, like almost everyone else, is sidelined at home during this uncertain time. He’s kept busy with small projects around the house. He’s done yard work. He still enjoys his routine walks around the neighborhood. He and his wife, Ronnie, moved into their home just over three years ago and have taken this time to unearth some stashed boxes. He and his son, Troy, who’s a hitting with the Astros and staying with the family in Atlanta, have gone fishing a couple of times.

But that void – baseball, which was set to begin March 26 – can’t be filled. And those digital calendar updates some of you receive regarding Braves game times? Snitker is aware.

“Every night, it seems like my wife gets a little blurb on her computer, ‘Oh, man. You guys are playing in 15 minutes,’” he said. “It’s been different. It’s different for everybody. I’ve been telling people, you walk the neighborhood and run into neighbors, it’s as weird for them as it is for us. Teachers, their systems are on go, and they don’t have any kids. People who are in companies that are laying people off. We’re just a small, small piece of the whole thing.”

Snitker stressed sports are among the smallest concerns in this ever-changing crisis. Still, there’s no getting around how strange it is for a baseball lifer to be sitting idle in early April. Snitker has been in the Braves organization for over 40 years. Baseball has been at the epicenter of his life, as a child and an adult.

He sympathized with players, knowing many of them are directionless without their greatest passion. He recalled the disappointed vibe in the room when he met with his team for the final time before they departed Florida.

“I don’t want to make it bigger than what it is because there’s a lot of people who are feeling bad,” Snitker said. “But you had a bunch of guys, it was almost like they were running into each other ’cause they didn’t know what to do. I felt bad because they’re sitting there looking at each other like, ‘God, what do we do now?’ Some of the minor league guys, if they lived across the country, a couple of them had their families and had to drive back. They need to work, they need to get paid. Even some of the single guys, I mean, they play baseball. That’s what they do. They’re like lost souls. I felt bad for them cause all they want to do is play baseball. This time of year, when the systems are on go, that’s a hard adjustment to make. I feel bad for the guys, everybody.

“You have to deal with it. It can’t get you because if you let it get you, it will. We’re in it for the long haul pretty much.”

The Braves played their last game March 12, in Lakeland. MLB suspended operations that afternoon. The team initially planned to remain in Florida for workouts but would take the weekend off while the facilities underwent a deep cleaning.

After conversations with the Players Association, players were granted the freedom to return home. The idea of any group workouts was vanquished. Snitker last addressed his team on that Saturday morning. Players began clearing out. Snitker and Ronnie left on the ensuing Tuesday.

“I get home (from Florida) and reality sets in in my neighborhood,” he said. “I feel bad for everybody around here who has business and are having to lay people off. Or maybe they’re one of the people who’ve gotten laid off. I talked to a buddy of mine (Wednesday) from Louisiana, and his company has had to lay off a number of people because in an oil industry, the prices are what they are and they can’t take on jobs. It’s tough, man. Our situation is bad, but there’s a lot of people doing a lot worse than we are.”

Snitker touched base with his players Wednesday via text. He heard back from everyone, saying each player is doing well and trying to stay in shape. Some have even ordered home gyms. Snitker added he thinks the fathers are gaining further appreciation for their wives and for teachers.

The Braves’ training staff has stayed in constant communication with each player. Pitching coach and bullpen coach have developed a throwing program for the , so when they throw, they’re texting with that pair. Kranitz and Reed wanted to provide guidelines and track the pitchers’ work.

With players and coaches separated, each sheltered at the place they deem home, that’s the most structure fathomable.

“They’re dealing with it,” Snitker said. “They have to. They’re wired to deal with situations like this. None of them like it, but it’s what we’re doing right now. It was good to hear from everybody. There’s really nothing (I can say) other than be safe, take care of your family. But it’s good to reach out, and it was cool to hear from everybody and what they’re doing.”

Snitker won’t speculate if or when the season could return or how baseball would formulate its unconventional schedule. He said he hasn’t allowed himself to think about it.

“My thing is when they tell us to speed this thing back up, we will,” he said. “It doesn’t do me any good to speculate, what ifs. I don’t know the nuts and bolts of all that kind of stuff. Everybody is just waiting. People have asked me all these different questions. “There’s a lot of people working on this every day. I know they’re agonizing over what ifs, whens and all that stuff. I just think whenever we get the go-ahead to play, that everyone will be really excited and ready to get back after it.”

Whenever that day comes, it can act as a healer for the nation. Live sports’ return would signal a recovering country, that hopefully the worst is behind us. Baseball last acted as a post-tragedy unifier in 2001, when 10 days after 9/11, the Braves and Mets came together to play the first game in .

There’s no end in sight for the current pandemic. But Snitker, along with the rest of the sports universe, longs to hear the next on-field national anthem because of what it would represent.

“I thought this would be a great thing for our country if we can play baseball again,” he said. “That’s the underlying theme. When I’m walking the neighborhood, (people tell me) they miss it, too. I told somebody, ‘I don’t know that we’re going to be (complaining) about 4-1/2 hour Red Sox- Yankees games anymore.’ We might appreciate what we have a lot more and not take so many things for granted.

“We’re seeing how fragile life – I’ve always preached that you’re never guaranteed tomorrow in anything. That’s why you live for today. Some of the things we took for granted, we won’t be taking for granted after going through this.

“I watched ‘Field of Dreams’ the other day, and you listen to what’s going on in that, it kind of hits home. I watched that movie a little differently. Baseball is good for our country. Hopefully, when and if we get playing again, people will have a sense that things are getting better and righting themselves. It’ll be good for all concerns if we can get back playing.”

In the meantime, everyone will try to make the best of a poor situation. Snitker has enjoyed watching old games. He reminisced about the 23-22 Phillies-Cubs shootout in 1979. He watched the legendary 16-inning affair between the Astros and Mets in the 1986 National League Championship Series.

Snitker gets a kick out of the little things from those days: the play styles, the uniforms, the bullpens. He laughed at broadcaster Jack Brickhouse’s comment about how hard a was throwing because there were no radar guns to track velocity.

The Braves will be streaming interviews at 5:30 p.m. Friday, part of their efforts to connect with fans on what would’ve been the beginning of their home slate. It will feature interviews with general manager Alex Anthopolous, first baseman and Snitker.

But it won’t be opening day at the yard. The Braves won’t be hosting the Marlins. , which would’ve been so full of life, won’t even see a tumbleweed. Truist Park will remain what it will be indefinitely: empty.

“Opening days are really cool,” Snitker said. “They’re special. It’s going to be different knowing we should’ve been out there playing. It’s going to hit home more Friday than it even did last Thursday.”

Light in dark days: Our chat with Braves legend Walter Banks

By Mark Bradley, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

My wife has known the man longer than I have — they worked together at Rich’s — and this week she made a gentle suggestion: “You should call Walter and see what he thinks of all this.”

Walter Banks is known as the Braves’ most famous usher — back in the day, he worked in ’s box — but he’s way more than that. The Braves consider him their chief ambassador and historian. He’s featured in team promotions. On his 80th birthday, he had his bobblehead night. (One such statue sits on a shelf in our living room. I’m looking at it now.) If you care anything about the Braves, there’s a good chance you’ve met Mr. B. He’s the world’s nicest human. Any conversation with him leaves you feeling better.

At this moment, we could all stand to feel better because of COVID-19. Toward that end, here’s my conversation with the man who has worked every Braves’ opening day, including the 1965 exhibition at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (then named simply Atlanta Stadium) a year before the franchise moved from Milwaukee.

Q: How does it feel, opening day having been postponed?

A: Since you’ve been working there for so long and you know it’s a business, you know it’s not just you – it’s not about you. I think about some of the co-workers and some of the people who have been there for a long time, and they depend on their checks. They have to pay bills. Some of them are just getting started. That’s the ones I really feel sorry for. Really, it makes my day when some of those players or some of the companies or some of the teams contribute something where they could pay some of their bills. It’s a lot of people working from check to check. I just hope it will be over so they can have that pressure off them.

(Note: On March 17, the Braves announced the donation of $1 million to “create a special disaster relief fund to help gameday workers and certain other affected members of our baseball community with special financial needs that may come up before Braves baseball begins.” All MLB clubs are doing this.) Q: I’ve been around a while, and you’ve been around a bit longer than I have. Have you ever seen anything like this?

A: No. But you know what? In every era, there’s going to be something to happen. You just have to always be prepared. Like every community has a fire department. If they have a fire, they’re going to be ready, but you hope they don’t ever have to use it. I just hate to miss (baseball). That was American’s Pastime when I was growing up – baseball and boxing.

Q: Baseball played on through the world wars, and baseball was the first sport to start playing after 9/11.

A: That’s right. The Braves played the Mets (in the first game in New York after 9/11). And after Katrina, the Falcons played the Saints down in New Orleans. That really helped with history, helped you to keep it in place. And then, when your own community had a team – that was one of the most exciting things in the history of my life, when I first heard that the Braves were coming to Atlanta. That was before we had any team. I’m still proud of the community, proud of the city. Anything with “Atlanta” written on it, it’s just exciting.

Q: Do you think they’ll play baseball this season?

A: This thing that’s going on now, it’s going to have to come to a head. There’s too much invested – businesses, corporations, hotels, cabs. Like a 30-second commercial in the Super Bowl costs … how many million? And every day, when the paper comes out and they’ve got the standings, that’s free advertising for your town, for your city. Can’t nobody ever say they haven’t heard of Atlanta — 1966 was really the beginning of that. You’re a part. Just like yourself, you’re a part of this community. You made your stamp. All cornerstones you can’t see, but they’re a big help, and they help make this community what it is. A lot of towns wish they had people to promote and write about, and they pick up the paper and see that.

Q: (After a bit of blushing.) Have you been in touch with the Braves?

A: They’ve had a couple of meetings. I haven’t gone to one. I do keep in touch with the person I work for. I don’t like to call a whole lot because I know at this time of the year they’re real busy.

Q: Maybe not quite so busy this year.

A: Oh, no. I’m just like Minnie Pearl: “I’m just so proud to be here.” And I have still got that spirit. I’ve still got that eye. You know what I mean? I hope I’ll be able to see this opening game. I’ve never missed an opening game. (I love) to get the lineups for the first game.

Q: Do you miss it? Are you thinking, “This is the time of year I’d be going to the ballpark, and there’s nothing happening at the ballpark”?

A: There’s something always happening – having a strong imagination, creating, seeing people. I might see some season-ticket holders. There’s always something to talk about. You’re around pleasant people, you’re going to talk about pleasant things. You don’t forget that. You don’t take that for granted. It’s just good therapy. Just like when I see you, I can talk about Penny (my wife) and talk about Kentucky. That’s because you are invested in a situation where people are more important, so when you talk to people you don’t talk about me-me-me. You draw them closer. Somebody could have on a University of T-shirt or jacket and I could tell them something about Cincinnati. The youngest player to pitch in the major leagues, he pitched for Cincinnati. (Joe Nuxhall.) And then (Cincinnati) had the first Little Leaguer to go to the big leagues — Joey Jay. Great guy. Just like Bullet Bob Turley (the MVP as a Yankee against the Milwaukee Braves) — just as pleasant as he could be; he always loved to show his (Series) ring. Didn’t ask for anything, didn’t bother anybody. He’d just sit there in 107 and enjoy himself.

Q: I didn’t know Bob Turley came to Braves games.

A: He sure did.

Q: Are you optimistic there’ll be baseball this year?

A: I think so. They’re going to work something out. There’s too many jobs out there. Like Atlanta Stadium cost $18 million and they finished it in one year. Look what that investment has turned into.

Q: Are you doing OK, health-wise?

A: Pretty good. You know, you get 80 years old, you’re going to have your challenges. A friend of mine lives in Memphis. He and I were best friends all the way through high school. We call when you get 80, that’s the red zone. When you get 80, people you know are going to start dropping off. You already know this, and you use it as a tool to be thankful and, if you can, try to do something to make somebody’s day. Make somebody smile. There’s something you can do to make somebody smile.

Q: You’ve always done that.

A: You don’t have any choice. The kind of business we’re in, people can take their money anyplace. The Braves always get me a ride, an Uber, up to the stadium. I always tell the driver, “You’re a good driver.” You don’t know what they’ve been through, but I always try to leave them with something.

Q: Are you being safe? Are you washing your hands? A: I try to stay in. If I go out, I come back in.

Q: It’s hard to believe you’re 80.

A: I’ll be 81 on July 1. Princess Di was born July 1.

And there you are. A few minutes with Mr. B, and you’ve learned some facts and, way more important, some life lessons. This conversation ended the way a thousand others have: “You tell Penny I said hello. Will you do that for me?”

For the 1,001st time, I did.

Ways to experience The Battery without leaving home

By Courtney Kueppers, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

From online workouts to shopping deals and family game nights, here’s how to experience The Battery from home

Take me out to the ball game? Not going to happen right now.

Take me out to the crowd? Definitely not.

However, just because baseball — along with all other sports and social gatherings — is on the back burner right now, doesn’t mean there aren’t still ways to enjoy the peanuts, cracker jack and ball park feel from home.

The businesses in The Battery, surrounding the newly renamed Truist Park, are offering plenty of ways to enjoy all they have to offer from the comfort of your own home. Here are some ways to experience the Battery from a far.

Family game night

The Escape Game, an immersive escape room located at The Battery, has a variety of digital activities available to check out online.

There’s even educational materials like the “Lost at the Smithsonian” escape challenge. The free, online game is meant to lead students on an education trip through museums and historic landmarks.

Break a sweat

Like some other fitness studios throughout the city, Pepper Boxing at The Battery has gone digital. At 2 p.m. every day, the studio is hosting fitness classes on Instagram Live. No equipment is needed.

Do some shopping

Despite storefronts being closed for the time being, some of the stores at The Battery are offering special deals. Dress Up, Baseballism, Sugarboo & Co and Select Shades are all offering free shipping.

Grab a bite to go

If you are sick of cooking at home, most of the restaurants at The Battery are offering curbside pick-up or delivery. That includes Garden & Gun Club, Yard House, Goldberg’s Fine Food, Antico Pizza Napoletana, Gio’s Chicken Italiano, Ph’east and Haagen Dazs.

The Athletic

Rookie of the Year: the secrets of Rowengartner’s fastball with the film’s stars

By Kent Garrison

It is 2008 in the town of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois.

An energetic crowd of college-aged kids pack a local venue for a special acoustic concert by one of their childhood heroes.

Grabbing his guitar and walking on stage, Thomas Ian Nicholas, age 28 at the time, plugs in and begins his energetic set of pop rock-inspired tunes. He both sings and plays guitar in his own project, the Thomas Ian Nicholas Band. He pounds through multiple songs before beginning to strum away at another tune between songs.

From the back of the crowd, four guys in unison scream loudly.

“Hey Rowengartner! YOU SUCK!”

Thomas smiles and laughs and continues to play.

A concerned member of one of the other bands on the bill, Chris, comes to the side of the stage and waves him over.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Nicholas stalls and keeps strumming.

“Do you want me to throw those guys out?” says Chris.

“No, it’s okay. They’re just quoting the movie!” Thomas laughs.

A confused Chris asks “What movie?”

“Rookie of the Year!”

Nicholas is most well-known by Millenials for playing Kevin Meyers in the ‘American Pie’ saga, for his kid-acting days in ‘A Kid in King Arthur’s Court’ and, most notably, his iconic role as the pitching sensation Henry Rowengartner in the 1993 hit ‘Rookie of the Year,’ who breaks his arm, miraculously gaining the ability to throw 100mph and ends up pitching for the .

Thomas Ian Nicholas has been invited back to Wrigley Field in Chicago to throw out the ceremonial first pitch for the Cubs every summer since 2008.

Now 27 years after its release, the film still holds a special place in the hearts of many fans of the game and players who ended up making it to the Majors.

“I was always obsessed with baseball growing up in Indiana,” says former pitching prospect Ryan Tatsuko. “I always dreamt of being in the big leagues. That scene where Henry threw it from the stands to home plate…after that, I vividly remember I was challenging myself to see how far I could scoot back in my cul-de-sac and still hit the front of my house with a tennis ball. I guess you could say it was my first unofficial introduction to the long toss.”

Derek Holland, a left-handed pitcher currently signed to the Pirates (who Henry plays for as a little leaguer in the movie) and who was traded to the Cubs from the just last season, started his career with the and pitched in the 2010 and 2011 World Series. He is also a fan of the film.

“The movie made me believe as a kid that I could pitch in the big leagues,” he said. “But I quickly realized that I didn’t quite have the arm that (Henry) had…But it was a great movie, that’s for sure.”

The film’s director and Nicholas’ co-star certainly had his share of early-90s success. Most well-known as the Marv to Joe Pesci’s Harry, aka the “Wet Bandits” in “Home Alone,” (the most successful comedy ever released, by the way) and as the narrator and director of the TV smash “The Wonder Years,” Daniel Stern had nearly every opportunity in show business at his fingertips in ’92.

Stern, now 62, lives just outside of Los Angeles. He is married with four kids, one of whom is California State Senator Henry Stern, another a nurse in Delaware dealing with the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Daniel still dips his toes into the Hollywood scene from time to time, but he has only ever directed one feature film. Nevertheless, it’s one that still seems to resonate with little-leaguers everywhere.

The Athletic recently got an opportunity to catch up with both Thomas Ian Nicholas and Daniel Stern regarding the influence of ‘Rookie of the Year’ on the baseball landscape nearly three decades after its release. Stern admitted it had been probably that long since he has seen the film, but his memories of the experience reverberate in his mind as if production wrapped yesterday.

Kent Garrison: I want to first rewind to 1990, because when you look back at your career, you did “Home Alone,” “City Slickers,” “Home Alone 2,” and during that time you were narrating and directing “The Wonder Years” on TV…then here comes “Rookie of the Year.” How did you get involved with the project?

Daniel Stern: Oh, I was on a pretty good roll there, you know, and actually the movie I did just before those was a movie called “Coupe de Ville.” It was directed by Joe Roth and Joe became a dear friend during that movie. But Joe ended up running FOX after the movie and actually bought ‘Home Alone’ when he got to FOX. So he and I had been directing on “The Wonder Years” together. That was really my best job. And I’ve not gotten to do (directing) nearly enough in my life ’cause the acting thing was really good and lucrative and hard to walk away from sometimes. But the directing thing was always my passion and the way I like to tell stories.

So anyway, when Joe went to FOX, he was looking for something for me to direct. So he sent me the “Rookie of the Year” script. It was originally called…shit…what was it called?

I didn’t see that it was called anything else, but if you remember it…

Stern: I can’t remember. It was called something else before “Rookie of the Year,” though.

But anyway, I got the script and I loved the story, you know? And that’s the thing about those movies I was doing at the time, and “The Wonder Years” and then “Bushwhacked’”… those were all about kid empowerment and empowering youth. I really love that message. I’ve gone on myself, I mean, my wife and I, we started a Boys and Girls Club. I teach kids … I coach baseball. Youth empowerment is a vital issue to me, as well as making sure that young people know the powers that they do have and that they can do things and that they are capable of many great things. Sometimes in their sheltered lives they think “Oh, I’m not capable,” but they really are. I was a pretty freewheeling kid. I was hitchhiking around the country at 13, and I dropped out of high school to become an actor. I mean, I always felt like I could do what I wanted to do, and I like to pass on that message so deep in my core.

So that’s the movie that I was looking to direct: about kid empowerment. Then Joe gave me this baseball movie and we just went to work on it. The script was good and attractive but it needed a lot of work, so I kind of dove in. It was a great writing experience with (writer) Sam Harper too, ‘cause we just sort of did a page one rewrite. And being the director of the movie, I got to paint and repaint my idyllic childhood and love of baseball through that movie.

Really? Like what elements especially were things you added in?

Stern: Well, first Chet Steadman (played by Gary Busey, whose character was based on Roger Clemens). My best friend growing up was David Steadman. We added in the kids having a boat because I wanted them to have some kind of thing going on with their group of friends. So I really kind of owned it and Sam was a wonderful writer and we just had a great time making each other laugh and just pounding out a new script. We added in that whole ending of Henry not being able to pitch at the end of the game, and then he has to throw a change-up and the batter hits one foul ball and then the “floater pitch” and the hidden ball trick…all the little tricks of baseball were kind of fun to just throw it all in the kid’s point of view. How does a kid really play baseball? And that’s how we played baseball as a kid. So my involvement was incredibly deep.

So tell me about Thomas Ian Nicholas and the process of finding him to play the lead role of Henry Rowengartner, and then casting the rest of the movie.

Stern: We wrote the movie and we were set to go and then we found Thomas. I mean, that was heaven when that little young man walked in. I was like “Oh my God, that’s…that’s him! Bring it on!”

Nicholas: I was 12. I definitely remember it for sure. I heard this story that they had searched high and low and auditioned kids in LA, in Chicago, in New York, and so on. And you know, Danny (Stern) was thinking about hiring his own son, who’s ironically named Henry. My experience was being at the audition the first time and not making it to a callback. I was in the process of switching agents. So my new agent said “Hey, I got an audition for you for this movie “Rookie of the Year,” and I said “Oh, I already went on that.” She goes “Well, they obviously don’t remember. You should go again.” So I went back in, then I got the call back. Danny was very hands on. Obviously he’d been searching high and low, but I didn’t know that. And he just looked at me at one point and he goes, “Where did you come from?!” And I just looked at him and I said…”My mother’s womb.” So it just was like, the simplest answer and he loved that. I don’t know why I said that to this day. I’d never said it before. Never said it after. But the rest is history, right?

Stern: And Gary Busey…yeah, actually that’s one of my greatest directorial achievements…to make Gary Busey look like a normal . You know? (laughs)

(Laughs) Right because he’s the hero of the story. You know he becomes a father figure and baseball mentor and everything else.

Stern: Right? And then they asked me, you know, ‘cause I was on the honor roll then in terms of kid movies and stuff. So they asked me if I would play Brickma, the pitching coach. So I said, “OK…”

I wasn’t overwhelmed, but my plate was very full directing the movie. So what I did was…I kept trying to think of ways that I could play the character but not have to be in the movie a lot. That’s why I kept writing those things in where I get locked in places. Like, I get locked in between the doors at the hotel and then I can’t go to the game. Actually, about that… I was staying in a two-room suite and I had that door between my two rooms and I thought, “What if I got locked in?” You know, so they built that set in like a day just for that gag.

And then Brickma gets locked in again later in the movie in the equipment closet. Because I literally can’t be at the game ‘cause I didn’t want to have to be on the field and then running behind the camera a bunch. So it kind of worked out great because I could be in make-up and again, he’s the old-timiest of old-timey. That’s what Brickma was trying to be – that bridge to the baseball times of the 30s and the 40s, you know, “Scuffy McGee” and all that kind of stuff. So that was sort of the evolution of Brickma.

And unfortunately, I mean it looked great, but I had, like, a buzz-cut and I looked like such an idiot. And I sometimes I caught myself like, “How is the crew taking orders from me when I look like this?” (laughs)

And then I got to bring in John Candy (play-by-play Announcer) and Eddie Bracken (Cubs owner), both friends of mine from the Home Alone movies. Actually, we had already cut the whole movie. That’s how John came on. We cut the whole film and the studio really liked the movie so we built on it. They hired John Candy ’cause we didn’t have an announcer just to sort of tell the story for the audience like “bottom of the ninth, two outs,” you know what I mean? We had the sports announcer written into it, but I didn’t know quite how to do it, so they spent a little extra money and not only paid John, but we built a little press booth up there too. We spent about four days just filming John and Andy, his cohort. John was just hysterical and great

How did you get to shoot at Wrigley Field?

So we got to Wrigley and we spent a month there. I got to know every nook and cranny of that beautiful institution, from the locker room to the field and every angle in-between because I had to search the whole stadium to see where the best places to shoot were. So we went up in the rafters then down to the electrical room, and I mean we saw everything. But we had to wait until the end of the season to shoot. So we shot all of the stuff that we could without Wrigley, and then we were kind of selfishly hoping the Cubs didn’t make it to the playoffs so that we could get on the field earlier. We didn’t have any CGI or any stuff like that. So we had extras and we would move the extras around so they’d be over behind third base while we’re shooting towards third base, and then they’d be over behind first base when we were shooting that direction. But we wanted to have a couple of big “SHOTS” in the film, and so the Cubs were playing a double-header one day and they said between the games, we could have 15 minutes to go out and film. It’s the moment when Henry enters the stadium for the first time, and it’s a steadi-cam shot that circles around and around. It’s a great shot. We did a steadi-cam just so you get a real feel.

Nicholas: We hadn’t even started principal photography yet. But I remember we got done up in our uniforms and stood at the bullpen and Danny got on a wireless handheld mic. He runs out to the outfield and he starts telling everybody in the stadium “We’re going to shoot this movie in Chicago and it’s about the Cubs drafting this 12 year-old pitcher who has this magical hundred mile-an-hour fastball, and he’s going to take them to win the World Series,” and the stadium went ballistic. He wanted them all to chant “Henry.” So I’m walking to the mound and 35,000 people are chanting “Henry.” I remember it vividly. It’s one of those things I could never forget. There’s no acting in that scene when 35,000 people are paying attention to you and chanting your character’s name so much that you start to believe it’s your real name.

You touched on the Cubs a little bit. How did you get their involvement officially? It surprised me they were so involved because I know they’re very superstitious about their franchise and such…

Stern: is very tough, but Bob Harper was the producer on it. Bob had been running marketing at FOX and he wanted to produce movies again. Joe Roth saw Bob as one of the producers so now this was a “Bob script.” Bob worked the League, and again, it was very, very unusual to be able to get the rights to Major League Baseball and the Cubs especially. But they read the script and they saw how good-hearted it was and what an homage it was to the Cubs fans and the Cubs and baseball in general, and they went with it. And then we got to use the real uniforms and make it real. I mean, cause otherwise it wouldn’t have had that impact. The kid is actually on the Cubs at Wrigley and it was the real deal.

One note that I made on my last rewatch was that Bill Conti did the music/score to the film. Most people would know him as scoring the most iconic sports movie score ever in “Rocky.” How did he become involved?

Stern: A huge part of the film was Bill scoring it. Thank you for reminding me. And Bill taught me so much about movie-making. He’s a genius. It was such an education. I’ll give you a little Bill Conti arc. So I get the that I got the guy who did ‘Rocky.’ It’s like, “Holy shit, I’ve got gold here.” So I talked to Bill and we go through the movie, and I say, “I want it to feel like this and I want this, blah blah blah.” And he said, “Okay, I’ll get back in touch with you.” So I wait for weeks and finally I get the call as I’m still cutting the movie. But I get the call from Bill he said, “Yeah, come on over. I got stuff to play.”

So I go over to Bill’s house and he sits at the piano and he goes, “OK, here.” And he goes, and he plays like 4 notes on the piano. And I’m like, “OK? What?? Um, that’s great, Bill. Uh, what, uh, what happens now?” He goes “Well then I have a second theme,” and he plays like 5 more notes. And I’m like, “Hmmm okay…” Then he says, “This is Henry’s theme.” And that’s what those first four notes were. And then he plays the frickin’ score on the piano, like a concert pianist. And he goes, “It can sound like this!” And it’s, like, fast and lively. And then he says “But then when he’s worried about his mom, here it is!” And then he plays them together and shows me how he’s going to bring Henry and baseball together musically. And I’m going “Are you shitting me? That is genius.”

But Bill’s score was the last thing we did. We get to the scoring stage and there’s a 90-piece orchestra there. Bill’s conducting. We’re watching the film, they’re scoring to the film like they used to do in the old days, and I’m watching the movie and listening to the score and every after every cue Bill comes back and he says, “Do you like it?” I said, “Fucking awesome, man. Awesome.” So we get to one cue and it didn’t seem like it felt when he assimilated. I said “I don’t know. It’s not making me emotional…” So Bill goes in front of the 90-piece orchestra, he goes, “Okay, uh, cellos, pick up on a measure 86 and repeat that. And then trombones you do this and you do that.” And he rewrites the score like right in front of me. Wow.

That opening scene, with the people walking into Wrigley with that score is just…it sets the tone. It’s so perfect. And, and the shot when Henry breaks his arm and it goes slow-mo there and all people’s reactions, all the kids’ faces and all, I mean, it just, it all comes together so perfectly through that score.

Stern: It gives me chills just thinking about it again, to have it really come alive like that, you know? And to have a 90-piece orchestra on my little movie. That was a huge, huge part of the film.

It again stuck out to me on this last rewatch what a great young actor Thomas was. And they often say “acting is reacting” and the performance reminded me a bit of Michael J. Fox in ‘Back to the Future’ where, essentially, it’s just a fish-out-of-water scenario and he’s so shocked and in awe of what’s happening to him and what’s going on around him. Like that one shot you mentioned of the steadi-cam going out and him walking onto the field? I mean, the way he walks, like his arms are stiff..the look on his face. I mean, it’s all great. What was it like working with him as a young actor?

Stern: Well, I’d been working with kids and watching them work, you know, I mean I’d been directing “The Wonder Years,” and then watching Chris Columbus direct Macaulay Culkin … there’s a real sensitivity you have to have if you’re directing children because they can do so much, but you have to make them successful all the time. You’re not parenting, but you have to be protective of them as people first. Thomas and his mom were great. They were straightforward. They just seemed to have the right attitude towards show business. It gets dangerous because if the movie’s a big success, it can really mess you up. And if the movie’s a big failure, it can really mess you up. I was fine with talking to him off camera and saying, “OK, look up, look left, look right.” I mean, on that steadi-cam shot, I’m probably right behind the camera talking to him to make sure he feels safe. I mean, we wrote the Pepsi thing. That was another thing we added in later. So he gets to play the piano and he’s all smiley and innocent. I mean, he just hit every note we could have asked for in that movie.

So why was his last name Rowengartner? Is it because you thought it would look funny because it was so long and barely fit on the back of the jersey?

Stern: Yeah. Well, that was Sam (the writer), and when I got the script, maybe the movie was called “Rowengartner?” Maybe that was it. But yeah, it was just so that we could mess with it. I mean, I was a runner for the manager to go, “Rostenflocker! Rubenbunker!” you know? (laughs)

(laughs) Yeah my favorite one is “Gardenhoser.”

Stern: (laughs) YES! Exactly. But we wanted him to make him feel like a weirdo in school, you know? I mean, he’s not the cool kid. He wants to like the girl, but he’s a somewhat out-of-place kid, you know? They’re not at the cool table, those three, him and his friends. And so Rowangartner seemed like just a funny name that you’d be teased about.

Speaking of Henry and the actual injury that he gets in the movie, you know, the doctor in the film says “The tendons fused too tightly to the humerus.” Was there any fear from the studio that kids were going to see this and then go out and break their arms trying to make the big leagues?

Stern: Oh, probably. Probably, yeah. The lawyers were probably worried. And let me tell you, it does not work. Do not try it. To fuse the tendon with the humerus or whatever. Whatever the gag was.

As an addendum: I got in touch with Eric Stehly, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in shoulder-related injuries, to gather more input about Henry’s miraculous fastball-forming injury.

“In general with pitchers, they want their shoulders as loose as possible. The more motion that they have, the more potential velocity they can have.” Stehley said. “In fact, the exact opposite of the ‘Rookie of the Year’ injury would produce the best result for a pitcher. If you break your arm, the shoulder can definitely tighten up. But the tightening of the shoulder is going to limit velocity, not make it great.”

Stern: That was funny to try to come up with because we didn’t have any special effects or anything. I mean we had to come up with an emotion and a sound that could make it look like his arm cocked and threw, which was also another pressure on Thomas. Not only does he have to pitch from 60 feet away at Wrigley, but do it in a weird way.

Nicholas: I hadn’t really played sports. I mean, I was similar to my character where I was raised by just my mom. So I didn’t play baseball until during the film. I guess I had a neighbor that when I got the part showed me the mechanics of pitching before I went to Chicago. I spent about two weeks just working on that to be able to throw 60 feet so I didn’t show up in Chicago without a clue of what to do.

A couple of questions about the character Brickma. Where did the physical comedy come from? Was any of that in the moment? Like the scene where he’s taking BP and also the scene where he’s signaling Henry to come in the game, but then swatting a fly?

Stern: (laughing) I mean, yeah. For the signals, I just said “roll the camera” and I went out there and started doing stupid shit, bad signals. But the BP was really fun and if you watch it, there is a shot in there that might be my proudest acting moment, ’cause what I was trying to do was to hit the ball and just foul it up. So it comes down and hit me on the head off the cage and I friggin’ did it!

Yeah, I noticed that. It’s a wide shot and the ball goes “dink, doink,” right onto your head. No CGI.

Stern: That’s exactly what I was trying to do. I couldn’t believe that I got one to do it … on camera! That was a hero moment. It’d be tough for a major leaguer to do that

Where did you come up with the gag with the “Wizard of Oz” where the guy opens the Cubs logo and says “That’s a horse of different color?”

Stern: The movie kept evolving, and I just thought, “you know, I want Henry to enter a new world when those doors open. He is going into the unknown.” And the “Wizard of Oz” theme kind of hit me. So I had them build that cutout door like it was “The Wizard of Oz.” Those doors were so huge and Henry was so small that I thought it would look great.

Obviously Henry’s got some iconic lines like “Throw the cheddar, throw the limburger!” and then the “Pitcher pitcher pitcher!” part. Did you just come up with that on the fly as well? Stern: Yeah “pitcher’s got a big butt.” Yeah, we probably wrote it. But again, you know, we just let them all fly, and we kept the ones that were great. Again, that was another sequence that we had to come up with like “OK. His first at bat, how does he get on base and how do you get him home?” So we thought because he’s so small maybe he gets a walk. Then a wild throw. Then a runner almost passes him because he’s too slow. Again, what would it be like for a kid to be actually in there at 12, you know?

What’s a story from the set that sticks out?

Stern: The day that we had that 15-minute window to shoot at Wrigley, we’re all waiting for the first game of the doubleheader to end. We’ve got our steadi-cam guy ready. Bottom of the ninth, two outs. It’s like, “Where’s Gary Busey?” And they say, “Oh, Gary doesn’t want to come out of his trailer.” I say, “What??” and they said, “Yeah, he just doesn’t feel like he wants to, you know. He’s not ready or something.” I said, “Put the walkie talkie up to his trailer window.” I got the other walkie and said “Gary, get your fucking ass out of your fucking bed! You better be here, I’m going to fucking kick your ass!” So Gary comes running out. I’m saying, “What the fuck dude?” He says, “I don’t know. I just don’t think he should be wearing a fake mustache.” That’s actually a fake mustache that he has on. So he takes the mustache off while I’m standing there right in front of me. Okay. It’s go time. I don’t even remember what his fucking problem was. So I took the mustache and I smashed it on his face with my palm. We pushed everybody out onto the pitchers mound and did our shots. I wonder if Gary’s mustache is askew in that scene because of that.

Nicholas: I mean, Gary was a character. He still is. And he had more energy than I did and I was 12. The story that I’ve told because it stands out is we were in the lunch room one day and Gary, I don’t even remember why he did it, but he grabbed me by my underwear to give me a wedgie and picked me up and carried me across like the lunch room like 25 feet.

But that was just Gary, I guess.

Did you ever think about doing a sequel where Henry tries to make a comeback?

Stern: We did. We tried. We kept trying to think of what it was. But it wasn’t like doing a sequel was a big thing then. I mean, I got to do two sequels and it was like, “Holy shit!” But about a year ago, Bob called me and said they’re gonna remake “Rookie of the Year” and do a reboot.

Who owns the rights now, Disney?

Stern: Yeah because it was a FOX picture, so Disney would own it now. Makes sense. You know, I don’t know how to remake it. There’s no point in remaking it exactly the same. I didn’t get involved. Bob might be doing it, I don’t even know what they’re doing, but my pitch was all the great players are Latino in baseball these days and it should be a Latino kid from the city who, you know, who gets to play in the majors, you know, make it relevant. But baseball since ‘93 has really changed. It’ll be interesting to try to find the innocence of the game again, especially with these frigging Houston Astro despicable people. You know, how are you going to find that innocence of the game again?

Nicholas: I remember one of my acting coaches pitched me a sequel idea. She had this idea that the MLB strike would happen, but baseball was losing so much money that they couldn’t bring up any of single A or triple A ball teams. So they bring all the little leaguers to the major stadium try to make money during the baseball strike. And so then Henry with his little league team, the Pirates, ends up back on Wrigley, but as the left fielder. And then through a course of events would end up coming back and pitching to win the World Series of Little League. So that was one idea.

My son is now kind of following in my footsteps a little bit with acting. So my pitch to them was, “Hey, when we gear up toward the 30th anniversary, let’s do a long-awaited sequel and perhaps my son, he’ll be 11. He’ll be right around that age that we could reboot it. But now Henry takes his mom’s position from the original. But you know, obviously there’s a big movement with female actresses. So maybe it’s Henry’s daughter, and then the Majors get their first female player. But hopefully Disney will do it right.

Are you surprised at how the film has stayed relevant 27 years after it was first released?

Nicholas: It’s crazy to me that the film has kind of stood the test of time, so to speak. I didn’t think about it when the film was successful that it would have this sort of shelf life. But people have carried the torch and showed it to their kids. You know, nineties films and pretty much most of my movies, they were made for people my own age. So I’ve always had this cool connection with the people that the film was made for. I’ve kind of learned that we’ve grown up together. I’ve done a lot of events over the years and that’s been a common theme. I’ve had the unique opportunity of entertaining my peers. That’s what I enjoy doing is entertaining people. It’s a safe form of escape. When we missed out on opening day, I decided to do a special edition Henry Rowengartner baseball card, just to kind of provide some fun entertainment and vibes on what would have been opening day this year.

So you (Stern) didn’t really direct a movie after this, but this movie is directed so well. I mean, the shot that sticks out to me from a directorial standpoint is when Henry first gets called into the game and that low shot from the ground of the pitching coach in the low voice saying “Throw the heat” and giving him the ball. I don’t think a lot of people would think of things like that.

I got distracted with the acting stuff. And I’ve gone on to direct some television shows I’ve been on and stuff, but it’s a big hole in my life that I haven’t gotten to do it more. I made the right decisions ’cause it was a chance to actually get a payday for old Danny boy and his family. I couldn’t not do those sequels and “Celtic Pride.” If anything interests me in show business now, it’s still directing and storytelling from that point of view. But I’m going to do it again. I’ve got a couple scripts I’m working on. Like baseball, show business is a game that I want to get into again because it really is the best job.

But if I end up with “Rookie of the Year” as my only feature film, I’m OK. I’m pretty proud.

Law: Even with baseball shut down, specter of minor-league contraction looms

By Keith Law

The minor-league realignment and contraction plan that MLB first floated last fall has moved to the back burner due to the COVID-19 shutdown. The pandemic will likely keep players off the fields at all levels until July — and I believe we won’t see fans in stadiums until at least September, if at all — but the proposal hasn’t changed.

There’s concern on the minor-league level that MLB might try to use the shutdown as further leverage to squeeze concessions from MiLB, whose owners are more vulnerable to this economic downturn because so much of their revenue depends on attendance, as opposed to MLB clubs which have significant broadcasting and internet revenues. Sources familiar with the negotiations to date have told me MLB is still pushing for more benefits for their side, even after significant public and Congressional backlash to the plans that leaked to the press last fall.

The status quo in is inefficient, and many MLB teams’ concerns about the current geographical setup are well-founded. If you set out to design a system to develop baseball players from when they exit the amateur ranks to the point where they’re ready for the majors, you wouldn’t come up with the current one. The seven-rung ladder of the minors — complex leagues, advanced rookie, short-season A, Low A, High A, Double A, Triple A — isn’t efficient, the leagues and teams aren’t well-situated to serve the major-league clubs, and many current franchises are located where they are due to tradition, without reflecting population shifts in the last 60 years. (That last point applies to a few major-league markets as well.) The advanced rookie leagues are probably superfluous, given improved drafting and how soon the best teenaged players are ready for full-season ball, while the towns in the Appalachian League and the travel times in the Pioneer League make them unsuitable for player development purposes. The short-season A leagues could be condensed, and perhaps they need to function more like complex leagues with greater emphasis on training where the games are almost incidental — but that doesn’t square with private ownership of individual franchises.

There is tangible evidence that there are teams in markets that don’t support them — Clinton, Beloit and Burlington in the Midwest League; Hagerstown in the Sally; Orem in the Pioneer League; and just about all of the Appalachian League teams draw so poorly that in an open, competitive market, those cities would no longer have teams. Many teams play in facilities that major-league executives feel are subpar, with Clinton and Hagerstown among those cited by MLB sources, and others play without adequate housing nearby or sufficient space for off-field work like training and conditioning. Bus trips between sites in some low-minors leagues (the Pioneer and Sally leagues stand out for this) are too long, and too many franchises are located far from their parent clubs.

The two sides disagree on how many such situations exist in the minors; MLB sources say up to 25 percent of minor-league clubs play in subpar facilities, for example, while minor-league sources believe it’s fewer than ten teams. Both sides seem to agree that some reduction in the total number of franchises is inevitable and that some teams need to be relocated. There’s also the implicit assumption — supported on background by MLB sources — that reducing some of the costs of running one or two more farm teams per system would lead to higher pay for the minor leaguers who remain.

Still, there’s something a bit off about Major League Baseball spending somewhere around $6 million to build a temporary stadium in Iowa for one game just as they’re pushing to eliminate three minor-league teams within the same state.

MLB’s initial proposal would drastically reshape the minors as we know them, affecting every level of below the majors except for the complex leagues in Arizona and Florida. It would eliminate short-season baseball between the Gulf Coast League and the Arizona League, but would have “promoted” the Northwest League to Low A, preserving six of its eight franchises, with contraction of as many teams from the Midwest and South Atlantic leagues to compensate for the addition. Five of the Northwest League franchises that would survive in this scenario are decided, while the sixth remains up in the air between Boise, Salem-Keizer, and Tri-Cities; Boise is the best market, but the facilities there are considered subpar and the current Rockies affiliate would be an eight-hour bus ride from the nearest team in the reorganized league. The Pacific Coast League would be split into two leagues by geography, with a “new” third Triple-A league in the Midwest along the lines of the old American Association. Fresno, now in Triple A, would drop to the California League, replacing Lancaster. The new Triple-A league would add the independent franchises in St. Paul and Sugar Land, while San Antonio and Wichita would drop to Double A, even though the Wichita franchise is about to play in a brand-new Triple-A—caliber ballpark. (The Sugar Land Skeeters are part-owned by Bob Zlotnik, a minority owner of the Astros.) The proposal would also include some of the promotions and contractions outlined in coverage of the plans last fall, such as moving short-season teams in superb facilities like Aberdeen and Brooklyn to full-season leagues.

Some of this is founded in reality, but there are other motives at work besides simply making the minor league structure more rational. MLB owners want to buy more minor-league affiliates — and I think it’s fair to say they wouldn’t want to do so if those teams weren’t profitable to own — and some minor league owners believe that MLB is using the threat of contraction to try to drive down franchise prices. The owners of the Pirates tried to buy the teams in Batavia, N.Y., and Charleston, W.V., but didn’t want to meet the asking prices for either; both teams are now marked for elimination. It doesn’t help that MLB-owned minor-league franchises in subpar facilities (like Salem, Va.) didn’t show up on the list of teams to be eliminated, while privately owned ones in better facilities did. The state of facilities in Clinton, Iowa; Hagerstown, Md.; and Lancaster, Calif., which is also a launching pad for hitters, are not in question. Everyone would be better off if those facilities were improved or the franchises were relocated. Aberdeen, Md., has a short-season team that plays in a Double-A quality stadium, and you could bump it up to full-season ball and eliminate Hagerstown without moving any franchise out of state. Outside of the Appalachian League, where all franchises are owned by their parent clubs, nearly all clubs ticketed for elimination are privately or community-owned.

It’s also far from clear that wiping out one or two levels of minor-league baseball is going to help teams’ mission of developing players. Eliminating short-season baseball seems counterproductive in general — there’s a significant gap between the caliber of play in complex leagues and that of Low A, the bottom rung of full-season leagues — but it’s especially ill-advised this year, where, in the best-case scenario for the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, professional baseball is able to resume games in early July. MLB could still draft players in June, and then have such players play full summers in short-season leagues to make up for the playing time they missed in March through May.

The plan to eliminate three short-season leagues (New York-Penn, Pioneer, Appalachian) and move the fourth to a full-season format would also support MLB’s desire for a substantially shorter amateur draft, all of which would be a boon for independent leagues. The best undrafted players each year might end up in indy ball, where their teams would command much higher prices for them after they’ve played well for a few weeks or months — or if they simply go there and show that teams missed on them in the spring. And when one player does that and his market value turns out to be many times the $20,000 maximum MLB wants to set for passed-over players after the draft, it will expose just how badly the draft process underpays amateur players.

But some players will simply choose not to play pro ball when faced with limited options — go to indy ball, play another year in college, or, if they’re drafted but not ready for full-season ball, just go spend the summer playing younger competition in complexes in front of friends and family. “We will lose players,” said one baseball operations vice president when I asked his thoughts on the plan. “While most of the facilities are far from perfect, most are just fine, and it’s a great environment for (players) to acclimate to pro ball. We need to pay them better and find better ways to train them.”

“It’s not an efficient use of money,” another team executive said of the current format of two short-season levels between the complexes and Low A, even though he said he preferred an environment with “more players, more opportunities to develop.” Another executive pointed out that teams draft more efficiently today than they did ten years ago, so there’s less need for a 30- or 40-round draft and thus for additional low-level affiliates to give all of those players places to play. A player development director admitted that MLB could probably do without the short-season teams “developmentally,” but that “some of the great affiliates are in short season, and it’s a shame those parks/cities may not have access to pro baseball again.” Multiple sources said they’d like to see any reduction in the number of players in affiliated baseball result in an increase in salaries for the players remaining.

A new Professional Baseball Agreement could allow MLB teams to choose whether to have a short-season affiliate. The New York-Penn League could still operate for those clubs that want affiliates between the complex leagues and low A; the circuit has 14 teams now, and could even split now into smaller circuits to reduce travel and allow for more complex-like operations with increased training time at their home facilities and less time traveling. There are solutions that still address some of the greater concerns from MLB’s perspectives that don’t require wiping out 42 teams, that still allow teams to execute different player development strategies.

Multiple sources indicated to me they felt MLB’s approach to the specifics of the realignment and contraction plan has been driven by a few major- league owners, some of whom own shares of minor-league teams or would like to buy into them. Some individual teams’ desires are easy to understand — for example, no East Coast MLB team wants to have a Triple-A affiliate in Fresno, and most teams want to have their affiliates close to their major-league cities for ease of player movement. But macro decisions that affect the entire industry, and will potentially impact the careers of hundreds of players if not more, shouldn’t be driven by questions of who owns what team. There are too many careers at stake for the current proposal to be the long-term solution.

Evan Gattis on 2017 Astros: ‘We obviously cheated baseball and cheated fans’

By David O'Brien

Evan Gattis, a retired catcher who was part of the now-infamous 2017 World Series team, has heard endless criticism from fans, opponents and media members about how that team cheated with its sign-stealing operation and how many people believe the Astros will never — and should never — live it down.

And he doesn’t disagree.

Unlike so many of his former Astros teammates whose attempts to explain or apologize have seemed forced or insincere, Gattis, who began his career with the Braves, spilled forth on The Athletic’s “755 Is Real” podcast this week with a brutally honest, profanity-laced mea culpa that sounded both full of contrition and awareness that apologizing may never be enough.

In a two-part podcast interview that began with Gattis talking at length about his fascinating, Kerouac-ian journey to the Braves after four years away from baseball, he provided candid insight about the scandal that has tarnished the Astros’ 2017 World Series title.

“I don’t think I can win the hearts over of anyone right now at all, or maybe ever,” said Gattis, 33, who had 96 homers and 293 RBIs in four years with Houston and retired after the 2018 season. “I don’t know how to feel yet. I don’t think anybody — we didn’t look at our moral compass and say, ‘Yeah, this is right.’ It was almost like paranoia warfare or something. But what we did was wrong. Like, don’t get it twisted. It was wrong for the nature of competition, not even just baseball. Yeah, that was wrong. I will say that.”

Gattis said he felt especially bad for opponents who might have been facing the Astros for the first time — such as young pitchers trying to stay in the majors or older ones trying to get there. And for fans who “felt duped.”

“For some players that we faced, that I’d never faced before or something like that, even selfishly we didn’t get to find out how good those people are — and they didn’t either,” Gattis said. “I think that was the one cool thing about playing in the big leagues, was just to find out how good you are, which I think is valuable. Everybody wants to be the best player in the fucking world, man, and we cheated that, for sure.

“We obviously cheated baseball and cheated fans. Fans felt duped. I feel bad for fans.”

Gattis said he wasn’t asking for or expecting any sympathy and that he was glad Major League Baseball punished the Astros, although he hated seeing his former manager, A.J. Hinch, and general manager Jeff Luhnow, fired by the team owner after being suspended for one year by MLB.

“If our punishment is being hated by everybody forever, then (so be it),” Gattis said. “And I don’t know what should have been done, but something had to be fucking done. And I do agree with that, big time. I do think it’s good for baseball if we clean it up. But I really don’t know to this day, and I’ve thought about it a shit ton, know what I mean? And I still don’t know how to feel.

“I’ll get ripped by somebody — ‘That’s not an apology’ — and if I do apologize, that’s still not going to be good enough. No shit, it’s not going to be good enough. I understand that it’s not fucking good enough to say, sorry. I get it.”

He said he harbored no ill will toward pitcher Mike Fiers, one of four members of the 2017 Astros who confirmed details of the sign-stealing operation to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drellich for their November 2019 story that led to MLB’s investigation. The other sources for the story asked for anonymity, but Fiers allowed his name to be used.

“With Fiers, he had something to say, dude,” Gattis said. “It probably started out with him saying exactly what he said — some of these guys coming into the league, they don’t fucking know yet that this shit goes on. And I respect that. And he had something to say. So he had to fucking say it. And then we had to get punished. Because if not, then what? It’ll get even more out of control.

“I mean, it’s a tough subject, which … yeah. I think a lot of people feel duped. And I understand that.”

The four, including Fiers, described a sign-stealing operation in which the Astros used video technology — a center-field camera and a TV monitor placed in a hallway adjacent to the Astros’ dugout — to steal the opposing team’s signs and a trash can next to the dugout that was banged upon to signal whether the next pitch would be a fastball or off-speed pitch.

“We did (use the system),” Gattis said. “That’s a fact. And that’s on the wall. Part of me is really glad that that’s out there as public knowledge, and it’s accurate. … I think that’s what MLB kind of wanted us to do with the investigation, too — or at least I hope so — is to find out what the fuck is going on.”

When MLB investigated, players were given immunity in exchange for providing details, which led to penalties levied against the team — a fine and loss of draft picks — and its manager and GM. Critics, including players from many other teams including the Braves, have said Houston players should also face penalties.

“I don’t know if immunity was right or not; I really don’t,” Gattis said. “Because I’m part of that shit. But I’m not in the same position as other people are now (who are still playing). And that’s the reason why I didn’t speak whenever the investigation was going on, because other people had jobs at stake, and I wasn’t going to be the guy that just went around and pointed a finger at myself and then pointed a finger at everybody else. I don’t think it was my place.”

Others who lost their jobs in the fallout from the MLB investigation included , the manager who was bench coach of the 2017 Astros and was found to have been complicit in the sign-stealing operation, and Carlos Beltran, who was fired as the ’ manager shortly after getting the job in the fall.

Beltran was a 40-year-old, 20-year veteran on the 2017 Astros and was reportedly a ringleader in the sign-stealing operation. Some younger Astros implied he had too much gravitas for them to feel comfortable questioning it, even if they didn’t agree with using the sign-stealing system. But Gattis said no one made other Astros go along with the cheating scheme and that each of them was responsible for his own actions.

He did, however, acknowledge that the insular nature of a team and its clubhouse chemistry made it difficult to rock the boat, especially on a team that was doing so well.

“There’s this old experiment, the Milgram Experiment in social obedience,” Gattis said. “I’m not making a point that we were obedient and there was like a leader, like Beltran made us do everything or whatever. I’m not implying that at all. But the moral of the story is you can be put in a situation that is more powerful than yourself. And when that happens, and you’re in a group of people with already a pack mentality, it gets out of fucking control. And it got out of fucking control.” Gattis confirmed a report that cited an anonymous source — said to be another member of the 2017 Astros — who characterized longtime former Braves catcher Brian McCann — Gattis’ teammate in Atlanta and again in Houston — as a player who was particularly opposed to the sign-stealing scheme and made his feelings known at least a couple of times during the season.

“I could tell it was eating him up,” Gattis said. “He didn’t like it one bit. … He’s played so long, and he just understands what it takes to get to the big leagues, and he’s got a lot of respect for ballplayers. You could just tell (he was opposed to the cheating).”

McCann, who returned to the Braves for his 15th season in 2019, has declined interview requests since retiring after a National League Division Series loss to St. Louis in October.

Fiers, who was non-tendered by the Astros after the 2017 postseason, said members of that team were willing to go “above and beyond” and break rules to win.

“Yeah, that’s very accurate,” said Gattis, who agreed with Fiers that the Astros got caught up in winning.

“Oh, fuck yeah, dude. Straight up,” Gattis said. “It was a powerful situation to be put in. Because I agree, nobody made us do shit — you know what I’m saying? Like, people saying, ‘This guy made us do this.’ … That’s not it. But you have to understand, the situation was powerful. Like, you work your whole life to try to hit a ball, and you mean, you can tell me what’s coming? What? Like, it’s a powerful thing. And there’s millions of dollars on the line and shit? And what’s bad is, that’s how people got hurt. That’s not right; that’s not playing the game right.

“I don’t know how much of it was paranoia and how much of it was the fact that other (teams) were doing stuff. I know other teams might feel like we didn’t get punished enough, and we might feel like they didn’t get punished enough, and who knows? Who knows the right way to handle it? Is there a concise couple-of-sentences answer to what should happen? I have no idea.”

Gattis concluded, “Yeah, it’s a little easier to see it being fucked up afterwards. Also, after the experience — and don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy we won the World Series; the parade was incredible; it was a great time for Houston, after (Hurricane) Harvey and all this shit, and seeing one million people in the streets … don’t get me wrong, all these experiences were excellent. I was floored. But once that all fades, now it’s kind of different. Now it’s kind of, ‘OK, that happened, and we cheated. So it’s not … I mean, you can’t feel that good about it.”

Sports Illustrated

Jeff Treadway on the Braves special 1991 season

By Bill Shanks

Jeff Treadway was almost the perfect Atlanta Brave. He was a Georgian. Born in Griffin, just under 40 miles from Atlanta. He played baseball at Griffin High School, at Middle Georgia College in Cochran and then college ball in Athens at the University of Georgia.

And he completed the circle when he was traded to the Braves at the end of spring training in 1989. The Braves weren’t very good then, but Treadway established himself as a regular, starting second baseman.

Treadway hit .277 in his first season with the Braves, with a .317 on base percentage, eight home runs and 40 runs batted in. Then in 1990, Treadway was even better. He hit .283, with a .320 OBP, 11 home runs and 59 RBI.

When 1991 rolled around, Treadway had some injury issues. Manager Bobby Cox also started using Mark Lemke a bit more, so Treadway was limited to 336 plate appearances after having more than 500 for two years in a row. Treadway hit .320 with a .368 OBP, three home runs and 32 RBI.

Even more injuries helped ruined his 1992 season, as he hit only .222 in 61 games for the Braves. Treadway was released before the 1993 season and played with the Indians, Dodgers and Expos to finish out his nine-year career.

Treadway managed in the Braves farm system for a few years in the late-1990s. He then left pro ball and decided to coach at the high school level to be closer to his family. He’s coached boys baseball and girls softball at Stratford Academy in Macon the last decade.