DOCSLIB.ORG

Hey, Bud Selig: Time to Let MLB Players in the Olympics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Hey, Bud Selig: Time to Let MLB Players in the Olympics Hey, Bud Selig: Time to Let MLB Players in the Olympics July 19, 2013 • By James Santelli Every sports commissioner wants to grow his game beyond the United States, and Major League Baseball’s Bud Selig is no different. “That’s my great goal is to take the game international,” Selig said Tuesday in New York. Of course. Those in charge of America’s pastime see opportunities outside the North America and Caribbean countries where the sport is already widely played. Each league wants to market to the billion-person nations of China and India as well as burgeoning economies like Brazil and Turkey. When it comes to international sports, no two events garner more eyeballs, more devotion than the World Cup and the Olympic Games. Baseball is not in either one, and unless it makes some drastic foot-based rule changes, only the Olympics are a possibility for worldwide attention. So how about it, Bud? How about letting Major League players participate in future Olympics to help baseball return to the Games? “It just isn’t possible. I wish it was,” Selig said. Not possible? Why not? “First of all, we’d be playing to Thanksgiving, maybe Dec. 1,” Selig said. Nonsense. Utter nonsense. A paltry excuse from a man who has provided hundreds of them over his time as commissioner. We’ll get to that in a moment. Cutting Through Selig’s Lie If Selig were honest, he would offer the real reason MLB stars are not permitted to go for the gold: money. Including Spring Training, the World Baseball Classic (the league’s own international tournament), regular season and playoffs, some players will play as many as 200 baseball games this year and every one earns revenue for MLB and its teams. Selig represents the owners who earn that revenue. The owners’ thoughts on allowing their players in the Summer Games would probably match those of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who opposes letting his guys play in the Olympic basketball tournament. “If you look up stupid in the dictionary you see a picture of the USA Dream Team playing for free for corporate America so the U.S. Olympic Committee can make billions of dollars,” Cuban said. When sports owners sign athletes to contracts, they don’t want those athletes competing (or worse, hurting themselves) in games that do not put any money in their coffers. So back to Selig’s excuse, and it is a stupid one because the commissioner does not even understand the format of the Olympic Games, last played in Beijing 2008. “Some teams would have to give up players [while] other teams would sit around for three and a half weeks,” Selig said. Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. WRONG. Beijing’s baseball tournament lasted only 11 days (with two off-days), and since athletes don’t travel to the Olympics onboats anymore, Major League Baseball would only have to go on hiatus for two weeks tops. It would still be two weeks more than MLB usually takes off, though, so let’s work through how to accomplish a feat Selig’s sees as impossible – Reduce the Spring Training schedule by one week. This is an easy fix. MLB started its spring on Feb. 21 this year, one of its earliest starts, to accommodate the World Baseball Classic. Teams played as many as 36 Spring games (more than 22% of the regular season’s length). Let’s cut that back by three or four. Start the regular season in the last week of March. The worry about starting the season early is always snow and freezing temperatures. Okay, then play all the Week 1 games in the domes/warm spots: Los Angeles, Anaheim, Seattle, Arizona, Texas, Houston, Toronto, Miami, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Milwaukee, San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco, Washington, St. Louis, Cincinnati. Cancel (or move) the All-Star Game in Olympic years. This is the toughest cut, because baseball’s All- Star Game remains most competitive (it is easier to go all out for three innings instead of three periods or four quarters) and quite popular. But today’s ASG is not the Midsummer Classic of old. Interleague play happens every day of the season, and fans can watch any player they want year-round on National TV or MLB.tv. The All-Star Game’s magic is not gone, but there is far less pixie dust. Start the MLB Playoffs three days later. Starting the season one week earlier and knocking out the four-day midseason break earned us 11 days. Pushing the postseason start by three days would put World Series Game 7 only as late as November 4-5. That is Thanksgiving Week in Liberia, though, so we see Selig’s point. It is possible, Bud. You don’t have to wish it. Precedent on the Ice Once upon a time, another major North American league did not allow its top players into the Olympic Movement. National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman watched as basketball leaped in international popularity after the United States “Dream Team” and other NBA players joined the Olympics in 1992. Bettman wanted to do the same and negotiated to put NHL players in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The decision was considered a massive risk.From the New York Times in 1997: “During the Olympics, the league will shut down for 17 days, an unprecedented hiatus that entails numerous calculated business risks. With the Olympic hockey games relegated to late-night television, with the national teams hastily thrown together, and with the fans back home without their regular N.H.L. teams to follow, the whole plan could backfire…” Four successful Olympic tournaments later, the NHL is reportedly going to put in another three-week break in its upcoming schedule to let its stars go to Sochi in February. Now hockey players and fans anticipate the Winter Olympics as the sport’s ultimate worldwide showcase in an intense competition for Gold. Support, But Little Else, from MLB MLB endorses the effort to re-install baseball and softball in the Olympic program after they became the first sports since the 1930′s to be completely removed from the Games. The league once had a laughable steroid policy. Now Selig bragsthat the World Anti-Doping Agency, an initiative started by the International Olympic Committee, “has raved” about MLB’s drug testing program. Now Baseball and softball have a real chance to return to the Olympics. The IOC will vote in September to add either baseball/softball, wrestling (recently dropped from the “core sports”) or squash to the 2020 Games, and at the same session will choose among Istanbul, Tokyo or Madrid as host city for 2020. The extent of MLB’s support, though, amounts to a letter of recommendation but no promise of Major League players. Selig is essentially giving baseball’s Olympic plan a pat on the ass, a hearty “go get ‘em, kid” and getting back to his own matters. It looks like the 2020 spot will go to wrestling, if the words of the IOC President are an indicator. “We have [Roger] Federer, [Roger] Nadal in tennis, LeBron James in basketball,”President Jacques Rogge said in 2008. “We want these guys at the Games. We’re not saying it should be an entire Major League team, but we want the top athletes here at the Olympics.” How the Olympics Would Benefit MLB Baseball’s bid sits only with Selig and 30 franchise owners. This group of men and businesses must realize the future of baseball and softball is worth more than having a small percentage of players competing in a dozen games every four years: The game grows around the world. The IOC says London 2012 (Slogan: Inspire a Generation) had a “global reach” of 3.6 billion people on television and broadcasters showed the Games on 1.9 billion video streams. In the next decade, that number will expand, and internet viewership will allow fans to watch any sport they want… including baseball. The tournament itself could be one of the Olympics’ best events.Remember that the baseball tournament was only open to professionals (minor leagues and international leagues) for three Summer Games, taking place in Sydney, Athens and Beijing. Those are not exactly baseball hotbeds, especially the last two. Imagine the 2020 Olympic baseball tournament in Tokyo, or the 2024 tournament in Toronto or Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium. In future Olympics, baseball could become a highlight of the Games instead of sitting off to the side. You are showing top-level athletes you care, even if you don’t. MLB’s draft slotting system limits how much elite talents can receive out of high school and college. That is a problem for the R&D of the sport, especially when there are so many more football scholarships out there for top athletes. But one carrot football cannot offer is the chance to achieve the universal sporting dream of becoming an Olympian. It makes the World Baseball Classic better. The tournament is scheduled to take place just seven months after every Olympics, and what better second act? The WBC could gain more attention as players and fans alike look to avenge the Olympic results or defend the gold medal. And the tournament remains unique from the Olympics because of the “home-game” flavor and excitement when played in Caribbean nations or U.S. stadiums with an international fanbase. Star players get exposed to a worldwide audience. Marketers pimp out their top athletes every four years around Olympic time; you could not turn a corner in London last summer without seeing Jessica Ennis or Usain Bolt or Andy Murray or another sporting celebrity.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hank-Aaron.Pdf
    The Swing that Rewrote HISTORY 40 years later, Hank Aaron’s feat stands the test of time By Adam DeCock he Braves April 8th home opener marked more than just the the Boston Red Sox, then spent the majority of his well-documented start of the baseball season this year. It also marked the career with the New York Yankees. ‘The Curse of the Bambino’ might 40th anniversary of Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s long be the most well-known curse in baseball, having haunted the Sox standing home run record and #715. for over 80 seasons following the trade that put Ruth in pinstripes. When Aaron stepped into the batter’s box in the fourth inning in a Almost 40 years after Ruth’s 714th home run, an unassuming game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 8, 1974, ‘Hammerin’ young ballplayer from Mobile, AL entered the picture. Little did Hank’ did more than break a record that had stood for nearly 40 Aaron know his feat would capture his and future generations of years. The feat itself remains a marvel in baseball history, but is baseball fans, and change the landscape of America’s pastime just one aspect of what makes Aaron’s path as a player, as well as forever. his post-playing days, a memorable journey. And it wasn’t all luck. Aaron ended the 1973 season with 713 home runs, one shy of the “I’m proud of all of my accomplishments that I’ve had in baseball,” record set by Babe Ruth in 1935, a record that most considered Aaron said.
    [Show full text]
  • New Ordinance Notice
    7/1/2015 ARTICLE 19O: [BAN ON SMOKELESS TOBACCO USE] Print San Francisco Health Code ARTICLE 19O: [BAN ON SMOKELESS TOBACCO USE] New Ordinance Notice Publisher's Note:This Article has been ADDED by new legislation (Ord. 59­15 , approved 5/8/2015, effective 6/7/2015, operative 1/1/2016). Although not yet operative, the text of the Article and its constituent sections is included below for the convenience of the Code user. Sec. 19O.1. Findings. Sec. 19O.2. Definitions. Sec. 19O.3. Prohibiting the Use of Tobacco Products at Athletic Venues. Sec. 19O.4. Rules and Regulations. Sec. 19O.5. Enforcement. Sec. 19O.6. Signs. Sec. 19O.7. Preemption. Sec. 19O.8. Severability. Sec. 19O.9. Undertaking for the General Welfare. Sec. 19O.10. Operative Date. SEC. 19O.1. FINDINGS. Public health authorities, including the Surgeon General and the National Cancer Institute, have found that smokeless tobacco use is hazardous to health and can easily lead to nicotine addiction. The National Cancer Institute states that chewing tobacco and snuff contain 28 cancer­causing agents and the U.S. National Toxicology Program has established smokeless tobacco as a "known human carcinogen." The National Cancer Institute and the International Agency for Research on Cancer report that use of smokeless tobacco causes oral, pancreatic, and esophageal cancer; and may also cause heart disease, gum disease, and oral lesions other than cancer, such as leukoplakia (precancerous white patches in the mouth). Youth participation in sports has many health benefits including the development of positive fitness habits, reducing obesity, and combating the epidemic of early onset diabetes.
    [Show full text]
  • Mckay Spr2013 Pdf (487.1Kb)
    University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Department of History The Triple Play Twentieth Century Representation of Baseball in Wisconsin Jacqueline McKay Advising Professor: Jane Pederson Spring 2013 Copyright for this work is owned by the author. This digital version in published by McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire with the consent of the author. i Abstract Wisconsin has a rich history rooted in immigrants, industry, and sporting culture, all of which played a role in the history of baseball. Baseball's history throughout the state has changed because of major historic events but also with the guided assistance of three memorable men. The role Raymond Gillette, Henry Aaron, and Allen Selig played in the history of Wisconsin's story in the sport of baseball gives it a unique past, and rare evolution of the game unmatched by other states. Following the story of these men and the shift in baseball's importance during World War II, Wisconsin's story of baseball has changed from being a part of industrial worker culture, to the sport as a major industry itself. Each of these men has provided a different aspect of the sport and their importance is equal, yet unmatched. ii Acknowledgment I would like to thank my professor Dr. Jane Pederson as well as Erin Devlin, my mentor on the project. Without their guidance and support with the paper I would have had a much more difficult, and less enjoyable experience. I would also like to thank Raymond Gillette, Henry Aaron, and Allen Selig for the tremendous effect that have had on baseball in the state of Wisconsin, and although I do not have the resources or connections to thank them personally, their impact is what made this project possible.
    [Show full text]
  • Chicago Tribune: Baseball World Lauds Jerome
    Baseball world lauds Jerome Holtzman -- chicagotribune.com Page 1 of 3 www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-22-holtzman-baseballjul22,0,5941045.story chicagotribune.com Baseball world lauds Jerome Holtzman Ex-players, managers, officials laud Holtzman By Dave van Dyck Chicago Tribune reporter July 22, 2008 Chicago lost its most celebrated chronicler of the national pastime with the passing of Jerome Holtzman, and all of baseball lost an icon who so graciously linked its generations. Holtzman, the former Tribune and Sun-Times writer and later MLB's official historian, indeed belonged to the entire baseball world. He seemed to know everyone in the game while simultaneously knowing everything about the game. Praise poured in from around the country for the Hall of Famer, from management and union, managers and players. "Those of us who knew him and worked with him will always remember his good humor, his fairness and his love for baseball," Commissioner Bud Selig said. "He was a very good friend of mine throughout my career in the game and I will miss his friendship and counsel. I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife, Marilyn, to his children and to his many friends." The men who sat across from Selig during labor negotiations—a fairly new wrinkle in the game that Holtzman became an expert at covering—remembered him just as fondly. "I saw Jerry at Cooperstown a few years ago and we talked old times well into the night," said Marvin Miller, the first executive director of the Players Association. "We always had a good relationship. He was a careful writer and, covering a subject matter he was not familiar with, he did a remarkably good job." "You don't develop the reputation he had by accident," said present-day union boss Donald Fehr.
    [Show full text]
  • Smith Writes Off Failed HOF Bid in Final Year of Eligibility on Ballot
    Smith writes off failed HOF bid in final year of eligibility on writers’ ballot By George Castle, CBM Historian Posted Wednesday, January 18, 2017 The announcement hardly came as a shock to Lee Arthur Smith when the Chicago Baseball Museum called the for- mer Cubs closer with bad news a few minutes after the Jan. 18 Hall of Fame vote was announced. “I think I’m just going to write it off,” Smith said of fall- ing short of induction in his 15th and final year of eligibil- ity on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot- ing. Now Smith is remanded to whatever latter-day name the old Veterans Committee takes. And that panel only meets every three years to consider the late 20th century period group in which Smith pitched. “Maybe if the veterans thing comes around, but I don’t Lee Smith knew he'd fall short think I’ll be paying too much attention,” said a philo- in Hall of Fame voting. sophical Smith. One man’s meat always is another man’s poison in Hall of Fame voting. Tim Raines, with two distinguished tenures as a White Sox player and coach, is going in with Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez. Meanwhile, Smith has to take his proverbial glove and ball, and go home even after ranking as the all-time saves leader not long ago. Smith, working for many years as the Giants’ roving minor-league pitching instructor, has long stopped rationalizing the voting process in which he started off relatively strong, then lost ground through recent years.
    [Show full text]
  • Outside the Lines
    Outside the Lines Vol. V, No. 2 SABR Business of Baseball Committee Newsletter Spring 1999 Copyright © 1999 Society for American Baseball Research Editor: Doug Pappas, 100 E. Hartsdale Ave., #6EE, Hartsdale, NY 10530-3244, 914-472-7954. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]. Chairman’s Letter See you in Scottsdale. Make plans to attend SABR’s 29th annual convention, June 24-27, at the Radisson Resort in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. And try to get there early: the Busienss of Baseball Committee’s annual meeting will be held Thursday afternoon, June 24, from 3:00-4:00 p.m. We’re scheduled opposite Baseball Records and just before Ballparks and Retrosheet.) Last issue’s discussion of the large market/small market issue ran so long that I’ve got six months of news updates to present...so on with the show! MLB News Luxury tax bills paid. After posting a 79-83 record with the majors’ highest payroll, the Baltimore Orioles were hit with a $3,138,621 luxury tax bill for the 1998 season. Other taxpayers included the Red Sox ($2,184,734), Yankees ($684,390), Braves ($495,625) and Dodgers ($49,593). The tax threshold, originally expected to reach $55 million in 1998, actually leaped to $70,501,185, including $5,576,415 per team in benefits. This figure represents the midpoint between the fifth- and sixth-highest payrolls. The luxury tax rate falls from 35% to 34% in 1999, then disappears entirely in 2000. Owners go 9-2 in arbitration. Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera of the Yankees were the only players to win their arbitration hearings, although 51 of the 62 cases settled before a ruling.
    [Show full text]
  • INSIDE THIS ISSUE the More We Learn, the Less We Know
    A publication of the Society for American Baseball Research Business of Baseball Committee July 20, 2008 Summer 2008 The Commissioners and “Smart Power” The Return of Syndicate Baseball By Robert F. Lewis, II By Jeff Katz Joseph S. Nye, Jr., Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, has developed a A scourge of the National League during the 1890’s, geopolitical “smart power” model, used in this essay syndicate baseball, which allowed intertwined owner- to characterize the nine Major League Baseball (MLB) ship of franchises, was a serious detriment to true commissioners. Particular focus is on Judge Kenesaw competition. At the turn of the century, New York Gi- Mountain Landis, the first, and Allan H. “Bud” Selig, ants’ owner Andrew Freedman, along with John the current one. While intended to assess America’s Brush, owner of the Reds and shareholder in the Gi- use of power in global politics, Nye’s model is gener- ants, and two other National League owners attempted ally applicable in any leadership evaluation. Nye first to form the National League Base Ball Trust. With the describes “power” as “the ability to influence the be- support of Frank Robison of the Cardinals and Arthur havior of others to get the outcomes one wants.”1 In Soden of the Braves, the trust would foster common his model, Nye simply divides power into two con- ownership of all league clubs and assign players from trasting subcategories: hard and soft. For Nye, “hard one club to another, thereby influencing competition. power” is typically military or economic in the form Needing merely one more vote for passage, a vote to of threats (“sticks”) or inducements (“carrots”).
    [Show full text]
  • American Jews and America's Game
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters University of Nebraska Press Spring 2013 American Jews and America's Game Larry Ruttman Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/unpresssamples Ruttman, Larry, "American Jews and America's Game" (2013). University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters. 172. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/unpresssamples/172 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Nebraska Press at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Nebraska Press -- Sample Books and Chapters by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 3 4 American Jews & America’s Game 7 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Buy the Book The Elysian Fields, Hoboken, New Jersey, the site of the first organized baseball game (1846). Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library, Cooperstown NY. Buy the Book 3 4 7 American Jews & America’s Voices of a Growing Game Legacy in Baseball LARRY RUTTMAN Foreword by Bud Selig Introduction by Martin 3 Abramowitz 3 3 3 3 3 3 University of Nebraska Press 3 Lincoln and London 3 Buy the Book © 2013 by Lawrence A. Ruttman All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ruttman, Larry. American Jews and America’s game: voices of a growing legacy in baseball / Larry Ruttman; foreword by Bud Selig; introduction by Martin Abramowitz. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
    [Show full text]
  • National Museum of American Jewish History to Host Major League Baseball’S Most Senior Female Executive, Kim Ng, for Annual Dreamers and Doers Speaker Series
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 04, 2014 MEDIA CONTACTS: Yael Eytan Ilana Blumenthal 215.923.5978 215.391.4662 773.551.6956 (c) 267.294.8425 (c) [email protected] [email protected] NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY TO HOST MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL’S MOST SENIOR FEMALE EXECUTIVE, KIM NG, FOR ANNUAL DREAMERS AND DOERS SPEAKER SERIES On Wednesday, June 11 at 7:00 p.m., Senior Vice President for Baseball Operations at Major League Baseball, Kim Ng, will speak at the National Museum of American Jewish History’s second annual Dreamers and Doers speaker series program. This program is held in conjunction with the Museum’s groundbreaking current special exhibition, Chasing Dreams: Baseball and Becoming American. In a live interview with WHYY Senior Reporter and guest host of Fresh Air, Dave Davies, Ng will speak firsthand about how she, as a Chinese American woman, broke barriers in a traditionally male- dominated field. Ng is the senior most female executive with Major League Baseball. Ng recently spoke with the Museum about her first experience with the game: “I don’t think my experience is different than [that of] a lot of other kids. My first experience was going to a Yankees game with my parents when I was nine years old. My mom got tickets from her bank and we went and it was helmet day. My sister and I came back with helmets and put them on our shelves in our rooms. We truly loved baseball, and for me, [I loved] the Yankees.” Ng, who was appointed to her current position by Baseball Commissioner Allan H.
    [Show full text]
  • By Joel Cohen & Bennett L. Gershman
    Daily upDates on www.nlj.com THE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION monDay, january 28, 2008 opinion n the mitchell report in all likelihood his reporting of that event would have raised stronger suspicions and ac- tually reinforced his identification of those in- dividuals about whom a player refused to talk. Why a public outing? Even a player like Derek Jeter, baseball’s para- digm for good sportsmanship, about whom no one has ever raised doping questions, might By Joel Cohen & Bennett L. Gershman special to the nlj have been placed in the position of incriminat- ot surprisingly, the credibility fanatic; a demagogic, McCarthy-like legislator; ing, if only through hearsay, other players and of the now-famous Mitchell Re- a child; or a right-wing militia. George Mitchell teammates, friends or not. Indeed, it’s possible port that publicly identified 85 is a public figure with an unimpeachable reputa- that several of the named players, innocent or baseball players as having used il- tion for competence, integrity and indepen- with mitigating circumstances, may have faced legal drugs is about to be tested not dence. He was a federal prosecutor, a federal a similar predicament and thus chose not to Njust in the court of public opinion, but in a real judge and Senate majority leader. Still, the indi- be interviewed. courtroom, as well as in Congress. Roger Clem- vidual players who—unlike baseball’s commis- ens and Brian McNamee and their lawyers are sioner, Bud Selig—had no say in yielding au- The players’ predicament already at each others’ litigation throats, Clem- tonomy to Mitchell, had much more to lose The named players clearly face a predica- ens drawing first blood by filing a lawsuit attack- than Selig.
    [Show full text]
  • Its Effects on America's Pastime and Other Professional Sports Leagues
    BASEBALL JURISPRUDENCE: Its Effects on America’s Pastime and Other Professional Sports Leagues Allan H. (“Bud”) Selig* and Matthew J. Mitten** INTRODUCTION This article analyzes leading baseball-related judicial decisions, arbitration awards, and federal legislation regarding the Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner’s “best interests” power, baseball’s antitrust exemption, and labor relations with MLB players as well as the scope of league, club, and players’ intellectual property rights. As the first law review article authored or co-authored by a current or former commissioner of a North American major professional sports league, it provides a unique insider perspective regarding baseball jurisprudence and its effects on the historical development and business affairs of MLB and its member clubs as well as their relationships with baseball players and their union, fans, and others. It also briefly considers how baseball jurisprudence has influenced the evolution, operations, and relationships of other North American major professional sports leagues such as the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and National Hockey League (NHL) as well as others such as Major League Soccer (MLS) and the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). I. COMMISSIONER “BEST INTERESTS” POWER The first commissioner of any United States professional sports league was Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a Chicago federal judge who became Major League Baseball commissioner on January 12, 1921, to protect the integrity of the sport, specifically to ensure that “game fixing” like the infamous 1919 * Commissioner Emeritus, Major League Baseball, and Distinguished Lecturer in Sports Law and Policy, Marquette University Law School; Commissioner, Major League Baseball, July 9, 1998–January 24, 2015; Owner and President, Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, April 1970– January 2005; National Baseball Hall of Fame Inductee, July 30, 2017.
    [Show full text]
  • Artificial Turf Dying in Major League Baseball Their Games on Artificial Turf Say They Can Day Game in St
    Players who still spend a majority of from Boston, was out in right field in a Artificial Turf Dying in Major League Baseball their games on artificial turf say they can day game in St. Louis in July or August feel it. and it’s 100 degrees. He had rubber cleats Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon and had to call time out. They had melted. makes sure to give All-Star outfielder Carl If I wore the metal spikes, it would have Crawford days off when he has a lot of me branded under the soles on my feet on consecutive games on turf. “I got away a real hot day, from the metal, it would with it when I was 21. I’m a little older sunburn my heel and the balls of my feet. now – I’m almost 30, and it becomes I remember and I would go, ‘Why are my tougher,” Crawford said. “It definitely feet on fire?”’ takes a toll on your body when you have to Los Angeles outfielder Torii Hunter, play 81 games on it. And we’re in a divi- who spent nine seasons at the Metrodome, sion where you play another nine games said the artificial turf was “like running in on the road. That means you’re playing sand” and hurt his hamstrings, lower back, more games on it than you are on natural knees and calf muscles. grass. Basically, you play the best you can Hunter, who left the artificial turf of the with it, but it’s not easy.” Metrodome for Anaheim’s grass after the ODDS & ENDS STA Membership Plaques “I’m personally very happy that they’re gone,” baseball commissioner Display membership plaques are Bud Selig said.
    [Show full text]