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The team was known as the Trolley Dodgers in 1911 and 1912. Tonight the Dodgers probably feel like throwing themselves in front of a trolley. They just lost two of the three 2018 World Series games played at Dodger Stadium. The Red Sox, who beat them in game 5 tonight by a score of 5 to 1, are the champions. Memo to Dave Roberts: Over the winter, sign some relief pitchers who don't give up a home run to every batter they face.
McCovey, the 1959 Rookie Of The Year, played 22 seasons in the major leagues. He hit 521 home runs and had 2,211 hits and 1,555 RBIs.
Willie McCovey, Hall Of Famer and Giants legend, dies at 80
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...legend-dies-80
MLB imposed a lifetime ban on eight Chicago White Sox players who accepted money from Arnold Rothstein's gambling syndicate to throw the 1919 World Series. Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were banned by MLB in 1983-84 because they had taken jobs as greeters at an Atlantic City casino. Pete Rose was banned for life for betting on baseball games as a player and manager. In May, the Supreme Court ruled that any state can offer sports betting and MLB was quick to make sure of getting their share of the money. Pete Rose, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Cicotte, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Chick Gandil, Lefty Williams: We owe you an apology.
MGM Resorts becomes 'official gaming partner' of MLB
https://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/l...127-story.html
Harold Baines, who was on the Baseball Hall Of Fame ballot for five years and never got more than 6% of the vote, was just voted in by the Today's Game Era Committee -- which used to be called the Veterans Committee but apparently they decided they needed a new name which doesn't make any sense. Baines was surprised by the vote.
Harold Baines, Lee Smith elected to Baseball Hall Of Fame
https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/12/09/ha...ball-hall-fame
Today is December 13, 2018. It is much too early to begin talking about the 2019 MLB season -- but the Las Vegas oddsmakers don't think so. They're already predicting who will win the 2019 World Series. Here are the teams with the best odds:
Boston Red Sox 6/1
Houston Astros 7/1
New York Yankees 7/1
Los Angeles Dodgers 8/1
Chicago Cubs 12/1
Cleveland Indians 12/1
At the bottom of the list: The Baltimore Orioles, 350 to 1.
http://www.vegasinsider.com/mlb/odds/futures/
Quick -- find out if Yasiel Puig, Aroldis Chapman and Yoenis Céspedes have any brothers who are good home-run hitters!
Cuban baseball players will no longer have to defect to join MLB
NBC News, Dec 19 2018 7:22 PM
Major League Baseball and the sport's governing body in Cuba struck a historic deal today, allowing players from the island to play in the big leagues without having to defect. The initial deal will run through October 31, 2021, and will allow Cuban players to sign under rules similar to those for players coming from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, MLB and the Cuban Baseball Federation announced.
Under the agreement, Cuban players who are at least 25 and have played six years in that country's domestic league will be free to sign with an MLB team that will pay a "release fee" to the Cuban club. A player who doesn't meet the experience criteria could still come to North America and sign a minor league deal.
The Cuban federation and an MLB representative both said the US Department of Treasury has signed off on this deal. Without such a deal, the only way players from the impoverished, baseball-loving island could play in the big leagues was to defect — which could be a shady, often dangerous journey involving traffickers and criminals.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/...ithout-n950106
The average annual salary for an MLB player fell $1,436 this year and is now just a measly $4,095,686. Those poor babies!
Average MLB salary falls for only fourth time in 50 years, first since 2004
http://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/n...f1u16kb4mubxt8
Rivera pitched for the Yankees from 1995 through 2013 and is MLB's all-time leader in saves (652), games finished (952) and most games pitched for a single team (1,115). He was named on all 425 ballots in this year's Hall Of Fame voting and is the first unanimous choice in the Hall's 84-year history. (The Yankees' Babe Ruth was one of the inaugural inductees in 1936, along with Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson.)
Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina elected to Baseball Hall Of Fame
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/m...na/2649903002/
Why do news outlets feel compelled to always identify people by their race? *Sigh* Robinson played 21 years in the major leagues and spent 16 years as a manager (Indians, Giants, Orioles, Expos/Nationals). His 586 home runs rank 10th on the all-time list.
Frank Robinson, Hall of Famer and first African American big-league manager, dies at 83
https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp...207-story.html
These changes, plus a "pitch clock," might be tested in the minor leagues this season. I like the idea of a reliever having to pitch to at least three batters. Often a reliever will come in, throw one pitch and get the batter out and then be replaced by another reliever. On September 3, 1983, the A's used six -- six! -- relief pitchers in the ninth inning of a game against the Indians. Ridiculous!
MLB and players union discuss eliminating one-batter relievers and making the DH universal
https://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/l...206-story.html
Apparently "disabled" has joined the growing list of words and phrases that are no longer politically correct. Just wait till MLB finds out "bats" is a synonym for "crazy."
MLB changing disabled list to 'injured list'
MLB will begin using the new injury list when the 2019 season begins on March 28.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...o-injured-list
Hey, Commissioner, if you're serious about wanting to speed up the games, how about imposing a rule that a batter is declared out after he hits three consecutive foul balls?
Rob Manfred: 20-second pitch clock to be used in spring training
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb...ing/ar-BBTJ7t5
In his first season with the Dodgers (1949), Newcombe led the league in shutouts and pitched 32 consecutive scoreless innings. He was the first pitcher to win Rookie Of The Year, MVP and a Cy Young Award during his career. (Justin Verlander, in 2011, was the second.) Newcombe was often used as a pinch-hitter, a rarity for a pitcher. He ended his career with 15 home runs, 108 RBIs and a .271 batting average.
Don Newcombe, Dodgers icon and first Cy Young Award winner, dies at 92
https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/MLB/...9011550607497/
By contrast, Babe Ruth's top salary was $80,000 (1930, 1931). The highest-played baseball player in 1880 was Chicago White Stockings first baseman Adrian "Cap" Anson, whose salary was $1,800. Harper will probably earn that much per minute!
Sources: Bryce Harper agrees to record-breaking $330 million contract with Phillies
https://www.aol.com/article/news/201...lies/23680889/
The Atlantic League is an eight-team independent league formed in 1998. The teams are located in Texas, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Bleacher Report writer Jacob Shafer believes the league's new experiment will be a "counterproductive disaster."
Would moving the mound back be baseball's worst rule experiment?
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...le-experiment?
Rosters will likely expand to 26 players and each pitcher will have to face at least three batters. Unfortunately, there was no discussion about banning the idiotic cavalry call and the yelling of "Charge!" when a batter is at the plate. Come on! He's trying to get a hit, not riding with Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders to battle Spanish troops at San Juan Hill!
Sources: MLB All-Star 'Election Day' planned
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/2...on-day-planned
Of all the changes approved by MLB and the players union, the most unexpected, the most surprising and the most shocking is that commercial breaks during games will be shortened by 20 seconds. Wooh!
MLB to implement new rule changes that will shake up look of sport
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb...ort/ar-BBULp6H
Insanity is often defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time. I have a much better definition of insanity: baseball players' salaries.
Report: Mike Trout, Angels close to record 12-year, $432 million deal
https://kdvr.com/2019/03/19/report-t...-million-deal/
Four of these home runs came against Zach Greinke, who pitched for the Dodgers in 2013-14-15. Gloat while you can, Dodgers. You have 161 more games this season.
Dodgers set MLB opening-day record with eight home runs
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...d/3304870002/5
December 19 NBC News headline: "Cuban baseball players will no longer have to defect to join MLB." Thanks to Trump, they will once again have to defect if they want to play in the major leagues.
Donald Trump cancels deal allowing MLB teams to sign Cuban players
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-cuban-players