Baseball

Over the past several days Major League Baseball’s clubs began, after some initial hesitance, to issue statements in response to George Floyd’s killing and the civil unrest which followed it and continues. Some of those statements have been very good (looking at you Rays and Orioles). Others less so (looking at you, well, everyone else). The biggest problem with what most of the teams have said is that, no matter how good their intentions, you would never know from most of the statements that this all began with a police officer killing a black man. You would never know that

John Kruk is one of the more underrated hitters in baseball history. Kruk, who is currently a broadcaster for the Phillies, had a 10-year career during which he hit exactly 100 homers, batted exactly .300, and posted an excellent .397 on-base percentage. In baseball history, there are only 32 members of the admittedly arbitrary 100/.300/.395+ club. Kruk is one of only 10 members of the club that played after 1963. The others: Mike Trout, Joey Votto, Todd Helton, Chipper Jones, Manny Ramírez, Frank Thomas, Larry Walker, Edgar Martinez, and Wade Boggs. Of them, five are Hall of Famers. Trout and

Yesterday we reported that Len Dykstra’s defamation lawsuit against former teammate Ron Darling was dismissed, with the judge finding that Dykstra has such a poor reputation that it’s virtually impossible to libel him. Today Randy Miller of NJ.com ran an interview he conducted with Dykstra yesterday that suggests, if anything, the judge understated things. And which contains statements that put Dykstra in a pretty prime position to be sued for defamation himself. In the story, Dykstra claims, without any evidence whatsoever, that Ron Darling — who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent surgery for it last year — “faked

You may recall that in April of 2019 former Mets and Phillies outfielder Len Dykstra sued his former teammate and current Mets commentator Ron Darling for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suit arose out of claims in Darling’s then recently-published autobiography alleging that Dykstra shouted racial slurs at Red Sox pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd before Boyd took the mound in a 1986 World Series game. Dykstra lashed out at Darling over it, denying it ever happened and then filed suit. Then everyone went quiet. Now the suit has been dismissed. And it has been dismissed in

The police killing of George Floyd on May 25 has sparked outrage against police brutality both across the country and around the world. Protests which began in Minneapolis spread to multiple cities over this past weekend. In the saddest of ironies, these protests against the unlawful and excessive use of force has led to police employing even more unlawful and excessive use of force against protesters, most of whom have engaged in peaceful, constitutionally-protected activities. This has all lead to additional deaths, countless injuries, thousands of arrests, and the targeting of journalists by police and government authorities. As of this

Yankees starter Luis Severino says he is "progressing well" and "making steady progress" after undergoing Tommy John surgery in late February. Source link

Yesterday it was reported that the Washington Nationals would cut the weekly stipend paid to their minor leaguers from $400 a week to $300 per week through the end of June. For frame of reference, MLB had agreed to pay all minor leaguers $400 per week through May 31. Several teams have agreed to extend that, with the Royals and Twins agreeing to do it all the way through the end of August. The Oakland A’s decided to stop the payments in their entirety as of today. The Nationals were unique in cutting $100 off of the checks. The A’s

Atlanta Braves legend Dale Murphy took to Twitter last night and talked about his son, who was injured while taking part in a protest in Denver. Murphy said his son nearly lost his eye after he was hit in the face by a rubber bullet while peacefully marching. He later shared a photo (see below). “Luckily, his eye was saved due to a kind stranger that was handing out goggles to protestors shortly before the shooting and another kind stranger that drove him to the ER,” Murphy said. Murphy had far more to say about the protests, however, than how

Murphy supports the protests, saying "Black communities across America have been terrorized for centuries by excessive police force." Source link

NEW YORK (AP) At least 16 major league franchises have informed minor leaguers they will continue to provide allowances after the May 31 expiration of Major League Baseball’s policy guarantying those players $400 per week. The Houston Astros, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners are promising payments through August, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks have pledged to do so through at least June. The White Sox are even providing those stipends to