The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Seattle Mariners are going retro Saturday, wearing uniforms based on old Pacific Coast League team designs in each city. The Mariners are wearing uniforms based on those worn by the Seattle Rainiers, who played out of Sick’s Stadium for decades. The Saturday game at Safeco Field will feature […]
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Winter Classic outdoors in Los Angeles? Dodgers say yes
With hockey fever sweeping Los Angeles, Dodgers President Stan Kasten says his organization will look at hosting a future NHL Winter Classic. Kasten, who has somewhat of a background in hockey after heading Ted Turner’s sports organizations (which included the NHL’s Atlanta Threshers), says the technology exists to keep the ice solid and viable in […]
New Astros uniforms: Bring back the orange!
The Houston Astros will have new uniforms for 2013, and owner Jim Crane says they’ll be bringing back colors of the past — and given team history, we’re thinking orange. Crane told the Houston Chronicle “some of the colors in the past” would be part of a new design, chosen after months of design and focus-group testing: “We’ve […]
New Ballpark Village plan on tap for Cards
The St. Louis Cardinals are making another run at a Ballpark Village development next to Busch Stadium, calling for a a 100,000-square-foot retail and entertainment complex. It’s a yearly occurrence, it seems: a Ballpark Village was in the original plans for Busch Stadium, but the Cards and Cordish Co. could never quite pull the trigger on […]
New fences at Citi Field not a big factor — yet
Bringing in the fences at Citi Field hasn’t made much of an impact in the home-run and pitching stats for the New York Mets and opponents, but the season is still young. As you’ll recall, the Mets made some changes to their outfield fences this offseason, bringing them in (particularly in the power alleys) and […]
Ricketts family political activity threatens to scuttle Cubs reno plans
The political activities of Joe Ricketts, part of the Chicago Cubs ownership and father of Tom Ricketts, could, but probably won’t, kill city efforts to help the Cubs renovate Wrigley Field. Ricketts, who made billions after founding TD Ameritrade, has emerged as a major player in conservative politics, establishing a Super PAC seeking to limit […]
Selig: Rivalry series may survive interleague play
The two annual rivalry series may survive a scheduling reconfiguration in 2013 because of their popularity with fans, according to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig. Right now there are two three-game rivalry interleague series — Yankees/Mets, Cubs/White Sox, Twins/Brewers, Rays/Marlins, A’s/Giants, Angels/Dodgers, etc. — that are popular in terms of box-office appeal and ratings, particularly in larger cities where […]
Selig: A’s can leave Oakland — but not for San Jose
Speaking at the quarterly owners’ meetings, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said the A’s were free to move from Oakland under baseball’s relocation process — just not to San Jose. The stalemate between the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants ownership groups remains in place, Selig said; in past months he’s said it’s up for the teams […]
WSJ: Tear down Wrigley Field now!
Though we’re not seeing the logic besides the need to generate flamebait, a writer for the Wall Street Journal is calling for the Chicago Cubs to tear down Wrigley Field so the team can win a World Series. We pass along the article by Rich Cohen not because we agree with its central premise (no, […]
Chicago politics at play: Tunney vs. the Cubs
They play rough in Chicago politics, as Tom Ricketts is finding out: Wrigley Field reno opponent Ald. Tom Tunney has received over $171,000 in campaign contribution from those opposing ballpark expansions. That’s a lot of money, even by big-city standards. The money is from the likes of Cubby Bear Lounge owner George Loukas (who also has […]
Winners and losers in the 2012 MLB attendance stats
MLB attendance is up 4.2 percent this season over last, but there are some surprising laggards at the box office this season — though it doesn’t seem to matter whether a team wins or loses. The convention wisdom on the MLB level is that it matters at the box office whether a team is winning […]
Groundbreaking scheduled for new Cubs spring facility
The groundbreaking for a new Chicago Cubs spring-training facility in Mesa, Arizona has been scheduled for July 11. The Cubs will share the new facility with the Arizona State baseball team. The new facility is slated to open on Dec. 1, 2013, in plenty of time for the 2014 college season. It will seat 15,000 (12,000 fixed […]
Cubs reno plan draws harsh criticism from key alderman
A plan to renovate Wrigley Field and add more signage has drawn pointed opposition from influential Ald. Tom Tunney, who says the interests of surrounding rooftop bleacher owners must be protected. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Tunney wasn’t particularly subtle in slamming Chicago Cubs ownership in favor of rooftop-bleacher owners, who have hosted […]