A report saying Major League Baseball would deny a move by the Oakland Athletics to San Jose is incorrect, according to MLB officials. A story in the New York Daily News reported that MLB would prevent the A’s from moving due to opposition from San Francisco Giants ownership; San Jose is part of the Giants’ […]
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Pirates’ Gooby delivers more than pitch at ballpark
When Latisha Kirk went into labor at McKechnie Field, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Trevor Gooby was on hand to do more than just call for help — he ended up helping deliver Baby McKechnie right outside the front gate. Gooby, the senior director of Florida operations for the Pirates in Bradenton, was at the ballpark with […]
Spring-training games launch today
We have our first game of Spring Training 2012 today, as the Philadelphia Phillies host the Florida State Seminoles at 1:05 p.m. at Bright House Field. Let the games begin! Speaking of spring training: We’ll be in Florida next week and Arizona later in the month. Here’s the schedule for our upcoming Florida trip: March […]
Seven groups still in running for Dodgers
Seven groups remain in the running to land the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dodger Stadium, as two groups were eliminated from the proceedings. The Los Angeles Times has a summary of the groups remaining: Of the nine parties still in contention last week, the two eliminated Monday were Michael Heisley, owner of the NBA’s Memphis […]
Dodgers sale complicated by McCourt’s decision to keep land surrounding ballpark
The decision by Frank McCourt to hang onto the parking lots and land surrounding Dodger Stadium is already complicating the sale of the team and caused one high-profile group to withdraw from the bidding process. Developer Rick Caruso and former Dodgers manager Joe Torre decided to pass on bidding for the Los Angeles Dodgers and […]
Twins: We like Target Field fences where they are
Though other teams are moving in their ballpark fences to pump up the offense, the Minnesota Twins braintrust says they’ll keep the spacious dimensions at Target Field — for now. Target Field is known as a pitchers’ ballpark, partly thanks to the spacious dimensions and partly thanks to the high fences. (In right field, for […]
Summer ballpark concerts: Roger Waters, Madonna, The Boss
It’s shaping up to be an active summer on the ballpark concert front, with Roger Waters, Madonna, Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw slated to play at MLB facilities — with rumors of Bruce Springsteen gigs as well. The most extensive ballpark tour this summer will be undertaken by Roger Waters, who is staging Pink Floyd’s […]
It’s Truck Day — and the first day of workouts
We have a weird situation this year in spring training: it’s Truck Day for the Boston Red Sox and the reporting date for the Seattle Mariners. In other words: baseball season has officially begun. Normally we don’t see Truck Day for most MLB teams so close to a reporting date. But this is a weird […]
Another sign of spring: changes at Digital Domain Park
With reporting dates fast approaching, we have another sign of the times: the New York Mets released some photos of changes to its spring-training home, Digital Domain Park. The two big changes to Digital Domain Park this spring: the installation of a new high-definition scoreboard in left field and a picnic area/party deck down the […]
Comerica Park, Michigan Stadium to host ’13 Winter Classic
The chatter was true: Michigan Stadium and Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers, will both host games at the 2013 NHL Winter Classic. The University of Michigan Board of Regents approved a lease of the historic football stadium today for Dec. 1, 2012 until mid-January 2013; the NHL will pay $3 million for it […]
Braves reveal new alt home uniforms
The Atlanta Braves today unveiled a new alternative home uniform patterned after the 1966 team uniforms. The cream-colored uniforms feature the traditional Braves script in red across the chest minus the tomahawk, red numbers on the front and back, navy piping, navy player letters and a new logo patch on the left sleeve. The logo […]
Oakland bows out of Victory Court site for new A’s ballpark
Faced with a lack of redevelopment funds seized by the state, Oakland is dropping its plans for a new Athletics ballpark at Victory Court — leading the way for a move of the team to San Jose. Regular readers of Ballpark Digest have followed the issues posed to professional sports by the decision from the […]
How best to use old spring-training facilities: Soccer
Spring training may be totally gone from Tucson, but it looks like the city found a great use for former MLB training facilities: professional MLS soccer will bring six teams to the Kino Stadium complex. Six MLS teams will be training in Tucson this spring, with four of them set to participate in the Desert Diamond […]