The first game played at Marlins Ballpark is now in the books, as the Miami Marlins opened a new chapter in team history by hosting two high-school teams last night. The Marlins will play tonight and tomorrow night in two games against college foes and have two exhibition games scheduled against the New York Yankees […]
Archive | Major-League Baseball
Mets lose $71M in ’11, loses key court case today
Lots of bad news for New York Mets ownership: the team lost $70 million last season, and this morning a judge ruled they must repay $83 million in profits from the fraudulent Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff. The judgement today from Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff is a response to bids for summary judgement […]
MLB: No, there’s been no decision on Oakland A’s to San Jose
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’ […]
Parking-ramp collapse leads to safety concerns at Olympic Stadium
The collapse of a section of underground parking at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium has some wondering about the historic facility’s stability. Olympic Stadium, the groundbreaking home of the 1976 Summer Olympics and then home to the Montreal Expos before that team’s exodus to Washington, has always had issues with its physical plant: the groundbreaking retractable fabric […]
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 […]
Tigers upgrading Comerica Park videoboard for 2012
The Detroit Tigers are spending a lot of money this offseason: Besides signing Prince Fielder, the team is also spending millions on one of the largest high-definition LED video displays in Major League Baseball. Incorporated into the existing left-field structure, Daktronics will install a new state-of-the-art light emitting diode (LED) video display. Measuring approximately 48 […]
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 […]