Forbes Magazine continues to beat the drum for the possible of contraction of the Oakland A’s and Tampa Bay Rays by 2015, but Mike Ozanian may be proving to be a useful idiot for Major League Baseball, as baseball pulls out a familiar tool to push municipalities for new ballparks. In this video and this […]
Archive | Major-League Baseball
No arrests at Dodger Stadium with new security system in place
The increased police presence at Dodger Stadium last night certainly paid off when it came to public perception of the proceedings: There were no arrests made during the Dodgers–Cardinals game, a clear contrast to the opening series when a Giants fan was severely beaten in the parking lot. It sounds like the new approach to […]
MLB considering instant replay for 2012?
Major League Baseball could implement instant replay for the 2012 season, reports AP, after Commissioner Bud Selig and a group of umpire agreed in spring training on a plan to make it work with minimal impact on the game. There’s been talk of baseball using instant replay for years now, but the fear has always […]
Dodgers scrap half-price drink promotion
In the wake of a nasty beating of a San Francisco Giants fan in the Dodger Stadium parking lot on March 31, the Los Angeles Dodgers are scrapping a half-price drink promotion slated for midweek day games and preparing for increased security at tonight’s game. The six-game promotion that runs throughout the season will continue […]
Crunching the 2011 Florida spring-training numbers
Attendance at Grapefruit League games at Florida spring-training facilities was slightly higher in 2011 than in 2010, but overall attendance been a little down since record numbers were set in the middle of this decade. A total of 1,571,196 fans attended Florida spring-training games this past spring. That’s higher than last year’s tally of 1,427,627 […]
Hicks, Rangers back in court
A dispute over control of parking lots at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington has landed the current and former owners of the Texas Rangers in court, with the team alleging Tom Hicks is poised to gouge fans attending games. UPDATED When Rangers Baseball Express bought the Texas Rangers from Tom Hicks, they also entered into […]
All quiet at AT&T Park last night
It was a normal AT&T Park night, with no major fights or public incidents, as the San Francisco Giants hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time since Giants fan Bryan Stow was beaten March 31 at Dodger Stadium. Giants officials implemented security measures at AT&T Park on the par for a World Series […]
Security tight tonight at AT&T Park for Dodgers-Giants tilt
Security for tonight’s Los Angeles-San Francisco game at AT&T Park will be played with extra security both within and outside the ballpark, as the Giants front office brings in World Series-level measures to prevent any retaliatory moves from fans in the wake of last month’s Dodger Stadium beating. Giants fan Bryan Stow was beaten in […]
Remembering Memorial Stadium’s tomato patch
It must have been fun covering the Baltimore Orioles in the 1970s: the team had some characters on the payroll, including groundskeeper Pasquale “Pat” Santarone, who managed to cultivate a crop of tomatoes every summer at Memorial Stadium while embroiled in a mostly friendly feud with O’s skipper Earl Weaver over who had the best […]
Pirates employee found dead near PNC Park
A Pittsburgh Pirates employee was found dead early Saturday morning — bleeding, face down on the pavement — after working the Friday night PNC Park Bucs game, in what police are calling a suspicious incident. Michael Schacht, 58, had been an usher for the Pirates since 2004. He was found unresponsive and bleeding around a […]
After spring training, the baseball continues
With the departure of MLB and MiLB squads from spring-training complex, most folks assume there’s no baseball in the likes of Peoria Stadium and Tempe Diablo Stadium. But the complexes are still buzzing, as extended spring will keep them busy for months. During discussions of spring training, many fans focus on the main ballpark and […]
Dodgers up security; will it be enough?
Most of us grew up with the image of Dodger Stadium as this bucolic paradise, a wide swath of verdant happiness in what’s become a rough-edged city. But now the rough edges of the city have intruded on the field of dreams, and there are definite issues with drunken, rowdy fans showing up to Los […]
AT&T Park / San Francisco Giants
The concourses are surprisingly narrow, the traffic outside the ballpark stifling and you’re likely spend part of a game peering at the action through a light mist. Having said that, one thing is clear: watching a San Francisco Giants game at AT&T Park is one of the greatest experiences in Major League Baseball, one that […]