This is awful news 💔 https://t.co/j95qk1dM9s— Pitch Plz 🦩 (@caitlinmarie721) May 29, 2020
Loved this place. Past tense doesn’t seem right. https://t.co/nuCJ1cilAp— Greg Prince (@greg_prince) May 29, 2020
I saw Asdrubal Cabrera's walkoff bat-flip at Foley's; so many NY baseball fans have memories of their own there. Now multiply this loss by 100X or more. We're losing not just businesses and livelihoods but also our "third places," leaving communities hollowed out. https://t.co/Ceh9tHg5UM— Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) May 29, 2020
This hurts, man. https://t.co/X6K3PpOAVU— Babysitter Becca (@hokiebeccaCFS) May 29, 2020
ugh... just awful. @FoleysNY friggin rules. https://t.co/FjOo0oIKzI— Franco (@DonCheech) May 29, 2020
Former #Mets second round draft pick Andrew Church, who was among those released today, offered some honest opinions on the state of the organization and player development system via Instagram.— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) May 29, 2020
It’s worth reading. pic.twitter.com/5Rzf2vkxPh
MLB officially announces that the 2020 Draft will be 5 rounds. MLB Network and ESPN will each produce live Draft coverage on Wednesday, June 10th, marking the first time that multiple networks will provide live primetime coverage of the MLB Draft.— Maury Brown (@BizballMaury) May 29, 2020
Sources: The Mets released 39 minor league players today. Here they are: pic.twitter.com/OdJ92eza2E— Michael Mayer (@mikemayerMMO) May 28, 2020
Read more here.There will be more fights, naturally. There might not be much living for baseball, though, if the players and owners can’t find sufficient common ground in the next week or so to restart this pandemic-delayed campaign. And this sliding-scale concept, proposed by MLB to the players association on Tuesday, generated about as much excitement on the players’ side as did the “No postgame showers” suggestion.As veteran pitcher Brett Anderson of the Brewers tweeted, “Interesting strategy of making the best most marketable players potentially look like the bad guys.”Of course the players view this as a divisive tactic. How couldn’t they? Suddenly Gerrit Cole and his fellow baseball one-percenters find themselves with the dilemma of being either magnanimous or selfish? Yuck.Don’t bother summoning setups that might seem comparable on the surface. The collectively bargained revenue-sharing rules, by which the big-market entity Yankees must write a check to the small-market Rays and so on, are founded on the principle of competitive balance. This idea emanates from the principal that the clubs want to save. When teams deploy sliding scales on their own employees, as the Mets recently did to control costs during the shutdown, they can do so unchecked. Whereas for teams to proffer that to a union, to instruct it how to divvy up its share of the kitty, feels patronizing.
We have seen different conventions doing zoom Q and A's with Actors/Players/Artists. If we were to try do that what for around $20(not set in stone) Would you be into it? It would be a link to Zoom and also a autographed item It would be a limited number of people.— QBC aka Queens Baseball Con (@QBConvention) May 26, 2020
Read more here.The New York Mets have joined the effort to keep MTA workers safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Mets donated 100,000 cloth face masks to the transit agency, which is distributing them to its workers, the MTA announced Friday.“On behalf of Fred Wilpon, Saul Katz and the entire Mets organization, we are proud to provide masks for the frontline workers at the MTA,” said Mets COO Jeff Wilpon. “Providing masks is our way of saying thank you to these brave individuals for all they are doing during the pandemic.”The masks are the Mets colors of blue and orange, and read “New York Tough.”“I thank the New York Mets for this terrific delivery – it’s a home run for the MTA and its entire workforce who are the heroes moving heroes of this pandemic,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye. “I can’t wait to see the team on the field because I’m unbelievably bullish about their prospects.”
The Post, however, has obtained a March 26 email from an MLB lawyer to top league officials that documents the substance of talks between two MLB officials and two MLBPA officials from earlier that morning. The email covers seven points, including that MLB explained to the union officials that MLB would need a second negotiation if games were not played in front of fans to determine pay and claims that union officials understood that concept.Thus, the email seemingly offers evidence that the union was aware that further talks were potentially necessary.The two sides had a formal negotiating session last Tuesday in which MLB laid out extensively its proposal for restarting the game focusing on safety and health guidelines The sides also talked economics, but MLB did not make its expected proposal for a 50-50 split in revenues this year. The sides have not formally spoken since, with the clock ticking if MLB actually intends to begin a second spring training in mid-June and start the season the first week of July.The staredown and absence of talks is based on neither side wanting to flinch on economics. Players Association executive director Tony Clark and powerful agent Scott Boras have been publicly strong in stating the matter of salary already has been determined for a 2020 restart and no further negotiations need be held.
“That the Commissioner’s office has claimed it needs additional salary concessions should not be surprising to anybody. But there’s a difference between what they are entitled to and what they want. The fact is that the league has conceded that they will be better off economically playing a season than not playing a season. And so far the league has not provided any underlying documents to support their economic claims. Meanwhile we continue to focus on the health and safety aspects of the league’s proposal.”
Gov. Cuomo announced horse racetracks and an upstate car-racing track can reopen June 1, but fans will have to stay away for now.And he suggested it might not be long before the Yankees or Mets could be playing, too.
Upon arriving at spring training, all players and support staff must undergo a screening 48-72 hours prior to the report date. Temperatures will be taken with a contactless thermometer, either a saliva or nasal swab test will be administered and so will a blood test. The MLB plan then calls for those tested to self-quarantine for the 24-48 hours until results are generated.
A negative test will allow a player to join spring training. A positive test would lead to the person being forbidden from club facilities and being placed in self-isolation.
For the entirety of the 2020 season, the plan calls for players to have their temperatures taken twice daily and screening for the virus multiple times a week.
Any individual with a temperature more than 100 degrees or symptoms of the virus will be subject to immediate screening for COVID-19.
Further items include:
Testing/Medical Protocols
— Each club must maintain a dedicated testing site outside of the home or visiting clubhouses in spring training and its major league facility for testing.
— Each club must maintain an isolation area as far from clubhouses as possible for any individual showing symptoms or who has registered a positive test.
— MLB will provide free diagnostics for those who live in the household of individuals with ballpark access, plus health care workers and first responders in the team’s home city as a public service.
— Players will be provided thermometers to use each morning twice consecutively and then have to register the results in a database.
— MLB will not formally restrict off-field activities, but will encourage those who are part of the game to avoid areas such as crowded bars, clubs and restaurants and other activities that increase the risk of contracting the virus. Who Has Access In Spring/Regular Season
— There will be three tiers for each team
Tier 1: players (maximum 50), manager, coaches (8 maximum), bullpen catchers (2 maximum), trainers (2 maximum), team physicians (2 maximum), strength/condition coach (1 maximum),
Tier 1 has access to restricted areas such as clubhouses. Lockers in the home and visiting clubhouses must be arranged to have six feet between them and/or use other areas to build temporary lockers to afford the spacing. Showering in the clubhouse is discouraged as is use of indoor hitting cages when outdoor batting practice is available. Those throwing batting practice must wear masks.
Only active players and those likely to be used should sit in dugouts during games with spacing. Those not active will have designated areas, including sitting in the stands. Buffet-style meals are prohibited. The use of all saunas, steam rooms, hydrotherapy pools and cryotherapy chambers are prohibited.
Tier 2: Is non-playing personnel who can maintain distance from Tier 1 and wear protective items while performing their jobs. This includes clubhouse staff, additional coaches, strength and conditioning staff and medical staff, traveling secretary, ownership, baseball operations staff, media relations, translators, video/replay personnel, head groundskeeper and security. Teams may have no more than 35 individuals in Tier 2 at any time.
Tier 3: Includes broadcasters, transportation providers and additional security who do not need contact with Tier 1 personnel. There may be up to 150 Tier 3 individuals at one time.
During GamesRead more here.
— When the ball is out of play or in between pitches, fielders are encouraged to retreat several steps away from the baserunner.
— First and third base coaches must remain in or behind the coach’s box and shall not approach a baserunner, fielder or umpire on-field.
— Players on opposite teams should not socialize, fraternize, or come within six feet of each other before the game, during warm-ups, in-between innings or after the game.
— Pitchers should bring their own rosin bag to the mound, and batters should have their own pine tar and batting donuts that they bring with them to and from the on-deck circle.
— All non-playing personnel must wear masks at all times in the dugout and all personnel must make all efforts to avoid touching their face with their hands (including to give signs), wiping away sweat with their hands, licking their fingers, whistling with their fingers, etc. Spitting is prohibited (including but not limited to, saliva, sunflower seeds, or tobacco) at all times in club facilities.
— Any baseball that is put in play and touched by multiple players shall be removed and exchanged for a new baseball. After an out, players are strongly discouraged from throwing the ball around the infield.
As our country continues to suffer through this coronavirus pandemic, with lives being lost every day, and brave folks working on the front lines to keep the rest of us safe and healthy, having to cancel a book launch is a very minor thing.The members of the Pandemic Baseball Book Club all recognize this, but when you are an author, and you spend years writing a book, you still have to find a way to promote it. The question is how to do so in these unprecedented times.
When Jason Turbow, author of They Bled Blue: Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen: The 1981 Los Angeles Dodgers had a few book events shelved, an idea started to form.
“Two bookstore Q&As I was scheduled to do in April — with Eric Nusbaum and Brad Balukjian, respectively — were canceled due to the pandemic, I began thinking about ways that baseball authors might be able to promote new releases amid a fractured landscape,” said Turbow. “Doing the Q&As virtually made sense, with video posted for whoever might be interested. Eric came up with the name. I built a website. Brad helped organize. We started to recruit authors with their own impacted book launches. Anika Orrock gave us some amazing artwork and boundless enthusiasm. Before we knew it there were nearly 20 of us, supporting each other in whatever ways we could, a community of long-timers and first-timers bonded together in a way that we’d never have even considered had the world around us not fallen apart. The impending plight of independent bookshops became clearer, that became another mission. Now we drive any sales we can to bookshop.org,” said Turnow
Anika Orrock is the author and illustrator of The Incredible Women of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
“The moment I saw Brad Balukjian’s post about his book tour cancellations, I became aware I was not the only person launching years of research and hard work into a pandemic void (without baseball, no less),” said Orrock. “When we connected with one another, and then with Jason Turbow and Eric Nusbaum, and then with a handful of other baseball authors, I realized we were on to something––and not simply a promotional platform. Our experimental gathering-slash-support group has grown into a sizable innovative community. In a time of isolation, the most typically-isolated kind of people have managed to come together over the two things they have in common: baseball and unfortunate timing. But perhaps just baseball.”
Balukjian, author of The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball’s Afterlife is another one of the founders of the club.
“Pre-pandemic, I started Tweeting about other people’s baseball books, figuring we shouldn’t look at each other as competition, but as collaborators,” said Balukjian. “Without knowing her at all, I Tweeted Anika to congratulate her on being the #1-selling baseball book on Amazon, and she quickly wrote back to thank me and suggested we talk about how we could work together to promote during the pandemic. The next thing you know, we had a logo, a website, a podcast, and 20 writers working together!”
Eric Nusbaum, author of Stealing Home: Los Angeles, the Dodgers, and the Lives Caught in Between was supposed to be part of a Q&A with Jason Turbow in San Francisco to discuss Stealing Home and They Bled Blue.
“When I wrote him in March to officially cancel the event, he responded to the effect of ‘how about some sort of online book promotion instead?” and Nusbaum thought it was a great idea.
“I’ve been along for the ride ever since,” he said.
First-time author D.B. Firstman, Hall of Name: Baseball’s Most Magnificent Monikers from ‘The Only Nolan’ to ‘Van Lingle Mungo’ and More, had been following Balukjian on Twitter and was supposed to have a book launch on April 3.
“I was already following Brad on Twitter in the months leading up to the publishing of his book, so when he started talking about forming this club, I asked him if I could join,” said Firstman. “After all, I’m a first-time self-published author, trying to get my books into the hands of readers in any way possible, and I was willing to pitch in in any way they needed.”
Emily Nemens, author of The Cactus League had been in touch with Orrock on Twitter before the pandemic began.
“Annika and I were two women with baseball books coming out this spring—both a bit odd-lady out (mine being fiction, hers illustrated). A mutual admiration society, you could say. When the pandemic hit, she quickly pulled me into PBBC,” said Nemens.
Mitchell Nathanson, author of Bouton: The Life of a Baseball Original was one of the first members of the PBBC.
“I was invited by Brad shortly after the ‘core four’ founded it, he said. “[That] makes me sort of the Scott Brosius of the PBBC.”
A reviewer of Jacob Kornhauser’s The Cup of
Coffee Club: 11 Players and Their Brush with Baseball History pointed him toward the club as a possible promotional tool as the pandemic started.
“I’m so glad he did because I’ve made friends and colleagues where I never would have and have helped promote not only my book but new baseball books as a whole this Spring,” said Kornhauser.
Jon Pessah stumbled across the PBBC while doing searches of baseball-related websites, saw a few authors he knew that had joined the group, and made a mental note. As he was getting to release his latest book Yogi: A Life Behind the Mask, his agent sent him an email with the link and one word: Interesting!
“That was followed by another email from my publisher with the same message,” said Pessah. “By the time Brad reached out to me, I already knew I wanted to be part of this group.
Chris Haft learned about the club through word-of-mouth, and as he put it, “almost by standing on the balcony of his apartment in Oakland and yelling across San Francisco Bay.”
“John Shea, the great San Francisco Chronicle baseball reporter who happens to be a great friend of mine, urged me a couple of weeks ago to contact Jason Turbow about joining the club,” said Haft.
Haft collaborated on From the Stick to the Cove: My Six Decades with the San Francisco Giants, an autobiography of longtime clubhouse attendant Mike Murphy, who’s kind of a cult figure among longtime Giants fans (he gets standing ovations during pregame introductions on Opening Day).
“This word-of-mouth phenomenon is what we’re missing in the absence of Major League baseball being played,” said Haft. “John, who just released his unparalleled book on Willie Mays [24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid] and I were counting on plenty of free publicity from the Giants’ broadcasters, who surely would have talked about our respective books during game broadcasts. So this club is a godsend for helping put the word out. Even if we had “normal” baseball, this club still would be a great way for us to meet, bond, and exchange thoughts and ideas.”
Ralph Carhart is getting ready to release his book, By The Hall Ball: One Fan’s Journey to Unite Cooperstown said he followed a bunch of the authors on twitter and saw they were forming this collective, “so I reached out to one of them and they invited me to join them.”
As for me, I stumbled across the PBBC by accident, on social media, and wanted to be a part of it.; I love that a portion of sales from Gotham Baseball: New York’s All-Time Teamis going to help out indie bookstores like Avoid The Day Bookstore in Rockaway.
The fact that this group of authors big and small is supporting each other is additionally great.
Other titles of the PBBC include:
The New York Mets All-Time All-Stars: The Best Players at Each Position for the Amazin’sBy Brian Wright
Baseball for Kids: A Young Fan’s Guide to the History of the…By Adam C MacKinnon
Swing Kings: The Inside Story of Baseball’s Home Run RevolutionBy Jared Diamond
Billy Ball: Billy Martin and the Resurrection of the Oakland A’sBy Dale Tafoya
Isabel “lefty” Alvarez: The Improbable Life of a Cuban American Baseball StarBy Kat D. Williams
Intangibles: Unlocking the Science and Soul of Team ChemistryBy Joan Ryan
K: A History of Baseball in Ten PitchesBy Tyler Kepner
Big Sexy: In His Own WordsBy Bartolo Colon and Michael Stahl
You can purchase any of the books listed in this story at www.pbbclub.com/ where you can also see and hear interviews with many of the authors, read the blog, and get cool swag from the online shop.
The Pandemic Baseball Book Club illustrations are by Anika Orrock
Former Mets captain David Wright, who retired after the 2018 season, is still expected to receive his full salary — even though Major League Baseball has been shut down since mid-March and is holding out hope to play an 82-game season.
The Mets owe Wright $12 million, but his salary is partly covered by insurance. The former Mets captain received $15 million in 2019.
Though Wright is still set to receive a big payday, the highest-paid player in baseball this season might be a former slugger who has not appeared in a game since July 18, 2016.Read more here.
According to The Athletic, Prince Fielder, owed $24 million in the final year of his contract with the Rangers, is to receive his full termination pay under terms of the March agreement between the owners and players regarding a shortened or canceled 2020 season.
