Tag: MLB

PHOENIX — People are dying across the world.

There remains no vaccine for COVID-19.

And Major League Baseball is worried about starting a season as soon as possible, bringing in about about 3,000 players and team officials from across the nation, including dozens of countries, magically guarantee that everyone is insulated and coronavirus-free, and act like this is for the good of the country.

Please.

MLB and its players would love to have a season starting this summer. They even discussed a three-month tournament beginning in September. Anything to play some baseball before spring training commences next February.

But it’s time for a reality check.

Do you really think MLB and the players' association are about to embark on a season in which they get tested for COVID-19 whenever needed, including a result within hours, while health care workers and first responders can’t even qualify for a test?

Sure, everyone would love to get paid, but no one in their right mind is that heartless.

MLB discussed the idea of having 30 teams and its personnel assemble in Phoenix in May, insulate themselves from the rest of the world, sequestered in separate hotels, and play games in empty stadiums – Chase Field, 10 spring training sites, and three collegiate fields.

General view of Salt River Fields at Talking Stick in Arizona. (Photo: Matt Kartozian, USA TODAY Sports)

Everyone would be under quarantine, allowing travel only between ballparks and hotels, requiring players and personnel to sit in the stands at least six feet from one another, with no family members permitted to even visit them while away, let alone watch them play games.

It would be a ghastly sci-fi movie coming to life, with players impersonating robots, with all of the personality and emotion sucked out of their bodies.

The players' association listened to MLB officials explain the concept that’s been batted around for a week on a conference call Monday. They hung up, promised to get feedback, engage again in conversations, and were left wondering how in the world it could possibly work?

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The first deal-breaker, before the two sides even start talking about logistical concerns that would fill the Grand Canyon, is money.

The players, by agreeing to sacrifice their health, and willingness to be away from their families for at least four months, would want to be paid their full salary, at least a pro-rated share of their remaining salary for the games missed.

Sorry, two MLB owners told USA TODAY Sports they would never approve any deal if there are no fans without requiring players to take a significant paycut – perhaps as much as 40%. Why, with no fans in the stands, no parking revenue, and no concessions, that wipes out about $4 billion of the $10.7 billion in revenue MLB generated last year.

Owners also stress that their local TV money will be slashed by playing in Phoenix. You can’t have every team playing in prime time. And who wants to stay up until 1 a.m. every night if you’re a fan for an East Coast team, unless you get sadistic pleasure watching your favorite players endure 110-degree heat in the Phoenix summer months?

You’re also talking about the loss of corporate sponsorships, and stadium naming rights considering no games are being played at their ballparks.

Major League Baseball knows it has plenty of friends in powerful places. They are is in daily contact with federal agencies, like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health and Human Services, who are supportive in efforts to bring sports back.

Certainly, it would be a great boost to the Phoenix economy when the oppressive summer heat suffocates businesses. Yet, local government officials are wary about untested players suddenly arriving into town with the pandemic yet to reach its apex in Phoenix. And even if the government allows MLB the privilege of having unlimited tests, how do you explain that to the locals who lack the resources to get tested?

Baseball is trying everything to keep their hopes alive of a 2020 season, discussing a myriad of ideas, but the risk of playing any time soon should dwarf the idea that entertainment in our lives will make this deadly virus any less tolerable.

“The health and safety of our employees, players, fans and the public at large are paramount,’’ MLB said in a statement Tuesday, “and we are not ready at this time to endorse any particular format for staging games in light of the rapidly changing public health situation caused by the coronavirus.”

You really want a pennant race at the risk of others?

Go ahead, but you better brace yourself for the consequences, ones that could damage the sport and haunt its leaders forever.

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It was the night the baseball world stood still.

Now, 25 years after Cal Ripken Jr. helped restore our love for baseball, he’s back again, reminding us that as we endure these tough times, hope awaits, and we can celebrate together again, just like the night of Sept. 6, 1995.

“This is such a tough time for all of us,’’ Ripken tells USA TODAY Sports, “but even with all of the challenges, I’m pretty optimistic. I look at the innovation. Distilleries have turned into hand-sanitizing plants. Automakers have turned into ventilator makers. People have pushed their ideas towards resources to help.

“Everyone is working together.’’

It has been 159 days since we last had a real Major League Baseball game, and it will be at least a few months longer, perhaps even until 2021, with the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the sports world.

But Tuesday night on ESPN, Ripken will try reviving those feelings, emotions and romanticism that made us fall in love with baseball, playing in his 2,131st consecutive game, eclipsing legendary Lou Gehrig.

“It was a night bigger than Cal and Lou Gehrig,’’ said Hall of Fame broadcaster Chris Berman, who worked the game for ESPN. “It was a sacred night for not only baseball, for not only sports, but it was a night for America."

Ripken and Berman will celebrate the game with the ESPN launch of BBTN Live (Baseball Tonight Live), a weekly digital pregame show that will air classic baseball games called MLB Encore Tuesdays. Ripken and Berman will discuss their memories before the game, and Ripken again in the fifth inning on ESPN’s social media platforms. The game will re-air on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET.

Ripken, in turn, will enter the Twitter universe for the first time as @CalRipkenJr. He’ll use the platform to announce that the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation will be launching the Strike Out Hunger campaign during this pandemic, contributing $250,000 with their partners.

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“This reminds you in a way of 9/11,’’ Ripken says, of terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2011, just three weeks before the end of his career. “It shook everyone to the core. You’re sitting there in disbelief. You want to do everything you can to help in any way you can.

“I think if baseball can come back, like we did back then, it can provide some healing, a distraction, and let people focus on some of the good things on life.’’

This is the first time in 25 years that Major League Baseball missed its traditional opening day, but that was only because of a labor dispute between the players and owners. Ripken’s streak was two days away from being over when the owners and players ended the 232-day strike and the threat of using replacement players.

Cal Ripken waves his hat to the crowd after breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games played record. (Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY Sports)

“I remember Mark Belanger (with the players association) told me he thought it would be OK if I played with the replacement players because of my streak,’’ Ripken said. “I wasn’t going to do that. I never thought about it. There was a clear sense of responsibility. If the streak was to end for that reason, that was still the right thing to do.’’

President Bill Clinton was in attendance for the record-breaking game. New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio, a teammate of Gehrig’s, was there. So was Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, his former manager. And former Orioles Hall of Fame great Earl Weaver. And, of course, his family, was among the sellout crowd of 46,272.

The game became official at the end of the fifth inning. The crowd stood on its feet, and roared, and refused to stop.

He saw his father, Cal Ripken Sr. in a suite, pumped his right fist, gestured with his left hand, and started to cry. He walked over to the stands to see his family, took off his jersey and handed it to them, revealing he was wearing the black T-shirt with white lettering they presented to him that morning: 2,130+ Hugs and Kisses for Daddy.

“I haven’t watched it much in its entirety,’’ Ripken says, “because I didn’t want to change my perspective of it. The most powerful part was that ovation, and that lap. You get reminded of so many memories along that trip. The people that I recognized by face, some by name, and the celebration just seemed to be so intimate. You could relate to the crowd individually.

“And seeing my dad in the sky box, catching his eye, you could feel a million emotions between us.’’

Berman and ESPN color commentator Buck Martinez never uttered a word during the entire celebration, letting the pictures capture the scene.

“We get paid to speak, and we won an Emmy by saying nothing,’’ Berman says. “But we couldn’t have talked if we wanted to.’’

Ripken sat back and reminisced about all of it during an hour-long telephone conversation over the weekend from his Maryland home. The truth about the streak is that it was never about catching Gehrig. Never about reaching historical numbers. It was about pride, simply getting up, getting dressed and going to work every day.

“People called me selfish at times when I continued to play,’’ Ripken says, “and I laugh. It was never about Gehrig’s record. Never once did I want to be in the lineup to break it. I grew up believing I should come every day to the ballpark ready to play, and if the manager wrote your name in the lineup, you played. I was there to win my day."

Ripken went on to play three more seasons without taking a day off after that night, with the consecutive game streak ending at 2,632 games on Sept. 28, 1998. No one has played even 550 consecutive games since the streak ended. Kansas City Royals infielder Whit Merifield has the longest active streak at 247 games, just ahead of Oakland Athletics shortstop Marcus Semien, who has started 243 consecutive games.

“It’s different now,’’ Ripken says. “The definition of an everyday player is not playing every day. It’s 145 games. Or 150. Everything is so analytic now, managers want to give their guys periodic rest to get the best out of them."

Now, here we are 25 years later, and we’ll be watching Game 2,131 again, celebrating as if it’s the first time we saw the balloons fly into the air, fireworks screaming into the night, the warehouse number changing, and Ripken trotting around the outfield.

Baseball, one day, will be played again. Maybe even this year. If they can squeeze in 81 regular-season games, Ripken says, at least that could be representative of a season.

But for now, all we have are memories, with hopes we can all celebrate together again, just as we did the night of Sept. 6, 1995.

“I hope people get the same feeling 25 years later,’’ Berman says, “a feeling of hope and togetherness. I get emotional just talking about it.

“And for that game to be shown now, with what this nation and world is going through, the timing couldn’t be any better.

“We need this.’’

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Former Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton was sentenced to two days in jail over a 2019 DUI arrest in Tennessee, Knoxville assistant district attorney Sean McDermott confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Monday. 

Following a one-car automobile accident on March 18, 2019, Helton received a misdemeanor citation for driving under the influence. According to the police report obtained by USA TODAY Sports, Helton's vehicle crashed into a pole. He claimed that he had taken an Ambien in the afternoon, however, the officer on duty wrote in the report that Helton had a cup in his car that smelled like alcohol. 

Helton then pled guilty to a first-offense DUI, which gave him the sentence of 11 months and 29 days on unsupervised probation and suspended his license for one year. According to McDermott, Helton was also ordered to pay a $250 fine, attend a victim impact panel and serve "48 hours in custody." 

Helton, 46, had a previous DUI arrest in Colorado in 2013.

Helton spent all 17 seasons of his career with the Rockies. In his career, he batted .316 with 369 home runs and a .953 OPS. He's been on the ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame three times and has an upward trajectory of being inducted; in 2020 he doubled his total votes.  

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Sid Bream has seen his famous slide thousands and thousands of times, but for the first time in years, maybe ever at his home, planned Friday to plop down in his living room, turn on the TV, and watch the entire baseball game.

It will be hard to miss.

Game 7 of the 1992 National League Championship Season between the Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates is being televised three different times throughout the day Friday on MLB-TV as one of baseball’s classics, ranked as the fourth-best game in MLB history.

The game that sent the Atlanta Braves into euphoria, returning to the World Series for a second consecutive year, and breaking the hearts of Pirates’ fans, once again.

“I have an employee, a friend of mine,’’ says Bream, who is a corporate chaplain at the PGT Trucking company in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, “and every time I go to his desk, he tells me I was out.

“You were a disgrace to Pittsburgh.’’’

Atlanta's Sid Bream celebrates after scoring the winning run in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS. (Photo: Rusty Kennedy, Associated Press)

They can laugh about it now, Bream told USA TODAY Sports on Friday, but 28 years ago, there was a death threat from an angry Pirates fan, threatening to kill his entire family.

Over a baseball game.

Bream, 59, was born and raised a Pirates fan himself. He played six years in their organization. One of his sons, Austin Leyland, is named after Pirates manager Jim Leyland. He cried when the Pirates didn’t make him a competitive offer to re-sign him as a free-agent, leaving him to sign with Atlanta.

But, 28 years ago, standing on second base, in the ninth inning with his team down, 2-1 in the deciding game of the NLCS, he had one job to do:

Find a way to cross home plate with the winning run.

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Pinch-hitter Francisco Cabrera, at the plate facing Pirates closer Stan Belinda, hit a line drive to left field. David Justice easily scored from third base with the tying run when Pirates All-Star left fielder Barry Bonds picked up the ball. Bream, who remembers having a monstrous lead off second base, so big that he probably would have been picked off base if Belinda or catcher Mike LaValliere threw behind him, took off running.

This was a 32-year-old man, who already had six knee surgeries, and was the slowest position player on field, painfully trudging around the bases.

“I still have no recollection whether (third-base coach) Jimy Williams was giving me the stop sign or not, no idea,’’ Bream says. “I didn’t even look at him. I just know you were taught to put pressure on the defense, and getting another base hit or walk is difficult.

“Besides, there were things in my favor. There were two outs. I didn’t have to worry about where the ball was hit. I just had to take off at the crack of the bat.

“And if you look at the video, I had a tremendous lead. If they had thrown behind me, I was dead.’’

Bream rounded third and slid straight to home plate, tucked in his left knee, LaValliere slapped the tag, a split-second after Bream’s left heal touched the plate.

Home-plate umpire John McSherry, who would die four years later of a heart attack on opening-day in Cincinnati, correctly ruled safe.

And Bream laid on the ground, screaming, with Justice the first one jumping on him, and then the entire team.

“It was all a blur, that’s why I’m going to go home and watch the whole game,’’ Bream said . “I remember that ninth inning, of course, but there’s a lot more I want to recall from the game. A gentleman was telling me about David Justice throwing out Orlando Merced in the eighth inning, and how our defense was impeccable. I want to see that again. I want to feel it again.’’

Bream, who spent parts of 14 years in the major leagues, never made an All-Star team. He was never a Gold Glove winner, but four times led National League first basemen in runs saved. He was uncanny in his consistency, hitting .253 to .275 for seven consecutive years excluding his injured 1989 season, averaging 12 homers a year.

“I wasn’t a franchise player,’’ Bream said, “but I saved a lot of errors from my infielders. You could always depend on me.’’

There may not be a soul who can remember any other detail about Bream’s career, but on the evening of Oct. 14, 1992, in front of a paid crowd of 51,975 fans at old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, they will forever remember the slide heard ‘round the Deep South.

“Everywhere I go, to this day,’’ Bream says, “people still want to talk about it.

 “And that’s just fine by me.’’

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