Thirty years ago, the San Francisco Giants were in the midst of making their biggest free agent signing in franchise history. Barry Bonds, then 28 years old and coming off his second MVP season, would be signed to a then-massive $44 million, six-year contract that brought him to his hometown San Francisco Giants. It was a somewhat similar situation that they are going through now as they court Yankee superstar…
On August 12, 1994, the MLB Players walked off and the player strike began. The strike ended 232 days later on April 2, 1995, making it the longest such stoppage in MLB history. Who is hurting? The fans. The same people they (both sides) are trying to keep coming to games, parking, and buying concessions and souvenirs. It is hard to measure attendance due to the pandemic precautions from both…
A couple of observations for the weekend series sweep of the Pads. The starting pitching was obscene. Urias 7.0 IP – 0 runs, Buehler 7.0 IP – 2 runs, Scherzer 8.0 IP – 0 runs. In 22.0 IP the Padres scraped together 10 hits and 3 walks against the three starters. Two shutouts for the weekend. The Padres were never ahead for the entire weekend. Outside of Blake Treinen’s outing…
The last few days have reminded me how frustrating this team can be sometimes. And it is not just this version, there have been many over the years. Last year, this team was a lot of fun to watch, and it stretches this season, it has been fun too. After losing the opener to the Rockies 8-5, and Belli losing a HR when he passed Turner on the bases, they…
The Spring is three games in, and to draw any conclusions would be foolhardy. But I still have some observations from what I have seen thus far. For the first three games, the pitching has been outstanding. Albeit, without Matt Chapman and Matt Olson, Oakland’s offense is just north of woeful, as is Colorado without Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon. The Giants did not play but a couple of regulars….
Last week, Joc Pederson left the Dodgers as a free agent to join the Chicago Cubs, and prior to that, Kike’ Hernandez signed with the Red Sox. Both were very popular with Dodger fans. Kike’, the Banana Man to many, and a versatile player, had enthralled fans with his energy, and his sometimes flair for the dramatic. His best day as a Dodger was in game 5 of the 2017…
There has been a lot of chatter about the cool reception the current group of FA’s are receiving. DJLM got $90MM, but he is going to be spreading that over 6 years for a team favorable AAV. George Springer turned a small bidding war between the two teams that figured to spend (Mets and Jays) into a Toronto overspend of 5 years $150MM. That was about $25MM more than the…
Somebody made a point as to what the Padres transactions did for the psyche for the other teams. The Padres have now joined the Dodgers, Braves, probably Mets, and maybe the Nationals (with their pitching and Soto/Robles/Turner) to separate from the rest of the NL. Some team from the NL Central will get to the playoffs, because, well one of the teams has to. It is a rule. Because of…
This season, our long drought ended, and the Dodgers brought home the trophy. What a great feeling. And over the last few years we have come close, and just fell short. But in the days before the present system was set up and league expansion, there were only 2 winners. No second chance at a title. Just two teams battling it out for MLB supremacy. Four times in their history,…
Peter O’Malley was born on the 12th of December 1937 in Brooklyn, New York. We all know who his parents were. He spent his childhood as a child of privilege. His dad’s success allowing the family comforts many of the citizens did not enjoy due to the depression. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. And then from the Wharton School of Business in 1960. Peter’s first job with the…