New post on our Blog: ‘Aug.26, 1939: Baseball Meets Television’

“On this day in 1939, the first televised Major League baseball game was broadcast on station ‘W2XBS’, the station that was to become ‘WNBC-TV’. Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York.

“At the time, television was still in its infancy. Regular programming did not yet exist, and very few people owned television sets – there were only about 400 in the New York area. Not until 1946 did regular network broadcasting catch on in the United States, and only in the mid-1950s did television sets become more common in the American household…”

More at:
https://bloginsidesports.wordpress.com/2017/08/26/aug-26-1939-baseball-meets-television/

https://www.facebook.com/InsideSports2015/photos/a.365103190344815.1073741828.364986927023108/715339318654532/?type=3&theater

‘Farewell to the Babe’

“On this day in 1935, Babe Ruth, one of the greatest players in the history of baseball, ends his Major League playing career after 22 seasons, 10 World Series and 714 home runs. The following year, Ruth, a larger-than-life figure whose name became synonymous with baseball, was one of the first five players inducted into the sport’s ‘Hall of Fame’. 

“George Herman Ruth was born February 6, 1895, into a poor family in Baltimore. As a child, he was sent to St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys, a school run by Roman Catholic brothers, where he learned to play baseball and was a standout athlete.

“At 19, Ruth was signed by the Baltimore Orioles, then a Boston Red Sox minor league team. Ruth’s fellow teammates and the media began referring to him as team owner Jack Dunn’s newest “babe”, a nickname that stuck. Ruth would later acquire other nicknames, including “The Sultan of Swat” and “The Bambino”. 

‘CBC Race-Baiting Yet Again’

Reposted from: https://endracebasedlaw.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/cbc-race-baiting-yet-again-2/

As most Canadian sports fans are aware, the Toronto Blue Jays are playing the Cleveland Indians in the American League championship. And, of course, nothing can happen in Canada any more without a ‘contribution’ from the Aboriginal Industry – this one incited by Canada’s government-funded broadcaster, the CBC: 

‘Indigenous’ {‘Siberian settler’} activist files human rights complaint against use of Cleveland’s name, logo’ 

“‘Indigenous’ {race} activist Douglas Cardinal…is demanding the team name and its ‘Chief Wahoo’ logo be banned from use in Ontario.

“In an application with Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice and in complaints filed with Ontario’s human rights tribunal, Cardinal argues the branding is ‘racist’ and ‘discriminatory’, a news release said Friday. 

‘Those Wild and Wacky White Sox Are At It Again!’

‘Chicago White Sox Suspend Chris Sale for ‘Destroying Team Equipment’

“The Chicago White Sox on Sunday said it has suspended Chris Sale following a clubhouse incident Saturday night, in which the pitcher reportedly damaged throwback jerseys the team was scheduled to wear. “Sale was given a five-day suspension, which began Saturday, for “violating team rules, for insubordination and for destroying team equipment”, White Sox Senior Vice President and General Manager Rick Hahn said in a statement. The pitcher was also fined an undisclosed amount.

“Sale reportedly was opposed to wearing a throwback version of the Chicago team’s 1976 “leisure suit” uniform and cut up his jersey and those of some of his teammates, ESPN reports. That jersey, which was designed to be tucked into a player’s pants, was often ridiculed when it was worn from 1976 until 1981, according to ESPN.

‘Walking Away From $13 Million’

“Details about the White Sox/Adam Laroche saga have been trickling in since the story broke last week. Here’s what we think we know: Laroche, who was an atrocious baseball player last season, was asked not to bring his 14-year-old son, Drake, to the clubhouse as much, or at all (details still seem unclear) after a number of his teammates had reportedly complained about the son’s continual presence in the clubhouse, to the team VP Ken Williams. Offended by Williams’ subsequent request, Laroche abruptly decided to retire, leaving $13 million on the table, sparking a nation-wide controversy. “This controversy is overblown and misguided.

‘Tear Down The Wall’

On March 22, 2016, the Tampa Bay Rays will play an exhibition baseball game in Cuba:

“The game will be the first involving a major North American professional sports league in Cuba since the U.S. began reestablishing diplomatic ties with the country early last year. It will be played in Havana at ‘Estadio Latinoamericano’, Cuba’s largest stadium…

“MLB not only seeks to play a symbolic role in the reopening of relations between the two countries for the first time since 1961. The league is also eyeing the longer-term goal of easing the often-dangerous path Cuban-born players take to reach the major leagues…”

–‘Tampa Bay Rays to Play in Cuba’,
BRIAN COSTA, Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2016

http://www.wsj.com/articles/tampa-bay-rays-to-play-cuban-national-team-1456872628 Here’s some of the background…

‘This Cuban Defector Changed Baseball. Nobody Remembers’ 

‘The Dark Side of Cuban Ballplayer Smuggling’

‘MLB agent Bart Hernandez arrested’

“Agent Bart Hernandez was arrested…after a federal grand jury indicted him on human-trafficking charges related to the smuggling of Seattle Mariners outfielder Leonys Martin into the United States from Cuba, according to sources and documents obtained by ‘Yahoo Sports’. “The sealed indictment, filed in a Florida federal court Feb. 12, alleges that Hernandez – who now works for ‘Magnus Sports’, the agency founded by singer Marc Anthony – conspired with smugglers to bring Martin into the United States in August, 2010… If convicted on conspiracy and financial-gain charges, Hernandez faces up to 20 years in prison, with a minimum sentence of three years. 

‘Rags-To-Riches Mascot Lives On’

‘Breaking: Hank the Dog is alive!!’ “The Milwaukee Brewers just held a press conference to tell the world that Hank the Dog — their beloved unofficial mascot for the past two years — is not, in fact, dead. He wasn’t even mostly dead. He is very much alive.

“This was necessary, we have noted, because the eagle eyes at ‘Brew Crew Ball’ noticed some differences between pictures of the Hank we met in 2014 and more recent pictures of him, in which he appeared to be fluffier and fatter and, well, whiter than he used to look {See below…}. That’s understandable, the Brewers noted today. He’s simply better taken care of and better fed now that he is a Wisconsin Institution than when he was a stray on the streets of West Phoenix. 

‘Base Ball’s Origins — A Clearer Picture’

‘Back on the Auction Block, a 19th-Century Document Essential to Baseball’s Rules’ “When it was auctioned in 1999, a document called “Laws of Base Ball” had no known author, but obvious significance. Within its pages were fundamental rules, like nine men on a side and 90-foot basepaths.

“But the “Laws” — and two documents inspired by it — sold for only $12,650 in a ‘Sotheby’s’ auction devoted to books and manuscripts.

“Now, the buyer is turning into a seller in an online auction by ‘SCP Auctions’ that will begin on April 6. And the author of “Laws” has a name: Daniel Adams, known as ‘Doc’, a significant figure in mid-19th-century baseball who has come to be viewed as a founding father of the game.

‘Lifetime Suspension… Sort Of’

“New York Mets pitcher Jenrry Mejia made baseball history…becoming the first player to be ‘permanently suspended’ by ‘Major League Baseball’, after testing positive again for a performance-enhancing substance.