(Podcast length - 6 mins)
With Opening Day around the corner, it’s always good to be up to speed so you can join the baseball conversation and then steer it over to something baseball-related like beer, hot dogs and giant ballpark pretzels with cheese. Now we’re talking.
Transcript
Quick recap. Last season was a season shorted by COVID. There was no all-star game nor international play. In the end, the Los Angeles Dodgers were crowned World Champions, beating the Tampa Bay Rays.
1. History was made this off-season when the Miami Marlins hired Kim Ng, the first woman to ever serve in the general manager role for an MLB team. (A general manager handles all team operations – think player relations, the draft, scouting, etc.). Ng has served as an assistant GM with both the Yankees and the Dodgers and the executive suite with the White Sox. Hall of Famer and Miami Marlins CEO/owner Derek Jeter led the breakthrough hire. LET’S GO, GIRLS
2. There’s a new kid in the Big Apple. Steven Cohen beat out the investor group led by Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez to buy the New York Mets, and this season is his first full season behind the wheel. And he’s already kicking butt and taking names. He fired the team’s general manager Jared Porter after Porter admitted to sending lewd texts to a female reporter. Cohen stood firm, saying, “I spoke about the importance of integrity, and I meant it. There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior.” So far, he has our vote regardless of how the team does on the field. NO THANK YOU
3. A few outside-the-box games to look forward to include the all-star game and the “Field of Dreams” game. The home run derby and the all-star game will take place in Atlanta on July 12-13. COVID halted the league’s dreams of having two teams play on the “Field of Dreams” field in Iowa last season. This year the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees will channel their inner Kevin Costner as the big leaguers to play amongst the corn on August 12. The game will also be the first-ever Major League game to be played in Iowa. HOW ‘BOUT THEM APPLES?
4. All teams will open their seasons on Thursday with fans in the stands. However, 11 stadiums around the league have been hosting fans for quite some time as mass vaccination centers. Those stadiums have distributed over 1 million vaccines, and some will remain open during the regular season. The league is encouraging its players, coaches and staff to get vaccinated and are using the promise of relaxed restrictions as the carrot. When 85% of tier 1 members of a team get vaccinated, players will be able to eat out at restaurants, bring their families on road trips and carpool with each other. DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK
5. Do you remember the old Nike commercials featuring one of the home run kings from the steroid era and the saying, “chicks dig the long ball?” Well, the league sorted out that steroid situation, but after a recent sharp rise in home runs, the league commissioned scientists to examine the current baseballs. This study resulted in changing how baseballs are made. While the league won’t admit the balls were “juiced,” they are making undisclosed changes. The inner workings of making a baseball are so secretive that the league won’t even share the color code for the red laces. PROPRIETARY INFORMATION
Honorable mention: “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” ranks right up there with “Happy Birthday” as a song that’s trickled off your tongue. But did you know the song was written by a guy who had never been to a baseball game? YOU DON’T SAY
Sports Curious presented by Last Night's Game, is here to take the awkward out of the conversation and help you join the sports conversation, even if you don't know the first thing about sports. We breakdown what's happening in sports in an easy-to-understand, fun way without all of the statistics and jargon so you never have to exit stage left when the chatter at the office, dinner table or a networking event switches to sports.
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