Yu Love to See It: MLB 2021

[Hot Pepsi]

RIP
I read somewhere that he learned how to hit by hitting bottle caps out of the air with a stick.

Tell that to all those parents spending $5,000 a year on travel ball.

Shit.

[ursus arctos]

Arenado to St Louis is quite depressing, if not quite Lindor to the Mets

[jason voorhees]

Absolutely gorgeous, Cal.

Congrats.

[Hot Pepsi]

My dad found a few ticket stubs that my grandparents had saved, including tickets to the 1970 and 75 World Series. I’ll hold onto them.

$10 in ‘75.

[ursus arctos]

That's great. 75 is a particularly iconic series

I have one of my dad's from 1969 (notwithstanding the related trauma), but long ago lost my own from 1964

[Cal Alamein]

I knew that my mom and Grandpa (big-time Brooklyn Dodger fans) had gone to a number of big games including WS games, but had no idea that there was an extremely CLEAN 1955 Game 7 ticket stub in my mom's safety deposit box.

[ursus arctos]

I've seen those on EBay for over USD 1000

[Cal Alamein]

I did some digging as well and got estimates from collectors of $500 to $1000. My brother and I will likely flip a coin to see who gets it.

[ursus arctos]

It's for a good seat, too.

Third base side in left field, fourth row. Wouldn't have been behind a pole.

[Cal Alamein]

Thanks for that seating info - I had no idea, except that $7.35 seemed a bit pricey 65 years ago!

[ursus arctos]

Would have been the second most expensive ticket in the stadium, after the boxes just below them (which were $10.50 in 1956).

The corporate seats my father had some access to were on the other side and closer to first base, but might even have been the same row (15-20 from the field)

[ursus arctos]

Reports that Sean Doolittle is about to sign for the Reds.

I'm not sure that Cincinnati is ready for him and Erin

[Hot Pepsi]

The ticket stubs I have aren't worth very much. They're not mint, for one thing. Ebay suggests that the only way they're worth much is if they're in an intact block or signed by somebody like Carlton Fisk. The Fenway ones are probably worth more, although I suspect those peaked before 2004 when Game 6 was a bigger deal in Boston mythology. Now, winning a tight game in a series they lost probably doesn't feel as important.

[danielmak]

MLB Network reporting that Bauer is going to Dodgers. Supposedly Bauer is also tweeting this.

I thought this was a nonsense rumor the entire time, but as I listen to Joel Sherman and Ron Darling talk about overexposure of bullpen arms being a major problem in 2020, I can see why the Dodgers would want to be 7 deep in the starting rotation.

(Skip to the end if you want to avoid a commercial): https://youtu.be/KT7nUBwzOBM

[ursus arctos]

Will be good to have a detestable human on the team again

This batch is much too likable for me to be comfortable

[Incandenza]

I am...conflicted

[ursus arctos]

Bauer's salary for this season is greater than the current payrolls of three other teams

[Hot Pepsi]

Pedro Gomez died. He was just 58. He was one of many great baseball people ESPN had. He also covered soccer. What a downer.

[ursus arctos]

That is awful news He did good work

[Patrick Thistle]

Bauer's salary for this season is greater than the current payrolls of three other teams

Yes I saw that. One of the teams is Cleveland where they don't have many players tied down, are changing the franchise name, and the owner doesn't want to put much more money in. I'm wondering if there will be a relocation soon. There just seems to be some problems there.

[jefe]

O's extend their lease for 2 more seasons at OPACY, it was scheduled to run out this year.

[Flynnie]

Yes I saw that. One of the teams is Cleveland where they don't have many players tied down, are changing the franchise name, and the owner doesn't want to put much more money in. I'm wondering if there will be a relocation soon. There just seems to be some problems there.

Nah, the Dolans are just cheap and shitty. The Indians have been in Cleveland for 120 years and Cleveland, for all its problems, is a bigger combined statistical area than anywhere that doesn't have a team besides Montreal (which the Rays clearly have dibs on) and some Mexican cities.

I don't think there's a lot of places a team can move to and realistically do better than their current situation. Perhaps none besides Montreal. So I suspect some of the lease nonsense in Cleveland and Baltimore is just trying to extract leverage for some taxpayer-funded ballpark improvements.

[Patrick Thistle]

Any news on the new name though? I'm intrigued to see what they go with.

[Flynnie]

Spiders seems to make the most sense to me. I know there's a groundswell of support for Buckeyes due to the Negro League connection, but I think that's just inviting awkwardness and confusion in a state where college athletics is basically the big uniter.

[ursus arctos]

They are struggling with getting the IP rights free and clear

The change is so long overdue that the speculation has been rife for decades, thus allowing people to get control of the IP rights to all of the likely suspects

And because the Dolans are cheap bastards, they don't want to pay for any of the rights, even though we are likely talking about one year of Replacement Level Player money

This is also the dynamic that will see the Washington Football Team play another season under that name