Good morning, all and happy November!
Have you ever wondered what the commissioners of the major sports leagues in the U.S. earn per year? I run it all down in the above video.
Here are some other thoughts as we enter the second to last month of the year:
Barry M. Bloom writes on Sportico that the intentional walk in MLB should be banned. He cites the World Series Game 3, 18-inning contest won by the Dodgers, 6-5, when Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked by Toronto four times. Bloom contends fans pay big money (In some cases well over $1,000) to attend these games and they want to see Ohtani hit. For the record, Ohtani did hit, belting two home runs and two doubles, paving the way for the four intentional walks in that game. (He also walked a fifth time but not intentionally.) Bloom has a point, but if the intentional walk is banned, what’s to stop a pitcher from just throwing four pitches outside the strike zone?
Tickets on the secondary market for Game 6 of the World Series in Toronto were selling on average for more than $2,000.
Officials at LSU say their football program is not “broken.” Sure it’s not. You just fired football coach Brian Kelly, still owe him $53M, and then when the Louisiana governor throws AD Scott Woodward under the bus, he gets fired too. And we are to believe everything is hunky dory in Cajun country?
On Monday, the eight-man ballot for the Veterans Committee Hall of Fame vote will be revealed. The era covers those who played between 1980-2015 and were not elected to the Hall by the baseball writers. Among the players up for the ballot are Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Albert Belle, Keith Hernandez, Kenny Lofton, Lou Whitaker, Fernando Valenzuela, Dwight Evans, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Willie Randolph and Frank White. There is also some thought that steroids-era players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens could make it. The eight players will then advance to a final vote at the Winter Meetings, where a 16-member panel will cast ballots. A player must receive at least 75% of the vote to get in.
By the way, the voting system has been tweaked, impacting how long a player is eligible to remain on the ballot for future consideration, if he does not get that coveted three-quarters total the first time. Click here to read about the changes.
Mattingly, to me, is an interesting candidate, particularly since he has made it to the World Series for the first time in a 36-year career as a player, manager and now bench coach with the Blue Jays. I will always be mystified why “Donny Baseball,” who played his entire career with the Yankees, has been shunned by that organization, after he lost out on the managerial job to Joe Girardi, following Joe Torre’s ouster as Yankees manager. Before back problems truncated his career, Mattingly was among the best players of the 1980s. I can still see Mattingly, when he was the manager of the Miami Marlins, celebrating with his team on the Yankee Stadium turf, after they clinched a playoff berth by beating the Yankees, during the Covid-shortened 2020 season. And how sweet it must have been, when the Blue Jays bounced the Yankees out of the playoffs this season, again at Yankee Stadium.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for subscribing and have a terrific Saturday. DON’T FORGET TO SET BACK YOUR CLOCKS!
DAN
