Good morning, all and happy Friday!
The word that the New York Yankees could be receiving a cash infusion of up to $3B from Apollo Global Management is a big deal in many ways. I break it down in the commentary.
Here is the link mentioned in the commentary.
Here are some other thoughts on this mid-July Friday:
Are the Red Sox for real? Once given up for dead, buried in both the divisional and wild card race, 14 games under .500, Boston ended the break leading up to the All-Star game with a nine-game winning streak. All the victories came on the road. Suddenly the Red Sox are two games under (46-48) and a 1/2 game out of a wild card spot. Now they open a four-game series against Tampa Bay, starting with a day-night doubleheader today at Fenway. Will the Olde Towne team’s good fortune last? Remember, they fattened up against two of the worst teams in baseball, beating up on the Angels and Mets, and caught a White Sox club due to go into a slump. I still do not believe Boston’s everyday lineup can do the job over the remaining 68 games. We are about to find out.
On this date in 1957, the owner of the New York Giants, Horace Stoneham, told a congressional committee examining MLB’s antitrust exemption sport’s worst kept secret - the Giants were leaving New York after the season. It did not matter if the Dodgers chose to follow them to California or stay in Brooklyn, the Giants were more than likely moving to San Francisco, although no deal had been made with that city.
Stoneham, known for his large consumption of alcohol, made several points that were right on the money. He said the Giants had lost their fanbase to the suburbs; stated there was not enough parking for those fans at the Polo Grounds and that New York could not support three big league clubs. When asked if the Giants would stay if a new stadium was built in Queens - eventually Shea Stadium was constructed there for the Mets - Stoneham repeated his claim the city could not support three teams. He also stated San Francisco promised him the infrastructure was in place for pay-tv. Fans would have to pay 50 cents per game to watch the Giants on the tube. He said the infrastructure for pay-tv in New York would not be available for another 10 or 15 years.
Turns out the pay-tv apparatus was not in place for the SF Giants either, but he was right about New York, as games of the Yankees and Mets did not make it to cable until the 1970s. As for the Giants succeeding on the west coast, after a strong start, the franchise struggled there too, mostly because of Candlestick Park, built in the wrong location. Remember, the franchise almost moved twice, once to Toronto and once to St. Petersburg, FL. In the end the Giants did figure it out with the right ownership, a downtown ballpark as good as any in baseball and three World Series titles. The team is floundering again, but attendance is holding up with games regularly drawing more than 30,000 fans. And to think the boom was lowered 69 years ago today, when Stoneham delivered the sad news to New York fans via a congressional hearing.
MLB’s All-Star game Tuesday night had its highest ratings since 2018. Some are crediting the World Cup on Fox for the boost of 22% from last year. Fox Sports stated 8.79M viewers tuned to the telecast.
How big is the Super Bowl? ABC has the next one, Super Bowl LXI. The game is not until February 2027, but the network is already hyping it, running promos it will have the telecast. It’s never too soon, I guess.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter! Thank you for subscribing and have a wonderful weekend!
DAN
