Author: Paul Plaine www.ballparkprints.com

At an early age, I started to use the family camera. It was fun and a learning experience that put me on a path to a professional career. It never stopped being fun, and today, that journey continues.

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Florida Spring Training 2020 road trip:

These were the words that were rolling around in my head, leading up to our annual Florida Spring Training 2020 road trip:

“Well, come on and let me know

Should I stay or should I go?

Should I stay or should I go now?

Should I stay or should I go now?

If I go, there will be trouble

And if I stay it will be double

So come on and let me know“

We left for spring training on February 29th, with a return date of April 1st. I follow the news closely every day. The reports on the COVID-19 Virus did raise our concerns. After all, we would be living in hotels, eating in restaurants, and attending spring training baseball games. 

The second night in South Carolina in the hotel elevator, I talked to a couple heading back to Canada, they express that they feared Canada would close the border due to the coronavirus. You could sense their apprehension. Back in our room, I told my wife of the encounter she became even more concerned. I checked the news, we talked and agreed to continue on. 

Once in Florida on the east coast at New Smyrna Beach, a real beach town my parents had lived in. we realized they had very little knowledge or concerns about the ‘Virus.’ This same attitude would follow us to the west coast and the four spring training games we attended.

Once MLB canceled Spring Training 2020, follow the NBA, NHL, and significant sports organizations around the world, we started to hear some conversations and not always concerns over the coronavirus. It was now March, 13th, just arriving in Fort Myers, and we made the decision to cancel the rest of our trip and return home ASAP. 

When we got back home, we had a lot of work to do. Luckily the painters had finished working in the bedroom, and the closet renovations were completed. All we had to do was put it all back together.

“Well, come on and let me know

Should I stay or should I go?

Should I stay or should I go now?

Should I stay or should I go now?

If I go, there will be trouble“

Tomorrow Atlanta Braves New Spring Training Ballpark Cool Today Park

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Woke-up to the sad news Don Larsen passed away. October 8, 1956, was also the first time I would meet him in my aunt and uncle’s kitchen around 5:30. Back then, families lived within the same building, and my aunt and uncle lived a floor above us.

Aunt Anne come down while having dinner and ask if would okay for me to go upstairs and meet someone. Mom and dad knew and said okay. Leaving the dinner table back then was a big deal then. Sitting in there kitchen, having a beer with my uncle, was Don Larsen.

They had two season tickets to Yankee Stadium Section 5 club Lodge level. The seats were the first row seats1-2. They were directly behind Mel Allen and were all the sportswriters sat. Section 5 Lodge at the top of the stairs had a bar-clubhouse for the writers and the small group of ticketholders in that section. Back then, women were not allowed in any sports venue sportswriters bar/clubhouse.

My aunt often declined to attend games, sighting that Uncle Charlie would go up to bar for three or four innings, and she did not like sitting alone that long, and so I got to go to games. Many of the games I attended were Old Timers Day, Saturday and Sunday doubleheaders, and some World Series games. These games had a significant media presence. I did get to meet the writers in the beginning, and I was too young to realize the wow factor!

When my uncle died in1972 from cancer, Don Larsen sent my aunt a letter that she read I recall that he felt terrible that he could not make it to NYC for the funeral. Side note, my parents also knew him and never spoke of it.

Some years back, I went to Bryant Park to a Yankees event and spoke to Don Larsen and mentioned my Aunt Anne and Uncle Charles Shipp, and he stopped walking, and we exchanged a few words shook hand and parted our ways.

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The WASHINGTON POST

So, how will the Nationals’ suspended game against the Yankees work?

Chelsea Janes

“Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said his understanding is that the Nationals must send their lineup changes to the league ahead of time — i.e., who will play in Kendrick’s place, in Stevenson’s place, etc. — and can then proceed with the game as usual. If they want, the Nationals can then replace Kendrick with Murphy and Stevenson with Eaton, or find a place for Soto. If they do find a place for Soto, history will change. He made his major league debut on May 20, 2018. If he plays in a game that officially began on May 15 . . . well, people have dedicated lifetimes to lesser question”.

Link to full article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2018/06/18/so-how-will-the-nationals-suspended-game-against-the-yankees-work/?utm_term=.68cc9967b31b

 

 

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As the 2017 Major League Season winds down the race for first place in the AL East has tightened, and the WildCard race has gotten ‘Wilder.’

ballparkprints-AL Wildcard Race

For the Yankees as of today September 4th after taking 3 of 4 vs. the first place AL East Red Sox are now 3.5 in back of them. They also have a slim two game lead on the first WildCard spot over the charging Twins.

Today they open a three game series vs. the surging Orioles in Baltimore.

As can be seen below the Yankees September Schedule (last regular season October 1st) puts their faith in their own hands.

Let the Scoreboard watching begin.

 

ballparkprints-Yankees-September 2017

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Yesterday’s news on Pete Rose is strike-3.
Washington Post Des Beiler August 2, 2017
‘The woman’s testimony was introduced in a Pennsylvania court as part of defense proceedings in a defamation lawsuit Rose filed last year against John Dowd, a former federal prosecutor whose report on Rose’s gambling had played a major role in the latter’s ban from baseball. In 2015, Dowd told a Pennsylvania radio station that, during Rose’s days with the Cincinnati Reds, an associate of the 17-time all-star had helped him meet girls of “ages 12 to 14,” with whom he committed “statutory rape.”
“The woman, identified in the court filing as Jane Doe, said that Rose had contacted her in 1973 when she was 14 or 15 and a resident of Cincinnati and that they had a sexual relationship for several years. Rose contends that they began having sex in 1975, when she was 16, meeting Ohio’s age of consent, and he was a 34-year-old married father of two”.
As a baseball fan and contributor, to the BBHOF I understand and know that Rose’s admission to gambling would forever keep him out of the BBHOF.
However, I have encountered in every ballpark that I’ve visited around the country fans expressing, he‘s “done his time let him in; baseball should forgive him.” “After all, he is baseballs all-time base hits leader.”
So Rose, not only broke baseballs cardinal sin, and bet on baseball he’s also reminding the voters of the ‘Character’ clause.
Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.
 
Yesterday’s news will forever keep the door to Cooperstown closed to Pete Rose. 

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MLB, scoreboard watching will be in full swing, starting today in the American League. Except for the AL West leading Houston Astros with a commanding 17 game lead over Seattle. The AL Central Cleveland Indians have a 1.5 game lead over the KC Royals, and the Red Sox hold a one game lead over the Yankees in the AL East. As for the Wildcard, it is up for grabs. Except for the White Sox 13.5 behind the Royals, every other team is under ten games.

July 27, 2017, 5:30 pm American League Wildcard Standings

In the Bronx tonight the Rays and Yankees open a 4-game series. Both teams have been playing well, with the Rays 1.5 behind the Yankees and 2.5 games behind the first place Red Sox.

Friday night the Red Sox open a 3-game series against the red hot rejuvenated Royals winners of their last 8-straight games. The Indians and their fans will be eyeing the scoreboard as they have a slim 2-game lead in the AL Central Division.

To make it even more fun for the fans on Monday, July 31st, besides the trading deadline the Indians play Boston and Royals play Houston in a 3-game set.

Baseball unlike the other major sports leagues with its championship season of 162 games played daily gives teams hope that even if they fall behind by a few games, they still can bounce back. So no matter the outcome of these games over the next seven days there’s still a lot of baseball scoreboard watching ahead.

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Gene Conley passed away July 5 at the age of 86.  Across the country, people will read about his winning championships with the Celtics and the World Series with Braves. But what I remember most about him is this:

• Conley and his good friend Pumpsie Green, best known for being the first black player in the history of the Red Sox, left the bus to use the bathroom. When they returned, the bus was gone, leaving the two ballplayers on their own.

After they determined that they would just disappear, passing the time at the local bar. While Green would return to the team the next day, Conley decided to remain on his own, checking into the Waldorf. There, watching the local news, he learned that people were looking for him. Thinking that the situation was amusing, he remained in his hotel or at Toot’s Shor, drinking be

ballparkprints-Gene Conley

Over the course of his time away from the Red Sox, Conley decided that he wanted to go to Israel. As such, he went to Idlewild International Airport, where he attempted to board an airplane with neither a passport nor luggage. Spotted by a reporter for the New York Post, Conley returned to Boston.

• David Hill  Call to The Pen June 2016

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Baseball needs to stop picking on its self! The game is fine! We do not play by a clock. Tweaking is okay.

By the way: An average professional football game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes.

So much for, four 15 minute quarters with a 15 half-time break. If I do the math that comes out to one hour and 15 minutes. I forgot the 3-time outs per team, per half. That must be where the other one hour of time is used.

Again Major League Baseball stop picking on the game and its player and promote the game.