When a Player Can’t Play
The finals of the 2022 Serie Nacional de Béisbol season started this past week. While it was appointment viewing for me, it turns out it wasn’t an appointment one very important Cocodrilos de Matanzas player could keep. Yadir Drake is about as important to the Matanzas lineup as anyone could possibly be. Unfortunately due to a mishap somewhere in any of the numerous Cuban and Mexican organizations involved the outfielder was told he could not participate and would have to return to his summer team, Leones de Yucatán of Liga Mexicana de Béisbol. It will take a while to unfurl all the bureaucratic red tape involved in this one, but still, a blow for Matanzas and the SNB as a whole.
When Losing is What You Do
On Monday the Empire State Greys lost their 32nd straight contest. That gives them a record of 0-32 on the year. Based on all the info I have, as well as some research from various Society for American Baseball Research folk, I do believe this is the longest losing streak to start a professional baseball season. The Greys are a travel club meant to fill a hole in the Frontier League membership until a full-time team can join next year. The roster of the Greys is made up of the very best of the Empire Professional Baseball League. Listen, that’s a fun league, but it’s clear that there is a rather large gap between a rookie league in the EPBL and the A-level Frontier League.
When You Have to Yell at the Sky
We all know that old man who needs to yell at the sky or for kids to get off his lawn. Heck, there are times when I wonder if I am becoming exactly that man. Then I read a story about Bill Rogan, manager of the Pecos League’s Santa Fe Fuego. His fight with the front office and ownership over field conditions is just him being a decent manager. However, his refusing to wear the patch of a cannabis dispensary that has sponsored the team this year is peak old man out-of-touch stuff. Not only that, but Rogan has said that he would boot any of his players caught using weed off of the team. For the uninitiated, the Pecos League is an organization where the players have to pay to play and then receive very little in the way of payment for their work throughout the season. That last little tidbit actually turns this story from funny to kind of sad, actually.
When a Shove is Too Much
On Tuesday night in Florence, there was a nasty incident involving an umpire and a coach. Reports have surfaced that the umpire for the game got into an altercation with Florence Y’alls manager Brian White. The video below picks up near the end of that altercation when the umpire tries to walk away and White shoves the umpire in the back and to the ground. Some have tried to argue that White chest bumped the ump, but I don’t really care about that distinction. No matter how you slice it he made contact with the ump and threw him to the ground. Unless it comes out that this umpire was saying slime truly heinous things this should cost White his job and leave him out of the Frontier League for the foreseeable future.
Lead artwork courtesy of Pedro Carvalho
