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Blog: When Winter Never Ends

Baseball
Jason Tate

Wright Thompson, writing for ESPN:

Ichiro is a meticulous man, held in orbit by patterns and attention to detail. This place specializes in beef tongue, slicing it thin by hand and serving it raw alongside hot cast-iron skillets. They do one thing perfectly, which appeals to Ichiro. Tonight he’s got dark jeans rolled up to the calf, each leg even, and a gray T-shirt under a white button-down with a skinny tie. His hair looks darker than in some recent photos, maybe the lighting, maybe a dye job. Either way, not even a 44-year-old future Hall of Famer is immune from the insecurities and diminishments that come with time. This winter is the most insecure and diminished he’s been.

‘The Sandlot’ Getting a TV Series Revival

Jason Tate

The Sandlot will be getting a TV series revival with much of the original cast returning. The news came from the director of the original on The Rain Delay podcast. Slashfilm summarizes the conversation:

As for what the series is about, all Evans would say was that it takes place in 1984, and it will bring back the original kids from The Sandlot. They’re all now around 33 years old, and each of them has kids of their own. But that’s it. Maybe their kids pick up the mantle and start a game of their own on the dusty old diamond? If that’s the case, what kind of pickle will they get themselves into? We don’t know!

This sounds very much in my wheelhouse.

Mariano Rivera Is a Hall of Famer

Jason Tate

Tyler Kepner, writing for The New York Times:

Mariano Rivera, the career saves leader whose elegant efficiency helped the Yankees win five World Series, on Tuesday became the first player ever elected unanimously to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

It is bonkers to me that no one else had been elected unanimously before.

Here’s Derek Jeter, writing at The Player’s Tribune:

I heard a stat the other day and it blew my mind:

In human history, more people have walked on the moon than have scored an earned run off of Mariano Rivera in the postseason.

Sounds crazy, right? But it’s true.

According to NASA, 12 people have had the privilege of walking on the moon.

According to Baseball Reference, 11 people have scored an earned run off of Playoff Mo.

And while no statistic could ever truly encapsulate Mariano, I figure this one is as close as we’re going to get. Because I think it really gives you a sense of what sort of greatness we’re dealing with, when it comes to Mo. It’s hard to compare him to other closers — in fact, it’s hard to compare him to other pitchers.

Blog: The Disgrace of Minor League Baseball

Jason Tate

The Ringer:

So why do minor league basketball and hockey players get a better deal than minor league baseball players, despite those leagues’ parent clubs bringing in less money overall? It’s not because basketball and hockey owners are less interested in maximizing profits at all costs—many baseball owners have a stake in another pro team, and even if the people running the NBA, NHL, and MLB aren’t literally the same people, they all went to the same business schools and hang out at the same golf courses.

No, it’s about power and leverage.

MLB.com Launch Personalized App Icons on iOS 10.3

Jason Tate

Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch:

The MLB.com At Bat and NHL iOS applications have been updated today to take advantage of one of the new, but still under-the-radar features available in the just-launched version of Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS 10.3: personalized home screen icons. That’s right — you now can replace either of these apps’ default icon with one featuring your favorite team’s logo instead.

Clever.