Tag: That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

kaufman.stadium.kansascity.org file photo: Kauffman Stadium home of the Kansas City Royals holds many dreams for their minor leaguers who will be retained and paid through August 31st by Royals owner John Heyman

On That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary pod:

#1 The MLB Players has offered a counter proposal to MLB asking the league to extend the regular season from 81 games to 114 games so that they can get more than the 50% pay that the owners are offering them.

#2 If accepted by the owners the regular season would start on July 4th and end on October 31st. The union said that pay deferrals would be considered in the event the playoffs and World Series are canceled.

#3 As we have discussed if the players and owners can’t come to a resolution and cancel the season due to money could baseball very well in fact lose countless fans?

#4 The Kansas City Royals owner John Heyman and general manager Dayton Moore said they will not cut minor leaguers pay and that they will receive all of their pay through August 31st the end of the regular season. They also said that after August 31st they will not release or cut any minor leaguers and keep them in the organization.

#5 Amaury with Robo umpires coming how much will it change the game, baseball says their trying to reach out to the younger fan using graphics and robo umpire calls to decide balls and strikes. On plays at the plate like a bang bang play the base umpires can call for a replay review.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo from White Sox Cards: Chicago White Sox pitcher Monty Stratton pitched for the White Sox from 1934-1938 before he had a hunting accident

Real True Grit – He Pitched with One Leg

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez

I have seen the regular most well known baseball movies, the ones most people that do not even follow or like baseball have seen occasionally, like Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Eight Men Out, The Pride of the Yankees, The Sandlot, The Natural, Major League, The Rookie, Moneyball and others.

Also some not that well known and one rather obscure. It is in black and white, titled The Stratton Story (1949) Inspired by his wife Ethel (June Allyson) and son White Soxer Monty Stratton (Jimmy Stewart) pitches with a wooden leg. Also making appearances on The Stratton Story, were, major league players Bill Dickey, Jimmy Dykes and Merv Shea.

The Stratton Story is not a Hollywood fictitious story but a true one. Well personified by June Allyson and Jimmy Stewart, who had previously worked in a very nice also historical movie “The Glenn Miller Story “depicting the life of the great bandleader and his service during WWII until his plane disappeared in 1944.

Marty (Gander) Stratton major league career ended prematurely during a hunting accident in 1938, he fell, and his gun discharged accidentally and damaged his right leg, which was later amputated. In 1939 the Chicago White Sox sponsored a charity in a game against the local rival Chicago Cubs at Comiskey Park. $28,000, (today around $500,000) went to Stratton. In that game he took the mound and demonstrated he could still pitch with a wooden leg. Not easy, during his wind-up he had to learn how to transfer his weight to his artificial leg. He practiced in his barn on a farm he owned pitching to his wife Ethel. Stratton. Later attempted to enlist to serve in WWII when the war began, but was rejected.

A big Texas-born man, Marty Stratton was 6’5” 185 pounds. In 1946 ended with an 18-8 record and a 4.18 earned run average, with the Sherman Twins of the East Texas League, Class C. In his career, he pitched with the Chicago White Sox from 1934 to 1938 won 36 games and lost 23 with a 3.71 ERA, started 62 games and 196 strikeouts.

His story has been depicted briefly in other movies, like Woody Allen’s “Radio Days” (1987) one of my old time favorite movies, not only because I am a huge fan of Woody’s movies and have seem them all, but because it is a film that captures the radio days in all its glory and splendor.

During these days of grievance between players and owners, when billions and millions of dollars are at stake and with the season on the line and with so many problems in this country, which I think we will overcome because we are that strong, it was good to see a movie of an obscure major league pitcher, that loved the game, had a very good career considering at the time he pitched during a World War plus a serious accident that shortened his career.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play by play announcer and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

PNC Park in Pittsburgh will most likely remain unused for the 2020 season as the players and owners are far apart on revenue issues and a second pay cut for the players (WPXI 11 News file photo)

So,Let’s Not Play Ball! Is this The New Normal?

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Another week has come and gone, and like an old friend used to say to me all the time “the more things change, the more they stay the same” that old friend is not around anymore, and baseball is also going the same way as my old friend. Nothing to report from the MLB/owners and the MLPA/Players Union regarding the baseball situation.

The stakes are high in this art of negotiating, each side wants to get what they want, many call it a negotiating game, but just like politicians can talk forever and never get anything done, this current “negotiations” between the owners and players have not produce one grain or results. Let’s be positive and safe…so far.

It surely looks like is coming down to money, and ‘what else is new’? This is the same old flick we have seen with these protagonists. It also looks like both sides were satisfied with the plan for the health and protection of players and staff, although the player’s representative presented some additional recommendations to the owners and that was well received.

Although no deadline was imposed, sources had said all along that a deal had to be in place by the first of June, for teams to have time to report for a few weeks of Spring Training, before playing for real by the Fourth of July. Since then, some have said, negotiations could go into mid-June, and then the season would begin in August. If that is the case, everybody would see that they are just playing for money, no good faith here will be seen. You mean a season of two months? Who in the right mind will like to have the playoffs, if not for pure money since the postseason generates a lot of revenue for both sides.

I heard a good buddy telling me, “Owners should just play with replacement players”. Others said “no Minor Leagues, no problem, bring them in to play, set some rosters and play, let the regular players stay at home, since “staying at home” is “the new normal” these days and since “we are all together” is a phrase in vogue, let all the players stay together at home and give a chance to the poor inexperience players.

The problem for baseball seems to be that what is happening today is “the old normal”. A lot of distrust between owners and players like cats and dogs, oil and water.

The ultimate alternative might be the one we are headed towards anyway “Let’s Do Not Play Ball!” Wait until 2021, by then there will be no equivocation between a scientist who told us early in this pandemic one thing about the mask and then later another thing, or one model that would kill so many and then changed it later. Come Spring 2021 if there is no vaccine yet, we will know much better about the treatment of this virus and we shall be in a much better position to live with it than today.

It is just my opinion. I am sure you have your own and I respect that.

Have a great weekend

Stay well and stay tuned.

mlb logo from mlb.com

Baseball 2020: Season in Peril

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Both sides returned to the negotiating table this Tuesday, but the new proposal by the MLB team owners was rejected in just a few minutes by the Players Association. The Union will now move to inform there members where they stand. Although no deadline for a deal,the consensus is that by June 1st, both sides must be inked,  the agreement for Spring Training to begin in June and the season by July 4th. We felt “disappointment”after reviewing this new proposal, said the Players Union.

The players received a plan that would impose bigger salary cuts to the players making the most money while the players in the lower salary scale would receive a bigger portion of their pro-rated salaries. This plan will cost the players more than the current deal. It is known that the players have lost 40% to 50% of their salaries,with half the season having been lost, since the proposed date to go back to play is early July.

All the 30-teams have lost hundreds of millions of dollars and some owners have said (according to sources) that they are not in the mood to lose more money, therefore throwing the ball back to the players. Some teams have already reduced their front office staffs as well as scouts.

Looks like the money part of the proposed deal is the one where both sides are further apart than last week. The safety and health of the players was countered last week with players giving the owners feedback on the frequency of testing, and how to proceed when players are tested positive, especially some players that are in the high-risk categories. There are players that are diabetic and this virus could complicate any given player with such condition if they tested positive with Covid-19.

The clock is ticking. This week is paramount for the future of the game, not only this season, but for years to come. If they cannot close a deal,this would present economic problems that have never been seen before in the history of baseball.

The negotiations continue.

Stay well and stay tuned.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio play by play voice for the Oakland Athletics on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Oakland A’s Spanish announcer Amaury Pi Gonzalez (left) and former A’s announcer Evelio Mendoza (right) were a broadcast duel during the A’s glory years of 1988-1990 (photo from Amaury Pi Gonzalez)

Back to the Future: FOX to Pump Crowd Noise

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Talking from personal experience. During a recent interview with Joe Buck of Fox Sports said the network will use artificial crowd noise during games with no fans, old stuff comes back, because this has been done decades ago. Although with a high degree of technology nowadays, this method was used decades ago. When a baseball team didn’t want to send me on the road, to call the games because of budgetary reasons. I got permission to call the games from the radio station studios. This was done with the teams express permission; I also called games with “crowd noise” for television.

But it was not only on the radio. In the 1990’s when I was sports anchoring during the 6PM newscast at Telemundo CH 48 San José, Joe Cruz was the General Manager and he had the station build a set, especially for the games that we were going to broadcast on the road for the Oakland Athletics. The set had the colors of the team ‘green and gold’. If the A’s were in Baltimore, we would get the lineups via FAX. I would have the lineup and be ready for the game.

There will be a green screen behind and the moment we got the feed from the A’s regular flagship TV station we would be “on”. I needed a partner so I called Erwin Higueros, now with the Giants (who had his start with me on the radio) and we called a handful of away games from the Telemundo studio in San José, This was years before Telemundo was bought by NBC/Comcast and became a much bigger station with a much larger audience because the proliferation of the Hispanics in the Bay Area. As of today (prior to the US Census that was to take place this year) approximately 2 million Hispanics make their home here in the nine-county Bay Area.

But even way before that, I called games for radio from the radio studios, when the team was on the road. Evelio Areas Mendoza was my broadcast partner in the 1980’s on KNTA 1430AM Santa Clara. We would be at the main studios at the radio station at that time we will call the city where the team was playing, directly to the media person connection to get the lineups hours before the game. There was a “continuous cartridge with crowd noise” that would run during the whole game, sometimes it was not synchronized with the action on the field, so it was a little odd. For example, a player of the opposite team to the A’s will hit a home run and the crowd noise behind the call would not coincide with the sound. Nevertheless, the job was done. The games were called live from the studio when the team was on the road.

Everything has been done in sports broadcasting, really. If you like to adventure into the past. Ronald Wilson Reagan 40th President of the United States re-created baseball games. Reagan was a sportscaster for several radio stations between 1932 and 1937. This was more of an acting job, since he had to read the “baseball wire”, first read each play and then bring it alive with his imagination on the radio.

If there is a season this year, FOX Network will use “crowd noise” behind the games that would be played at empty stadiums. Not a surprise and nothing really new, maybe millenniums think that is cool and “new” but they will find it easy to research that this is really, old stuff.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week and catch Amaury’s podcasts Tuesdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

amNY.com file photo: MLB Commissioner and the owners will present their proposal to start the 2020 regular season by July 1st on Tuesday

MLB Season: Would the Players say Fair or Foul?

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Amaury Pi-González

This entire plan is contingent on MLB getting the green light from local, state and federal officials. The sport can secure testing for the players, medical personnel. The owners approved the plan, but now it is the MLBPA (players union) that have to approve it, and there are obstacles in baseball and outside baseball.

MLB and the Owners are proposing:

-A season of 82 games that would begin during the July 4th weekend. Teams only face geographical division rivals.

-Teams would only face division rivals and the same geographic division in the other league to keep games regional.

-Inter-league match-ups limited to AL East vs. NL East, AL Central vs. NL Central and AL West vs. NL West.

-Teams would prefer to play at their regular ballparks at home, but if medical and government approvals can’t be obtained then they will play at Spring Training Stadiums. Here in California (five major league clubs) the Governor said recently, no sports with fans until there is a vaccine.

-Postseason: Expanded from 10 to 14 games and doubling wild cards in each league to four. The DH will be expanded to be used by both leagues.

-The All Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on July 14, as of today is called off.

-The owners propose that players will receive a percentage of their 2020 salaries based on the revenues that MLB receives during the regular season and postseason. This is probably the biggest obstacle for the players.

Those, and the health concerns, figure to be the main point of contention between MLB and the MLBPA. The players already agreed to prorated salaries back in March and do not want to take further pay cuts. The owners claim they are losing 40% of the revenues, by playing in empty stadiums, no tickets sold, no luxury boxes revenue, no concessions no parking. The players said there is no:”revenue exit” for them as they solely depend on their salary.

At the End: All of this stuff depends on the Covid-19, situations in each State. In the US (unlike other countries) there is no “one size fit all” all 50 States made their own decisions. And that, as we know, is very fluid at this time, nevertheless MLB made this proposal, probably in a last ditch effort to rescue the 2020 season. If it happens it would look like the 1981 and 1994 seasons.

It takes two to tango.

Stay well.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s play by play talent heard during the regular season on KIQI 1010 San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com