Tag: That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: Say Adiós to my Little Friend: Instant Replay

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MLB struck an agreement with its umpires on a new deal Friday, according to AP (photo by AP)

Say Adiós to my Little Friend: Instant Replay

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

If there is a 2020 baseball season, there is a very good chance the Instant Replay will disappear. It would be a shortened season by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although is not official yet, sources say it looks like both sides came to an agreement. The umpires are guaranteed 50 percent of their salaries for the month of May, but nothing else is there are no season and no games are played.

The Major League Umpires make on average $150,000 to $450, 000 plus, if just one regular season game is played this season the umpires are guaranteed about onethird of their salaries. Umpires already have been paid from January to April. Looks like the umps will do well either way. The MLB Umpires Union said in a statement, they were pleased to reach this agreement with the commissioner’s office.

The old saying ‘the glass is half full or half empty ‘applies to the record since 2014. When the Instant Replay was established, with about half of the challenged calls resulting in reversal. In other words, major league umpires, missed half of the challenged plays and are right on the other half.

There still no timetable for an Opening Day. The parks where they are proposing to play in Arizona and Florida are not wired for the replay review, so they would play these games without no fans, and no replays. On the other hand, it seems what the owners do not want is the “replay review”.

A good scenario would be to open the season/play in Arizona and Florida and then later, if there is an effective treatment for the virus (most experts do not expect a vaccine until 2021) and then move to the original baseball parks where all 30 teams play, under the new proposed realignment of merging both leagues into three by geographical logic: East, Central and West. Even then, it would be with no fans.

Revenues? The games will be entirely for television that means the TV revenue is the only revenue generated. No fans, No tickets sold, concessions or parking. The rest we must leave to the financial experts, but anyway you look at this, is a very ugly situation.

Finally: Since we are talking about numbers, I will make it very simple. In my book there is a 50-50 of a season in 2020.Those are my best odds.

Stay well.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish play by play on the A’s Spanish flagship station KIQI 1010 San Francisco and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Kapler says Puig most likely will not join Giants

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Former Cleveland outfielder Yasiel Puig leans against the dugout last season is negotiating with the San Francisco Giants in a deal that is reported to be close to getting done. (AP photo)

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 Giants manager Gabe Kapler said that a deal acquiring Yasiel Puig is not even close but sources said that Puig was for awhile on the Giants radar. How much would have a Yasiel Puig acquisition would have meant to the Giants.

#2 Yasiel had a reputation when he played with Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Cleveland and there were players who reportedly didn’t like him. He’s been shipped around since LA how would have fit in at the Giants?

#3 There is no doubt Puig is a talent with Cleveland he hit .267, 148 hits, 24 homers and 84 RBIs he can definitely provide power in the Giants offense.

#4  Would Puig have been the  same or somewhat kind of personality that former Giant Barry Bonds was in the clubhouse and field to the game?

#5 Some of the things that were said about Puig by some of his former teammates that he could be controversial and self fish could those issues be distractions if he had joined the Giants?

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Oakland A’s Spanish radio talent on KIQI 1010 and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Baseball in Cuba could start before US

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Cuban baseball will be back April 30th after the Coronavirus shutdown well before Major League Baseball will consider coming back (AP file photo)

Baseball in Cuba could start before US

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

According to the Havana Times. All official sports events have been canceled in Cuba until April 30th at least, in response to the global Coronavirus pandemic. That includes baseball,the one sport that people have been playing almost as long as the United States. The population of the largest island in the Caribbean is approximately 11.5 million and as of today Cuba’s total of 1,389 Covid-19 cases and 58 dead.

It would be easy to start baseball in Cuba,because everything is controlled by their government. There are no complications like here in the US with MLB the MLB Players Union,the 50 different States/politics open or not open for business and of course a much smaller country..

Here is easily explained:

1-Owners of teams. None. The Cuban communist government owns baseball and all other sports.

2-Players. Baseball players get paid by the government and the stars make around equivalent of $2,000 per year.

3-Fans/Games. Cubans pay subsidized prices of just a few centavos

4-Media. Private ownership of broadcast media(radio,TV,print is prohibited)and the government owns all mainstream media outlets *(below)

5-Largest most famous Stadium: Estadio Latinoamericano, Havana, 55,000 capacity,build in 1946.

*Cubans were allowed to have cell phones in 2010,however the Internet is very limited and strongly censored.

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Roberto Clemente #21 should be retired

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Roberto Clemente in his 1964 Topps Giants Card photo with the Pittsburgh Pirates (sportsmemorabila.com file photo)

Roberto Clemente #21 should be retired

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

Although he was not the first Hispanic to play major league baseball, Roberto Clemente remains the most famous among all born in Latin America to play in the best baseball league in the world, and definitely the most historic figure.

There is only one number that was retired by all teams, and that was Jackie Robinson’s #42 in 1997. In Pittsburgh, were he played for his whole 18 year Hall of Fame career, there is a bronze statue of him at PNC Park and even the six street bridges, which is now the Roberto Clemente Bridge. Now, there are many statues of players, but how many do you know have a bridge with his name?

Just like Robinson, Clemente played under a lot of discrimination. Clemente also met racism in many forms, unlike Jackie Robinson, because, Clemente (from Puerto Rico) aside from the color of his skin, also had to fight his language and culture.

Many believed Clemente suffered more than Jackie Robinson. Because of his language barrier, Clemente was misquoted frequently, something he detested. Towards the end of his career, in the early 1970’s, as I was at Candlestick Park writing for El Mundo News, a Post Group publication Clemente’s Pirates team was facing the Giants and after he struck out, I heard somebody inside that press box shout “send him back in a banana boat!.”

Clemente was involved in charity. He chartered a plane from San Juan, Puerto Rico, filled with help for the suffering people of Managua, Nicaragua. It was a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that killed thousands. Clemente’s DC-3 airplane crashed north of San Juan on December 31, 1972. His very last hit was his 3,000 hit during his final at bat on September 30, 1972.

To the credit of Major League Baseball since 1973, one year after his disappearance, the Roberto Clemente Award (once the Commissioners Award) is given to the player in every team that exemplifies sportsmanship, community involvement and contributions to his team. And at the end one player among all 30 nominated wins the award.

Roberto Clemente was a quiet man. A professional baseball player with innate talent, a proud man, respectful of everybody regardless of race or nationality and most of all, he loved the game of baseball. The field was his canvas, and he could do anything on a baseball field. He died helping people in another country, not his own. In today’s narcissistic society, more men like Roberto are needed; these are the role models our youth need.

Many players born in Puerto Rico, like Candido (Candy) Maldonado, Rubén Sierra have told me they only wanted to wear “el número 21″for Roberto. But he is not only a national hero in Puerto Rico; his name is known internationally, especially in Latin America where more and more players are coming from to play in the United States.

The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame, since it was founded in 1998 has exhibited in numerous events across the country, All Star Games, Fan Fest and Museums and community events. There is no one player more popular than Roberto Clemente. During one of our exhibits at the San Francisco Main Library, we saw a man that was kneeling and praying in front of the Clemente exhibit. I asked him about that and he told me “I am Puerto Rican and he is like a God to us. His body was never recovered, but we know he is here with us”.

With the ever increasing demographics in the US which all point that in a few decades half of the US population could be Latino, not to mention the players coming from Latin America, baseball would be wise to retire number 21.

Eventually baseball will retire Roberto Clemente’s famous “número 21”. But why not now?

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Museum and does News and Commentary each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Baseball Si, Bullfights No

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Illustration of a bullfight in Cuba (image from wikiwand.com )

Baseball Sí Bullfights No

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Amaury Pi-González

Cubans that came to the US to study in 1860 were introduced to baseball and right after the Spanish-American War in 1898 (US fought to help Cuba gain its independence from Spain-1902) Cubans learned to play the game from American soldiers.The Cubans accepted the US game and since then it has become Cuba’s passion.Cuba was a colony of Spain from 1492 to 1898.In other words since Christopher Columbus discovered the island during his first trip toward the New World.

Bullfighting was present in Cuba during its colonial period (Spain brought it to the island as well to most of Latin America) but the United States military under pressure of civic association and because Cubans never really took-on to bullfights which they considered a degrading spectacle and was abolished by the US military after the Spanish-American War in 1901.

Cubans then adapted the game of baseball as their #1 pastime. Since Cuban independence in 1902, to date, Cuba has banned bullfighting, however,today in Latin America México, Colombia,Peru and Venezuela and some others still have bullfight arenas and scheduled bullfights.

Bullfighting never really re-appeared in Cuba.However,on August 31,1947 a Sunday in La Habana at the Gran Estadio del Cerro (today Estadio Latinoamericano where baseball is played) a total of 30,000 people witnessed the demonstrations of Mexican Matadores,Fermín Espinosa, and Silveiro Pérez aka “Armillita”. It was not “pure”bullfighting,because you could not stick(Picadores)flags to the bulls or kill them. It was the only way the authorities agreed to invite the Mexican Matadores to the capital of Cuba.

But baseball flourished in the largest island in the Caribbean. It was in 1874 when the Cubans build their first baseball stadium in the Matanzas province. La Liga Profesional Cubana de Béisbol (The Cuban Professional Baseball League) was in existence from 1878 until 1961,when the Fidel Castro communist dictatorship banned all professional sports from the island.

From 1871 to 1961 the main teams in that most famous Cuban Pro-League were: Almendares,  Habana,Cienfuegos and Marianao. This Cuban league was the earliest baseball league founded in Latin America.Right after Cuba other Latin American countries learned baseball.Cuban promoters and players took the game to, México, Nicaragua, Venezuela and others who started their own leagues in the 1880s.

Although I have never seen a live bullfight in my life,I have been lucky as a kid growing up in Cuba to have seen a lot of the great Cuban and American baseball players of that time,in that old Cuban Professional Winter League. Like Orestes Miñoso, Luis Tiant, Sandalio(Sandy) Consuegra, Julio(Jiquí)Moreno, Octavio”Cookie”Rojas, Frank Herrera, Mike Fornieles, Julio Bécquer,Edmundo (Sandy) Amorós, Camilo Pascual, Pedro Ramos, just to mention a few, as well as American baseball stars that played for those teams in the 1950’s and until 1961: Jackie Brandt, Brooks Robinson,Bob Shaw, Jim Bunning, Bob Allison, Al Spangler, Bobby DelGreco, Billy Muffett, Bill Werle. Also many African-Americans played in Cuba like Monte Irwin and Don Newcome

According to the Havana Times. All official sports events have been canceled until April 30th at least, in response to the global Coronavirus pandemic.

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

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: A look back on the best ever team in Bay Area baseball history

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Oakland A’s left fielder Joe Rudi makes an ice cream cone catch in the webbing of his glove for a spectacular defensive play in the 1972 World Series (file photo from pinterest.com)

On Amaury’s podcast:

#1 Amaury you were very fortunate to see some of the best teams in your broadcast career in Bay Area baseball the Oakland A’s teams from 1972-74 rivaled even some of the great Yankee teams of the 1950s as the A’s had won three World Series Championships in a row.

#2 The A’s had a pitching staff that were made up of a number of 20 game winners through their World Championship years on the 1972 team they had just one 20 game winner Jim Catfish Hunter who was 21-7, followed by Ken Holzman 19-11, John Blue Moon Odam 15-6, Vida Blue 6-10, and a great reliever Rollie Fingers 11-9.

#3 Those World Series teams had some serious hitting too for that 1972 team that got it going Reggie Jackson who had a great hitting season but was injured for the World Series, Joe Rudi, Sal Bando, and Mike Epstein.

#4 Who could forget some great highlights of the 1972 World Series with the ice cream cone catch against the wall by A’s left fielder Joe Rudi and striking out Reds catcher Johnny Bench during an intentional walk.

#5 One of the other great moments in the A’s World Series was in 1973 when Willie Mays returned to the Bay Area after being traded from the San Francisco Giants to the New York Mets the previous year and was introduced in game one in front of the A’s fans in Oakland to a standing ovation.

Join Amaury for Sportstalk each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: Place Your Bet? Las Vegas Casinos back in May

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Roulette Wheel (photo from ebay.com)

Place Your Bet? Las Vegas Casinos back in May

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Amaury Pi-González

If New York is the ‘city that never sleeps’, Las Vegas is the ‘city that never stops gambling’. The two cities have a couple of things in common when it comes to closure, (1) The famous New York gangster Bugsy Siegel was the first to open a huge hotel-casino in the strip. The Flamingo in 1946. Although it was not the first it was the most famous. The first casino ever on the strip was the Rancho Vegas in 1941 a smaller type of gambling establishment. (2) The largest economic fallout for Las Vegas was September 11,2001 when terrorist attacked New York’s Twin Towers.. And for those that like this type of stuff, Las Vegas was also closed (but not this long) when President John F.Kennedy was assassinated in 1963

Because of Covid-19 pandemic, Las Vegas has been closed. But now Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak who closed all nonessential businesses for 30 days including all casinos and later extended the closure to the end of April might be ready to open this next month. Billionaire Steve Wynn owner of Wynn Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas(as well as other locations)says he is ready to re-open. Wynn has continued paying all his salaried, part-time and hourly employees until the 15 of May,which is costing the company approximately $3 million per day or $180 million for two months according to Matt Maddox,CEO of the Wynn company.

As of today Nevada had 3,728 cases of Covid-19 and 155 deaths.They are not on the top ten of cities in this regard.They are one of a bunch of States that are opening-up slowly for business.That is the plan by the medical experts on their three Phases plan made public by Dr.Deborah Birx last week.

The White House appointed world-renowned global health official and physician Ambassador Deborah Birx to the Office of the Vice President to aid in the whole of government response to COVID-19 as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator.She is working with longtime friend and associate Anthony Fauci MD. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases. They have known each other and have worked together for over 40 years for various administrations.

Never in history Las Vegas has been shut down this long. This is a huge economy fallout in the billions of dollars. By far the largest economic fallout for Sin City. Las Vegas has 150,000 hotel rooms(more than any other city in the US) and Las Vegas is the #4 most visited city in North America; only New York #1, Miami #2 and Los Angeles #3 have more visitors each year. Once a little oasis for people traveling between Chicago and Las Vegas,today this desert city is a world destination.

Place Your Bet? No Sports-Books. 2020 could be the worse year in the history for Las Vegas. Even with the opening of some of the Hotels and Casinos as well as other businesses the loses will continue, especially as long as most professional sports leagues remain inactive. Their sports books generate more in revenue, especially March Madness and the Superbowl.

Captain Renault(Claude Rains)to Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) “I’m shocked,shocked,to find there is gambling going on here!” (Casablanca 1942) At Rick’s Café Américain”

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

 

Tony Renteria for That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Best hitters in baseball missing out on making big numbers; Can MLB make it back by June?; plus more

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wikipedia file photo: New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge just one of many big league players missing out on improving their numbers this season as the shut down continues

Tony Renteria filled in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez:

#1 Taking a look at some of baseball’s big  boppers how badly are they missing this season names like New York Yankees Aaron Judge and the Philadelphia Phillies Bryce Harper.

#2 From the Oakland A’s Matt Chapman who had such a fine hitting season last year .249, 145 hits, 36 home runs, and 91 RBIs, he’s another player missing the opportunity to tee off this season.

#3 How possible could it be for MLB to start the season in June, play in two different states, hold fan interest, and hope that curve has been flatten in order to play this season?

#4 This was going to be the season that MLB was going to have a shot at increasing it’s attendance, getting a younger demographic and looking forward to improved TV ratings could that all be for not with an abbreviated season and most fans not having access to their local team?

#5 The A’s got criticized for not signing on with their former flagship radio station KTRB 860 and decided to stream all of it’s games home and away on itunes.com. Then came the shutdown for Covid 19. In hindsight considering all the advertising and business that has dried up and the A’s wanted to save money from buying air time it could very well be a good move and it might be a trailblazer move for other MLB teams.

Tony Renteria filled in for Amaury Pi Gonzalez who does News and Commentary podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast: Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner passes at 63; Some of the greatest Cuban players I worked with; plus more

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New York Yankees owner and son of George Steinbrenner III, Hank Steinbrenner passed away Tuesday for undisclosed reasons of death, he was 63. (file photo from twitter.com)

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary podcast:

#1 New York Yankees owner Hank Steinbrenner passed away on Tuesday morning at age 63. Steinbrenner kept many of the business and traditional ideas of running the Yankees like his father George did.

#2 MLB.com raised a good question what would have happened if the Boston Red Sox had traded Babe Ruth to the Chicago White Sox. Amaury says baseball history would be different today had White Sox picked him up and who knows he might have been a manager something that Ruth wanted to do after he retired after his playing days.

#3 Amaury talks about some of the best Cuban players in MLB Leo Cardenas, Tony Olivia, Tony Perez, Jose Canseco and Minnie Minoso  and his experiences working with them.

Catch Amaury each Tuesday for That’s Amaury’s New and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary: No Season? Who will miss it more A’s or Giants

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image from rollinghills.com: Which team will miss the 2020 season more the Oakland A’s or San Francisco Giants? Amaury has that answer below on That’s Amaury’s News and Commentary.

No Season?.Who will miss it more A’s or Giants

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

Amaury Pi-González

We have seen all the plans now for a start of the 2020 season. The latest; an abbreviated season in Arizona and Florida with no fans in the stands from Spring Training stadiums. A re-alignment of divisions with 15 teams playing in Florida and 15 in Arizona. But what if the season is cancelled?

Nobody really knows about this Covid-19virus,the medical experts first said we could have 100,000 to 200,000 dead in the country but then they said because we are practicing distancing,washing hands and other precautions,those figures will be much much lower. And that is good news.The medical experts on pandemics and epidemics talk about models like projections and predictions,like we like to do in baseball a lot of things are taken into consideration. But just like baseball is not a perfect science,these infectious viruses which are studied for years by scientist are also very unpredictable,you may say,they have a mind of their own.USA Today recently published a story that said, “no sports until there is a vaccine”.That is hard to image.

We can make a case that certain teams like Detroit and Baltimore might just be fine skipping this 2020 season. After all the Tigers finished 47-114 in last place 53 1/2 games from the Twins.The same case can be make about the Orioles 54-108 season and 49 games behind the Yankees. The word “re-structuring” doesn’t apply to those teams,they are like cars that have been totaled during an accident,you need a brand new car. We are privileged to have two teams in the Bay Area, so let’s take a look at who will miss the season more.

Athletics. They seem to be poised to win the division in 2020,after chasing the Astros the last few seasons,they are a very strong young ball-club,a solid all-around group of players with some experience very hungry for success and a potential run deep into the Postseason.

While the Astros were the biggest negative story in baseball after last year with the sign-stealing scandal still smoldering. Ironically for them (Astros) if this season is cancelled,it might be a plus for them. Many physiologists say there is much truth about that old saying “time heals all wounds”. So for the Astros if they have to wait until 2021 it might not be as bad, as for the Athletics who are ready loaded and eager to win this year. A’s will miss it.

Giants: The Giants are not picked by anybody to win in 2020. The gang is very similar,with veterans Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey, Johnny Cueto and even Hunter Pence making his return to the team he loves.

Their best pitcher Madison Bumgarner is now with the Arizona Diamonbacks, a team that acquired more talent and could be contending. They have a new Manager in Gabe Kapler, taking the job left by retiring future Hall of Fame manager Bruce Bochy.

Kapler seems to be very optimistic about his first year with the Giants.Oracle Park changes.The wall that runs from left-center field to Triples Alley was moved in four-to-six feet and the wall lowered by one foot. This to help the team who finished last season 28th in all of baseball, with an anemic team offense of .239 with 167 home runs. Conclusion: Giants will not miss it.

Who suffers the most? Obviously the physique of the country. Baseball is the most historic team sport, for six months in the summer there is a game every day.The fans who will have to wait until Spring Training 2021. Teams in the 30 MLB cities, revenues, employees at the stadiums and taxes for the cities. Overall the media, radio, television, print, advertising revenue.

Players also miss a whole season in a sport where practice and repetition plays a big part,also some players will become free agents and might never return to their teams. But,at the end nobody really wins.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” -Winston Churchill.

Amaury PI Gonzalez does News and Commentary each week and listen for Amaury’s podcast each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com