MLB '24 Regular Season Thread

One or two people on here mentioned Norman Macht’s biographies on Connie Mack, and I’m in the middle of reading his first one (from Mack’s childhood to 1914).

Back in those early days, teams that actually did spring training, or a version of it, wouldn’t even start until the middle of March, and the season opened in the latter half of April. And back then, games were postponed frequently due to weather and doubleheaders piled up. Of course, back then, there wasn’t very much sophistication with groundskeeping (and Mack’s first groundskeeper with the A’s actually assaulted and nearly killed Connie’s brother).

Not that the owners would ever give up those early season dates, and with today’s groundskeeping technology, one wonders how many games would be postponed if the season started in mid-April.

 

Perfect day to get this book in at the library:

 

It's a great read. Vols. II and III are even better. The chapters on the A's leaving Philadelphia expose the evil that was the Webb/Topping Yankees and how they controlled the AL like O'Malley did the NL.

The Portland Beavers had a long-ago connection with Mack and the A's. I've often thought Yannigans (Mack's name for his rookies) would be a great name for a Portland franchise, since a yannigan bag was also used by loggers to carry their possessions as they moved from job to job.

 

Opening day -- or Opening Day. Depending on how you feel about it.

 

Cal Ripken catches the first pitch from a fourth-grader in Baltimore.

Now Corbin Burnes about to throw the first real pitch ...

 

Mike Trout with the first homer of the season.

 

Rendon with a whiff and error in the first two innings. It's like he doesn't even want to be there!

 

Trout with the HR, but Burnes in an O's uni is almost perfect.

 

Patrick Sandoval is no one's ideal opening-day starter.

Rubenstein is on the broadcast and he's a fascinating dude. Most interesting thing I've heard: Bloomberg is part of the O's ownership group, and he's donated $5 BILLION in his life to Johns Hopkins University. That's fucking insane.

Shoutout MASN app for allowing me to watch whilst working on layover at LGA.

 

Now Rendon with a great play to get out of the inning. Baseball!