Yahoo Sports: Yahoo Sports Report: MLB to require all non-playing personnel be vaccinated for COVID-19 for playoffs. “Major League Baseball will require that all non-playing personnel be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to access the field or any other restricted area in the playoffs, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported on Friday night.”
CBS Chicago: Cubs Manager David Ross, President Jed Hoyer Test Positive For COVID-19. “Chicago Cubs Manager David Ross and President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer have both tested positive for COVID-19. Ross and Hoyer are both vaccinated, a spokesperson for the Cubs confirmed.”
Digital Library of Georgia: How I Identified The Earliest Surviving Film Footage of African American Baseball Players. “In 2011, we received a donation of films from Pebble Hill Plantation in Thomasville, Georgia, spanning from 1916 into the 1970s. Pebble Hill was the winter hunting retreat for the Hanna family of Cleveland, Ohio, prominent industrialists and politicians. One of the most important segments of all the films in the collection was 26 seconds of 28mm film showing Pebble Hill’s black baseball team playing Chinquapin Plantation’s black baseball team sometime in the 1910s or 1920s.”
For the Win: The Cubs released Jake Arrieta after he told a reporter to take his mask off during press conference. “Arrieta had already opened the season with irresponsible anti-vaccine comments, so it wasn’t exactly surprising to see his thoughts on masks fall into the same realm. But when Arrieta chose to mock a reporter over wearing a mask after allowing 8 runs in four innings on Wednesday, it appeared to be the final straw for the Cubs.”
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Cardinals will require masking in certain indoor clubs and retail stores at Busch. “In accordance with the City of St. Louis’ mask mandate that went into effect on Monday, the Cardinals have said that all fans will be asked to wear a mask when entering or circulating in the five indoor ticketed club areas, in addition to the team store and the Cardinals Authentics Shop at Busch Stadium, beginning with Friday night’s game here against Minnesota.”
AP: Yanks, Rockies deal with COVID surges after All-Star break. ” For the first time in months, COVID-19 is creating chaos around Major League Baseball. The Yankees and Rockies are dealing with coronavirus outbreaks sidelining a total of 10 players and two coaches, including New York slugger Aaron Judge and Colorado manager Bud Black, as baseball attempts to resume play following its All-Star break.”
Engadget: Batters in the Home Run Derby will livestream using 5G helmet cameras. “If you’ve ever wanted to see a pro baseball player’s at-bat through their eyes, you’re about to get your chance. T-Mobile is marketing its 5G network by equipping players at the 2021 Home Run Derby with 5G point-of-view cameras on their helmets, including the catchers’ masks. Watch the live competition through a special T-Mobile website and you can witness both batting practice and the derby itself as if you were on the field, with 5G (hopefully) keeping everything in sync.”
USA Today: Negro Leagues stats officially incorporated into Baseball Reference’s database. “For the better part of three decades, Black baseball players competed on identical fields under the same rules as their white counterparts, but were considered inferior – even if their style of play and level of competition said otherwise. Last December, Major League Baseball took a giant step toward correcting that by officially elevating the Negro Leagues to major league status. The transformation takes another step forward Tuesday with Negro League statistics now listed alongside those of the American League and National League on Baseball-Reference.com.”
CNET: Amazon to stream 21 regular-season Yankees games on Prime Video. “New York Yankees baseball is coming to Amazon Prime, at least for those in the New York area. The e-commerce giant announced on Wednesday that it will be offering 21 regular-season broadcasts of Yankees games to Prime members in New York state, Connecticut, northeast Pennsylvania, and north and central New Jersey.”
Tubefilter: YouTube To Exclusively Broadcast 21 Major League Baseball Games This Season. “YouTube is back up to bat with Major League Baseball. The duo’s long-running partnership will see YouTube exclusively air 21 games from the upcoming season.”
The Press Democrat: Santa Rosa family finds ideal home for baseball fan’s autograph collection . “When retired Superior Court Judge Joseph P. Murphy Jr. died at age 89 in his Santa Rosa home nine years ago he was, his obituary tells us, watching a Sunday afternoon San Francisco Giants baseball game from spring training in Scottsdale, Arizona…. We are pleased to tell Joe’s ‘baseball story.’ The happy ending comes first. In late November the Murphy family donated the Joseph Murphy Autograph Collection to the Sullivan Family Research Center, located at the San Diego Public Library.”
Chicago Sun-Times: White Sox, Cubs can have fans attend games, mayor says. “Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave both teams the go-ahead to sell 20% of the seats at Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field citing the ‘remarkable’ progress Chicago has made toward containing the coronavirus and vaccinating its residents.”
WTOP: Baseball to return to Nationals Park — but without fans, for now. “Baseball fans that have eagerly waited to catch a Washington Nationals home game will likely have to wait a little longer. The D.C. government has approved the Nationals to play home games in their park this season, but there will be no fans in the stands because of the on going pandemic.”
Washington Post: A laid-off law student found treasure in his late dad’s baseball cards. “When Eddie Healy was laid off from his job in July while juggling night classes at the University of Maryland law school, he had newfound time to sort through his late father’s old baseball cards. The perfect pandemic project, a task Healy, 30, had been looking forward to checking off his to-do list for months, brought back good memories and even produced some buried treasure.”
Sports Video Group News: MLB Film Room Powered by Google Cloud Adds 700,000 New Videos. “Major League Baseball today made over 700,000 new videos available on MLB Film Room powered by Google Cloud for fans and media to search through, watch, create their own highlight reels and easily share with their personal communities by embedding on their websites, posting to Twitter, Reddit and Facebook or sending via email and text.”
