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“BASEBALL’S BLACK DAY”
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Conflicted, about the only way to describe how one should feel about what is happening in baseball, coming on the heels of what happened last month in the NBA, and a year ago in the NFL.

Padres infielder Tupu Marcano was expelled for life from baseball.   Minor league pitcher Jay Groom, handed a 1-year suspension.

A pitcher from the A’s, a Phillies 2nd baseman in the minors and a AAA-Arizona pitcher also exiled for a year too.

All for placing bets on baseball games, either while in the majors (Marcano) or the others while toiling in the minor leagues, some of these bets going as far back at 2021.

Lest we forget either, 9-NFL players suspended a year ago for gambling.  Or the exile of a Toronto Raptors player for life right at the end of the season.  No one seems to be paying attention.

Why be conflicted?  This is the same MLB-Commissioner’s office that accepts enormous sponsorship money from Fan Duel-Draft Kings on its nationwide broadcasts.

Its teams do big sponsorship deals in the stadium or on their broadcasts for Casinos.

Gambling ads, stadium signage included,  are everywhere, in your stadium, on your television too while you watch games.

Of course I guess there is a fine red line drawn between accepted business practices, the Sycuan and Viejas ads, the profits the teams rake in with these advertising deals, and then the players on the other side of the line.

Marcano, Groome and the others, don’t visit casinos, don’t go to the websites, and don’t gamble.  Don’t try to win money eventhough the club is making tons of revenue off the betting sights and the casino contracts they have.

Baseball was trying to pick itself up off the floor after the Shohei Ohtani scandal that will see his Personal Aid go to prison for 33-years for stealing 17M-from the Angels-Dodgers legend to feed a gambling addiction.

Now we have the probe into ex-Angels-now Braves shortstop David Fletcher for insider information and bets placed by a minor league friend while with the Halos.

Baseball has the Black Sox-Joe Jackson scandal of 1919.  In 1924, a Boston Bees player was expelled for placing bets to throw games.  In 1948, a top minor league pitcher in Louisiana was forever suspended.  It happened in 1957 involving Washington Senators minor league players in the deep south.

I would assume Marcano-Groom have no knowledge of that history.  But please don’t tell me they don’t know about befell Pete Rose, the Reds-Phillies icon legend, expelled from baseball in 1989 for a betting addiction, while a manager?

Part of me says some of these problems are culture related.  Latin American players, with money in the dirt poor pockets for the first time, are influenced by people they know.  Might be a lack of education, might be a language issue, might be just making 200-400-750,000 in the early years of their contracts.

Might explain the Marcano issue.  But that cannot explain US born players, Groom included, for doing this.

It’s right there on the clubhouse doors, this gambling situation, and what you can and cannot do.  But those players are too busy talking on phones, watching TVs, talking to teammates, to read the fine print.

The Tony Clark-led union doesn’t want to talk about it, but they do need to do a better job educating players of all backgrounds.

Here’s the issue.  If someone as legendary as Ohtani can get taken for all that money, and not know, and these teammates of Fletcher or Marcano did not know, then I bet that what we have seen in the first couple of months of this year, is the tip of the iceberg.

We should feel conflicted about this.  Baseball should be terrified of this.  If some have gotten caught, there are probably many more out there.  The gaming industry, by the way, turned these guys into MLB thru its own security programs.

Disappointed too in Manager Mike Schildt, sugar-coating the career ending decision the player made, by talking about ‘nice man’…’we all make mistakes’…’don’t judge him by one decisions’.   Geez the ‘sunshine statements’ everyday from Schildt seem weak, like his underachieving .500 team.

Tupu Marcano and those other guys, it’s bad.  Bet more to come too, and I don’t bet.

Baseball should be worried about a real black day coming, rather than the next advertising-signage-sponsorship contract they will sign.

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Hacksaw’s Monday-Bonus Podcast
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“PODCAST WORLD”
================

This has become fun.
I never thought it would turn out this way.

I loved doing sports-talk radio..talking to the fans.chasing down guests.

Now I have arrived in the Podcast World and I have found it pretty unique to be paired with a hard-core sports fan like my co-host, John Riley, with his ‘out of left field’ opinion.

Granted it is not a 4-hour talk show like it was in afternoon drivetime on XTRA 690 or the Morning Show as it once was on the Mighty 1090j.

But it’s hot topics, lots of opinions, added in graphics, and then Fan’s Forum where we give the followers-viewers a chance to interact, express their opinions, and get our answers.

Lots of work but this work is a ‘Labor of Love’ for our team.

Watch this weeks ‘Monday Bonus Podcast’.  Would love to hear what you think.  Reach me on the Email link on my website…www.leehacksawhamilton.com

Enjoy Monday’s show..we covered alot of ground

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast…1pm
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“PADRES–BOLD MOVE?”
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The history book will write he has never been afraid to make a bold move to help his Padres team.

Talking about GM-AJ Preller.

The middle of the night trades at the Winter Meetings.
The blockbuster trade deadline deals.
The amazing international free agent signings.
The astonishing contracts handed out to free agents and his extensions.

Now he has a Padres team in trouble with the loss of his 1-2 starters Yu Darvish-Joe Musgrove with nagging injuries.

Between them 6-different injuries and 4-trips to the DL.

Your pitching staffs are never the same year by year, and it’s about injuries and attrition to free agency.

2-years ago the Padres front four in the rotation each had 30-plus stars and put up dazzling stats.  Sadly the team never got deep in the playoffs, with the exception of the Dodgers playoff upset season.  Never got to the World Series.

Blake Snell is gone.  Josh Hader is gone.  Darvish-Musgrove seem to be on the downside of their careers now, the toll paid for all the innings and great outings.

There is really nothing ready in the farm system, even if they force feed Adam Masur or Rob Snelling, neither dominating at AA-AAA.

The solution is right there, south of the border.  It was there a year ago in Japan.

Trevor Bauer, the once frontline starter with the Indians and Dodgers, burned his career to the ground with what he did off the field, this series of ‘rough sex’ issues with 3-different women.

Never charged, lawsuits dropped, suspended by baseball, having lost a ton of money.

He showed he could pitch despite an 18-month layoff by what he did last summer with the Yokohama Bay Stars in Japan (10-4) 3.03.

He shopped himself last winter and despite workouts no one offered a deal.

This spring into summer, he has gone (5-0) with 1.50-ERA pitching for the Mexico City Diablos-Rojos and has dominated.

You could get a front line starting pitcher, who was a workhorse.

Yes you also acquire the reputation of being a free-spirit, an over the top social media fool, and a guy who has made terrible personal decisions with treatment of women.

It’s simple.  He would be a difference maker in this battered starting rotation right now.

You can sign him to a 2M-veteran’s minimum contract, that would contain bonus incentive clauses on starts made and how many wins he earns.

You  can also put in discipline clauses if he wanders off the straight and narrow of what you want your players to represent, forfeiting money.

Trevor Bauer needs to restore his personal reputation and restore faith he can be a frontline starter again without all the other baggage he has dragged along.

Hey the Padres allowed Fernando Tatis to return after his PED suspension.  Yes they got rid of troubled guys like Jose Torres (guns), Jacob Nix (alcohol) and others.

Preller has been bold.  He’s made mistakes.  He has wasted alot of money.  Traded away alot of prospects.  Over paid on virtually all deals.

He needs a front line starter now.  It would be a 4-month rental at best, with probably lots of upside, minimum downside if Bauer does what is requested.  Preller tried to rent Juan Soto for 3-pennant races and it did not work out.  This is a team in need for 4-months.

Make the call to Mexico City, make an offer with a structure you want, and tell your rabid fan base ‘people deserve a 2nd chance’. For Trevor Bauer, second chance equals last chance.

Might be win-win for both.  Don’t think the Padres have anything to lose.

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“SPORTS & SOCIETY-LOTS TO LOOK AT”
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That was some day we lived thru, in society in sports.  Here’s what I think.

DEMOCRACY 1-TRUMP 0…Guilty on all charges.  All the lies, smears came to the forefront that led to Donald Trump’s guilty verdict.

PADRES…They are battered now with Yu Darvish dealing with the hamstring issues.  Between Darvish-Joe Musgrove, they have had 4-different injuries and it’s not June 1st yet.  Troubles going forward.

PATHOLOGICALLY IMMORAL…That’s how I view Trump.  He hired a hit man who was a liar.  All the people around him have been convicted of crimes, some in jail now, others headed there.  What goes around, comes around.

DODGERS…They are in 1st place despite having 12-players on the disabled list, most of them pitchers.  Don’t know how anyone in the NL West can keep up pace.

JANUARY 6TH PATRIOTS…Some 256 of them are in jail for what they did at the Capitol and more trials and verdicts and sentences are coming.  Trump led them to instigating the riots.  Is he helping them now?  How did those decisions work out?

ANGELS..Force feeding alot of young kids, but not enough veterans in the lineup around them and a wafer-thin pitching staff.  This is going to be a long season.  A horrific (7-20) home record so far, and might break the all time worst home record set in 1939 by the lowly St Louis Browns team.

LIAR-LIAR…Trump was going to testify-yeah right.  Go on the stand and perjure himself about the payoffs, the steamy relationship he denied with Stormy Daniels and so much more.  All bluster-no substance, and no honesty.

NFL-VS-UNION…Roger Goodell is pushing for the 18-game schedule, and more increased revenue.  So the Union goes public and says there will be changes coming.  They want full salary roster increases; they want the elimination of all off season OTA on field workouts, and that is only the beginning.  This becomes about money but it is really about players health-which I doubt the NFL cares about.

TRUMP’S SUPREME COURT…Once a bastion of credibility, is now a political tool, and has lost its soul.  Waiting for the immunity decision request, something I don’t think they can rule on-some created issue by a disgraced President.  They rule on the law and the constitution, or at least used too.

DALLAS-BOSTON…Now this will be an NBA finals series to watch.  Firepower, depth, defense, shooters.  Cannot wait to see the matchups coming up.

THE PRESIDENT’S WIFE…Hi honey, how did your day go?  The fact Trump’s wife has been MIA for months, including the trial speaks volumes.  Guess we know why she is still married to him, just for the paydays.  Think she will visit him in prison if he gets sentenced?

NHL HOCKEY RECORDS…TV ratings thru the roof, because all the games are on TV, not to mention the hi scoring offenses, phenomenal goaltending and the hitting.  Think the NHL would love to have the Rangers face the Oilers in the finals.  Not sure that will happen now.

COURT CASES…Well we have 3-more Trump court cases to watch.  The mess in Georgia and the sleazy election fraud tampering case; then the documents case  with the ‘bag lady judge’ on Trump’s payroll in Florida; and the New York money case-big time fraud.  Keeping score at home, let me know how it all comes out

Quite a week to deal with all this.

You have opinions-I have opinions, and I am expressing mine-agree or disagree.

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“BASEBALL–DOES THIS FEEL RIGHT”

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Question:  What are the most sacred things in baseball?
Answer:  It’s history, its stars, its record book.

This does not feel right to me, and I apologize, I am a purist I admit.

MLB this week, officially incorporated the Negro League statistics of 2300-players from the Black League era that stretched from 1920-thu-1954.

And in recognizing them, the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown has started adding yesteryear greats from the Negro Leagues as members, the Buck O’Neill’s of the world, and that is great.

But in incorporating  all these statistics, the great performances of Josh Gibson and others have now overwhelmed the historically accepted stars of our modern times, and that does not sit well with purists.

Why?

The Negro Leagues records are fragmented.  Baseball says  there were lost boxscores, no game stories, no newspaper accounts of games, series and chunks of seasons.  They claim they have been able to validate about 85% of the stats they are giving out credit for.

But the Negro Leagues involved teams playing in league games, like the Homestead Grays.  But those teams, the Kansas City Monarchs included, also barnstormed, and some of those stats are included in the compilation of career numbers.

We have the National League and American League records in modern day baseball shifting all the way back to the early 1900s-Babe Ruth era, all in sanctioned games.

But how do you compile Homestead Gray numbers against the House of David touring team, or semi pro games and say that’s equal to a 1920-Yankees-Red Sox game with the Bambino.

So the new record book uses records of the Black leagues against all types of competition.  So this morning if you open up the baseball record book you see these stats:

BATTING AVERAGE:  Josh Gibson (.372)..Ty Cobb drops to (.367)
BATTING AVERAGE:..Josh Gibson (460)..bypassing Ted Williams (.406) season
SLUG PERCENTAGE..Josh Gibson (.718)..Babe Ruth (.690)
OPS PERCENTAGE..Josh Gibson (.1177)..Babe Ruth (1164)
SEASON SLUG PERCENTAGE..Josh Gibson (.974)..Barry Bonds (.863)

You can theorize dead ball-live ball…steroid sluggers vs clean players all you want, but the new records were compiled from what would be league games and touring exhibition games.

A league season in the Black Leagues could last 60-to-65 games, but the Pittsburgh Crawfords played 125-games one summer against All Star teams and touring teams.  That would be like taking Yankees statistics and including games against their minor league teams.

Baseball back then excluded the negro from playing until Branch Rickey and the Dodgers broke the barrier in 1947.

There were so many great African Americans back in that era, who rightfully belong in Cooperstown.  But how do you determine-compare Josh Gibson to Mickey Mantle?   Satchel Paige to Nolan Ryan?  Cool Papa Bell to Lou Brock?

And then there is the argument, Josh Gibson did not have to bat against Walter Johnson..so how do we equate the catcher’s greatness against the Washington Senators great?

And the deep background rationale for doing this at this time?

Guilt on baseball’s behalf for snubbing blacks from 1920-till-Jackie Robinson?
Whitewashing what happened for decades in sports-society?
Fearful you don’t want ‘Separate-but-Equal’ in the hallways at Cooperstown?

Tough call for baseball, righting a wrong, but you know the legendary NFL does not include AFL stats in the record book; neither does the NBA recognize the greatness of ABA players; and the NHL does not include the time players spent in the WHA.

What’s next, recognizing Ichuro Suzuzki’s lifetime record in Japan’s Nippon Leagues with his Mariners marks?

Love seeing the bios of the legends in Cooperstown and knowing the history of the personalities that made them very special.  As a talk show host, I interviewed a whole group of Negro League stars in the sunset of their lives.  They loved the game if not the entire segregated society they lived thru.

I flashback to the stories they told me..from Cool Papa to O’Neil, to Buck Leonard, Will Foster, Larry Doby, Monte Irvin, Quincy Troupe, Judy Johnson, plus Ernie Banks, Henry Aaron, Joe Black, who started in the Negro Leagues just as the barrier in MLB came down.

But something doesn’t feel right about this because the Negro League stats keep appearing out of the shadows, just like the players who produced them were in the shadows too-sadly.

I hate *asterisks, though emotionally I guess we will likely think of that in the steroid era and who-who is not Cooperstown.

Congrats on the greats of that era and the recognition they are getting.  We could close a bar down some night over beers discussing all this.  It is worth talking about.

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