Daily Clips
November 1, 2017
LOCAL
Unintended consequences of ballpark design, from the players’ perspective
October 31, 2017 By Lee Judge/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/judging-the-royals/article181880471.html
Lexington Legends win MiLB John Henry Moss Community Service Award
Legends are the first South Atlantic League team to win award named after the former SAL President
October 31, 2017 Minor League Baseball
https://www.milb.com/legends/news/lexington-legends-win-milb-john-henry-moss-community-service-award/c-260217058
NATIONAL
Most popular baseball stadiums for traveling fans
October 31, 2017 By Ben Abramson/USA Today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2017/10/31/most-popular-baseball-stadiums-traveling-fans/819191001/
MLB TRANSACTIONS
November 1, 2017 •.CBSSports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions
LOCAL
Unintended consequences of ballpark design, from the players’ perspective
October 31, 2017 By Lee Judge/KC Star
http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/judging-the-royals/article181880471.html
According to a recent story in The Star, the Kansas City Council was unpleasantly surprised when they found out the city manager paid a pretty good chunk of money for a study of possible sites for a downtown ballpark.
An ordinance that would sharply reduce the city manager’s ability to spend taxpayer money without council approval was suggested and the city manager has said, in effect, the council can fire him if they want to.
This City Hall squabble put a downtown ballpark back in the news, at least tangentially, and gave me an excuse to write about the subject.
If you like the idea of a downtown ballpark, here’s a story you might find interesting:
When current Royals coach and former Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Jason Kendall played in PNC Park he said the glare of the setting sun off the skyscrapers in the background made it hard for the catcher, hitter and umpire to see the ball in the early innings of a Pirates home game.
Those buildings in the background of downtown ballparks might look cool to fans, but players might feel differently.
So before we build a downtown ballpark we ought to think about what direction that park would face and what would be in the background.
Ballplayers think about ballparks differently
Ask a fan what he thinks of a ballpark and he or she will probably think about parking, the price of concessions, seating and how a ballpark looks.
For the most part, players don’t care about any of that.
Players think about the clubhouse, the dugout, how close the equipment room, indoor batting cage and video room are to that dugout and what it’s like to play a game in that park.
Fans don’t care if it’s hard to see a fly ball because they don’t have to catch one; players have a different point of view.
The Truman Sports Complex rolling roof
In 2006 voters rejected a rolling roof that would have been able to move back and forth on rails and cover either Arrowhead or Kauffman Stadium.
Drawings of the project showed the rolling roof would be made of white fabric, which is not an ideal color if you’re a ballplayer trying to track a baseball in flight. Backers of the rolling roof project said that problem would be solved by adding a gray liner to the inside of the roof.
Maybe.
The old Metrodome in Minneapolis had a similar problem, made worse by the addition of little round white lights. Outfielders had to identify the round white object that was moving against a background of white fabric and stationary round white objects; it was baseball’s version of Where’s Waldo?
They played around with the Metrodome lighting, but it was still difficult to see and track a baseball.
The Kauffman Stadium field-level scoreboards
A while back, as part of a Kauffman Stadium upgrade, field-level scoreboards were added to left and right-center field.
The brightly lit scoreboards can show out-of-town scores and advertising, but have the unintended consequence of making it hard to see what happens directly in front of them.
Third-base coaches sometimes have to wait to make a decision on sending or holding a runner until they can figure out where the ball is. Umpires can have a hard time deciding whether a ball has been caught.
A lot of words have been written about Alex Gordon’s trip around the bases in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series and here are a few more:
Immediately after the game Gordon said it was hard to see what was happening with the ball because it was happening in front of the field-level scoreboard in left center.
Other parks and other unintended consequences
For a long time Houston’s Minute Maid Park featured Tal’s Hill, an incline that rose to meet the center-field wall. Center fielders didn’t like it because if you run full speed while looking up at a baseball, then hit an incline, there’s a good chance you’ll do a face plant.
In Toronto the warning track is a different color, but made of the same material as the outfield turf. Players know they’re about to hit the wall because a warning track feels different when they step on it, but in Rogers Centre the players get no warning that the wall is two or three steps away.
In Colorado’s Coors Field the sun sets directly into the first baseman’s eyes. In the early innings of a night game pitchers have to remember to keep any pickoff throw low or their first baseman might not see it.
Tropicana Field is a domed stadium and has catwalks that are low enough to be hit by fly balls.
So what’s the difference between a ballpark quirk and bad design?
That’s a really good question and I’m very sorry you asked it. After yet another cup of coffee and 15 minutes of thought, here’s what I came up with:
Kauffman Stadium has rounded corners and if you intend to play outfield in Kansas City you better know it’s a mistake to chase a ground ball into one of those corners. Instead, outfielders need to run to the bullpen gate and wait there for the ball to curve around the corner and come to them.
That’s a ballpark quirk and it rewards the players to who put in the effort to understand how to play balls hit into the corner. And if a visiting outfielder doesn’t do his homework, it becomes a home-field advantage.
Kauffman’s field-level scoreboards make it hard for both teams to play the game to the best of their ability and can have an effect on a game’s outcome.
That’s bad design.
Players and coaches say they want a park that plays fair and lets a player’s talent and knowledge decide the results. Nobody wants to lose a game because a fly ball hit a catwalk.
If you’re going to build or change a stadium, here’s some advice
I don’t think anyone set out to blind third-base coaches with scoreboards, or risk injuries to center fielders with outfield inclines or thought it would be fun to install round, white lights in a white roof and then watch outfielders try to catch fly balls.
I think all those things happened because the people who built those things weren’t ballplayers and didn’t think like ballplayers. So if we ever do get around to spending millions on a downtown ballpark, here’s a piece of advice:
Before we build it, we should talk to a ballplayer.
MINORS
Lexington Legends win MiLB John Henry Moss Community Service Award
Legends are the first South Atlantic League team to win award named after the former SAL President
October 31, 2017 Minor League Baseball
https://www.milb.com/legends/news/lexington-legends-win-milb-john-henry-moss-community-service-award/c-260217058
Minor League Baseball today named the Lexington Legends the recipient of the fifth annual John Henry Moss Community Service Award. The award was created in 2013 by Minor League Baseball in honor of the late John Henry Moss, who founded what would become the South Atlantic League in 1959 and headed the circuit until 2007. The Legends will receive their award at the Baseball Winter Meetings Banquet on Sunday, Dec. 10, at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida.
"The Lexington Legends are incredibly proud to receive the 2017 John Henry Moss Community Service Award, and furthermore, we are honored to represent the South Atlantic League and its former President, John Henry Moss. One of the Legends' core values is to give the community more than they expect, and we feel it has truly been our honor to serve Central Kentucky," said Legends President & CEO Andy Shea. "The 2017 season was a team effort, from the front office, to the Legends players, to the Kansas City Royals, we came together and created a unique and well-rounded outreach plan. Our "Stache Tank" program led the way by providing elementary, middle and high school students in underserved communities the chance to develop entrepreneurial ideas in the form of Legends giveaways, concessions items and gameday planning. We look forward to continuing this impactful and important tradition of community involvement for many years to come."
"The Lexington Legends do a wonderful job of engaging the Lexington community, and the entire Central Kentucky region, through their community service, charitable foundation and outreach programs," said Minor League Baseball President & CEO Pat O'Conner. "Their philanthropy and charitable contributions throughout Central Kentucky reach countless numbers of organizations and community-based programs. The Legends' community leadership and support are truly remarkable and it is my honor to present them with this award."
In addition to the award, Minor League Baseball Charities will make a $2,500 donation on behalf of the Legends to the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, as they work to improve the health of the elderly through research, education, outreach and clinical programs.
The Legends' staff strives to give the Lexington and Central Kentucky communities more than they expect, and in 2017, the Legends provided $1,083,214 in monetary and in-kind donations to Central Kentucky and the surrounding regions, a 21 percent increase over their 2016 donation total. In their 17-year history, the Legends have donated more than $13 million in monetary and in-kind contributions to non-profit organizations and communities in the region.
In recognition of their commitment to the community, the Legends claimed the South Atlantic League Community Service Award in 2017 and 2013 and the South Atlantic League Club Merit Award in 2016. One hundred percent of the Legends' front office staff serves or participates with at least one charitable or civic organization.
During the season, the Legends feature one local non-profit organization at each of their 70 home games. The participating charities receive a table on the concourse, a pre-game interview on the field and an in-game radio interview to help promote their cause. Additionally, the Legends use Whitaker Bank Ballpark to host a long list of charitable events, including fundraisers for breast cancer research, the Salvation Army, the American Heart Association, military appreciation events and a police versus firefighters fundraising softball game.
The Legends go to great lengths to serve the youth of their community by providing assistance to several educational initiatives which includes a "Hit the Books" reading program, a STEM/STLP based program and Legends Character Awards with local elementary schools. Also included is an entrepreneurial project-based marketing and promotional learning unit called "Stache Tank" with a local elementary, middle and high school, where students are challenged to come up with business pitches for a specific project within budget limitations. These projects are then carried out and come to fruition during the Legends baseball season. Additionally, their mascots, Big L and Pee Wee, made over 200 appearances around Central Kentucky in 2017.
PREVIOUS JOHN HENRY MOSS COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD WINNERS
2013 Grand Junction Rockies, Pioneer League
2014 Pawtucket Red Sox, International League
2015 Fort Wayne TinCaps, Midwest League
2016 Round Rock Express, Pacific Coast League
NATIONAL
Most popular baseball stadiums for traveling fans
October 31, 2017 By Ben Abramson/USA Today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2017/10/31/most-popular-baseball-stadiums-traveling-fans/819191001/
Of all sports, baseball may be the one that travels best. One reason is that ballparks, unlike basketball arenas, are often iconic structures with a sense of place. Plus baseball fans are among the friendliest, so (with a few exceptions) visitors are likely to get a good reception.
So which parks draw the most visiting fans? StubHub, the ticket reselling site, looked at its booking data for the 2017 regular season for an answer. It found seven stadiums where a majority of sales were to out-of-state fans. Topping the list is famed Fenway Park, where 66% of all tickets sold on StubHub were to customers who lived outside of Massachusetts. Here are the others:
1. Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox)
2. Busch Stadium (St. Louis Cardinals)
3. Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City Royals)
4. Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds)
5. Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles)
6. Yankee Stadium (New York Yankees)
7. Miller Park (Milwaukee Brewers)
Some parks on this list may be attributable to teams with a large regional fan base that crosses state lines, but they're all appealing venues that are often strung together on baseball road trips.
StubHub also ran the numbers for international fans, and these were the top stadiums for foreign buyers:
1. Yankee Stadium
2. Fenway Park
3. Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs)
4. AT&T Park (San Francisco Giants)
5. Safeco Field (Seattle Mariners)
No surprises there, all great parks in desirable destinations. Safeco Field actually had the highest percentage of international buyers compared to total ticket sales on StubHub, likely attributable to part of the Mariners fan base living in Canada.
Speaking as a fan old enough to remember buying tickets by phone months in advance of baseball road trips, then hoping for good seats and good weather, StubHub is a boon for traveling fans. Buying late notice allows greater flexibility, letting you stay an extra day in a place you enjoyed, or bailing out on a rainy day. And here's a StubHub pro tip: Try refreshing your search several times right before the sales cutoff time; for games that aren't sold out, you may see prices drop as the deadline approaches.
MLB TRANSACTIONS
November 1, 2017 •.CBSSports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/transactions
TEAM
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PLAYER
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TRANSACTION
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Arizona Diamondbacks
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Kristopher Negrón
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Outrighted to Minors
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Seattle Mariners
|
Casey Lawrence
|
Outrighted to Minors
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