Uncategorized Archives - Marc Normandin is creating baseball coverage, featuring leftism

Tony Clark, Rob Manfred comment on likely 2026 lockout

Rob Manfred wants to pretend he didn’t say the things he said, but hey, guess what.

This article is free for anyone to read, but please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber to allow me to keep writing posts like this one. Sign up to receive articles like this one in your inbox here.

With spring training well underway and games that count in the standings a few weeks off, MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark has been making the rounds. On Friday, he spoke to a few media members regarding the possibility of a lockout in 2026, when the current collective bargaining agreement ends. The union is historically quiet when it comes to speaking publicly about what’s going on with negotiations and the like — that’s actually how these things are supposed to go, you know, but given the incessant leaks and proclamations from the ownership side, you’d never know it — however, Clark had something to say this time around, with good reason:

Continue reading “Tony Clark, Rob Manfred comment on likely 2026 lockout”

Notes: Rafael Devers speaks up, White Sox stadium, expansion

The Red Sox aren’t spending enough, the White Sox want to spend more public money than anyone ever, and expansion is in the news, again.

Rafael Devers watched as Mookie Betts was traded to the Dodgers for salary relief. He saw the Red Sox bungle negotiations with Xander Bogaerts, who then left for the Padres. He can be forgiven for deciding to speak his mind on the current direction of the Red Sox, which, with spring training now open, he did at the first opportunity. Per Jen McCaffrey at The Athletic:

Continue reading “Notes: Rafael Devers speaks up, White Sox stadium, expansion”

Better Know a Commissioner: Kenesaw Mountain Landis

This article is free for anyone to read, but please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber to allow me to keep writing posts like this one.

Before Rob Manfred, before Bud Selig, there were lots of other aggravating, power-hungry men leading up Major League Baseball. This series exists to discuss the history of every commissioner MLB has had, with particular focus, where applicable, on their interactions and relationship with labor, the players. The rest of the series can be found through this link.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was known as the man who saved professional baseball even before he became MLB’s first commissioner. What’s curious about this is that he didn’t actually do anything to save it: he didn’t even give an actual decision on the antitrust suit he was presiding over, and yet, he got the credit, anyway.

Landis was the judge in the Federal League’s antitrust suit against Organized Baseball, way back in 1915:

Continue reading “Better Know a Commissioner: Kenesaw Mountain Landis”

The year in creating sports coverage, featuring leftism

This article is free for anyone to read, but please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber to allow me to keep writing posts like this one.

It’s that time of year again: time to recap! Barring some major news that will require I dust off the keyboard and send out A Take to y’all, the newsletter will be going dark until the new year. I’m excited to walk away for a couple of weeks and reset my brain, which usually leads to my writing down a bunch of half- and fully-formed ideas, which I can then get to work on producing for 2021.

Let’s take a look back at the year that was, through the lens of some of what I wrote about in this space. All told, 107 newsletters entries were published in 2020, which feels pretty good considering that there wasn’t even a Major League Baseball season until the end of July. Of course, the reason there was still so much to write about is because labor issues, multiple forms of racism, and a literal pandemic took center stage throughout the calendar year.

Continue reading “The year in creating sports coverage, featuring leftism”

Blue Jays’ fans shouldn’t trust Mark Shapiro to build a winner

Let’s talk about antitrust exemptions

This article is free for anyone to read, but please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber to allow me to keep writing posts like this one.

Do you know anything about how the modern incarnation of the National Basketball Association was formed*? There was an NBA union before the NBA as we know it existed, and the actions of that union helped form the much larger, much more stable and lucrative NBA of today.

*I promise, this is related to baseball, just give me a minute.

Continue reading “Let’s talk about antitrust exemptions”