Major League Baseball

 A strong and fond memory of being a kid and growing up in New York City was my first trip to Yankee Stadium. You came out of the tunnel that led to the stands and you looked up to see the beautiful blue sky standing in contrast to the white façade above the upper deck. Then your eyes focused downward and the field came into view—and it was the deepest green you could ever imagine. The Stadium really was an urban field of dreams. Recently, major league baseball decided that more than the field should be green.

Baseball is, in many ways, a preindustrial 19th-century sport. Its pace is slow, leaving lots of time for beer and relaxed conversation between pitches and between innings. This week baseball came full circle. Billy Crystal may have stuck out, but he was a Yankee for a day. And this week both the Mets and Major league baseball went green.

The Met’s new stadium, Citi Field, will be built using recycled steel, water efficient plumbing and other green principles.  read more »

The city’s Industrial Development Authority had a hearing this morning on a request for subsides at Vornado Realty Trust’s planned Harlem Park development on 125th Street, which would be home to Major League Baseball’s new television network.

Vornado is contending that it needs $7.8 million or so in tax breaks in order to complete the office and retail project, saying in its application to the IDA that the project will benefit the city. MLB wants $2.23 million in breaks to take 132,000 square feet and be an anchor tenant in Vornado’s tower, saying the development will add scores of jobs.  read more »

While former Senator George Mitchell’s report on steroids and human growth hormone use in major league baseball was thorough, comprehensive and filled with enlightening anecdotes, any serious baseball observer of the past 20 years was left with more questions than answers. Here are the most pressing ones, in alphabetical order by those accused:

Did Manny Alexander, who had been groomed to succeed Cal Ripken Jr. at shortstop for the Orioles, really think steroids would make him more likely to play in thousands of consecutive games?  read more »

Players including prominent New York Yankees Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte were named in former U.S. Senator George Mitchell's comprehensive report on steroids use in baseball released Thursday afternoon.

The 77 names ran the gamut, as Mitchell wrote in his report, “from players whose major league careers were brief to potential members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. They include both pitchers and position players, and their backgrounds are as diverse as those of all major league players.”  read more »

Players including prominent New York Yankees Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte were named in former U.S. Senator George Mitchell's comprehensive report on steroids use in baseball released Thursday afternoon.

Below is the complete list of players implicated in the report. Depth of evidence varies, of course: Brian Roberts was named by a teammate through hearsay, while the report contains cancelled checks from Paul Lo Duca along with a handwritten thank-you note on Dodger Stadium stationary.  read more »

While the indictment presents an array of unhappy alternatives for Bonds, it’s a potential disaster for the league.  read more »

Cal’s mission for America meets Olympian bureaucracy in Beijing.  read more »