Baseball players are willing to take pro-rated salaries? Wow. They are heroes. They love the game.

The owners are very inappropriate. They don't have half the cost of maintaining their stadiums because maintenance costs are down without fans in the stands. The owners are wrong. If the players are willing to take salary cuts there is no question the stadiums are ready and the games need to go forward. NOW!

June 16, 2020

Major League Baseball (click here) commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN on Monday he is "not confident" that there will be a 2020 baseball season and that "as long as there's no dialogue" with the MLB Players Association, "that real risk is going to continue."

In a conversation with Mike Greenberg for ESPN's "The Return of Sports" special, Manfred walked back comments made to ESPN last week, when he said "unequivocally, we are going to play Major League Baseball this year" and pegged the likelihood at "100 percent."

The owner better not be leaning on the players union for concessions beyond this season. The players are willing to play baseball at a pro-rated salary because there will be SOME loss of income by the owners, but, the losses won't be that much compared to the reduced costs the owners have this season.

The players and their families need the security of health care. The players need to consider traveling by bus between games. Airlines are risky these days. There is simply no reason to postpone the baseball season. The fans need to act for their baseball season. Write to the owners and the commissioner. There is no reason to postpone or cancel the entire season. This is outrageous. What are they hoping for PPP?

Sportscasters need to chime in on this disaster of a group of owners. They need to attract commercial income, too. If Rob Manfred can't pull his league together and put the players on the field then he shouldn't be a commissioner. This is ridiculous. Next year might not come next year either if this year falls apart.

The minor leagues are out, too.

June 12, 2020
By Tommy Birch

Bettendorf, Ia. - The first delivery of the day for New York Yankees (click here) pitching prospect T.J. Sikkema is the Home Instead Senior Care facility in Bettendorf.

Sikkema, (click here) who pulls up to the front door shortly after 11 a.m. on May 29, stops his 2019 Ford Raptor so his girlfriend, Amanda Brainerd, can retrieve the three items they’ve picked up from Chipotle Mexican Grill in Davenport that are sitting in the backseat.

Before Brainerd reaches the door, Sikkema quickly unlocks it for her. 

“That’s my job right now,” Sikkema says from the driver’s seat of his black truck. “I’ve got to unlock the door when she gets out.”

With the coronavirus pandemic putting the start of the professional baseball season on hold, Sikkema can’t be on a Minor League Baseball mound....

The Baseball commissioner and owners are pathetic.