TOLEDO, Ohio — Tuesday night would have been game six for the Mud Hens, with the players looking ahead to a festive home opener on Thursday.
Ehh, Thursday wouldn't have been much of a day for baseball anyways. There could possibly be snowflakes in the air.
So, we'll settle for the Hens' virtual opener. Find all those details at mudhens.com. It sounds like a lot of fun.
But that's me trying to look on the positive side of things. There are a lot of things I am mourning these days, and baseball is one of them.
I learned to read by flipping through the sports pages, reading box scores and game stories for my Cleveland Indians. And they were MY Indians. It was a pretty big deal for me when Duane Kuiper moved to my hometown and he showed up at my Little League season opener.
I would grab my scorepad each night and score the game as Herb Score called it. I would go to sleep each night either listening to the game live or a tape of it.
Baseball is my sport. Every morning I scan the Internet for updates on when - or even if - the major league season will ever start.It's actually a little disheartening to read about the plan that league officials are considering.
The predominant idea being proposed is that the baseball season will be played in Arizona to prevent players from having to travel.
There are so many things wrong with this plan, but I'll start with the fact that much of Arizona is 100 degrees in the summer. Add in the fact that the league wants to play multiple doubleheaders to get in as many games as possible, and the players will be wiped out after a month in the heat.
Most of the games will have to be played late at night to combat the heat. I absolutely love baseball, but I'm not going to be awake for first pitch of an Indians-Tigers game at 10:30 on a Tuesday night.
Then consider how players are going to react to being away from their families - and basically quarantined - for four months.
Owners will get revenue from a national television contract, but they won't be getting revenue from attendance, parking, and concessions, so they won't be able to pay full salaries.
Sooo....as much as I want to hear the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd, it's only going to be on an old tape or broadcast.
NEWS OF THE DAY
- New York revises its death count to abide by CDC recommendations, adding more than 3,700 deaths and causing the state's total to surpass 10,000.
- United States deaths surpass 25,000. The global infections are just shy of 2 million.
- Ohio reports a jump of 50 deaths, climbing to 324. The state now has 324 infections.
- Michigan again takes a dramatic jump - more than 1,300 infections in one day. The state now has recorded 27,001 infections and 1,768 deaths.
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