Following accusations of sign-stealing that were leveled at the Houston Astros during the MLB playoffs, a former Houston Astros pitcher has come forward to claim that the team used a camera feed from center field to steal signs as far back as 2017, the year the Astros won the World Series.
As reported in <a href="https://theathletic.com/login/?ref_page=/1363451/2019/11/12/the-astros-stole-signs-electronically-in-2017-part-of-a-much-broader-issue-for-major-league-baseball/&amp;source=article">The Athletic</a> by Ken Rosenthal and Evan Dreilich, Mike Fiers, a current Oakland Athletic who went 21-19 for the Astros between 2015 and 2017, joined three other members from the Astros’ 2017 organization to assert that the team had cheated.
Fiers stated, &#8220;That&#8217;s not playing the game the right way. They were advanced and willing to go above and beyond to win.&#8221;  According to Rosenthal and Drellich, &#8220;at least two uniformed Astros&#8221; were necessary to make the system work; the system &#8220;required technical video knowledge and required the direct aid of at least some on the baseball operations staff.&#8221;
The system reportedly had the center field camera spot the opposing catcher’s signs, which were then flashed to a TV on a wall near the Astros’ dugout. Rosenthal and Drelich explained, &#8220;Team employees and players would watch the screen during the game and try to decode signs — sitting opposite the screen on massage tables in a wide hallway [between the dugout and clubhouse]. When the onlookers believed they had decoded the signs, the expected pitch would be communicated via a loud noise — specifically, banging on a trash can, which sat in the tunnel. Normally, the bangs would mean a breaking ball or off-speed pitch was coming.&#8221;
Fiers stated he wants &#8220;the game to be cleaned up a little bit because there are guys who are losing their jobs because they&#8217;re going in there not knowing.&#8221;
Danny Farquhar, who faced the Astros as a member of the Chicago White Sox, told The Athletic, &#8220;There was a banging from the dugout, almost like a bat hitting the bat rack every time a changeup signal got put down. After the third one, I stepped off. I was throwing some really good changeups, and they were getting fouled off. After the third bang, I stepped off.&#8221;
Prior criticisms of the Astros were lodged by the New York Yankees, as SNY’s Andy Martino <a href="https://www.sny.tv/yankees/news/sources-yankees-dugout-erupts-over-astros-alleged-sign-stealing/311184886">reported</a> after game 1 of the ALCS:
<blockquote>Yankees players and coaches became angry with the Astros during Game 1 of the ALCS when they noticed a whistling sound in the Astros&#8217; dugout — which they believed was an over-the-line example of sign stealing, and a violation of the game&#8217;s unwritten rules. According to three sources, a Yankees coach noticed a whistling sound in the opposing dugout on certain pitches on Saturday night in Houston. The Yankees started yelling across the field, and people in the dugouts argued back and forth. &#8220;The whole dugout was pissed,&#8221; said one source. &#8220;Everyone was chirping.&#8221;</blockquote>
<a href="https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2018/10/cleveland_indians_boston_red_s_77.html">Cleveland.com</a> reported in October 2018, after the Astros had defeated the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, “For almost two weeks before the ALDS, the Indians worked hard to protect their signs because of Houston&#8217;s reputation for stealing signs. The Astros reportedly try to train cameras on the opposing catcher, manager and bench coach in an effort to steal signs and pick up tendencies.”
<a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2862408-mike-fiers-admits-astros-stole-signs-electronically-during-2017-mlb-season">Bleacher Report</a> noted, “MLB cleared Houston of any wrongdoing in 2018 and 2019.”
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New York Yankees v Oakland Athletics

Former Houston Astro: Astros Used Center Field Camera To Steal Signs

Baseball

Houston Astros

Late Tuesday night, swimsuit model Kate Upton lashed out at those posting &#8220;dumb misogynist comments&#8221; in reaction to a tweet she posted about a controversial call during Game Six of the World Series.
&#8220;I LOVE talking about sports and reading all of the dumb misogynist comments. It reminds me that women need to keep fighting for equality. It’s 2019 but feels like the 1950s,&#8221; Upton posted to her Twitter account, adding a &#8220;feminist&#8221; hashtag.  
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I LOVE talking about sports and reading all of the dumb misogynist comments. It reminds me that women need to keep fighting for equality. It’s 2019 but feels like the 1950s. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/feminist?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#feminist</a>
&mdash; Kate Upton (@KateUpton) <a href="https://twitter.com/KateUpton/status/1189391778924912640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The call in question Upton was commenting on, as <a href="https://abc13.com/sports/kate-upton-slams-misogynist-comments-about-tweet-on-mlb-rule/5658824/">noted</a> by a Houston ABC News affiliate, &#8220;came in the seventh inning, when the Washington Nationals&#8217; Trea Turner was ruled out on interference at first base.&#8221;
&#8220;The disputed call went under review, and it appears it&#8217;s during that time that Upton tweeted the MLB rule about the call, trying to clear up confusion,&#8221; <a href="https://abc13.com/sports/kate-upton-slams-misogynist-comments-about-tweet-on-mlb-rule/5658824/">ABC 13</a> explained.
&#8220;He wasn’t within the base path,&#8221; Upton captioned a photo of the game. &#8220;Those who don’t know the rule you HAVE to run inside the 2 lines. Not sure why the review is taking so long&#8230;&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
He wasn’t within the base path. Those who don’t know the rule you HAVE to run inside the 2 lines. Not sure why the review is taking so long&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/SzUJTA4L70">pic.twitter.com/SzUJTA4L70</a>
&mdash; Kate Upton (@KateUpton) <a href="https://twitter.com/KateUpton/status/1189374113627938817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The 27-year-old beauty also retweeted a post by sportswriter Jon Morosi concerning the MLB rule to which Upton was referring.
&#8220;[MLB] rule: &#8216;When running the last half of the way to first base while the ball is being fielded in the vicinity of first, a baserunner must stay within the three-foot runner&#8217;s lane to the right of the foul line unless [he is] avoiding a player fielding a batted ball,'&#8221; Morosi posted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
. <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MLB</a> rule: &quot;When running the last half of the way to first base while the ball is being fielded in the vicinity of first, a baserunner must stay within the three-foot runner&#39;s lane to the right of the foul line unless they are avoiding a player fielding a batted ball.&quot;
&mdash; Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/1189374199770558465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
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While it appears a vast majority of the reactions, whether in disagreement or agreement, were not sexist, Upton was seemingly reacting to some of the nasty comments, such as &#8220;stick to modeling&#8221; and &#8220;do porn and I’ll forgive you for this tweet.&#8221;
The model made sports-related headlines in 2016, as well. On both Twitter and Instagram, Upton posted about her frustration with athletes kneeling during the playing of our national anthem, particularly on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
&#8220;This is unacceptable,&#8221; she said of Miami Dolphins players taking a knee. &#8220;You should be proud to be an American. Especially on 9/11 when we should support each other.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This is unacceptable. You should be proud to be an American. Especially on 9/11 when we should support each other. <a href="https://t.co/qFozwaH9Bu">https://t.co/qFozwaH9Bu</a>
&mdash; Kate Upton (@KateUpton) <a href="https://twitter.com/KateUpton/status/775092537707077632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2016</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Protest [and] speak [your] mind whenever [you] want but during the 120 seconds you should support the people who protect our freedom,&#8221; Upton added.
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Protest&amp;speak ur mind whenever u want but during the 120secs you should support the people who protect our freedom. <a href="https://t.co/qFozwaH9Bu">https://t.co/qFozwaH9Bu</a>
&mdash; Kate Upton (@KateUpton) <a href="https://twitter.com/KateUpton/status/775093441676075008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2016</a></blockquote>
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In an Instagram post, with has since been removed from the platform, Upton wrote:
<blockquote>In my opinion, the national anthem is a symbolic song about our country. It represents honoring the many brave men and women who sacrifice and have sacrificed their lives each and every single day to protect our freedom. Sitting or kneeling down during the national anthem is a disgrace to those people who have served and currently serve our country. Sitting down during the national anthem on September 11th is even more horrific. Protest all you want and use social media all you want. However, during the nearly two minutes when that song is playing, I believe everyone should put their hands on their heart and be proud of our country for we are all truly blessed. Recent history has shown that it is a place where anyone no matter what race or gender has the potential to become President of the United States. We live in the most special place in the world and should be thankful. After the song is over, I would encourage everyone to please use the podium they have, stand up for their beliefs, and make America a better place. The rebuilding of battery park and the freedom tower demonstrates that amazing things can be done in this country when we work together towards a common goal. It is a shame how quickly we have forgotten this as a society. Today we are more divided then ever before. I could never imagine multiple people sitting down during the national anthem on the September 11th anniversary. The lessons of 911 should teach us that if we come together, the world can be a better and more peaceful place #neverforget.</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kate-upton-rips-nfl-players-disrespecting-national-hank-berrien">Kate Upton Rips NFL Players For Disrespecting National Anthem</a>

Kate Upton

Kate Upton Slams &#8216;Dumb Misogynist&#8217; Commenters After Posting About Controversial World Series Call

On Sunday night, President Donald Trump attended Game five of the World Series between the Washington Nationals and the Houston Astros in the wake of the announcement that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a U.S. raid.
As noted by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-how-crowd-responds-when-trump-announced-at-nationals-world-series-game">The Daily Wire</a>, Trump, who was accompanied by five wounded veterans, was greeted with loud boos and chants of “Lock him up!” when he was announced at the game.
Opponents of President Trump also found another way to hit Trump with regard to the baseball game, and it included his 13-year-old Barron.
Left-wing Twitter knocked the president for not bringing Barron to the Sunday night game, suggesting he&#8217;s a bad father.
&#8220;A Father not taking his son to a baseball game, let alone a World Series game, is perhaps the worst indictment of a &#8216;family man&#8217; I’ve ever heard,&#8221; criticized Democratic politician Rob Anderson. &#8220;I have a feeling Trump could have gotten Barron a ticket, if he got tickets for Scalise and Gaetz.&#8221;
In less than 24 hours, the tweet garnered over 33,000 likes.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
A Father not taking his son to a baseball game, let alone a World Series game, is perhaps the worst indictment of a “family man” I’ve ever heard. 
I have a feeling Trump could have gotten Barron a ticket, if he got tickets for Scalise and Gaetz.
&mdash; Rob Anderson for Louisiana (@RobAnderson2018) <a href="https://twitter.com/RobAnderson2018/status/1188637638221357063?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Imagine being a kid and your dad takes Lindsey Graham to the World Series instead of you,&#8221; said Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko. This tweet similarly accumulated almost 33,000 likes.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Imagine being a kid and your dad takes Lindsey Graham to the World Series instead of you.
&mdash; Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamParkhomenko/status/1188612884521201665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We didn’t have any money growing up, but my dad still took me to every sporting event he could afford. Donald Trump has unlimited resources, yet he couldn’t even take Barron with him to the baseball game?&#8221; questioned Bill Palmer, of the left-wing blog Palmer Report.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We didn’t have any money growing up, but my dad still took me to every sporting event he could afford. Donald Trump has unlimited resources, yet he couldn’t even take Barron with him to the baseball game?
&mdash; Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) <a href="https://twitter.com/PalmerReport/status/1188679560126177281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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LGBT activist Brandon Wolf captioned a photo of the Trumps with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL): &#8220;Trump left Barron at home and brought this clown instead?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Trump left Barron at home and brought this clown instead? <a href="https://t.co/8GQQNRTPkM">https://t.co/8GQQNRTPkM</a>
&mdash; Brandon (Were)Wolf 🐺🎃 (@bjoewolf) <a href="https://twitter.com/bjoewolf/status/1188666647336411141?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Responding to Anderson, Donald Trump Jr., the president&#8217;s eldest son, posted:
<blockquote>&#8220;This is the dumbest take ever! I mean f-ing stupid!!! Maybe he knew that the scumbag lobbyists and liberal elite in the 94% leftist swamp of DC would behave exactly as they did and therefore shielded a child from that kind of behavior. That’s great parenting moron!&#8221;</blockquote>
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This is the dumbest take ever! I mean f-ing stupid!!!
Maybe he knew that the scumbag lobbyists and liberal elite in the 94% leftist swamp of DC would behave exactly as they did and therefore shielded a child from that kind of behavior. 
That’s great parenting moron! <a href="https://t.co/oeLqaR02Is">https://t.co/oeLqaR02Is</a>
&mdash; Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1188813508529532929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Others displeased with the anti-Trump politicos using Barron to hit his father, sounded off on the matter.
&#8220;Maybe Trump didn’t take Barron to the game because it’s not good for him. Maybe Barron doesn’t like crowds. Maybe Trump knows people will be booing him and doesn’t want to expose his kid to that. Maybe he’s protecting him. Going after Trump because Barron wasn’t there is gross,&#8221; wrote comedian and former Playboy writer Bridget Phetasy.
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Maybe Trump didn’t take Barron to the game because it’s not good for him. Maybe Barron doesn’t like crowds. Maybe Trump knows people will be booing him and doesn’t want to expose his kid to that. Maybe he’s protecting him. Going after Trump because Barron wasn’t there is gross.
&mdash; Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) <a href="https://twitter.com/BridgetPhetasy/status/1188729979174977536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;For a while we haven’t seen Barron Trump mentioned (which is a good thing) but I’ve seen an uptick recently&#8230; including this tweet. He’s 13-years-old and didn’t choose this life. You have no idea why he wasn’t there, Rob [Anderson], journalist Yashar Ali wrote. &#8220;Leave him alone.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
For a while we haven’t seen Barron Trump mentioned (which is a good thing) but I’ve seen an uptick recently&#8230;including this tweet. 
He’s 13-years-old and didn’t choose this life. You have no idea why he wasn’t there, Rob. 
Leave him alone. <a href="https://t.co/hqJhC4H0v7">https://t.co/hqJhC4H0v7</a>
&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1188814411160440832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Rita Panahi noted that Trump is not well-liked in D.C. (hence the booing), which might be why he didn&#8217;t bring his 13-year-old son.
&#8220;Trump knows he’ll get booed in Washington DC (where he got 4% of the vote), why would he take Barron? They are finding ever dumber things to bag him about,&#8221; she wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Trump knows he’ll get booed in Washington DC (where he got 4% of the vote), why would he take Barron? They are finding ever dumber things to bag him about. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TDS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TDS</a> <a href="https://t.co/Z18yNYxJvl">https://t.co/Z18yNYxJvl</a>
&mdash; Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) <a href="https://twitter.com/RitaPanahi/status/1188732604406628352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Unfortunately, Barron Trump has not been immune to vulgar attacks. Last summer, for example, the young boy was attacked by left-wing Hollywood elite <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/after-saying-barron-trump-should-be-raped-peter-amanda-prestigiacomo">Peter Fonda</a>, brother to actress and anti-Trump activist Jane Fonda.
Fonda posted in a now-deleted tweet: “WE SHOULD RIP BARRON TRUMP FROM HIS MOTHER’S ARMS AND PUT HIM IN A CAGE WITH PEDOPHILES AND SEE IF MOTHER WILL WILL STAND UP AGAINST THE GIANT A**HOLE SHE IS MARRIED TO. 90 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE STREETS ON THE SAME WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY. F***.&#8221;

Donald, Barron, and Melania Trump

Leftists Use 13-Year-Old Barron To Hit President Trump

Barron Trump

Donald Trump

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) expressed disappointment on Monday after the crowd at Nationals Park shouted chants of &#8220;lock him up&#8221; aimed at President Donald Trump during the World Series in Washington D.C.
&#8220;I&#8217;m enough of a traditionalist about our institutions that even at a time when there is a lot that our president does that I find disturbing, offensive, unconventional, I have a hard time with the idea of a crowd on a globally televised sporting event chanting &#8216;lock him up&#8217; about our president,&#8221; Coons told CNN news anchor John Berman. &#8220;I frankly think the office of the president deserves respect even when the actions of our president at times do not. &#8221;
Coons&#8217; remarks come after Trump made a low-key appearance at Game five of the MLB World Series on Sunday evening. Fans began booing and jeering when the ballpark displayed the president on the jumbo screen during the 3rd inning and subsequently began shouting &#8220;lock him up.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
JUST NOW: Dem Sen <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisCoons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ChrisCoons</a> not happy with the &quot;Lock him up &quot; chants at World Series last night.
&quot;Frankly think the office of the president deserves respect, even when the actions of our president at times don&#39;t. &quot;<a href="https://twitter.com/NewDay?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NewDay</a> <a href="https://t.co/OJwZfv9Vp8">pic.twitter.com/OJwZfv9Vp8</a>
&mdash; John Berman (@JohnBerman) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnBerman/status/1188790689645109250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The president stayed at the game for seven innings before returning to the White House. He notably decided not to throw out the ceremonial first pitch &#8220;in order to make the fan experience as positive as possible,&#8221; according to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. Trump is the first president not to have thrown the first pitch either for Opening Day, the All Star Game, or the World series since former President William Howard Taft began the tradition in 1910.
The president and first lady Melania Trump were sitting in a box behind home plate and were joined by some members of Congress, including the Republican House leadership: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Whip Steve Scalise, and Conference Chair Liz Cheney. Other members of Congress, including Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and David Perdue (R-GA) also enjoyed the game with the president.
&#8220;I certainly hope that we won&#8217;t hear &#8216;lock him up&#8217; chants at Democratic rallies or at our convention,&#8221; Coons said. &#8220;I think that is one of the most regrettable, even at times despicable, actions by candidate Trump when he was running for president in 2016.&#8221;
&#8220;It reminds me of things that happen in countries where rule of law is unknown or unestablished,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;[It is] sort of whipping up public furor on both sides I don&#8217;t think is constructive or helpful.&#8221;
Accordingly, supporters of the president famously chanted &#8220;lock her up&#8221; during Trump rallies in reference to failed Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The chant has since been repeated at some rallies following Trump&#8217;s presidency.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held a rally for his presidential campaign only days earlier where a crowd of nearly 25,000 Bernie supporters also chanted &#8220;lock him up&#8221; in reference to the president.
&#8220;I understand why crowds in Washington would feel a lot of animus towards our president given the things that he&#8217;s done,&#8221; Coons said. &#8220;But frankly, that&#8217;s why I think those of us in the Senate need to approach the impeachment process seriously in a measured and responsible way because our very institutions, our constitution, is at risk by these sorts of &#8212; the passions that have been unleashed by the politics of the moment.&#8221;

2019 World Series Game 5 &#8211; Houston Astros v. Washington Nationals

WATCH: Democratic Senator Scolds Crowd For &#8216;Lock Him Up&#8217; Chants

Officials with Major League Baseball say they&#8217;re investigating a &#8220;violent&#8221; pro-Trump tweet sent by one of their umpires, Rod Drake.
Drake is, reportedly, a fan of President Donald Trump and decidedly not a fan of the Democrats&#8217; impeachment inquiry, a point he made very clear last week when he suggested that, in the event of a civil war, he planned to be armed with an AR-15.
&#8220;Drake, 50, made his major league debut in 1999 and has been a full-time major league umpire since 2010. He worked postseason games in 2010 and 2012 through ’15, and was on the crew at the All-Star Game in 2013,&#8221; <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27913518/mlb-looking-long-umpire-rob-drake-tweet">according to ESPN</a>.
&#8220;I will be buying an AR-15 tomorrow, because if you impeach MY PRESIDENT this way, YOU WILL HAVE ANOTHER CIVAL [sic] WAR!!! #MAGA2020,&#8221; Drake tweeted from his private Twitter account, which has since been deleted.
The threat was the last in a series of thoughts Drake had on the impeachment process and the series of closed-door and SCIF meetings Democrats held this week on Capitol Hill, where they questioned witnesses and viewed confidential and classified documents.
“We have a political party trying to overthrow a president by lying, hiding, creating and manufacturing crimes. Where do we live? This is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! This isn’t Russia, Venezuela, Cuba,” Drake posted, according to another Twitter account which claims to have screenshotted Drake&#8217;s tweets before Drake took his account private and then removed himself from the social media platform.
“You can’t do an impeachment inquiry from the basement of Capital [sic] Hill without even a vote! What is going on in this country?” Drake continued.
Drake also regular retweeted social media missives about the conspiracy theory, QAnon.
ESPN, which apparently keeps track of baseball officials&#8217; Twitter accounts, caught the tweets and publicized them, alerting MLB higher-ups of Drake&#8217;s threatened gun violence.
Fox News reports that the MLB has initiated an investigation into Drake&#8217;s tweets and could sanction him for making overt political statements. Unlike the NFL, which clearly allows its players and officials to comment on current events and public issues (and, it seems, the NBA), the MLB has strict rules on what players, umpires, and league higher-ups can say publicly. If Drake ran afoul of these rules, he could face punishment.
<blockquote>Players can’t make what can be construed as official club or league statements without permission; 
Players can’t use copyrighted team logos and stuff without permission or tweet confidential or private information about teams or players, their families, etc.; 
Players can’t link to any MLB website or platform from social media without permission; 
No tweets condoning or appearing to condone the use of substances on the MLB banned drug list 
No ripping umpires or questioning their integrity; 
No racial, sexist, homophobic, anti-religious, etc. etc. content; 
No harassment or threats of violence; 
Nothing sexually explicit; 
Nothing otherwise illegal.</blockquote>
Tehnically, Drake&#8217;s comments don&#8217;t fall under any of the banned topics, though the league may decide that his comments about gun ownership are a bridge too far, even if his personal political beliefs are clearly his own.
&nbsp;

major league baseball

MLB Will Investigate Umpire Who Posted &#8216;Violent&#8217; Pro-Trump Tweet

Hollywood loves making movies about undiscovered talents who can throw a fastball at dizzying speeds (The Rookie, Rookie of the Year), and now, thanks to a speed pitch challenge at Coors Field, one rocket-throwing undiscovered 23-year-old has been <a href="https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/a-fan-threw-96-mph-at-a-stadium-speed-pitch-challenge-now-he-has-an-mlb-contract?fbclid=IwAR1CdH81MGPTtPYowZ1rHCIa_9x5XSWSLs3-xOwsuqeojOFJkdwgb7h6jsM">signed to a contract</a> by the Oakland Athletics.
Roughly two weeks ago, Nathan Patterson and his 23-year-old brother Christian attended a Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field where they tried the speed pitch challenge. Nathan hit the speed gun at 90, 94, 94, and 96 mph. Christian posted the video, and voila!
<a href="https://www.mlb.com/cut4/a-s-sign-pitcher-who-dazzled-at-in-stadium-radar-booth">MLB.com</a> provided some background on Nathan:
<blockquote>His journey began last August at a Nashville Sounds game (they were the A&#8217;s Triple-A affiliate at the time). He hit 96 on the radar gun at a speed pitch, which surprised him because he hadn&#8217;t thrown &#8220;for a few years before that.&#8221; Inspired by that outing, he began training a couple months later, but was then hit by a car and had surgery on his non-throwing wrist in December (hence the cast mentioned above).</blockquote>
MLB pointed out that Nathan spoke with the A&#8217;s in February 2019 and joined a men’s league before the Rockies game. He noted that after the video was posted, &#8220;a few days later the A&#8217;s gave me a call.&#8221;
Nathan wrote on Instagram:
<blockquote>Words cannot describe this feeling and I cannot thank everyone enough who has been part of this journey so far! My family has given me nothing but constant love and support throughout the last 9 months as I pursue a dream of mine that I’ve had since I was a little kid. It&#8217;s been a roller coaster to get here with many challenges and overcoming adversity.
I&#8217;m grateful for all the trainers, coaches, friends, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rsrbaseball/">@rsrbaseball</a> and everyone else who has supported me thus far! And for those who tell you that you can&#8217;t achieve your dreams, use that as fuel to work even harder. Because those people are the ones that settle.
I&#8217;m grateful for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/athletics/">@athletics</a>organization for giving me this opportunity!
This story is not over. It is not the beginning. I am writing the next chapters and excited for this journey! Time to focus even more, work even harder, and it all starts with your mindset. Go after your dreams and make them a reality!</blockquote>
The film &#8220;The Rookie&#8221; was based on the real-life story of Jim Morris, who was in his mid-thirties and working as a high school physical education teacher and baseball coach at Reagan County High School in Big Lake Texas when he promised his team he would try out for major league baseball if they won the district championship. They won, he tried out and found that despite several surgeries on his arm, he threw 12 consecutive 98-mph <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fastball">fastballs</a>. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at the age of 35, moved up through the minor league system, and made his big-league debut on September 18, 1999, against the Texas Rangers; he made 16 major league appearances.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Guys, we were just chillin at a <a href="https://twitter.com/Rockies?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rockies</a> baseball game, and my brother decided to step into a speed pitch challenge&#8230;he hit 96 mph <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MLB</a> Let’s get him signed! <a href="https://t.co/g0fKrvUxzt">pic.twitter.com/g0fKrvUxzt</a>
— Christian Patterson (@cpatterson_7) <a href="https://twitter.com/cpatterson_7/status/1150829879476260864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">“How can you not be romantic about baseball” -Billy Beane
Words cannot describe this feeling and I cannot thank everyone enough who has been part of this journey so far! <a href="https://t.co/E4eSMUDmU5">pic.twitter.com/E4eSMUDmU5</a>
— Nathan Patterson (@npatterson_12) <a href="https://twitter.com/npatterson_12/status/1157069677199101952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>

Two Brothers Take Speed Challenge, Post Video Of One Throwing 90+ MPH. Then This Happens.

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/17513/breaking-multiple-shooting-congressional-baseball-joseph-curl">nearly fatal shooting</a> of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) on a baseball field in Virginia. The shooter, who will not be named as a matter of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/27329/why-daily-wire-will-no-longer-publish-names-or-ben-shapiro">Daily Wire company policy</a>, was revealed to be a Bernie Sanders campaign-<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/06/14/alleged-gunman-james-hodgkinson-worked-bernie-sanders-campaign/102847514/">volunteering</a> hard leftist who thought Republicans deserved to die for their alleged sins committed against the American people. This is not an exaggeration &#8212; it was all but made clear as an <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/james-hodgkinson-shooting-sanders-supporter-625792">express motivation</a>. To be sure, no one whatsoever <a href="http://theweek.com/articles/705676/theres-only-person-blame-awful-congressional-shooting">was to blame</a> for the shooter&#8217;s actions other than the shooter himself &#8212; human beings are discrete actors and, absent direct incitement or agitation to violence, we each possess individual culpability and bear responsibility for only our own actions.
But perhaps because the shooter was a leftist and the target was a notable Republican, the media coverage today, on the two-year anniversary, seems rather &#8230; sparse. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/14/politics/congressional-baseball-shooting-survivors/index.html">CNN</a> and <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/448532-scalise-marks-two-years-since-shooting-im-still-here-getting-to-do-the-job-i">The Hill</a> have anniversary pieces, but a quick survey of the mainstream media landscape reveals not too many other entries. CNN&#8217;s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/14/politics/congressional-baseball-shooting-survivors/index.html">write-up</a> is straightforward enough:
<blockquote>
On June 14, 2017, a man who posted online about hating conservatives and President Donald Trump fired a semi-automatic rifle and a semi-automatic handgun at Republican lawmakers, staff and coaches practicing for an upcoming charity baseball game in Alexandria, Virginia. The shooter fired at least 70 rounds before he was killed.
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana was gravely wounded, and his determined recovery has been widely reported on, but for the four others who were struck by bullets and shrapnel, their road to recovery has been largely out of the spotlight in the years since the attack.
</blockquote>
Scalise himself furthermore tweeted earlier today: &#8220;Two years ago, my colleagues and I were attacked while practicing for a charity baseball game, simply because we&#8217;re Republicans. Thanks to countless heroes, miracles, and prayers, I&#8217;m still here today getting to do the job I love in Congress&#8212;and play a little baseball.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Two years ago, my colleagues and I were attacked while practicing for a charity baseball game, simply because we&#8217;re Republicans. Thanks to countless heroes, miracles, and prayers, I&#8217;m still here today getting to do the job I love in Congress&#8212;and play a little baseball. <a href="https://t.co/4DWeeFrc76">pic.twitter.com/4DWeeFrc76</a>
&#8212; Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveScalise/status/1139490157906857984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Still, fully accepting the premise of individual culpability for one&#8217;s own actions, the inescapable reality of the facts surrounding this shooting is that a deranged socialist went on a kamikaze mission to go shoot up as many Republicans as he possibly could. Against that backdrop, and surveying the relative paucity of media coverage today on the shooting&#8217;s two-year anniversary, one must naturally wonder: How differently would this anniversary be covered if the shooter had been wearing a MAGA hat and had specifically targeted not Republicans, but Democrats?
The thought experiment seems to answer itself. It goes without saying that our myopic fourth estate, which is comprised of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/05/06/just-7-percent-of-journalists-are-republicans-thats-far-less-than-even-a-decade-ago/">90+% registered Democrats</a>, is ultimately but one of many instruments wielded by our broader bi-coastal clerisy &#8212; our supercilious <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ruling-Class-Corrupted-America-About/dp/0825305586">ruling class</a> that deigns to govern the misbegotten heartland yokels. Alternative history speculations are ultimately just that &#8212; speculations. And, to be sure, we can never know for sure how exactly subsequent media coverage would have transpired had the political and partisan identities of the involved actors been reversed. But we can make an educated guess that there would surely be more mainstream media coverage on the two-year anniversary of a brazen attempt to assassinate a sitting U.S. congressman if the identities had been reversed. And the fact that we can so easily make such an educated guess ought to be distressing.

Steve Scalise Was Shot Two Years Ago Today. Why Is The Media So Silent On The Anniversary?

Bernie Sanders

Guns

Media Bias

Steve Scalise

This week, the lyrics of a patriotic song composed at the end of the Great War by a Russian Jew were <a href="https://www.toddstarnes.com/campus/grade-school-bans-god-bless-america/?fbclid=IwAR3wzH5YivSX6f4gOOju7b3hZOHtzGLgJpIf0IDwqXSBGbz2W7M39KcoQWk">determined</a> to be a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But, the determination was not made by any judge or jury. Rather, a public school&#8217;s lawyer put an end to elementary students saying, &#8220;God Bless America.&#8221;
Irving Berlin emigrated to the United States from Russia to become one of America&#8217;s most beloved songwriters. His song &#8220;Putting on the Ritz&#8221; came to define a generation, and &#8220;White Christmas&#8221; lives on still today in the holiday traditions of millions. But, Berlin may be most renowned for his patriotic anthem, &#8220;God Bless America.&#8221;
As the world emerged from World War I, Berlin tried to put to song the gratitude his heart felt. &#8220;Thanks America&#8221; and &#8220;Let&#8217;s Talk About Liberty&#8221; were not quite right. So, he turned to one of his half-written, long-discarded lyrics which became the tune we know and love today.
Still, it took another two decades for the song to take root in the hearts and minds of Americans. It was in 1938 on the eve of World War II that the song debuted on CBS radio one cold November evening. The song took off. Sheet music sold out. Baseball games adopted it as the notable repertoire sung during the playing of America&#8217;s pastime. And, as our troops became entrenched in battles across the globe, the sentimental ode to home warmed the hearts of our G.I.s at USO concerts.
After 9/11, the song took on a new meaning. Congressmen famously <a href="https://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/36778">assembled on the steps of the U.S. </a><a href="https://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/36778">Capitol</a> to sing Berlin&#8217;s tune. Once again, baseball parks paused in the middle of the seventh inning (even during the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef2rUV9M-no">World Series</a>) across the country to reflect on the tune. Its most famous lyric &#8212; &#8220;God Bless America!&#8221; &#8212; adorned overpasses and billboards across the country, reflecting the determination of patriots &#8220;from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam.&#8221;
But, Berlin&#8217;s lyric is too much for one activist organization. Not far from where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field, Sabold Elementary School in Springfield, Pennsylvania this week put an end to end to its practice of saying &#8220;God Bless America!&#8221; at the conclusion of its morning announcements and the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance over the school loudspeaker. This group of &#8220;atheists, agnostics, and freethinkers&#8221; sent a letter, condemning those three words as amounting to &#8220;a declaration of orthodoxy in religion that falsely equates piety with patriotism.&#8221;
Good grief. Such hyperbole may be expected from a group that routinely targets the slightest mention of religion in public with vague threats of litigation. What should be unexpected is that the school&#8217;s law firm &#8212; no doubt happily billing by the hour for the time it took to read the silly letter, advise the school, and respond with its own letter &#8212; responded, informing the association that the school ceased &#8220;the practice of announcing the slogan, &#8216;God Bless America.&#8217;&#8221;
There&#8217;s no word on whether the school district intends to stop taking money with the slogan &#8220;In God We Trust&#8221; on it, but maybe that will come later. Nor is there evidence (yet) that the principal now hits the &#8220;bleep&#8221; button when the school comes to the &#8220;under God&#8221; portion of the Pledge of Allegiance. And, though we can&#8217;t be sure, there do not appear to be plans to fire teachers for saying &#8220;God bless you&#8221; to students who sneeze on campus.
Let me explain the complex legal analysis here as simply as I can: Any claim that the three words &#8212; &#8220;God Bless America!&#8221; &#8212; used in succession on a public school campus is sufficient to establish a religion in violation of the First Amendment is entirely without legal merit.
What should your response to something like this be? Quite simply, you should ignore it. When someone claims the grass is pink when it is obviously green, you ignore the claim because it lacks any basis in reality. Same here. The suggestion that such an innocuous expression of patriotism violates the Constitution is absurd and should be treated as such. Do not take it seriously.
If Congressmen and women can stand on the steps of the U.S. Capitol and sing Berlin&#8217;s lyrics, then surely an elementary school need not be concerned that its morning announcement time jeopardizes our constitutional framework.
Cowing to such ridiculous suggestions that &#8220;God Bless America!&#8221; (or &#8220;In God We Trust&#8221; or &#8220;under God&#8221;) violate the Constitution slowly erodes the precious, God-given freedoms so many have fought and died to defend.

Jeremy Dys (<a href="https://twitter.com/jeremydys">@JeremyDys</a>) is Deputy General Counsel for First Liberty Institute, a non-profit law firm dedicated to defending religious freedom for all Americans. Read more at <a href="https://firstliberty.org">FirstLiberty.org</a>.

DYS: Ignore Any Suggestion To Ban ‘God Bless America’

Constitution

First Amendment

Religion

Major League Baseball will replace the &#8220;disabled list&#8221; with the &#8220;injured list&#8221; for the 2019 season amid concerns that the term &#8220;disabled&#8221; was insensitive.
The &#8220;disabled list&#8221; has been part of professional baseball since the mid-1960s (though there are records of some teams using a &#8220;disabled list&#8221; as far back as the early 20th century), and it&#8217;s become second nature to refer to an injured or exhausted player as &#8220;on the DL,&#8221; but MLB has been reportedly playing around with the idea of renaming the injured roster in order to better reflect the condition of players who skip games for medical or physical reasons, <a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25947020/major-league-baseball-rename-disabled-list-injured-list">according to ESPN</a>.
&#8220;The league will make the change out of concern that the term &#8216;disabled&#8217; for injured players falsely conflates disabilities with injuries and an inability to participate in sports,&#8221; the sports network reported. The change was made at the request of disability advocacy organizations which have been pressing the league to make the change for nearly a decade.
&#8220;In recent years, the commissioner has received several inquiries regarding the name of the &#8216;Disabled List,'&#8221; MLB&#8217;s &#8220;senior director of league economics and operations&#8221; wrote in a letter to MLB teams and team owners in late December.
&#8220;The principal concern is that using the term &#8216;disabled&#8217; for players who are injured supports the misconception that people with disabilities are injured and therefore are not able to participate or compete in sports. As a result, Major League Baseball has agreed to change the name &#8216;Disabled List&#8217; to be the &#8216;Injured List&#8217; at both the major and minor league levels. All standards and requirements for placement, reinstatement, etc., shall remain unchanged. This change, which is only a rebranding of the name itself, is effective immediately,&#8221; the MLB statement said.
&#8220;People with disabilities do not consider themselves injured,&#8221;Jay Ruderman, president of the disability advocacy organization, The Ruderman Family Foundation, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/08/sports/disabled-list-baseball.html">told The New York Times</a>. &#8220;When it&#8217;s used incorrectly, when someone is injured, not disabled, that&#8217;s offensive.&#8221;
He went on to add that players with a &#8220;torn ACL,&#8221; for example, are more adequately described as &#8220;injured&#8221; and not &#8220;disabled,&#8221; hence the push. Ultimately, disability advocacy organizations hope that the change will resonate with baseball fans and lead to a more widespread understanding of the difference between temporary injury and permanent disability.
There will be no immediate changes made to how the &#8220;injured list&#8221; is constructed, and managers will continue to opt for placing players on either a &#8220;short term&#8221; injury list, giving them a 10 day rest period, or a &#8220;longer term&#8221; injury list, giving them up to two months to recover.
Major Leage Baseball is reportedly considering a number of other changes to the rules and regulations governing the game, as pitchers and catchers begin to report for spring training this week.
In a far more controversial move than changing the name of the &#8220;disabled list,&#8221; the MLB announced that it is considering forcing National League teams to add a &#8220;designated hitter&#8221; to their rosters for the 2020 season.

Major League Baseball Ditches &#8216;Disabled List&#8217; Over Social Justice Concerns

Social Justice

On Saturday night, after <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2019/01/27/mookie-betts-receives-mvp-award-from-baseball-writers-new-york/r2WsoV0Bl0P3brRZwSDpiI/story.html?s_campaign=bdc:article:stub">accepting</a> the Most Valuable Player award at the 96th annual New York Baseball Writers&#8217; Association of America dinner, Boston Red Sox center fielder Mookie Betts said he <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2019/01/27/mookie-betts-says-will-not-white-house/5AUx8KbmwlBW33VLuUfnjK/story.html">would not join</a> other members of his team when they visit the White House on May 9. Betts told The Boston Globe, &#8220;I won&#8217;t be going there. I decided not to.&#8221;
The Red Sox were initially scheduled to visit the White House on February 15 but the government shutdown forced the visit to be rescheduled to May, when Boston has a three-game series at Camden Yards in Baltimore against the Baltimore Orioles.
Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers has already said he would not visit the White House, according to the Globe; pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez is leaning against it, and shortstop Xander Bogaerts and infielder Eduardo Nunez have not decided whether they will or won&#8217;t. The Globe reported that Red Sox manager Alex Cora appears unlikely to attend. Last September, when President Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1040217897703026689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1040217897703026689&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2018%2F9%2F13%2F17854408%2Ftrump-hurricane-maria-death-toll-tweets">said</a> that Democrats had <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1040220855400386560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1040220855400386560&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2018%2F9%2F13%2F17854408%2Ftrump-hurricane-maria-death-toll-tweets">inflated</a> the number of people who died after Hurricane Maria hit the island, Cora <a href="he%20said%20they%20were%20%25E2%2580%259Cdisrespectful%25E2%2580%259D%20to%20Puerto%20Rico,%20but%20he%20also%20said%20that%20%25E2%2580%259C%255Bhe%255D%20hate%255Bs%255D%20that%20people%20that%20make%20it%20a%20political%20issue.%20This%20is%20about%20human%20beings.%25E2%2580%259D">commented</a> that Trump&#8217;s comments were &#8220;disrespectful&#8221; to Puerto Rico, although he added that he &#8220;hate[s] that people that make it a political issue. This is about human beings.&#8221;
Red Sox players who have said they would attend include Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Brock Holt, Brian Johnson, Mitch Moreland, Steve Pearce, Rick Porcello, Chris Sale, and Blake Swihart.
Other championship teams have had members refusing to visit Trump&#8217;s White House; many members of the New England Patriots skipped the trip in 2017. After the Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship in 2017, several Warriors said they would not visit if they were invited, including Stephen Curry. Before the team decided what they would do, President Trump tweeted, &#8220;Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!
&#8212; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/911572182060453893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
The Warriors then tweeted:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Statement from the Golden State Warriors: <a href="https://t.co/6kk6ofdu9X">pic.twitter.com/6kk6ofdu9X</a>
&#8212; Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) <a href="https://twitter.com/WarriorsPR/status/911671456928382976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Curry <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/2018/2/27/17058176/warriors-white-house-washington-dc-children-museum-local-kiddos-good-job-yall">stated</a>, &#8220;It&#8217;s kind of funny that that tweet (Trump&#8217;s) was sent out before we had a chance to get together as a team. It is what it is. My stance is the same [as] yesterday. I&#8217;m trying to cement that even further about how things in our country have gone, especially with representing us.&#8221;
That, in turn, prompted NBA star LeBron James to tweet at Trump. &#8220;U bum <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenCurry30">@StephenCurry30</a> already said he ain&#8217;t going! So therefore ain&#8217;t no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
U bum <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenCurry30?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StephenCurry30</a> already said he ain&#8217;t going! So therefore ain&#8217;t no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!
&#8212; LeBron James (@KingJames) <a href="https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/911610455877021697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
The NBA championship team has usually visited the White House the next season when they play the Washington Wizards in Washington D.C. After the Warriors won in 2017, they did not visit the White House in 2018, and then after winning the title again in 2018, instead of visiting the White House when they played in Washington D.C. this week, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/01/25/warriors-skip-white-house-meet-with-former-president-barack-obama-instead/?utm_term=.c4ee82a7a0ec">Warriors visited former president Barack Obama</a> at his Washington office.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/17468/rumor-nba-champion-golden-state-warriors-refuse-go-ben-shapiro%20%5D">shoe was on the other foot</a> in 2011, when Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas refused to visit the White House to meet with President Obama, explaining, &#8220;I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties and Property of the People.&#8221; As <a href="https://heatst.com/uncategorized/flashback-when-boston-bruin-snubbed-obama-at-white-house-media-reaction-was-very-different/">Heat Street reported</a><a href="https://heatst.com/uncategorized/flashback-when-boston-bruin-snubbed-obama-at-white-house-media-reaction-was-very-different/">,</a> the leftist media ripped Thomas:
<a href="http://www.espn.com/boston/nhl/story/_/id/7495441/tim-thomas-picked-wrong-time-make-statement">Joe McDonald of ESPN wrote</a> &#8220;Tim Thomas put himself above [the team] &#8230; When the president of the United States invites you and all your teammates to the White House to honor your Stanley Cup championship, you go and represent the team. On Monday, Thomas instead chose to represent himself.&#8221;
<a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1037288-tim-thomas-the-ugly-truth-behind-his-white-house-refusal">James Hardie from Bleacher Report wrote</a>: &#8220;If Thomas was a real man, he would have gone to the Boston Bruins management and ownership, returned the money from his contract and quit the balance of it by retiring &#8212; so he could exercise his rights as a free citizen.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.si.com/nhl/home-ice/2012/01/24/why-tim-thomas-white-house-snub-was-wrong">Over at Sports Illustrated</a>, Stu Hackel wrote, &#8220;[&#8230;]Tim Thomas decided to exploit a non-political event to expose his personal political views.&#8221;

AL MVP Mookie Betts Won&#8217;t Join Team On Visit To White House

Boston Red Sox

LeBron James

Several years ago, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh splashed out on lots of tickets to Washington Nationals games &#8212; and now the left-leaning research outlet ProPublic is desperate to know why, and who Kavanaugh went to all those baseball games with.
In a tweet Monday, ProPublic announced what appears to be a classic fishing expedition: an open call for anyone who might have photos of Kavanaugh attending Nats games, so that they can research whom he was with, and why.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Did you attend a Washington Nationals game in 2017?
You might be able to help us. Really. <a href="https://t.co/LAhGBWiI6u">https://t.co/LAhGBWiI6u</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y2Xhkx6ir0">pic.twitter.com/Y2Xhkx6ir0</a>
&#8212; ProPublica (@ProPublica) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProPublica/status/1028986531984408577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2018</a></blockquote>
ProPublica&#8217;s theory seems to be that Kavanaugh is circumventing campaign finance laws with his &#8220;$200,000&#8221; baseball ticket purchase, even though Kavanaugh paid the charge almost immediately, and doesn&#8217;t appear to have exercised much political influence during the Obama years.
<blockquote>
We think it&#8217;s important to figure out as much as we can about a nominee&#8217;s background before he is confirmed. So we&#8217;re turning to you.
Figuring out who Kavanaugh brought to games could be relevant to his confirmation. It would help:
<ul>
<li>Understand more about his relationships and any potential questions they might raise for the Supreme Court justice.</li>
<li>Get a better sense of what went into this unusual amount of debt for a judge in his position.</li>
<li>Or maybe just affirm that the guy really does love baseball for the judicial inspiration.</li>
</ul>
We&#8217;re not sure what we&#8217;ll find. But we do know that people take a lot of pictures at baseball games. Did you see Judge Kavanaugh at a game? Did you attend a game with him? Do you have any photos, and if so, will you send them our way?
</blockquote>
It is, of course, entirely possible that Kavanaugh is just a Nationals fan, spent some cash on season tickets, and either took friends to games or had friends pay him back for tickets they used. The Left tried to use his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh-piled-up-credit-card-debt-by-purchasing-nationals-tickets-white-house-says/2018/07/11/8e3ad7d6-8460-11e8-9e80-403a221946a7_story.html?utm_term=.1adc3a6ff519">purchase as a line of attack once before</a>, and then discovered that, yes, indeed, he purchased several sets of season tickets &#8212; a purchase for which he was eventually (mostly) reimbursed.
The debt also, likely, wasn&#8217;t anywhere near &#8220;$200,000&#8221;; when Kavanaugh reported the debt, he checked a box that indicated debt &#8220;between $60K and $200K.&#8221; That&#8217;s a rather large range, and it&#8217;s difficult to assume his debt is on the upper end.
<a href="https://hotair.com/archives/2018/08/13/propublica-fate-republic-rests-kavanaughs-nats-1-something/">As Hot Air points out</a>, ProPublic goes on to suggest there might be &#8220;tax implications&#8221; for his purchase, but that&#8217;s only if Kavanaugh used the tickets as a way to entertain clients or as in-kind donations. If he merely purchased the baseball tickets for his and his friends&#8217; enjoyment, the tax implications would be . . . nothing.
Although it seems like an age since he was nominated, Kavanaugh&#8217;s confirmation hearings are due to begin the first week of October, and the only offensive strategy Democrats have is that Kavanaugh has &#8220;documents&#8221; that haven&#8217;t been released. Those, apparently, include his credit card receipts.

ProPublica Desperately Seeks Photos Of Brett Kavanaugh At Nationals Games

Brett Kavanaugh

Baseball is the best of all sports. It&#8217;s great because it&#8217;s timeless &#8212; it exists in a space beyond time. Unlike other major sports, baseball requires no clock. It&#8217;s a ballet of set pieces &#8212; at-bats, walks, strikes, balls &#8212; and burst of motion. The grace of a swing, the artistry of a double play &#8212; all of these don&#8217;t run to the ceaseless demands of a clock.
It&#8217;s great because it&#8217;s a balance between individual achievement and team play. We know the names of the individual greats, but it requires a team of great individuals to win the World Series. Baseball is about the three-run home run, but it&#8217;s also about whether your fifth-place hitter can lay down a bunt to move the runner into scoring position.
It&#8217;s great because the tension of a face-off without violence can be incredible. A flamethrowing pitcher facing down a slugger with the game on the line; the junkballing reliever trying to struggle out of a bases loaded jam with a one-run lead. Baseball is like life: placidity punctuated by stress.
Baseball is great because it is classic &#8212; because we can measure the numerical achievements of past players against current players, speculate about whether Babe Ruth would have been able to compete in today&#8217;s game, discuss endlessly with friends and parents and children who the best centerfielder of all time was (for the record, Ty Cobb).
Baseball is great, too, because baseball&#8217;s history is tied to the social history of the United States. Babe Ruth goes hand in hand with the roaring 1920s; Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams take us back to the second world war; and of course, Jackie Robinson reminds us of the goodness of human beings and the courage of heroes.
But baseball is under fire &#8212; largely for political reasons. Michael Powell of the Globe and Mail says that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/baseball/article-the-unbearable-whiteness-of-baseball/">baseball is simply too white</a>, despite the fact that as of 2017, 32 per cent of players were Latino, and 43 per cent weren&#8217;t white. There has been a significant decline in the black population of Major League Baseball, but it&#8217;s difficult to attribute that to racism.
<a href="https://spectator.us/2018/08/baseball-is-wonderful-dont-diminish-it-by-making-it-about-race/">Read the rest by clicking here</a>.

Shapiro At &#8216;The Spectator&#8217;: Don&#8217;t Make Baseball About Race

On Sunday at the Chicago Cubs&#8217; Wrigley Field, in the fourth inning of a game between the Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals, a member of the Cubs tossed a ball to a boy siting in the front row of box seats. The boy missed the ball, and it rolled to a young man with a crew-cut in the seats behind him, who grabbed it and triumphantly presented it to the woman next to him.
The tape of the incident went viral, with people condemning the man on Twitter, vilifying him for stealing from the young boy.
But that wasn&#8217;t the whole story.
The initial video showed this:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
When going to a baseball game, DON&#8217;T be this guy. <a href="https://t.co/pAeiRN6Q2X">pic.twitter.com/pAeiRN6Q2X</a>
&#8212; Cut4 (@Cut4) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cut4/status/1021147509849305089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
The tape was posted after the Cubs, alerted to the situation, had acted:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
A <a href="https://twitter.com/javy23baez?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@javy23baez</a> signed ball should take care of it. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/EverybodyIn?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#EverybodyIn</a> <a href="https://t.co/4YzUlG8qfN">pic.twitter.com/4YzUlG8qfN</a>
&#8212; Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1021134802580393989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
But after the firestorm of anger descended on the man on Twitter, another story emerged:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I spoke with people from the Cubs. The man who grabbed the ball on the widely seen video had actually already helped the little boy get a ball earlier. The young man has a game used ball and a Javy Baez ball. All is well. Guy is A-OK so let it go people.
&#8212; David Kaplan (@thekapman) <a href="https://twitter.com/thekapman/status/1021238617786765312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I was sitting the next to the boy and the same fan helped him snag a ball a few innings before this.
&#8212; Jeff Rose, CFP® (@jjeffrose) <a href="https://twitter.com/jjeffrose/status/1021223544452198400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The other ball the kid has was the one the same guy caught and gave him before this. I was sitting next to him.
&#8212; Chuck Mycoff (@cmycoff2) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmycoff2/status/1021155756987609090?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
He had already helped that kid get a ball. He gave two more away to kids also. He was a great guy. TV got this all wrong.
&#8212; Chuck Mycoff (@cmycoff2) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmycoff2/status/1021178690296778753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>

Cubs Fan Vilified For Grabbing Ball Tossed To Kid. Then An Alternative Story Comes Out.

What&#8217;s the most millennial thing a person can do? Get outraged over something as insignificant as a theme night at a baseball stadium, probably.
And that&#8217;s exactly what members from that particular age group (born sometime between the 1980&#8217;s and early 2000&#8217;s) did after one of Alabama&#8217;s minor league baseball teams held a millennial-themed night at the ballpark, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2018/07/19/millennials-outraged-after-baseball-team-advertises-millennial-night-with-avocados-participation-ribbons-and-napping-stations.html">according to Fox News</a>.
In a, perhaps, misguided attempt to bring younger fans to the stadium, the team has come up with about 70 different promotions being offered during their home games, including an Outdoor Night and Military Wednesdays. But one of these promotions, Millennial Night, enraged the outrage generation.
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Want free things without doing much work? Well you&#8217;re in luck!
Riverwalk Stadium will be Millennial friendly on Saturday, July 21st with a participation ribbon giveaway just for showing up, napping and selfie stations, along with lots of avocados
<a href="https://t.co/mEfHPEQ6fF">https://t.co/mEfHPEQ6fF</a> <a href="https://t.co/jvGKCCenpn">pic.twitter.com/jvGKCCenpn</a>
&#8212; Montgomery Biscuits (@BiscuitBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/BiscuitBaseball/status/1017111058174103552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
The tweet was met immediately with a backlash, prompting the team to tweet a follow up:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Offended? Feel free to fight your battles IRL and visit us at Riverwalk Stadium. Any millennials that actually come by during office hours before next Saturday and submits a valid complaint in person to our &#8220;Millennial Night Thinktank&#8221; may get a free ticket or two! <a href="https://t.co/XUNOz29gkO">https://t.co/XUNOz29gkO</a>
&#8212; Montgomery Biscuits (@BiscuitBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/BiscuitBaseball/status/1017147280607113216?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;80 percent of the people in our front office are millennials, myself included, and we&#8217;re just having fun with some of the clichés that people point out about millennials,&#8221; vice president of fan engagement, Mike Murphy, told Fox News.
They clearly should have included a cry closet.
(Full disclosure: I am a millennial, but not one of those millennials.)

Millennials Go Full Millennial After Baseball Team Advertises ‘Millennial Night’

Millennials

We all say and do dumb things as kids, and our interests and beliefs change drastically from the time we&#8217;re a teenager &#8212; even a teenager about to enter college &#8212; to our mid-to-late 20&#8217;s. But Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Josh Hader is being punished now for things he tweeted as a teenager seven years ago.
Hader, now 24, was pitching in the All-Star Game Tuesday night when tweets he sent as a 17-year-old resurfaced and flooded the internet. His tweets contained homophobic and racist comments. The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/33236/watch-baseball-star-apologizes-inexcusable-tweets-james-barrett">previously reported</a> one message said &#8220;I hate gay people&#8221; and at least one other contained the N-word. When Hader left the game, he was told the old tweets had been found and he quickly deleted them and locked his Twitter account. He then apologized.
&#8220;It&#8217;s something that happened when I was 17-years-old,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I was immature and obviously said some things that were inexcusable. That doesn&#8217;t reflect on who I am as a person today.&#8221;
On Wednesday morning, Major League Baseball <a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24130675/major-league-baseball-require-milwaukee-brewers-pitcher-josh-hader-take-sensitivity-training">released a statement</a> condemning the tweets and issuing punishment for Hader, who hadn&#8217;t done anything wrong as a player.
&#8220;During last night&#8217;s game we became aware of Mr. Hader&#8217;s unacceptable social media comments in years past and have since been in communication with the Brewers regarding our shared concerns,&#8221; the MLB said. &#8220;After the game, Mr. Hader took the necessary step of expressing remorse for his highly offensive and hurtful language, which fails to represent the values of our game and our expectations for all those who are a part of it. The Office of the Commissioner will require sensitivity training for Mr. Hader and participation in MLB&#8217;s diversity and inclusion initiatives.&#8221;
Hader&#8217;s team, the Brewers, also issued a statement on Wednesday.
&#8220;His comments are inexcusable, and he is taking full responsibility for the consequences of his actions,&#8221; the Brewers said. &#8220;Those of us that have come to know Josh do not believe that these posts are representative of his beliefs. He has been a good teammate and contributor to the team in every way. We will continue to work through this issue with Josh as we prepare to resume games after the break.&#8221;
The MLB&#8217;s reaction is clearly just to provide cover for itself, but punishing someone for what they wrote as a teenager &#8211; no matter how vulgar &#8211; when they appear to have grown, is just silly.

MLB Pitcher Must Take ‘Sensitivity Training’ For Tweets He Sent As A Teenager

Diversity

During the All-Star Game Tuesday night, old tweets by Milwaukee Brewers reliever Josh Hader resurfaced online, causing a stir with fans and even some teammates. After the game, Hader addressed the controversy, apologizing for the &#8220;inexcusable&#8221; tweets, which he said he posted seven years ago when he was an &#8220;immature&#8221; 17-year-old.
Hader said he was first told about the resurfaced tweets &#8212; which contained homophobic and racist comments, including &#8220;I hate gay people&#8221; and at least one tweet with the N-word &#8212; when he came out of the game Tuesday night. He quickly locked his account and deleted the old posts. He also had a conversation with his teammate Lorenzo Cain, who approached him about the tweets.
After the game, Hader addressed the firestorm. &#8220;It&#8217;s something that happened when I was 17-years-old,&#8221; he said, &#8220;I was immature and obviously said some things that were inexcusable. That doesn&#8217;t reflect on who I am as a person today.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m deeply sorry for what I&#8217;ve said and what&#8217;s been going on,&#8221; said Hader. Asked if was worried about any possible discipline from the league, Hader said, &#8220;I&#8217;m ready for any consequences that happen for what happened seven years ago.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Josh Hader addresses the tweets that surfaced during the game <a href="https://t.co/Zzh6uS2frH">pic.twitter.com/Zzh6uS2frH</a>
&#8212; Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryanfagan/status/1019436658603765760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Hader also tweeted that he thinks some of what he posted back in 2011 and 2012 contained some &#8220;rap lyrics.&#8221;
Cain likewise addressed the controversy with the media, explaining that he had just asked Hader about the tweets and making clear he doesn&#8217;t hold the old posts against Hader now.
&#8220;That&#8217;s one reason I don&#8217;t have social media. &#8230; You always get in trouble for things you said when you were younger,&#8221; said Cain, adding that he planned to &#8220;move on from it&#8221; and describing Hader as a &#8220;great guy&#8221; and a &#8220;great teammate.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;ve all said crazy stuff growing up, even when we&#8217;re 17, 18 years old,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If we could follow each other around with a recorder every day, I&#8217;m sure we all said some dumb stuff. Basically, we&#8217;re going to move on from this.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Lorenzo Cain, who said he spoke briefly to Josh Hader before talking with the media. <a href="https://t.co/UJKi1QBII7">pic.twitter.com/UJKi1QBII7</a>
&#8212; Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryanfagan/status/1019440285846294528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/josh-hader-milwaukee-brewers-major-league-baseball-all-star-game-apologizes-racist-homophobic-tweets/">CBS News</a> reports that&#8203; Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem said he had spoken with Hader and the league would offer no official comment until Wednesday.
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2018/07/18/brewers-star-josh-hader-apologizes-for-homophobic-racist-tweets-that-surfaced-during-mlb-all-star-game.html">Fox News</a> notes that some of Hader&#8217;s own family members reportedly &#8220;swapped their replica All-Star jerseys of Hader with generic jerseys that no longer contained his name on the back.&#8221;
Fox also highlights some of the reaction online, including this footage circulating on social media:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
dawg they are 100000% reading those tweets by josh hader right now lmfaooooo <a href="https://t.co/08LTJWjMeA">pic.twitter.com/08LTJWjMeA</a>
&#8212; paco (@AllaireMatt) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllaireMatt/status/1019421894611750912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>

WATCH: Baseball Star Apologizes For &#8216;Inexcusable&#8217; Tweets That Resurfaced During All-Star Game

LGBT

Racism

Sexuality

The death of Chief Wahoo has come swiftly. Shortly after the Cleveland Indians announced they will <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/26487/cleveland-indians-will-abandon-controversial-chief-emily-zanotti">be retiring their mascot </a>amid accusations that it&#8217;s a racist caricature of Native Americans, the MLB hall of fame has declared the cartoon character will no longer be featured on commemorative plaques.
In an announcement on Wednesday, the Hall of Fame said that future Indians memorabilia will feature a &#8220;Block C logo&#8221; in place of Chief Wahoo. The Hall said that it &#8220;concurs with the commissioner&#8217;s sentiment and acknowledges the shifting societal view of Native American logos in baseball.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Well done, <a href="https://twitter.com/baseballhall?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@baseballhall</a> <a href="https://t.co/o6WVkPjhjR">pic.twitter.com/o6WVkPjhjR</a>
&#8212; Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ryanfagan/status/976520479036059649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
The statement was made in reference, specifically, to Cleveland slugger Jim Thome&#8217;s January decision to have a &#8220;Block C&#8221; logo instead of Chief Wahoo on his Hall of Fame plaque when it&#8217;s unveiled later this year. The Hall of Fame took Thome&#8217;s wish and turned it into a rule.
At the beginning of 2018, the Cleveland Indians announced they will be retiring the Chief Wahoo mascot, stripping him from all uniforms and baseball merchandise after the MLB commissioner said it was &#8220;no longer appropriate for on-field use in Major League Baseball.&#8221;
Chief Wahoo has been the baseball team&#8217;s mascot since 1948.

Chief Wahoo Mascot No Longer Welcome On Hall Of Fame Plaques

The Cleveland Indians will bid farewell to their controversial cartoon mascot, Chief Wahoo, at the end of the 2018 season, the team announced today.
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/sports/baseball/cleveland-indians-chief-wahoo-logo.html">The New York Times reports that Cleveland made the decision only recently</a>, but nonetheless, they feel that the mascot, who is a cartoon Native American with a garish smile, is &#8220;no longer appropriate for use on the field.&#8221;
According to reports, Chief Wahoo, who has been on the team&#8217;s battle flag (pictured above) and on their uniforms since 1948, has been the subject of plenty of complaints, and groups around the country have been pressuring Cleveland to ditch the mascot for some time.
But this past year, after Cleveland appeared in the 2016 World Series* and the 2017 MLB playoffs, MLB management <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/sports/commissioner-starts-to-press-cleveland-indians-about-logo.html">began to pressure Cleveland to take action</a>. Commissioner of baseball, Rob Manfred, issued a statement congratulating the team on making the change, telling The New York Times that he was pleased the team &#8220;ultimately agreed with my position that the logo is no longer appropriate for on-field use in Major League Baseball.&#8221;
The Indians say the change has been in the works for some time, though they did not meet the deadline to have the mascot removed from the 2018 regulation uniforms, which must go into mass production before Spring Training begins in February. This season, fans will notice a scaled back Chief Wahoo presence, and he&#8217;ll be totally scrubbed by the beginning of the 2019 season.
Activists tell the NYT, though, that they aren&#8217;t totally happy. They&#8217;d prefer the Cleveland Indians change their team name altogether, they say, and they&#8217;d like the Atlanta Braves to quickly follow suit.
*The Cleveland Indians lost the 2016 World Series in game 7 to the Chicago Cubs.

Cleveland Indians Will Abandon Controversial &#8216;Chief Wahoo&#8217; Logo Next Year

Political Correctness

Coles Hamels debuted in Major League Baseball as a pitcher in 2006. In 2009, he signed a three-year, $20.5 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. In 2012, his star rising, he signed a one-year contract worth $20 million. Before that ran out, he signed a six-year, $144 million contract &#8212; the second-largest ever signed by a pitcher. If he plays in 2019, boom, another $24 million.
And he&#8217;s just 33.
So what do you do with that kind of money? Some buy lots of Bugatis and Lamborghinis, others buy jets and even islands. And Hamels spent some of his fortune, plunking down millions for a mansion in Missouri.
But Hamels is different. He&#8217;s decided to give away that house &#8212; 32,000 square feet with 10 bedrooms, 13 full bathrooms and six half bathrooms and valued at nearly $10 million &#8212; to Camp Barnabas, a charity that provides camps for children with special needs and chronic illnesses.
&#8220;There are tons of amazing charities in Southwest Missouri. Out of all of these, Barnabas, really pulled on our heartstrings,&#8221; Hamels said in a statement. &#8220;Seeing the faces, hearing the laughter, reading the stories of the kids they serve; there is truly nothing like it. Barnabas makes dreams come true, and we felt called to help them in a big way.&#8221;
The gift includes 100 acres of land.
<blockquote>
Based in Southwest Missouri, Camp Barnabas is a non-profit charitable organization that includes two locations dedicated to providing life-changing experiences to individuals with special needs and chronic illnesses as well as their siblings.
This gift marks the largest donation in the history of Barnabas.
&#8220;This is so much more than a beautiful property,&#8221; says Krystal Simon, Chief Development Officer. &#8220;This incredible gift allows us to further our ministry and truly change thousands of lives for years to come.&#8221;
Over the past 24 years, Camp Barnabas has welcomed more than 75,000 campers and missionaries to camp. Barnabas also includes Barnabas Prep, a two-year faith-based collegiate program based in Branson, MO designed specifically for students with special needs. More than an independent living learning experience, Prep helps individuals recognize their strengths and potential while challenging them to grow into their best selves.
&#8220;We love that Barnabas sees the bigger picture,&#8221; says Cole and Heidi Hamels. &#8220;They are changing the way the world sees disability ministry.&#8221;
</blockquote>
But where will Hamels go? He&#8217;ll be fine. Since he was traded to the Texas Rangers in 2015, he and his wife relocated to Texas and never moved into the Missouri house. But we&#8217;re guessing he has a pretty nice house there, too.

Major League Ballplayer Donates $10 Million Mansion To Charity For Children With Special Needs

Former MLB stud Jose Canseco will not see his contract renewed for the 2018 season with NBC Sports California after firing off some politically incorrect tweets about sexual assault on Tuesday.
Canseco sought to weigh in on the growing movement of women speaking out about sexual misconduct by telling the world that it&#8217;s a &#8220;turn-on&#8221; when women molest him. He also highlighted what he calls racism against ugly men.
Here are the tweets (which Canseco has since deleted):
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
What is going on with all these politicians molesting women I&#8217;ve been molested by several women and never complained
&#8212; Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/status/940702638391398402?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Well I mean I&#8217;ve been beaten by women taken advantage of by women and molested by women I never complain but it was kind of a turn-on
&#8212; Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/status/940703393676513280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
I see the difference I guess cuz I was a good-looking guy and these politicians look like a bag of boogers
&#8212; Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/status/940703967272685569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
These women complaining against sexual misconduct are just racist against ugly men
&#8212; Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/status/940707855757398017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
As <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/canseco-loses-analyst-job-after-tweets-about-sexual-assault-he-says-were-a-joke/">reported</a> by CBS Sports, &#8220;NBC Sports California has announced that he will no longer appear on their television station as part of their Oakland Athletics coverage. Canseco, who spent two stints as an outfielder for the A&#8217;s, spent this season working as a studio analyst for the station&#8217;s pre- and postgame coverage. Though he had not yet officially signed on for the 2018 season, he was expected to return in the same role.&#8221;
&#8220;Jose Canseco is no longer an employee with NBC Sports California,&#8221; <a href="http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21752520/nbc-sports-california-parts-oakland-athletics-pre-post-game-analyst-jose-canseco-sexual-assault-comments">said</a> the network in a statement. &#8220;His agreement with us ended after the 2017 season. We certainly don&#8217;t agree with his comments, which do not reflect the values of our network or our team partner.&#8221;
The A&#8217;s also distanced themselves from Mr. Canseco:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
A statement from the Oakland A&#8217;s. <a href="https://t.co/TREZpby3nU">pic.twitter.com/TREZpby3nU</a>
&#8212; Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/Athletics/status/940721872974446592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2017</a></blockquote>
</div>
Canseco wondered aloud on Twitter why anyone cares about his tweets at all. &#8220;[W]hy is everyone so worried about what I am saying,&#8221; he wrote, &#8220;I&#8217;m just a simple guy trying to pay my bills.&#8221;
After deleting the tweets, he posted:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Omg my latest tweets we&#8217;re supposed to be funny and entertaining not to be taken serious they have been completely blown out of proportion I am getting even calls from Japan because of that I have deleted them I apologize if someone took it way too serious
&#8212; Jose Canseco (@JoseCanseco) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseCanseco/status/941053901796556800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The former MLB star also told the San Francisco Chronicle that the posts were merely written in jest. &#8220;If people can&#8217;t take a joke, that&#8217;s ridiculous. What I&#8217;m saying really has no meaning. Those tweets don&#8217;t even make any sense, they&#8217;re a bunch of riddles,&#8221; he said.

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