MLB Bullets takes one for posterity

I don’t care what they say. Pigmeat Markham is still the greatest Judge of all time.

• Yankees slugger Aaron Judge won the Home Run Derby and Grant Brisbee and Charlotte Wilder got excited about the Derby all the home runs. And I have to admit, it was more exciting than last night’s snooze of an All-Star Game.
• And as they say, a star is born. Jeff Passan writes about how Judge’s performance in the All-Star Game made America and the world take notice of the newest star in the game.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred said that Judge has what it takes to be the next “face of baseball.”
• Michael Bauman ranked all 71 All-Stars by how much fun they could bring to the game. He has Judge at number one and Jose Altuve at number two.
• He was probably thinking of something like this. Altuve got lifted by two teammates so that he’d be taller than Judge in a photograph.
• David Schoenfield ranks the 71 All-Stars by what the best thing about them is.
• While Judge is having a breakout season, Zach Kramm notes that he’s not the only new star in baseball this year.
• Doug Glanville never made an All-Star Game, but he writes about the journey a player goes through on his way to becoming an All-Star, the ups and downs of a baseball career and learning how to deal with it.
• Perhaps reliever Pat Neshek had as many ups and downs as anyone. Neshek talks to Jim Salisbury about his journey, the three kids who are sharing the All-Star experience with him and the child who didn’t live to see this day.
• Will Leitch writes that the All-Star Game should be all about fun, and has some suggestions to keep it that way.
• Leitch doesn’t suggest this, but the most memorable moment in last night’s game was when Nelson Cruz asked Yadier Molina to take a picture of him and umpire Joe West. (See photo above)
• I’m not as wild about this as some people are, but they added Atlanta’s “The Freeze” to the All-Star festivities last night. Only problem was The Freeze lost badly.
• There was a sad cloud hanging over the All-Star Game festivities and that’s the absence of the late Jose Fernandez, which is keenly felt by the Marlins represented at the game.
• Will Leitch says the spirit of Fernandez was everywhere in Miami.
• Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is reportedly close to selling the team to Miami businessman Jorge Mas.
• Unless he isn’t and Derek Jeter and his new partner, former White Sox minor leaguer Michael Jordan, are close to buying the team.
• Unless they aren’t and the Tagg Romney/Jeb Bush team, now joined by Pitbull, are buying the team.
• Neil DeMause says that contrary to popular belief, the new Marlins Park does not seem to have increased the sale value of the team. In fact, DeMause doesn’t believe new stadiums increase sale values at all, or very little. The increase in sale prices is probably due to the increasing numbers of the ridiculously wealthy and the supply of teams not changing.
• At least Marlins Park has this really cool bobblehead display. (I won’t call it a museum. There has to be more than just shelves behind glass to be a museum. But it’s still cool.)
• Jack Dickey wants to remind everyone that Loria has been bad for Marlins, Miami and baseball.
• Marc Normandin points out that MLB will not expand as long as they need the threat of teams moving to get new stadiums built.
• Bob Nightengale notes that whether you like it or not, a pitch clock is coming to MLB next season. Honestly, they have this in the minors now and you don’t even notice it as a fan.
• Ben Lindbergh notes that all available data says that MLB has a blister problem that is getting worse. Everyone seems to think the most likely culprit is the baseball.
• MLBPA head Tony Clark says that the union is talking to MLB about the baseballs, calling it a safety issue.
• Clark also says that the union is aware of the sub-minimum wages paid to minor leaguers, but says the union is limited in what they can accomplish. Not really, although the linked to article by Jonah Keri hints that more is going on behind the scenes than Clark can say at the moment. I think everyone knows my position on this by now, so I would hope something gets done and soon.
• Gabriel Fidler has a report on the “MLB Battlegrounds” event that took place in London and says that MLB is moving towards having regular season games in London in 2019.
• I hate to bury this story here, but Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera went online to speak out against the Venezuelan government and the “protection money” that he has to regularly pay out to keep his mother from being kidnapped.
• All-Star Carlos Correa talks with Marly Rivera about his path to the majors. Correa also reveals that the Cubs told him that they’d definitely take him if he were available with the sixth pick in the draft. Of course, he didn’t get past Houston and the first pick.
• Another young Astros player, Alex Bregman, deleted his Twitter account after insulting a fan in a direct message who said Houston should have traded Bregman for Chris Sale. I mean, what is he upset about? That’s not really an insult.
• Jon Heyman reports that the Marlins are listening to offers for second baseman Dee Gordon.
• Jeff Passan looks at the Futures Game and examines the advantages that the sons of major leaguers have at getting to the bigs.
• John Schlegel remembers the 1967 All-Star Game.
• This one is just weird. The 1999 Marlins were the famous “fire sale” team that lost 98 games the year after winning the World Series. But as Chris Cwik reports, they were one of the most interesting and fun teams thanks to five players: Kevin Millar, Ryan Dempster, Cliff Floyd, Preston Wilson and Mike Lowell, who have stayed lifelong friends. You might also recognize that all five of them are currently working for the MLB Network, which is the weird part.
• And finally, as part of that Home Run Derby on Monday, Philadelphia 76er Joel Embiid posted a photo of himself at the Derby with a home run ball. There is some controversy over whether Embiid caught the ball or someone just gave it to him, but just look at how tiny the ball looks in his hands. That’s the interesting thing here.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Still no baseball though, although there is the Triple-A All-Star Game tonight.