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It’s Roberto Clemente Day in MLB today as baseball takes time out to honor one of the best outfielders of all time and definitely the greatest humanitarian in MLB history.
- Each MLB team announced their nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player “who best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.” The nominees are here and you can vote on them at that link. Jason Heyward is the Cubs nominee and former Cub Tony Kemp is the Athletics nominee.
- Nathalie Alonso writes about how Clemente continued the fight for justice that Jackie Robinson had started in MLB.
- Jake Crouse remembers of how Clemente was inspired by Giants Hall-of-Fame outfielder Monte Irvin. When Clemente was 11 years old, Clemente met Irvin, who was still in the Negro Leagues at the time.
- MLB is expanding the number of players allowed to wear number 21 in honor of Clemente today. Also, MLB is expected to announce that September 15 will permanently be Roberto Clemente Day. In the past, it’s moved around the calendar.
- Tom Verducci has a profile of the amazing season that the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani is having and how Ohtani doesn’t act like he’s doing anything special.
- Jake Kring-Schreifels looks back 20 years at the amazing rookie season of Ichiro Suzuki and how it changed the game, both on and off the field.
- Stephen J. Nesbitt has a really informative talk with Jim Small, MLB’s vice-president in charge of International Business, about MLB’s plans to grow the game throughout the globe. (The Athletic sub. req.)
- Former Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun announced his retirement. Braun had not played since the end of last season. Aww. The Cubs didn’t get to have a sendoff for him at Wrigley Field.
- David Schoenfield writes about the “complicated” legacy of Braun. (ESPN+ sub. req.) Again, not complicated at Wrigley.
- Will Sammon looks back at Braun’s career and wonders if the Brewers should retire his number “8.” (The Athletic sub. req.)
- If the season ended today, the Blue Jays are in the playoffs as a Wild Card team. Ben Clemens looks at how Toronto went from 6½ games behind to back into the playoffs.
- Alden Gonzalez breaks down all the Wild Card contenders and what their chances are. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
- Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer joined the 3,000-strikeout club. Matt Snyder looks at what other active pitchers might reach that milestone.
- J.J. Cooper argues that MLB needs to consider reducing the number of plate appearances and innings to qualify for league-end batting and pitching titles.
- The Mariners will host the 2023 All-Star Game.
- The Royals promoted Dayton Moore to president of baseball operations and J.J. Picollo to general manager.
- Sad news as former Phillies owner Ruly Carpenter has died at the age of 81. His family owned the Phillies from 1943 to 1981
- Some former Phillies remembered Carpenter.
- There’s a documentary about the 1986 Mets coming out, so David Schoenfield tries to figure where the ‘86 Mets fit among the greatest baseball teams of the divisional era. (ESPN+ sub. req.) For those without a subscription, the Mets are second behind the 1998 Yankees. The 2016 Cubs are fourth behind the third-place 1970 Orioles.
- Devan Fink looks at how hitters fare who swing at the most strikes and the fewest balls. It’s not always a good thing to swing at pitches in the zone.
- Yacob Reyes looks at the minor leagues’ “Copa de la Diversión” campaign to reach out to the Latin-US market.
- We know how miserable it can be playing minor league baseball, but an anonymous writer tells that it can be miserable to work for a minor league team as well, especially if you’re a woman.
- In a really scary moment that turned out OK in the end, Cardinals shortstop Edmundo Sosa nailed first base umpire Junior Valentine with an errant throw to the side of the head. While the throw did knock Valentine to the ground and drew blood, the umpire was eventually able to stay in and finish the game.
- And finally, Cleveland president Chris Antonetti talks about the process the team went through as they changed their name to Guardians.
And let tomorrow be a better day than today, Buster.