On this date in 1990, Howard Spira was arrested for extorting money from Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner was alleged to have paid the Bronx gambler $40K to dig up dirt on outfielder Dave Winfield. Here’s this week’s look around the baseball blogosphere..
- Reviewing The Brew interviewed Brewers outfielder Khris Davis.
- Inside The Zona goes down under.
- Camden Depot says J.J. Hardy will walk and the O’s should probably let him go.
- Hidden Vigorish is worried about the Pirates shopping outfielders Jose Tabata and Travis Snider.
- A’s Farm checked in with A’s special assistant Grady Fuson.
- Pinstripe Pundits celebrates Mr. March.
- Blue Jays Musings sees the rotation getting a little clearer in Toronto.
- The Baseball Stance feels that Francisco Cervelli is more valuable as backup than trade chip.
- Outside Pitch ranks their top five trade candidates for the 2014 season.
- Climbing Tal’s Hill talks Tommy John.
- MLB Reports weighs the pros and cons of the Tigers signing Stephen Drew.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Zach can be reached at ZachBBWI@gmail.com.
The popularity of sport in Australia is very regional. Between cricket, Aussie rules, and rugby, there isn’t much room for baseball.
Wow, and here I thought nobody was even going to mention that the season started in Australia over the weekend. True that baseball is fighting an uphill battle Down Under, but they did manage to sell something like 70,000 tickets for the two games in Sydney. A lot of MLB cities couldn’t manage as well.
I lived in Melbourne for a year, where Aussie Rules is most popular. Those big cricket stadiums have huge seating capacities and pretty low ticket prices depending on what event you’re trying to go to. I wonder what the average price was.
I’ve always wondered about Aussie Rules Football. So is that like regular football, but you can use your fists? Dunno what they charged for admission, but the crowd seemed quite interested, though it was amusing when they cheered for the foul balls.
No, it’s more like rugby but relies more on speed as opposed to brute strength. You use your fists to pass the ball. Tackling only happens if you fail to pass the ball on time. Forward motion involves bouncing the ball every ten steps or so. I’m not 100% on the rules even though I played on a club team and went to a bunch of matches.