Elephant Rumblings: A’s Head to Vegas for Big League Weekend

A’s Coverage:

• Gemma: 2020 Big League Weekend features: A’s/Indians (Feb. 29-March 1) & Cubs/Reds (March 7-8) at Las Vegas Ballpark!
• Kantowski: A’s, Indians, Cubs, Reds set for Big League Weekends
• Slusser: A’s roster set for Las Vegas games; former Aviator Luzardo slated to start ($)
• Gemma: 2020 BLW TV Schedule Announced (A’s/Indians & Cubs/Reds)
• AP: A’s A.J. Puk looking sharp in return from Tommy John surgery
• Kleinschmidt: Why A’s Frankie Montas feels no pressure after 80-game PED suspension
• Rubin: Four things we learned from A’s HQ: A.J. Puk eases into role, Burch Smith could be a key piece
• Carroll: A closer look comparing A.J. Puk to Randy Johnson
• Kepner: Tired of Chasing Astros, A’s Look Forward to a ‘Level’ Playing Field ($)
• Coffey: For A’s minor leaguers, spring training is about proving you belong ($$$)

Game Recaps:

• baseballgirl: Spring Game #7: A’s Win Back to Back, Pinder Homers
• Baker-Gillman: Spring Game #6: Are You Satisfied?

MLB News:

• Anderson: Yankees’ Luis Severino undergoes Tommy John surgery, will miss entire 2020 season

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Baccellieri: Mud Maker: The Man Behind MLB’s Essential Secret Sauce
• Nightengale: Trevor Bauer plans to prioritize a unique idea when he reaches free agency (pitch every 4th day)
• Edwards: Braves Print Money for Liberty Media ($50M in profit in 2019)
• Edwards: MLB’s Winning and Losing Efforts to Conquer TV, Part I: The Strike
• Castrovince: This terrible college team invented the shift ... sort of

Today in Baseball History:

• 1968 - Lena Blackburne dies in Riverside, New Jersey, at age 81. A former major league infielder and manager, Blackburne has been the source for his eponymous rubbing mud, used by umpires in both leagues to rub down new balls. He leaves the mud business to his boyhood friend, John Haas.
• 1989 - The Veterans Committee elects Red Schoendienst and Al Barlick to the Hall of Fame. Schoendienst served as a second baseman and manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Barlick was a major league umpire for over 29 seasons.
• 2013 - Elvis Andrus adds his name to the list of baseball’s most bizarre injuries, as he is scratched from the Rangers’ line-up before a Cactus League game because of “sensivity and muscle soreness” in his left shoulder, the result of an elaborate tatoo commemorating his late father, reaching from the top of his shoulder to his biceps.

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