Elephant Rumblings: A’s Offseason Review, New Season Delayed

A’s Coverage:

• Byrne: Offseason In Review: Oakland Athletics
• Hill: Oakland Athletics can pay tribute to second dynasty on Philadelphia trip
• Schulman, Shea, Kawahara: How Giants and A’s are responding to MLB’s shutdown over coronavirus ($)

MLB News:

• Byrne: Matt Harvey Tried Out For Blue Jays
• Byrne: Yasiel Puig Rumors: Marlins, Giants
• Feinsand: Opening Day delayed at least 2 weeks; Spring Training games cancelled
• Castrovince: FAQ: What to know about delayed Opening Day

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Rosenbaum: Breaking down the Top 30 Prospects lists
• Lacques: Why the bullpen - and arms like Blake Treinen - remain baseball’s ‘biggest crapshoot’
• Jaffe: Games Called on Account of COVID-19
• McDaniel: Un-Opening Day

Today in Baseball History:

• 1943 - The major leagues approve a new official ball manufactured by the Spalding Company for the upcoming season. Instead of the usual combination of cork and rubber, the inside of the ball is made up of recycled cork and balata, materials not needed in the war effort. Officials insist the ball will have the resiliency of the 1939 ball, but the players will express dismay that they cannot drive the new ball and point out the dearth of runs and homers in 1942 even with the old ball.
• 1953 - Braves owner Lou Perini announces he will seek permission from the National League to move his franchise from Boston to Milwaukee.
• 2020 - MLB makes the tough, but correct choice to delay the start of baseball season as part of a nationwide effort to manage and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus)

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