Elephant Rumblings: Trade Groups File Lawsuit to Stop Fast-Track Review of A’s Ballpark

A’s Coverage:

• Bay City News: Suit Seeks to Stop Fast Review of A’s Stadium Project
• Dinzeo: Trade Groups Fight to Slow Down Planned Oakland Ballpark
• Rubin: Giants, A’s to establish $1 million ballpark employee fund
• Kleinschmidt: Coronavirus prompts A’s to donate $100K to local community food bank
• Perry: Oakland A’s invite COVID-19 patient to throw out first pitch at home opener
• Trade Retrospective: Red Sox continue sell off, trade Jon Lester to the Athletics for Yoenis Céspedes
• Fawcett: Spring training for Osbourn graduate Brandon Withers lasts less than a week

MLB News:

• Adams: MLB Further Delays Opening Day In Accordance With CDC Recommendations
• Castrovince: MLB clubs pledge $30M for ballpark employees
• Jaffe: With No Baseball For Awhile, Justin Verlander Undergoes Groin Surgery
• Hoch: 2nd NYY Minor Leaguer positive for COVID-19
• Castrovince: MLB, MLBPA give $1M to help feed the hungry
• Sandy Alderson calling for total MLB coronavirus shutdown
• Hickey: Former A’s Closer Eckersley Doesn’t See Baseball Back Quickly

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Coffey: Rollie Fingers’ Three Days with the Red Sox
• Turvey: Simulating the 2020 season with.... RBI Baseball 20?!
• Calcaterra: Today in Baseball History: McGwire, Sosa, and Palmeiro testify before Congress
• Lane: How the Seattle Pilots Saved Lou Piniella’s Baseball Career
• Sarris: A beer nerd’s guide to baseball: Ranking every stadium by craft beer offerings ($$$)

Today in Baseball History:

• 1953 - The Milwaukee Braves become the first franchise to move since 1903, when the Baltimore Orioles became the New York Highlanders. The Braves have been in Boston, MA for 77 years. In a related move, the minor league Milwaukee Brewers move to Toledo, Ohio, where they become the latest incarnation of the Toledo Mud Hens.
• 1976 - Commissioner Bowie Kuhn orders training camps open March 18, ending a seventeen day lockout. Players agree to open the 1976 season without a collective bargaining agreement in place, and no games are canceled.
• 1984 - Charlie Lau, renowned batting instructor, dies in Key Colony Beach, FL, at age 50 after a long bout with cancer. Lau, whose major league career batting average was .255, earned his fame as the Kansas City Royals batting coach from 1971 to 1978, where his star pupil was George Brett. Lau also served as a batting coach for the Baltimore Orioles, Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox and wrote a book called “The Art of Hitting .300”.

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