Elephant Rumblings: Exhibition Baseball in Asia, April Opening Days for NPB, KBO?

A’s Coverage:

• Slusser: Ex-A’s starters [Straily, Neal] share good news: Baseball returning in Asia after coronavirus shutdown
• Rosecrans: American players in Japan, South Korea experience pandemic through another lens ($$$)
• Gallegos: Where the A’s roster battles currently stand
• Bell and Reising: Oakland A’s Have a Plan to Ease Shelter at Home Stress (audio)
• Brazil: Liam Hendriks, other players want 162-game MLB season post-coronavirus
• Rubin: “I don’t believe I will have to drive DoorDash anymore:” A’s minor leaguer reacts to MLB emergency pay plan ($)
• Kleinschmidt: Beat the Yankees: Relive three classic A’s wins over Bronx Bombers

MLB News:

• Blum: MLB could skip draft; service time big issue
• Olney: MLB, union must work together in face of financial challenges
• Miller: Angels Select Ryan Buchter, Designate Taylor Cole
• Perrotto: Pitt product Kevan Smith trying to catch on with Tampa Bay Rays
• Passan: ‘We are fighting against an invisible enemy’: A Red Sox scout in Italy details life in COVID-19 lockdown
• Goold: Former Mizzou pitcher, now a St. Louis attorney, helps organize advocacy group for minor-leaguers

Asian Baseball News:

• Jiji Press: Japan Pro Baseball, Soccer Games May Be Suspended Longer
• Yonhap: Foreign players in S. Korean baseball set to rejoin teams this week

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Kelly: You an MLB trivia whiz? Try these 8 quizzes
• Markusen: Ted Simmons and the Bizarre Brawl
• Joyce: Big in Japan: When Major League Nobodies Become NPB Somebodies
• Laurila: Lars Anderson Discovers Japan (excellent first person account of life in the NPB league)
• Gallegos: Culture Shock? A’s prepare for different style of play against Japanese club ($) (article from last year’s A’s visit to Japan)

Today in Baseball History:

• 1968 - In a spring training game, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jim Ellis creates the “Lip Pass” by going to his mouth on a 3 and 1 count to issue an intentional walk. Cubs manager Leo Durocher, who was opposed to the new strict enforcement of the rule preventing pitchers from going to their mouth while on the rubber, is warned not to repeat the Lip pass or he’ll be fined. He doesn’t, but the rule is relaxed.
• 2009: Japan wins the 2009 World Baseball Classic, its second World Baseball Classic title in the two times the tournament had been held. As in 2006, Daisuke Matsuzaka is named MVP after going 3-0. In the finale, Japan beats the South Korean national team, 5 - 3 ,in 10 innings, with a 2-run single by Ichiro Suzuki off Chang-yong Lim being the winning hit. Suzuki goes 4 for 6 in the game. Yu Darvish gets the win after blowing a save opportunity in the 9th.
• 2011: On the last day of the Cuban Serie Nacional 2010-2011 regular season, José Dariel Abreu cracks his 33rd home run. Despite missing about a quarter of the season with an injury, Abreu wins two legs of the Triple Crown. He and Yoennis Céspedes both break Alfredo Despaigne’s two-year old home run record of 32.

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