Elephant Rumblings: Pro baseball returns, in Taiwan

A’s Coverage:

• Hickey: Oakland & East Bay Never Far From Minds of A’s Players and Staff in a Time of Pandemic
• Hickey: For the A’s Seth Brown, it’s All in the Numbers
• Hickey: Top Five Single-Season Offensive Performances in Athletics’ History
• Brazil: A’s Jesus Luzardo ‘a young Johan Santana,’ analyst Shooty Babitt says
• Miller: Rebound Candidate — Khris Davis

Best of AN:

• Hall: 4 Ways an unusual 2020 season could affect the Oakland A’s
• Nico: Is Bay Area A Potential Destination For 2020 “SeasonQuest”?
• Trivia: A’s Opening Day lineups from 2000-09

MLB News:

• Li: Professional baseball is back — in Taiwan, where robots will be the spectators
• McDaniel: Braves become first team to guarantee employee pay past end of April

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Petriello: Every team’s most impactful postseason play
• McCalvy: Yelich to alma mater: ‘This is just a small chapter’
• Feinsand: He filled in for Mariano ... and then he was done
• Franco: The Marlins Built An Interesting Rotation Via Trade

Today in Baseball History:

• 1914 - The Baltimore Terrapins host the very first game in Federal League history, defeating the Buffalo Buffeds, 3 - 2, behind the strong pitching of Jack Quinn. A crowd estimated at 27,000 stands 15 rows deep in the outfield to witness the return of big league baseball to Baltimore.
• 1926 - In one of the greatest Opening Day pitchers’ duels ever, Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators defeats Eddie Rommel and the Philadelphia Athletics, 1 - 0, in a 15-inning battle. The game will set the record for longest opening day contest until 2012, when the Blue Jays and Indians play 16 innings on April 5th.
• 1963 - After eleven hitless at-bats, Cincinnati Reds second baseman Pete Rose records his first major league hit, a triple off the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Bob Friend.
• 1970 - The Oakland Athletics use gold-colored bases during the club’s home opener. The Rules Committee subsequently bans this innovation.
• 1972 - The first player strike in Major League Baseball history ends, with an abbreviated schedule to start two days later.
• 1984 - Pete Rose of the Montreal Expos gets his 4,000th hit, a double off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jerry Koosman, to join Ty Cobb as the only major leaguers to reach 4,000 career hits. The hit comes exactly 21 years after Rose delivered his first hit.
• 1988 - Rick Honeycutt of the Oakland Athletics becomes the second pitcher in as many days to tie the American League’s 28-year-old balk record by committing four balks in four innings while saving a 12 - 7 win over Seattle. A major league record 924 balks will be called this season after umpires are instructed to interpret the complete stop rule more strictly.

Best of Twitter:

Update on A’s minor league manager Webster Garrison

Baseball in Taiwan! Imagine waiting through a pandemic and then getting delayed again ... for rain.

What would Doo do? Doggie workouts.

Eric Byrnes champions exactly the worthy cause you’d expect: Staying physically active.

Thank you!

Hope everyone had a great Easter! Or, almost everyone.