Elephant Rumblings: MLB announces Red Sox punishment for cheating scandal

A’s Coverage:

• Seamheads podcast: Guest Shooty Babitt (Apple) | (Stitcher) | (Spotify)
• Sports Info Solutions podcast: First things first with Matt Olson
• Hickey: Do You Have a Favorite Matt Chapman Defensive Play? A’s 1B Matt Olson Does
• Hickey: A’s and Blue Jays Have a Frequent Trading Partnership That’s Unrivaled

Best of AN:

• Nico: Tri-State Set Up Is The Latest Idea Leaked
• Hall: Retro Recap (1973): Oakland A’s open World Series with tight Game 1 win
• FanPost: The Autograph Hunter, Part 4

MLB News:

• Commissioner decision on Red Sox investigation
• Feinsand: Boston sign stealing in ‘18 found limited in scope
• ESPN: Statement from former Red Sox manager Alex Cora
• Statement from Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy
• Browne: Red Sox lift interim tag from manager Roenicke

Baseball Interest Stories:

• Jaffe: If I Could Be Transported to Any Season in Baseball History…
• Laurila: Twins Prospect Trevor Larnach Talks Hitting
• MLB: Here’s the prettiest swing in every team’s history
• MLB Pipeline: Most hyped SS prospects of the past 20 years
• Justice: 9 amazing (but underappreciated) seasons
• Landers: What’s every team’s biggest Draft regret?
• MLB Quiz of the Day: All-time leaders
• Todd: What In The Sam Hill(iard) Do The Rockies Have In The Outfield?
• Byrne: The Sale Of An Elite Outfield
• Byrne: Standing Up For Stripling

Today in Baseball History:

• 1939 - Rookie Ted Williams goes 4 for 5, including his first major-league home run, but the Boston Red Sox lose to the Philadelphia Athletics, 12 - 8, at Fenway Park
• 1954 - In his seventh major league game, Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hits the first of his 755 career home runs off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Vic Raschi at Sportsman’s Park. The Braves win in 14 innings, 7 - 5.
• 1964 - Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt .45s becomes the first pitcher in major league history to hurl a nine-inning no-hitter and lose the game. Second baseman Nellie Fox, usually a reliable defensive player, commits a critical run-scoring error on Vada Pinson’s ground ball and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Astros, 1 - 0.
• 1999 - Fernando Tatis of the St. Louis Cardinals becomes the first player in major league history to hit two grand slams in one inning. Tatis connects both times in the 11-run 3rd inning against pitcher Chan Ho Park to lead the Cardinals to a 12 - 5 rout of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He simultaneously sets a record with eight RBI in one inning. Park becomes the first pitcher in the 20th century, and only the second ever, to surrender two slams in a single frame, joining Bill Phillips of the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys.
• 2013 - For only the second time in major league history, brothers hit back-to-back homers in a game. In the second game of a doubleheader played in frigid conditions at Coors Field, the Braves’ B.J. Upton leads off the 5th inning with a homer off Jon Garland, and his brother Justin immediately follows suit, driving Garland’s next pitch over the center field fence for his major league-leading 11th homer of the year. Atlanta sweeps the twinbill over Colorado, 4 -3 and 10 - 2. The only previous instance of brothers going deep consecutively was Hall of Famers Lloyd and Paul Waner doing so for the Pirates on September 15, 1938.

Best of Twitter:

Summary of the Red Sox report

More on the Red Sox cheating

An old friend with a nasty curve

Another old friend, versus a Camera

Question for deep thought

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