MLB News: Stories from all around baseball, “He dropped the ball,” Cora admits cheating, and more

This day in Yankee history – “He dropped the ball”

The New York Yankees have had hundreds of great games with great plays and walk-offs.  On this day in history with the Yankees trailing, 8-7, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Mets’ Francisco Rodriguez gets Alex Rodriguez to hit a pop fly to Luis Castillo at second base. The pop-up should end the game, but Castillo drops the ball. Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira (running all the way from first base) both scores as the Yankees win a shocker, 9-8. It was the Yankees’ seventh walk-off win of the season. This just might give you some joy as there is still no baseball being played.

Alex Cora admits cheating, but it wasn’t a two-man show

Former MLB Red Sox manager and Astros bench coach Alex Cora is taking responsibility for his role in the sign-stealing saga, but he isn’t ready to shoulder all the blame.

Cora received a season-long suspension after the commissioner’s office found he played a pivotal role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme in 2017, the year they won the World Series. After the investigation, he lost his job with the Red Sox.

Cora, 44, told ESPN’s Marly Rivera that he deserved his punishment for his role in the Astros’ scheme, but he took umbrage with suggestions that he and Carlos Beltrán, the Astros’ designated hitter in his final season in the majors in 2017, were the driving forces behind it.

He said “it wasn’t a two-man show (Cora and Beltran) we all did it. And let me be very clear that I am not denying my responsibility because we were all responsible.”

As a side note:  Today the Yankees would have played the first game of a three-game series against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

Whitey For and wife celebrate 69 years!

Hall of Famer New York Yankee Whitey Ford and his wife Joan have been married for 69 years. Their wedding reception was a baseball fairytale. Six months after the Yankee left-hander won the deciding game of the 1950 World Series as a 21-year old rookie, and just before reporting to the Army after being drafted, Joan and he decided to get married in Brooklyn while the team played an exhibition game at Ebbets Field. On April 14, 1951, they had a small reception at Donahue’s on Steinway Street in Astoria.

The game ended before the reception did, so the team bus headed there, and Whitey’s teammates — players like Joe DiMaggio, Joe Page, and Tommy Henrich — arrived to toast the newlyweds. When Joan and Whitey found out that some of the players were still on the bus, too shy to attend the reception, they climbed on board to thank them, which is how Whitey met a rookie named Mickey Mantle. Little did they know that 23 years later, they would go into the Hall of Fame together.

What to MLB owners gain for a negotiated settlement?

• Expanded playoffs for the next two seasons, which the union offered in both its proposals but likely would nix if Manfred took unilateral action, even though players would stand to gain long-term from revenue that enabled the owners to reduce their losses.

• A baseline number of commitments the union proposed for broadcast enhancements, including in-game microphone usage and special programming away from the ballpark, and the possibility of an offseason Home Run Derby and All-Star Game.

• A potential resolution to the question of whether MLB players would maintain the right to pursue damages if they believed MLB failed to adequately fulfill its obligations to player health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The avoidance of a likely grievance by the union, which might accuse the league of not making a good-faith effort to play as many games as possible. The union would seek financial damages, and the process alone would be costly.

• A season long enough for the league to skirt criticism from fans and players that it settled for fewer games and less competitive integrity.

• A reduction in animosity with players – well, at least to some extent – as the parties prepare for collective-bargaining negotiations. The current CBA expires on Dec. 1, 2021.

Owners gains presented by Ken Rosenthal from The Atlantic.