Michael Hernandez had never picked up a baseball bat prior to his senior year, when he and Hoover High baseball coach David Jones talked about him joining the school's varsity team. Michael, 17, was already known at the northeast Fresno high school for his athletic prowess as Hoover's starting...
New Stadium Name, New Scoreboard as Rawhide Return
There will still be a celebration of a California League title in Visalia, even if there is no California League, per se. Baseball returns Tuesday for the Visalia Rawhide, a 6 p.m. contest versus Lake Elsinore. Fans will experience a new stadium name — Valley Strong Ballpark — and a...
2 MLB Games Postponed as Marlins Deal With Virus Outbreak
MIAMI — Two major league games scheduled for Monday night were postponed as the Miami Marlins deal with a coronavirus outbreak that stranded them in Philadelphia. The Marlins' home opener against Baltimore was called off, as was the New York Yankees' game at Philadelphia. The Yankees would have been in...
Giants Beat Dodgers 3-1, Gain Split of Season-Opening Series
LOS ANGELES — Mauricio Dubon singled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 on Sunday night. The Giants gained a split of the four-game series under new manager Gabe Kapler to open the shortened season after the Dodgers...
It’s 1, 2, COVID-19 and You’re Out. No Grizzlies Baseball This Year.
The skies will be clear at Chukchansi Park for the Fourth of July on Saturday night. There will be no fireworks show at the Fresno Grizzlies baseball game. There will be no games at all this season. In a decision not totally unexpected, Major League Baseball informed the minors on Tuesday...
Grizzlies Tell Hertz to Park for Free at the Stadium
Today was supposed to be a scheduled off-day for the Fresno Grizzlies. The only sign of activity was construction workers engaging in a solar project on the outside of the stadium. The Triple-A affiliate of the World Series champion Washington Nationals has had many off-days this season. Already, 19 home games...
Stolen Away: Brooklyn Pitcher Recalls '51 Sign-Stealing Scam
NEW YORK — Stealing signals. Banging on a trash can. Beating the Dodgers in October. Sounds very familiar to Carl Erskine. "If they're going to go back to 2017 with penalties for the Astros," he said Wednesday, "then I want them to go all the way back to 1951 to...
Larsen, Who Threw Only Perfect World Series Game, Dies at 90
NEW YORK — Don Larsen, the journeyman pitcher who reached the heights of baseball glory when he threw a perfect game in 1956 with the New York Yankees for the only no-hitter in World Series history, died Wednesday night. He was 90. He died of esophageal cancer while in hospice...
Mighty Bernie at Bat? Sanders Makes Pitch for Minor Leagues
BURLINGTON, Iowa — Take Bernie out to the ball game? Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate, is aggressively opposing a Major League Baseball plan to cut 42 minor league teams across the country after 2020. Among the targeted are the Vermont Lake Monsters, the Single-A affiliate of...
Astros Fire Exec Taubman After Rant at Female Reporters
WASHINGTON — The Houston Astros fired assistant general manager Brandon Taubman on Thursday for directing inappropriate comments at female reporters during a clubhouse celebration, announcing the decision in the middle of the World Series and putting a renewed spotlight on domestic violence in baseball. Sports Illustrated reported Taubman, during the...