Mauer's agent is in Fort Myers

By Craig CalcaterraMar 4, 2010, 9:59 AM EDT
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LaVelle Neal reports that Joe Mauer’s agent, Ron Shapiro, is in Fort Myers meeting with Twins’ execs today. Everyone is saying it’s a routine visit, but Neal reports that, yes, Shapiro and the Twins will be negotiating about Mauer, which they have been doing on and off for a few weeks now.

Ominous note: Neal says “there are indications that progress has slowed recently.”  Given how mum everyone has been about it I’m not sure how you can tell, but Neal knows more than I do about it.  Whatever the case, recall that Mauer likely won’t be negotiating after spring training is over, so if there’s a deal to be done, they best get to it.

Anthems, first pitches and other ceremonial stuff

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By Craig CalcaterraOct 23, 2018, 2:06 PM EDT
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The World Series is not just about the baseball. It’s about the bigger-than-usual stars singing the National Anthem, the more-famous-than-usual people throwing out the first pitch and all of the assorted to-do which surrounds the ballgames. Here is that sort of stuff for Game 1 and Game 2 in Boston.

First pitches:

  • Carl Yastrzemski will throw out the ceremonial first pitch for Game 1. Yastrzemski also threw out the first pitch of Game 1 in 2004, 2007 and 2013. The Red Sox won each of those games and each of those World Series so, yeah, go with what works, right?
  • Members of the 2004 World Series Champions will throw the ceremonial first pitch of Game 2. It doesn’t say which members, so maybe my dream of Manny Ramirez doing it will work out after all. Hey, he played for the Dodgers too, so let’s make this happen, OK?

National Anthems:

  • Singer-songwriter James Taylor will perform the National Anthem prior to the start of Game 1. This morning Peter Gammons tweeted that Taylor’s family helped build Fenway Park. Let’s file that under “interesting, but not so interesting that it’s really worth tracking down to confirm, so why not believe it?” Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.
  • For Game 2 the National Anthem will be performed by the Boston Pops, with the Tanglewood Chorus and the Boston Symphony Children’s Chorus doing the singing. The Boston Pops are conducted by Keith Lockhart, who was a career .287/.354/.425 hitter in 37 postseason games with the Atlanta Braves. I mean, at least I’m pretty sure it’s the same Keith Lockhart. Again: not interesting enough to check so, like Gammons’ thing about James Taylor, let’s assume I’m right about this.

Play ball.