We can’t let Melky Cabrera have the batting title/crown/award!

By Aug 18, 2012, 5:38 PM EDT
46 Comments

In the name of all that is holy!

Kenny Albert and Tim McCarver made it very clear during Saturday’s FOX Red Sox-Yankees broadcast that we can’t allow Melky Cabrera to win the NL batting title after his steroids suspension this week. In fact, it seems we need a new rule to prevent players who receive steroid suspension from being eligible for such awards.

And I can actually see the latter point. The BBWAA might want to consider a rule that prevents such players from qualifying for postseason awards.

But the batting title isn’t an an award. It doesn’t exist as anything more than a sacrifice fly crown or a passed ball champion does. It’s made up, and it only matters to people who any weight into it.

The truth is that very few people care about the batting title anymore. It definitely meant something in the days of Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams, and it was still a big honor in the era of Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs.

Now? Did anyone besides the Mets really care that Jose Reyes won the NL batting crown last year? Does anyone even know that Carlos Gonzalez won it in 2010 or Hanley Ramirez did in 2009? I’m guessing even Pirates fans scarcely remember that Freddy Sanchez won the NL batting title in 2006.

My whole feeling on the subject of asterisks and the like is that you leave the statistics alone and then you decide for yourself what they mean. Regardless of how he did it, Melky Cabrera hit .346 with 11 homers and 60 RBI this season, and it’d be foolish for anyone to try to tamper with that.

Nevada Senate vote on proposed A’s stadium in Las Vegas extended until next week

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 11:36 AM EDT
MLB: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports
0 Comments

CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Senate adjourned Thursday without voting on a financing bill for a proposed $1.5 billion Las Vegas Strip stadium for the Oakland Athletics, extending the special legislative session into the next week amid negotiations over whether to contribute $380 million in public funding to the project.

The measure can still be amended by lawmakers, and if it passes the Senate it would still need approval from the Assembly before going to the desk of Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has expressed support for it. Both the state Senate and Assembly are adjourned until Monday.

In a hearing that began Wednesday and stretched into the early morning hours Thursday, lawmakers peppered tourism officials and a representative from a firm partnering with the ball club with questions about the feasibility and benefits of financing such a deal.

Public funds for the stadium would mainly come from $180 million in transferable tax credits and $120 million in county bonds. Backers have pledged that the creation of a special tax district around the proposed stadium would generate enough money to pay off those bonds and interest. The plan would not directly raise taxes.

The A’s would not owe property taxes for the publicly owned stadium. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, would also contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs.

A’s representatives and some tourism officials say a deal would further grow Las Vegas’ developing sports scene and act as an economic engine, but a growing chorus of economists and some lawmakers warn that the project would bring minimal benefits for the hefty public price tag.