Benjamin Grimm

I don't like using state names instead of city names either. The Diamondbacks and Rockies should have been the Phoenix Firebirds and the Denver Bears. I like the idea of minor-league names getting promoted to big-league names, as with the San Diego Padres, Baltimore Orioles, Miami Marlins, and Los Angeles Angels. (In 1969, the Montreal club should have been named the Royals.) If abnormally tall people ever get offended by the name of San Francisco's baseball team, I would hope that the new name would be the Seals. I was disappointed that Atlanta's former minor league (and Negro League) names are nonviable.

You know, right now I'll be happy if they play one game.

I looked to see what Atlanta's Negro League team was called, thinking that it might be a good idea for a name. I found that it was the "Atlanta Black Crackers". THAT won't work!

I would suggest the Georgia Peaches, but that would look like it was honoring Ty Cobb.

MLB Press Release wrote: The 2020 60-game Major League Baseball schedule will be announced tonight, July 6, on MLB Tonight: Schedule Release presented by Camping World live at 6:00 p.m. EDT on MLB Network hosted by Matt Vasgersian with analysis from Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci, the one-hour special will unveil key matchups and dates of the 60-game schedule, which will begin on Thursday, July 23 and Friday, July 24. I can't imagine sitting and watching this. While I'm looking forward to seeing the schedule, I really don't care enough to sit through an hour of "analysis" to find out if the Mets are going to play the Marlins on August 1 or August 10. I'll take a peek at the schedule online some time after 7. Sorry, Camping World!

I was trying to think of who the backup catcher might have been. Mike Fitzgerald and Ron Hodges were already gone. Too early for Barry Lyons and Ed Hearn (I think.) I also thought of Junior Ortiz but knew it could be him. I had completely forgotten Ronn Reynolds.

I think there's a very good chance that the season doesn't finish. I also think there's a decent enough chance that it won't even start.

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Four Atlanta players* have tested positive, including Freddie Freeman. *Are we going to have to stop calling them the Braves? The historical Atlanta team name is also problematic. "The Crackers".

I agree. The Braves are probably in the on deck circle, along with the Kansas City Chiefs.

I think the guy who lost the grand slam was Tim McCarver.

It's like dominoes! https://sports.yahoo.com/cleveland-indians-prepared-to-discuss-changing-team-name-004530262.htmlhttps://sports.yahoo.com/cleveland-indians-prepared-to-discuss-changing-team-name-004530262.html If they change the name of the team, I very much hope they call them the Cleveland Spiders.

That averages to almost exactly one per team, but I read somewhere that the 31 players are spread among 19 teams, which means that 11 of the teams have zero positive cases. So far. Apparently, for HIPAA reasons, the new COVID-19 inactive list is going to be kept secret from the public. Are we going to see players just suddenly stop appearing in games with no explanation? I think if that happens, people will be able to put two and two together.

I like how my lazy copying-and-pasting makes it look like the players have state-based nicknames. Tennessee Jim Hickman. Michigan Al Moran. District of Columbia Craig Anderson. (Okay, that last one doesn't sound quite as cool.)

Two brothers named Darryl, but no Mets.

And here's the same information, for players born outside the United States: 1962-04-13 Canada Ray Daviault 1962-04-13 Venezuela Elio Chacon 1962-05-21 U.S. Virgin Islands Joe Christopher 1963-05-11 Cuba Chico Fernandez 1964-04-14 Dominican Republic Amado Samuel 1967-09-19 England Les Rohr 1971-09-14 Mexico Francisco Estrada 1978-08-17 Panama Juan Berenguer 1981-09-01 Germany Ron Gardenhire 1982-08-21 France Bruce Bochy 1989-09-07 Australia Craig Shipley 1997-05-01 Japan Takashi Kashiwada 1998-09-05 Netherlands Antilles Ralph Milliard 2002-07-21 South Korea Jae Seo 2005-06-14 Vietnam Danny Graves 2011-04-01 Taiwan Chin-lung Hu 2014-08-29 Columbia Dilson Herrera 2018-05-07 United Kingdom P. J. Conlon I don't know why Puerto Rico landed on the first list and the U.S. Virgin Islands on the second list. Probably due to a decision I made twenty-one years ago!

And here we go, the first player from each state, and when it happened. (Illinois, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania both had two representatives in the very first Mets game. If anyone cares to check the box score to see which player appeared first, be my guest.) 1962-04-11 Illinois Hobie Landrith 1962-04-11 Illinois Jim Marshall 1962-04-11 Indiana Gil Hodges 1962-04-11 Kentucky Herb Moford 1962-04-11 Kentucky Gus Bell 1962-04-11 Montana Ed Bouchee 1962-04-11 Nebraska Richie Ashburn 1962-04-11 North Carolina Roger Craig 1962-04-11 Ohio Don Zimmer 1962-04-11 Pennsylvania Bob Moorhead 1962-04-11 Pennsylvania Frank Thomas 1962-04-11 Puerto Rico Felix Mantilla 1962-04-11 Rhode Island Clem Labine 1962-04-11 Texas Charlie Neal 1962-04-13 New York Joe Ginsberg 1962-04-13 Oregon Bobby Gene Smith 1962-04-13 Wisconsin John DeMerit 1962-04-14 California Chris Cannizzaro 1962-04-14 District of Columbia Craig Anderson 1962-04-14 Tennessee Jim Hickman 1962-04-15 Kansas Rod Kanehl 1962-04-21 Missouri Bob Miller 1962-04-28 South Carolina Sammy Taylor 1962-04-28 Virginia Dave Hillman 1962-05-12 Mississippi Vinegar Bend Mizell 1962-06-01 New Jersey Willard Hunter 1962-07-16 Florida Choo Choo Coleman 1962-08-01 Arkansas Sammy Drake 1963-04-09 Michigan Al Moran 1963-04-11 Maine Carl Willey 1963-05-24 Connecticut Jimmy Piersall 1963-09-14 Alabama Cleon Jones 1964-04-17 Maryland Jack Fisher 1964-04-18 Oklahoma Jerry Hinsley 1965-07-09 Georgia Gordie Richardson 1965-09-01 Massachusetts Kevin Collins 1966-04-15 Louisiana Billy Murphy 1966-04-16 Iowa Jack Hamilton 1966-07-23 Delaware Dallas Green 1967-04-14 Minnesota Jerry Koosman 1969-04-10 Arizona Gary Gentry 1970-09-01 Colorado Ron Herbel 1972-06-29 South Dakota Bob Rauch 1973-04-14 Utah George Theodore 1981-09-12 Washington Mike Howard 1982-09-11 Hawaii Carlos Diaz 1995-08-08 New Hampshire Don Florence 1997-04-05 West Virginia Rick Reed 2006-08-19 Alaska Dave Williams 2013-04-01 Wyoming John Buck 2017-04-08 Nevada Paul Sewald

Yeah, what the fuck, Guam?

I'm really looking forward to seeing the schedule. Games are supposed to start in three weeks. There should be a schedule soon. I guess hotels are mostly empty so the teams probably don't need to book rooms too far in advance.

Bobby Bonilla Day has always been stupid, but it's even worse this year because there's little else to talk about in the baseball world.

Yes, this was inevitable. I really doubt that minor league games bring in enough TV money to justify playing in empty ballparks.

Do I have this right? Tomorrow (July 1) is pitchers and catchers, and Friday (July 3) is full squad? No Mets have opted out yet, as far as I know. By July 3 we should know everyone who intends to play, though it's certainly possible some of the players who report may subsequently change their mind.

There are going to be quite a few more, I think. Just another facet to this unique (I hope!) season.

G-Fafif will be able to tell us all about him 25 years from now.

I remember some of those names!