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It was the hottest basketball sectional. Then attendees started dying of coronavirus —

On March 6, there were five people in Indianapolis’ Lawrence Central High School gym who later died after testing positive for coronavirus.
It was the hottest basketball sectional. Then attendees started dying of coronavirus —

Kyle NeddenriepIndianapolis Star 0:100:17

It was the hottest ticket in the state of Indiana for high school basketball. Four great teams. An electric atmosphere was guaranteed for the night of March 6 at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis, where 2,800 fans would pack the gym for the sectional semifinals.

But early on that Friday afternoon, the calls started coming in to Lawrence Central.

It was revealed by state officials at 11 a.m. that the first person in Indiana had tested positive for coronavirus at Community Health North, four miles from the school.

“We started getting calls,” Lawrence Central athletic director Ryan Banas said, “wondering if we were still going to play.”

The games were played that night — and the following night — just like they were in 63 other venues around the state. Fans at Lawrence Central that week for Sectional 10 were treated to a basketball bonanza of incredible games and individual performances.

But on that night of March 6, there were five people in the gym who later died after testing positive for coronavirus. There’s no way to know if they contracted it at Lawrence Central. But families are left to mourn.

Warren Central High School junior Malik Stanley (12), right, inbounds the ball to teammate Derek Jefferson (33) during the first half of action in an IHSAA boys’ semi-final sectional basketball game against North Central High School, Friday, March 6, 2020, at Lawrence Central High School.

Paul Loggan was there, standing much of the game at the end of North Central’s bench. Roscoe Taylor was there, sitting in the lower level of Warren Central High School section. So was Charles Johnson, three rows up behind the Warren Central bench and next to his wife, Kay. Larry Rush was there, too, in the Lawrence North High School section, one of the “Four Horsemen” of Wildcat fans. And Jim DeSalle, took a seat for the second game, near the Lawrence North bench. The following night, he would climb a ladder, smile and clip a piece of the sectional championship net.

In the coming days or weeks, all five men would die from health complications caused by the coronavirus. At least a dozen others who were there have tested positive or experienced symptoms consistent with the virus.

“The problem with any communal event like a basketball tournament is that you’ve got a clustering of people in close proximity,” said Dr. Cole Beeler, infectious diseases doctor at Indiana University Health.

There is no way to pinpoint exactly when the virus spread. Loggan, 57, was only at Lawrence Central one night, for a little more than two hours. He worked around hundreds of people all day, every day. DeSalle, 70, attended a Lawrence Township youth basketball event the day of the sectional championship game. Rush, 67, was an Uber driver. Johnson, 78, went to the grocery store and church that weekend. Taylor, 43, was around kids and adults in his job as a cafeteria worker at Stonybrook Middle School.

Hindsight is 20/20. On March 6, the reality is the people inside Lawrence Central’s gym — or any other high school gym in the state — were not thinking about the possibility of contracting coronavirus. There were hugs. There were handshakes. There were high-fives. Everything that seemed normal about basketball still existed that weekend. It was not until later, with the benefit of time, that a more complete picture began to emerge.

“The sad thing looking back,” said Kay Johnson, the widow of Charles Johnson, “is that we didn’t know.”

***

What did we know on the afternoon of March 6?

About an hour-and-a-half before Banas first heard the news from a colleague, state officials revealed the first person in Indiana had tested positive for coronavirus. The man, who had recently returned from a trip to Boston, was said to be in isolation and not considered a high risk to develop severe illness.

“There is no ongoing risk to the public,” state department of health commissioner Dr. Kris Box said that day in relation to that specific case.

Box encouraged Hoosiers to cover their coughs, wash hands thoroughly, elbow bump instead of shaking hands and stay home if sick before adding: “The situation with COVID-19 is changing rapidly and we can expect to see other cases in Indiana in the future.”

Darren Thomas, the district athletic director for Indianapolis Public Schools, called Banas early that afternoon to ask if the sectional would move forward as planned. Banas, after talking to his administration, reached out to the Indiana High School Athletic Association. At 2:05 p.m., the IHSAA issued the following statement:

“We will continue to monitor the developments and listen to medical experts and if it becomes necessary to make adjustments to high school sporting events, we will work with our member schools to take every precaution to ensure a healthy and safe environment for everyone involved.”

Just before 3 p.m., with the blessing of the other four athletic directors — Warren Central’s Marques Clayton, Crispus Attucks’ Chris Hawkins, Lawrence North’s Mike Penrose and North Central’s Paul Loggan — Banas sent a tweet from Lawrence Central’s athletic department Twitter account directing fans to the IHSAA statement, adding: “We have received numerous calls this afternoon regarding the coronavirus case in Marion County and the status of our sectional games tonight. The games will be played as scheduled.”

As they were in 63 other venues that night in Indiana, the games were played.

Another packed house watched as Warren Central junior Malik Stanley scored 34 points to outduel North Central super sophomore Leland Walker and his 30 points in a 77-69 win and Lawrence North rally from a five-point deficit in the final 1:37 to overcome Sincere McMahon’s 32-point outburst to win a 76-73 thriller over Crispus Attucks.

It was high school basketball at its best.

***

Late the next night, after Lawrence North wrapped up its first sectional title in five years, Lawrence North assistant Jim Stanbrough sat at a table with DeSalle at Alibi’s Grill on North Shadeland Avenue, a common postgame meeting spot for the coaching staff.

The rest of the Lawrence North staff was spread out among three other tables. There were smiles and laughs as they replayed the week. Sectional week started with a dominant performance on Wednesday in a win over rival Lawrence Central, followed by the close calls against Attucks and Warren Central. It was a time to unwind a bit before preparation started for the regional on March 14.

Stanbrough, 64, has replayed that night over and over in his mind. DeSalle, 70, fell ill a few days later and was hospitalized. He tested positive for coronavirus and died on April 1.

“That night is something I’ll never forget,” Stanbrough said. “Jim and I sat at a table, just the two of us. I’ll always remember that. Did I give it to him? Did he give it to me? I don’t know the answer. There were a lot of people connected to it.”

Stanbrough started feeling sick the after their dinner. Three days later on March 10, he visited a doctor. He tested positive for the flu, but even with medicine he said he “kept going downhill.” Fevers. Dry coughs. Stanbrough visited the emergency room on March 17 and 19 and was sent home. Two days later, he was back again but this time we was admitted.

He tested positive for COVID-19 at IU Health North on March 23. Stanbrough stayed in the hospital for six days.

“I came home and got to feeling better for a couple days,” he said. “Then I started going south again and started having some pretty severe chest pains.”

On April 2, Stanbrough was readmitted and spent another six days in the hospital. An ultrasound discovered he had blood clots in both legs and his lungs. Stanbrough, who had no pre-existing health conditions previously, will be on blood thinners for several months. His wife, Marta, also tested positive for coronavirus, though her symptoms were limited to losing her senses of taste and smell.

“Those first couple days I went in, I was very scared,” Stanbrough said. “You start thinking about things you don’t want to think about. Who is going to take care of this or that. You start thinking about those things.”

That same week DeSalle and Stanbrough started to feel ill, Gerad Good, another assistant on the Lawrence North staff, did too. Four days after the sectional championship, Good, 49, had chills. He slept in his traveling sweatsuit, wrapped in blankets. His temperature rocketed to 102, then 103.

“Headaches were kind of the start of it,” Good said. “I had body aches and started taking Tylenol to heal some of that pain. I thought I was coming down with the flu or a sinus infection.”

Good twice visited the doctor and was told it could be a sinus infection. It was not until it was confirmed to him that both DeSalle and Stanbrough had tested positive for coronavirus that Good was able to also get tested. It, too, was positive.

For 17 days, Good said he had a fever that reached as high as 103.8 one night. Fortunately for Good, who is asthmatic, the virus never got into his lungs.

“It almost feels like a dream that it even happened,” Good said. “You don’t think you can get that sick. There’s no way. I was just like everybody else, washing my hands and giving people elbow taps. I was being safe — or thought I was. That’s all we knew at our level.”

On March 12, two days prior to the regional, the IHSAA announced the games at the 16 regional sites would go on as scheduled, but with spectators limited to 75 people per school and to include only essential personnel, coaches, administrative staff and immediate family. But the sports world was literally changing by the minute. As IHSAA commissioner Bobby Cox stepped to the podium at the IHSAA office just before noon on March 12, the Big Ten announced it was calling off its tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Twenty-four hours later, at noon on Friday, the IHSAA announced it was postponing the tournament. Had the games been played, Lawrence North would have been without Stanbrough, Good and DeSalle on the bench that regional Saturday.

“There was no way,” said Good, who lost 22 pounds and is still not well. “I wasn’t even thinking about basketball.”

***

It seems clear now that the coronavirus was already spreading during the sectional week that started on March 3 and probably even before. On March 11, when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus and the NBA subsequently suspended its season, the reality of how serious the disease is and how quickly it can spread became real for many people in the sports world.

“We have a good idea of how this virus spreads,” Dr. Beeler, said. “We think it spreads by large droplets that are passed out of the mouth when people are breathing or talking or shouting. It’s infectious around a 6-foot radius.

“The thing that’s scary about this virus is that you can infect someone and not have any symptoms yourself. It may have been that there was someone there, or a few people there, that were infected and didn’t even know they were infected.”

It is possible, even likely, that all of the extra precautions that week would not have mattered because of the nature of a sectional tournament, too, he said.

“You’ve got a bunch of people sitting close to each other,” Dr. Beeler added. “The other thing is that people are probably yelling and screaming and cheering on their teams. We know you’re probably kicking out a lot more droplets as you talk and scream than you would if you are just breathing or talking in a normal voice.”

He said some studies have suggested that loud talking and singing might spread droplets even further.

“It would make it a pretty fertile territory for spreading infection.”

Hindsight is 20/20 he said.

“Right now I can tell you, ‘Oh yeah, for sure. We should have easily done stuff differently back then.’ But we had almost no information back then,” Dr. Beeler said. “It was just starting to hit us. The consequences of shutting everything back down back then weren’t fully understood.”

If a fan attending the games the night of March 6 had paid attention, they would have noticed, the workers handling the tickets, money and programs were wearing gloves. There was hand sanitizer on the table. That night, after the games, the workers cleaning the gym wore gloves as they disinfected every railing, every chair, every table in the gym.

Banas, who has Lyme disease and later found out he is considered higher risk for severe illness from coronavirus, remembers at one point turning to athletic administrative assistant Lauren Hughes and asking: “Are we overreacting?”

“All any of us knew that Friday was that one guy had it at Community North and was back home,” Banas said. “I felt like we did everything we could with the little knowledge that we had at that point.”

***

Khyrie Abdullah, 33, did not attend Sectional 10 on the weekend, but he was there on March 3 for the Warren Central-Tech game and the sold-out doubleheader on Wednesday (March 4) between Lawrence Central and Lawrence North and Cathedral and Crispus Attucks. On March 10, Abdullah, a track coach at Lawrence Central and assistant football coach, started to feel sick. On March 16, he went to the hospital with dizziness and shortness of breath. On March 19, he went on a ventilator and stayed on it for 13 days, during which time his coronavirus test came back positive.

Abdullah woke up on April 1 and has been in the recovery process since. He returned home this week. His wife, Lauren, is due with their first child on June 14. She and the baby are healthy.

“I probably walked around with it for two weeks and had no idea,” Abdullah said. “I’m lucky. The doctors said my age probably helped. My wife went into superhero mode. I was out for two weeks and thought it was two hours. It was like somebody just turned out the lights. I’ve thought a lot about it. Why did my body respond and not others? I’m thankful. The staff at Community North was incredible.”

Scott Frank was also at the sectional on Wednesday, March 4, for both games of the doubleheader. Frank’s son, Jarret, was a senior on the Cathedral team. By March 11, he was experiencing symptoms that included headaches, extreme fatigue and dizziness. On March 20, he found out he had tested positive for coronavirus.

Frank, 51, never experienced any chest pain, but did lose his sense of smell.

“The timeline does fit the window of the sectional, but at that time we thought it was mostly restricted to Washington,” Frank said. “It didn’t even cross my mind in that moment that we could be impacted, even when we heard about that first case on March 6. There was so much energy in the building for those games. It was fantastic. I was looking forward to seeing what Lawrence North could do in the regional.”

Kay Johnson, the widow of Charles Johnson, has replayed that week over in her mind. Charles, 79, died on March 27 after testing positive for coronavirus. The Johnsons attended the sectional on March 3, 6 and 7. Kay also fell ill with symptoms, but was never officially tested.

“I feel like that’s probably where we got it,” she said. “I could have got it first and passed it to him. Too many have gotten sick who were there. The sad thing is we just didn’t know. We didn’t have the information to go on. It’s unfortunate what has happened to this fan base.”

Another Warren Central fan, Roscoe Taylor III, died on April 5 after testing positive for coronavirus. Taylor’s father, Roscoe Taylor, Jr., died from coronavirus complications on March 29 at age 66. Roscoe Taylor III would have turned 44 on Thursday.

“It was right around March 20 when he started running fevers and feeling sick,” said Taylor’s brother, Damon Taylor. “We were talking to him every day on the phone up until they had to put him on the ventilator.”

Damon Taylor said it is possible his brother could have contracted the virus through his father or vice versa. Roscoe Taylor III was living with his parents. “They got sick around the same time,” he said.

There were others in the building that week who later tested positive. Christopher and Linda Gunn, parents of Lawrence North sophomore C.J. Gunn, did. Shawn Crull, a teacher at Hamilton Southeastern and broadcaster for Indiana SRN, tested positive. Many others exhibited symptoms consistent with coronavirus, but we not tested. Denis Schinderle, a referee working his final sectional, was one of those. Felix Rogers, a videographer for the In the Gym Hoops, was another. There were also players who experienced symptoms.

“It’s hard not to think about it now, looking back,” Cathedral coach Jason Delaney said. “You think about fans screaming and how close everybody was to each other. You start thinking, ‘Man, it was all around us.’ But there was no way of knowing that.”

There is no way of knowing exactly how it spread or where DeSalle, Loggan, Johnson, Taylor and Rush contracted the virus. What we do know is all five were in the same gym on March 6 doing nothing more than watching the best high school basketball doubleheader in the state that night.

“I’ve thought about it hundreds of times,” Good said. “My wife Robin and I talked about it. Those were the most fun games I’ve been part of in a long, long time. That was great basketball for three or four days — a packed gym with nothing but good teams competing and working their butts off. It was great.

“But then you start putting the pieces together… all we know is that this virus has changed a lot of people’s lives.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

Reporter Matthew VanTryon contributed quotations from Dr. Cole Beeler for this story.

t was the hottest basketball sectional. Then attendees started dying of coronavirus.Timeline: 5 people who attended Sectional 10 later died from coronavirus Here’s why coronavirus makes attending sporting events so dangerous Remembering those who died after attending Sectional 10

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An enigma to the end, Byfuglien will always be loved in Winnipeg — Winnipeg Sun

The rhythm was often off-beat. Read More
An enigma to the end, Byfuglien will always be loved in Winnipeg — Winnipeg Sun

The rhythm was often off-beat.

The marching was far from an organized stride.

Dustin Byfuglien did his own thing.

Always.

It was his beat. His march. It only needed to make sense to him.

And just as his career began in an eccentric way — getting a phone call about rookie camp in Chicago and then going AWOL until someone from the Blackhawks organization tracked him down to get him there — it ended on a similar note.

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone willing to walk away from $14 million. Even professional athletes, who’ve amassed vast amounts of wealth over their respective careers, often want to maximize those earnings before their body won’t allow them to any longer.

But one of hockey’s most entertaining and enigmatic figures seemingly didn’t care about all of that in the end.

Money, reputation, legacy — these things simply failed to compute in a logical way for a player shrouded in as much curiosity as Byfuglien is (or was, at this point).

Byfuglien did Byfuglien. 24/7. 365 days a year, and he didn’t let his guard down on a leap year, either.

That mystique is a big reason fans embraced him so dearly, and why we media types were always searching for more.

Surely, he knew that.

Fans learned much about the man in the way he carried himself on the ice. That’s how he communicated with them. He was merciless to his opponents — just ask Mark Stone or Roberto Luongo — and fiercely competitive.

But he was also a consummate teammate — just ask anyone not named Evander Kane. And it’s not just his most recent teammates that speak his praises, but also his former colleagues in Chicago.

The story about Byfuglien’s first rookie camp came from long-time Blackhawks defenceman Duncan Keith a few months ago. Keith’s memories of Byfuglien as a teammate were glowing.

On the homefront, he took Josh Morrissey under his wing.

Byfuglien was the family protector, a job he did admirably, and a job his teammates admired.

Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke Friday of an emotional ending that began back in early September on the eve of training camp. The months-long saga came to an end 219 days later as the NHL, the NHLPA and the Jets announced the termination of Byfuglien’s contract.

That Byfuglien was emotional back then is certainly believable, and one wonders if the finality of today wouldn’t have elicited similar sentiments.

While there are parts of the game — the media, particularly — that Byfuglien never seemed to enjoy, he most certainly relished playing the game, playing in big games, and being a part of the team. And those around him enjoyed it, too. He had that infectious trait about him.

That seeped into the fan base here in Winnipeg. Supporters would have loved for Byfuglien to play forever. That just comes with the territory when you have a player as popular, and as effective, as the 35-year-old was for the Jets.

If Byfuglien’s career is truly over, he leaves the game having hoisted the game’s holy grail. He completed the goal most prominent among every player that’s stepped onto the ice in the National Hockey League.

He also wasn’t a flash in the pan. He played nearly 900 games. He played on the biggest stages the game can offer. He thrived in those moments, too, much to the chagrin of Vancouver Canucks fans, and others throughout his career.

Perhaps most importantly, he did so in front of a legion of fans he earned through playing the game the way he wanted to play.

And if there’s a lesson to take for any player, young, old, and in between, it’s just that: you can be yourself, and true to yourself, while at the same time being good at whatever it is you do in life.

Byfuglien went out on his own terms, and not everyone gets to say that.

And judging by the reaction to the comments from Cheveldayoff on Friday, it sounds like many, if not all, fans accept Byfuglien’s terms.

We don’t have the full story. We may never hear Byfuglien’s side in this whole ordeal.

But unless Cheveldayoff was fibbing, Byfuglien remained loyal to the Jets until his final day as a member of the organization. He didn’t want to be traded, even when asked multiple times. It appeared that it was Winnipeg or bust.

In the end, Byfuglien chose both.

While pain once again ripples through the city, this is the Byfuglien the fans know and love.

And love, they always will.

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Q: Who was your favorite team growing up?

So, I had two favorite teams. Obviously the San Diego Padres, just because I’ve lived in San Diego County since I was about 2 years old. But when my parents moved over [to the United States] from Cuba, they lived in New York and New Jersey, like right near Yankee Stadium, so a lot of my family grew up as Yankee fans, so that just trickled down to me. So basically, I was a Yankee-Padres fan. (Sorry to the Blue Jay fans!)

Q: Who is your current favorite player and your all-time favorite player?

Current favorite player… that’s kinda tough because after being drafted and meeting a bunch of people, you just realize that we’re all the same. We’ve all been down the same road, but I’m most excited to see Vladdy Jr. Obviously he’s in my organization and he’s so young. The dude is an absolute stud! I just want to see what he’ll do in a full season and healthy. What he did in the minors is just unreal, so it will be cool to see what he does in the bigs. Also, Tatis Jr. too because of the Friar Faithful, bringing it back to Petco.

All-time favorite player… I’d have to say Andy Pettitte. Since I’m a left-handed pitcher and grew up a Yankees fan, plus I don’t throw hard or anything. When I started paying attention to baseball, Andy Pettitte when at the top of his career, was a high 80s to low 90s pitcher, he’s crafty and that kinda stuff just resonated with me. So definitely Andy or even Cliff Lee when he was with the Indians and Rangers. They’re just guys who went out there and used what they had to win.

Q: Who/what has been your biggest inspiration?

I’d have to say my parents. My dad was a third-world country farmer and my mom came from the city, but more factory kind of lifestyle. Coming here with nothing but the shirts on their back and a little bit of money. So their hard work and where they’ve gotten to now, inspired me to push myself to try and be successful in everything that I’ve done.

Q: How did you get into baseball?

I feel like every parent goes through this phase where they want their child to play a sport when they are young just so they can do something. My mom just signed me up for tee-ball when I was 5. She just said to my dad, “hey, I want him to play some sports just to see if he likes anything,” and she just signed me up. It’s funny because my dad is a big baseball fan, but ultimately it was my mom who got me into baseball.

Q: What advice do you have for younger players?

Don’t worry about the results so much that it affects the process.

Q: What’s your warm-up song?

My walk-out song is “More Love” by Rebelution. I had to text my friend and former teammate, Danny Sheehan right before season because that was his walk-up song all throughout college. So asked him, “hey dude, is it cool if I walk out to your song? We’re boys and I love that song and I want to ask you first,” and he was cool with it. I think I’m going to ride with that song for as long as I play because I absolutely love that song!

more….

Behind the Dream: Marcus Reyes — Ballpark Vibes

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A’s minor-league manager Webster Garrison off ventilator in coronavirus fight — AP

A’s minor league manager off ventilator in coronavirus fight
A’s minor league manager off ventilator in coronavirus fight —
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Oakland Athletics minor league manager Webster Garrison has resumed breathing completely on his own for the first time in more than three weeks and no longer requires a ventilator as he fights the coronavirus, his fiancee said Thursday.
Garrison, hospitalized in his home state of Louisiana, wasn’t yet speaking when Nikki Trudeaux posted her latest update Thursday.
“Webster Garrison is off the ventilator,” Trudeaux wrote, using a series of exclamation points. “He is still weak and can’t say words. He’s mumbling a little bit. That’s expected with that tube down his throat for that length of time and also being on all those sedatives so long. However, being on a ventilator for three weeks and one day, he is now breathing 100% on his own and his oxygen saturation level is at 100%.”

Trudeaux has been asking for nightly prayers and using the hash tag “WebbyStrong” as the 54-year-old former major leaguer fights COVID-19.
The A’s haven’t identified Garrison but released a a statement late last month that “a minor league staff member has tested positive for COVID-19 and is under hospital care.”
Garrison managed the Class A Stockton Ports last season, and he is scheduled to manage in the rookie level Arizona League this year. The ex-infielder played five games for the A’s in 1996, never getting a hit in 10 plate appearances while drawing one walk. He is from Marrero, Louisiana.
Trudeaux said she also tested positive for COVID-19 and described the emotional toll of not being able to be with Garrison during his illness. On Wednesday, she shared the encouraging developments such as that his eyes were open — and Trudeaux was hopeful he would be off the ventilator.
“He is smiling,” she posted. “He is wiggling his toes. He is just doing great!”
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Yes, Charlie Montoyo was impressed with the early work of pitcher Nate Pearson this spring and how could he not have been? Read More
Blue Jays staying fit and finding ways to keep feeling of momentum — Toronto Sun

es, Charlie Montoyo was impressed with the early work of pitcher Nate Pearson this spring and how could he not have been?

Ditto for the emerging play of Travis Shaw at first base, the revamped plate approach of Randal Grichuk and the renewal of potential from young stars Bo Bichette, Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio.

But if there was one thing that stood out for the Blue Jays second-year manager in the abruptly ended Grapefruit League season was how the players were building as a team and thriving in a clubhouse with a notably different tenor than as recently as a year ago.

“We had great momentum going into season,” Montoyo said on Thursday during a conference call with Jays reporters. “The culture was great. The clubhouse was awesome and we don’t want to stop that.

“(There is) a lot of guys who want to lead. That’s great. The momentum that we had in spring training, how the team was talking to each other, it was pretty awesome. The personality was really starting to develop.”

From sport to sport, the benefits of such a culture can’t always be easily measured but if fostered from within a group with enough talent, can be a meaningful intangible.

To that end, even if the global COVID-19 pandemic has had other ideas, Montoyo said the Jays front office and coaching staff has been diligent about keeping that camaraderie alive and doing so by opening the lines of communication throughout the team.

Each coach on the big league staff has been designated responsibility for a group of players to touch base with regularly. Later this week, a Zoom conference has been arranged for the players to replace some of their usual hangout time from this part of the calendar through a virtual dugout.

“We’re staying in touch often,” Montoyo said. “Coaches, guys in the front office … our main goal is to make sure our players are safe and happy.

“Guys are talking to the players constantly. We’re doing the best that we can in this situation. We’re doing everything we can to make sure everyone is doing what it takes. Of course, no one knows how long this is going to last, so (preparations are) awkward.”

Like so many with the Jays, Montoyo is a baseball lifer who has lived the sport from his early days in Puerto Rico, to a long and colourful career coaching and managing in the minor leagues, to his big break with the Jays. So while family time at his home in Tuczon, Ariz., has no doubt been nice, not being around the sport has been a challenge.

Montoyo has heard the various proposals put forth for baseball’s return but didn’t want to venture into an opinion on them, even the one that suggested an entire season could be played further up his now home state in the Phoenix area.

“I love the fact that Major League Baseball and the union are coming up with ideas,” Montoyo said. “My focus is my work with the Blue Jays and making sure we are supporting our players. I don’t want to speculate on ideas because they are just ideas. It seems like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Waiting for the all clear for a return is dodgy business, of course, and the Jays have been doing what they can to ensure players get whatever help is available. Montoyo said that strength coach Scott Weberg has been in touch with players to consult and develop fitness programs.

“The main thing is making sure they have places to work out depending on rules of whatever state they are in,” Montoyo said. “Everybody is doing what it takes. Some guys might have an indoor cage, a park next to the house … everybody is doing something to try to stay in shape for whenever that time comes.”

Pitchers have been adapting in a variety of ways, Montoyo said. Jordan Romano and Thomas Pannone are living together which affords them the opportunity to play catch, for example. Chase Anderson found a catcher who lives near him in his off-season home, for another. Hyun-Jin Ryu, Ryan Borucki and Pearson are among those who have made appearances at the team’s Dunedin base.

For now, all the work is of the maintenance variety and will remain that way until a path to the future is formalized. And through all that, Montoyo is remaining as patient as can be.

“I’m not only the manager of the Blue Jays, I’m also a fan of baseball,” Montoyo said. “I’m just hoping we can play baseball some time this year.

“It will be awesome for everybody. That would mean things are better. That would be great.”

Today in Baseball History: The Detroit Tigers become the “Tigers” — HardballTalk | NBC Sports

You will never guess, in 100 tries, what their name was before it was “Tigers.”
Today in Baseball History: The Detroit Tigers become the “Tigers” — HardballTalk | NBC Sports

For starters, let’s note that the franchise that would become the Tigers was not the first major league team in Detroit. That distinction belongs to the Detroit Wolverines, who were a new member of the National League in 1881. They lasted eight seasons — winning the National League pennant in 1887 — but folded during one of the NL’s early rounds of contraction after the following season. Mostly because the owner spent too much money buying up stars he couldn’t afford. It happens.

The Tigers, like a number of the teams which would become charter members of the American League, began as a minor league club in the upstart Western League. There had been earlier iterations of the Western League before that, but this one — formed by Ban Johnson and Charles Comiskey in the winter of 1893-94 — began play in 1894. In fact, the Tigers are the only original Johnson/Comiskey Western League team that still plays where they were founded that year.

The others:

Comiskey’s own Sioux City Cornhuskers, who would become the St. Paul Saints in 1895 and then move to Chicago and become the White Stockings — and later the White Sox — in 1900;
The Milwaukee Brewers, who would move to St. Louis to become the Browns in 1902 and, of course, would move to Baltimore to become the Orioles in 1954;
The Grand Rapids Rustlers, who wandered to St. Joesph, Missouri, then to Omaha Nebraska, and then to Columbus, Ohio to become the Senators, before they moved north to become the Cleveland Blues in 1900, after which they would switch to the Cleveland Broncos by around 1902, exist as the Cleveland Naps from 1903 through 1914 and then, finally, the Cleveland Indians in 1915. Wouldn’t be shocked if they change names again in my lifetime;
The Kansas City Blues, who would move to Washington to become the Senators franchise in 1901 and then move on to Minnesota to become the Twins in 1961;
The Toledo White Stockings, who also moved to Columbus, where they were the Buckeyes, and then were dropped entirely when the Buffalo Bisons were formed in 1899. Those same Buffalo Bisons lated only two years before they were dropped and were replaced by the Boston Americans who are today’s Boston Red Sox in 1901; and
The Minneapolis Millers and Indianapolis Indians who each just ceased to exist in 1901 in favor of a club in Baltimore, who would later become the Yankees, and a club in Philadelphia, which would then, as now, be known as the Athletics, even if they’ve moved cities a couple of times themselves.

Got that? If not, try to keep up. Thanks.

Anyway, the Detroit team was not the Tigers in 1894. They were sometimes called the Wolverines, as a throwback to the defunct NL team but they were more commonly known in their first season as . . . the Creams. Unlike a lot of early teams, however, this name was not a function of the colors they wore. Rather, they were called this because team owner George Vanderbeck boasted the team would be the “cream of the league.” In this I like to think of them as nominal cousins of the Brooklyn Superbas. And it makes me wonder if there were ever teams called the “Spiffys” or the “Swells.” If not, there probably should’ve been.

The Creams would really only last a season, however, because on this date in 1895, after their victory over a local semipro team known as the Athletics, Detroit Free Press editor Philip Reid wrote the headline “Strouthers’ Tigers showed up very nicely.” Strouthers, by the way, was the team’s manager, Cornelius “Con” Strouthers, who in 1905, as manager of the Augusta Tourists of the Sally League, would sign a young player by the name of Ty Cobb and subsequently sell his contract to the Detroit Tigers for $750. That happened the same month Cobb’s mother murdered his father (she was acquitted) but that’s a whole ‘nother story. Maybe we’ll cover it in August if we still don’t have any real baseball.

Anyway.

Where did Reid come up with the name “Tigers?” On one level it was probably just a nod to their ferocious play. “Go get ’em, Tiger,” and all of that. But there was a somewhat deeper connection at play here, as “Tigers” was also the nickname for the Detroit Light Guard, a unit of Michigan’s Army National Guard, which had fought in the Civil War and would soon fight in the Spanish-American War and which still exists today as the United States Army’s 1225th Corps Support Battalion. There would’ve been a lot of local pride surrounding that unit at the time, and most historians believe that Reid was invoking them in his usage. The team would formally ask the Light Guard for official permission to use “Tigers” around 1900, when the Western League changed its name to the American League, though they had been using it informally for five years by then.

Later in 1895 Vanderbeck decided to build the team their own park, called Bennett Park, at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues in downtown Detroit. The Tigers would play their first game there on April 28, 1896, defeating the Columbus Senators. Bennett Park was built on the cheap, with the smallest seating capacity in the Western League when it became the American League. It also was kind of dangerous, as they simply laid the dirt and sod over preexisting cobblestones, which would sometimes protrude out over the dirt. Talk about a hard slide. In 1911 the Tigers would make a move to get better digs when they purchased some land adjacent to Bennett Park, demolished the stands, turned the field 90 degrees and constructed Navin Field for the 1912 season.

Like the team, it too would change named, later becoming Briggs Stadium and then, finally, Tiger Stadium, which the baseball club formerly known as the Creams would play through the 1999 season. It was a pretty good place.

Also today in baseball history:

1929: Indians’ rookie center fielder Earl Averill homers off of Tigers pitcher Earl Whitehill, becoming the first American League player to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat;

1929: In that same game, the Indians become the first team to wear numbers on the back of their jerseys on a permanent basis. The Yankees would also adopt numbers permanently in 1929, but their April 16th game was rained out, so they wouldn’t take the field in them until the following day;

1935: Babe Ruth makes his National league debut, playing for the Boston Braves and hitting a homer and a single off Giants’ legend Carl Hubbell;

1940: Bob Feller tosses an Opening Day no-hitter, beating Chicago at Comiskey Park, 1-0;

1946: Harry Truman becomes the first President to throw the ceremonial first pitch left-handed;

1948: WGN-TV in Chicago televises a baseball game for the first time. It’s an exhibition game, with the White Sox beating the Cubs 4-1. Jack Brickhouse does the play-by-play;

1983: Padres first baseman Steve Garvey, playing against his old team, the Dodgers, for the first time, appears in his 1,118th straight game, breaking the National League record for consecutive games played, previously held by Billy Williams of the Cubs. Garvey’s consecutive game streak will end at 1,207 due to a dislocated thumb. On this same date, five years later, the Padres will retire Garvey’s number;

1988: The Braves establish a National League record for losses at the start of a season by losing their tenth consecutive game. With a 7-4 defeat to the Dodgers. This streak marks the beginning of my favorite season as a baseball fan.

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Joe Kelly Accidentally Shatters Window While Training In Backyard — NESN.com

Joe Kelly’s latest wild pitch is going to cost him. With the 2020 Major League Baseball season currently on pause, players across the league are forced to take matters into their own hands to keep their skills sharp. But if a video from Kelly’s at-home workout Wednesday is any indication, one of his pitches isn’t…
Joe Kelly Accidentally Shatters Window While Training In Backyard — NESN.com

Joe Kelly’s latest wild pitch is going to cost him. With the 2020 Major League Baseball season currently on pause, players across the league are forced to take matters into their own hands to keep their skills sharp. But if a video from Kelly’s at-home workout Wednesday is any indication, one of his pitches isn’t exactly operating at the highest level. Kelly’s wife, Ashley, shared clips of the Los Angeles Dodgers fireballer going through his throwing routine in their backyard. Not only did one pitch get away from Kelly, it sailed right through a window and resulted in quite the mess. You can check out the video here. On the bright side, replacing the broken window can make for a project to help kill time while quarantined.