Cup of Coffee: June 4, 2024

Good morning!

Another day of quick hits — including another gambling scandal, a wrinkle for All-Star Week, and a new number retirement announcement — after a fun but very long day on Cape Cod.

Settling the Scores 

Here are the scores. Discuss:

Phillies 3, Brewers 1
Mets 8, Nationals 7
Orioles 7, Blue Jays 2
Tigers 2, Rangers 1
Astros 7, Cardinals 4
Reds 13, Rockies 3
Angels 2, Padres 1
Diamondbacks 4, Giants 2

The Daily Briefing

Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano faces lifetime ban for gambling on baseball

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano is facing a potential lifetime ban for betting on baseball. Four other minor league players, yet to be identified, are facing potential discipline for gambling as well. Marcano’s alleged bets were flagged by a sports book and reported to MLB.

Per the WSJ, Major League Baseball received the information that Marcano wagered on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was with the team last season. Marcano was on the injured list due to a torn ACL at the time. The Pirates waived him after the season and he signed back with the Padres, the team for whom he made his big league debut in 2021. He has not played at all in 2024.

It’s been a hell of a few months for betting scandals. Shohei Ohtani's interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, will soon plead guilty to federal felony charges after admitting he stole money from Ohtani to pay off gambling debts. The NBA banned Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter for life for disclosing confidential information to bettors, taking himself out of at least one game in which he or others linked to him had prop bets on his counting stats, and for betting on NBA games while he playing in the G League. Major League Baseball is investigating Atlanta’s David Fletcher for his connection to the illegal bookie from the Mizuhara case.

The new normal.

Tigers to retire Jim Leyland’s number

Jim Leyland is going to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in late July. Yesterday the Detroit Tigers announced that they plan to retire his number 10 in early August.

Leyland, who came up through the minors as a coach and manager in the Detroit system, managed the Tigers from 2006 through 2013. In that time he went 700-597, winning two AL pennants, and three division titles.

The ceremony will take place at Comerica Park on August 3.

MLB adds a Futures Skills Competition to All-Star week

Major League Baseball announced yesterday that it plans to stage a skills showcase featuring players from the Futures Game. It'll take place at the conclusion of the Futures Game on July 13 and, per the league’s press release, will feature three events:

Round 1: "Hit it Here": Hitters will aim to hit infield and outfield targets in order to earn points corresponding with each target's value. Four obstacles (representing traditional infield positions) will be placed on the infield dirt, and hitters will earn points for hitting outfield targets on the fly or on a bounce. Similar to the KBO Bunt King competition, hitters may also earn points by bunting the ball onto bullseye-style targets and earning points corresponding to where the ball rests.

Round 2: "Call Your Shot": Hitters will have a number of swings to showcase their control. To start, they will announce to which field (Left, Right, or Center) they will try to hit the ball. If successful, they then will choose to hit to one of the two remaining fields, and once successful will have to hit the last field. After all fields are cleared, hitters will continue to "call their shot" to any field with their remaining swings. All hits must hit the outfield grass (clear the infield) to count.

Round 3: "Swing for the Fences": Hitters will showcase their all-field power and attempt to hit home runs. Batters will earn bonuses for homers hit to the batter's opposite field, and will have the opportunity to earn additional bonus points for streaks of home runs hit on consecutive swings.

People have talked about doing such a thing with big league All-Stars for some time, but there has never been any momentum for it. This is obviously short of that, but if it proves to be engaging, maybe it’ll inspire the league and the big league players to do something similar, albeit without a “Swing for the Fences” thing, which is already covered by the existing Home Run Derby.

Of course, now that I say that I realize that it can be hard enough to get big leaguers to participate in the Derby or even the All-Star Game itself, so I suppose getting a full field of players wanting to do a skills thing is a pipe dream. But hey, pipe dreams are dreams too!

Texas Rangers say F.U. to Pride

The Texas Rangers have been criticized over the years for being the only team in Major League Baseball to not host a Pride Night. Now it seems they’ve switched from actively ignoring their gay fans to being openly hostile to them.

I say that because The Athletic’s Levi Weaver noticed something: the Rangers changed their website banner once May turned into June, which is Pride Month. On May 29, the banner said “Run it Back.“ As of June 1, it says
“Straight Up Texas”:

The “Straight up Texas” slogan is not itself new. That was a hashtag and slogan associated with last year’s World Series run which the club has deployed at times earlier this season. As Weaver notes, however, it was not on there before Pride Month began and switching back to the “straight” slogan when it did is both a choice and a look. As Weaver likewise notes, the Rangers — and a lot of people who angrily replied to his observation, and hoo boy there were a lot of them — might argue that it’s a coincidence that the banner reverted to a “straight” message right when the country begins to celebrate and commemorate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride, but the Rangers haven’t exactly earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to this stuff.

Ultimately, actions speak louder than words, and the Rangers’ refusal to even make a superficial effort to acknowledge the existence of their gay fanbase while dedicating numerous days on the baseball calendar to celebrating all manner of ethnic, cultural, professional, religious, military, and academic cultures, subcultures, and affinity groups is pretty goddamn sad. Refusing to do so while taking what many may consider to be a veiled jab at them is another thing altogether.

Other Stuff

My friend Rebecca, her husband Toby and I had a fun day yesterday. We drove from Sharon out to Cape Cod, made a lunch stop in Chatham, made a quick pop-in visit with one of Rebecca’s aunts — that family is really gonna be wondering who the hell I am pretty soon — and then headed up toward Provincetown. Just prior to P-Town proper we stopped to hike the Provincetown Dune Shack Trail in the Cape Cod National Seashore.

The Dune Shack Trail gets its name from (a) sand dunes; and (b) shacks. The former is self-explanatory: the roughly 2.3 mile out-and-back trail goes up steep sand dunes, down deep sand bowls and past wild cranberry bogs until its crests a final dune and meets up with the Atlantic. The “Shack” part is less self-explanatory, but between Rebecca, Toby, the actual hike, and the Internet, I learned about them yesterday.

Along the dunes, overlooking the ocean, are a dozen or two actual wooden shacks that date back to the 19th century. Back then, before the construction of the Cape Cod Canal, ships traveling from New York to Boston or points north and vice-versa would often sink in the treacherous waters of outer Cape Cod. The dune shacks were built to house members of the US Lifesaving Service and to serve as shelter for stranded sailors. After the completion of the Canal, ships generally bypassed this bit of coast, making the shacks obsolete as lifesaving stations.

In the 1920’s the shacks were purchased and rebuilt by artists and writers who were coming to the artist’s colony that was developing in Provincetown. Some of the creatives who worked in these shacks included Jack Kerouac, e.e. cummings, Norman Mailer, and Jackson Pollock. Since the creation of the Cape Cod National Seashore in the early 60s the land and the shacks has been owned by the federal government. The shacks are still available for rent to artists, however. There’s an application process for them and artists can stay and work in them for a few weeks at a time. They have no running water or electricity beyond small solar-powered batteries for basic lighting. They do have small gas refrigerators and a wood stove, but between the need to use an outhouse and the lack of Internet, sorry Boss, I ain’t applying. But the dunes are pretty, the hike was enjoyable, and any day looking out over the ocean for a while is a good day.

Here are some photos, both from the hike and from our late afternoon/evening in Provincetown afterward, which involved some people watching and some dinner overlooking the harbor.

By the time I saw this dude I was in such a good mood after such a fun day that I didn’t even despair for humanity at the sight of him. I waited until a couple of hours later when we got back to Sharon.

Have a great day everyone.

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