In Boston, Conor Ryan noted the Red Sox yesterday announced that the 20th anniversary of their 2004 World Series championship "will be honored" as part of their home opener pregame ceremonies. The team noted that all members of the championship team "will be invited to the ceremony" which also will include a "special tribute honoring the life, legacy, and impact" of late MLBer Tim Wakefield and his late wife, Stacy. Wakefield’s number 49 will be featured on a "commemorative patch placed on the jersey sleeve" of the team throughout this upcoming season (BOSTON.com, 3/18). In Boston, Gabrielle Starr writes under the header, "Invite or no, Schilling should stay away on Wakefield’s day" (BOSTON HERALD, 3/19).
OPEN DISCUSSIONS: In Baltimore, Hayes Gardner wrote the Maryland Stadium Authority board tomorrow will, "for the first time, formally discuss" the transfer in Orioles ownership to a group led by David Rubenstein. The meeting is a "special one" as the board "typically meets at the beginning of each month." Authority Chair Craig Thompson, who first met with Rubenstein earlier this month, "described the discussion as an 'administrative' matter that MLB requires." The Orioles signed a lease with the stadium authority, which owns Oriole Park at Camden Yards, in December that guarantees the team will "remain in Baltimore for at least 15 years and unlocks" about $400M in "state-funded improvements to the ballpark." That lease "remains the same, no matter who owns the team" (BALTIMORE SUN, 3/18).
ISSUES WITH OPTICS: In S.F., Ann Killion wrote the Giants yesterday announced that they are "mutually parting ways" with longtime, "immensely popular" PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon after being "unable to come to an agreement on a contract." But friends of Brooks-Moon said that she is "being forced out" of the job after she has held for 24 seasons. Killion wrote Books-Moon's departure is "a shock." As an unofficial ambassador for the team, she has "been a San Francisco fixture" and is associated with the Giants "perhaps more than any other public figure save Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper." The team "once polished its public image to a luminous gloss," but these days the Giants "seem to be an organization that doesn’t care about optics." An organization that "definitely could use more diversity" is announcing it was "unable to find a way to keep its most visible non-playing Black employee" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 3/18).
