There’s a lot here and it’s worth reading it in full. What captured my eye:

Alderson said some of the first steps would be restructuring Major League Baseball’s office in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital. He said the office’s director had been dismissed. He intends to develop measures to exercise more oversight of scouts and executives of major league teams doing business in the country and to expand educational programs informing players about the perils of performance-enhancing drugs.

Baseball plans to create its own youth baseball program in the country, Alderson said, and will consider fingerprinting prospects to keep track of them as they work their way through the system.

“People expressed to me here, they are proud of the place the Dominican Republic holds in professional baseball and proud of what they have produced,” Alderson said. “But there is also genuine embarrassment about those who use substances or turn out to be who they did not claim.”

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If you’re sick of this running diatribe, please feel free to skip this. It’s become my “cause celebre”, if you will. Yesterday, Joe Maddon had this to say about the broken bat that injured (thankfully only minor) David Price:

Afterward, Maddon said maple bats are becoming the “Claymore mines of baseball.” A Claymore mine, just for reference, is a directional antipersonnel mine used by the U.S. military in ambushes and against enemy infantry.

Price escaped with just an abrasion on his right palm near his thumb. Maddon vented about the use of maple bats after the game, saying the next time, or sometime after that, someone else won’t be as lucky.

“Some day somebody is going to get killed or impaled,” Maddon said. “David was fortunate today.”

Studies by baseball’s Safety and Health Advisory committee in 2008 concluded that maple bats are three times as likely to shatter as traditional ash bats. The study didn’t outlaw the bats, just made suggestions about how manufacturers should create the slope of the bat.

And the maple bats still keep shattering, although it’s not clear if they are shattering less or more.

“I don’t know if [the use of maple bats] is because of a shortage of wood or what,” Maddon said. “But it’s my opinion that maple should be banned at all levels.”

What’s it gonna take, Mr. Selig? A fan getting speared? A player? What’s the impetus for change? Death? If so, that’s pretty sad.

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I missed this yesterday due to a very busy day at work, but the picture is worth posting:

Within seconds, the section came out like a wisdom tooth extracted. The concrete portion of the roof tumbled forward, then down, followed by the risers where seats were once attached. The dust cloud dissipated quickly.

Sorry, I’ve gotten over the dismantling of the Stadium. It was a great place, full of history. However, we move on. Maybe because my college buddies bought me two bricks from Monument Park (framed with a DiMaggio and Maris retired number) as a birthday present, so I can reminisce that way.