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Buck Weaver

Posts Tagged 2010

MLB ballparks allowing iPads: The List

May 25

Posted by Tom Biro in Stadiums | 3 Comments

While the New York Yankees have received a bunch of attention for what they’re not allowing at the ballpark (think iPads, not runs, sadly), the same can’t be said across the board for the rest of Major League Baseball. On Tuesday, Bats Both reached out to the MLB franchises not mentioned in previous articles discussing whether or not the iPad was allowed inside their stadiums, and has compiled a list (in progress) of ballparks that fans are permitted to bring iPads into.

The only caveats that have been shared with Bats Both so far are that the devices are available to turn on and be inspected by security if asked, and that they are in bags or cases of the sizes currently permitted into stadiums.

We’ll continue to update the list as we receive additional responses. If anyone is aware of a team’s statement in media or elsewhere, please feel free to send it to tips (at) batsboth.com or leave it in the comments.


League Stadium Team iPads allowed? Source
AL Camden Yards Baltimore Orioles Yes Team
AL Fenway Park Boston Red Sox Yes CenterNetworks
AL U.S. Cellular Field Chicago White Sox Yes Team
AL Progressive Field Cleveland Indians Yes Team
AL Comerica Park Detroit Tigers Yes Team
AL Kauffman Stadium Kansas City Royals Yes Team
AL Angel Stadium Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Yes Team
AL Target Field Minnesota Twins Yes Team
AL Yankee Stadium New York Yankees No AP
AL Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Oakland Athletics Yes Team
AL Safeco Field Seattle Mariners Yes AP
AL Tropicana Field Tampa Bay Rays Yes Team
AL Rangers Ballpark in Arlington Texas Rangers
AL Rogers Centre Toronto Blue Jays Yes Team
NL Chase Field Arizona Diamondbacks Yes Team
NL Turner Field Atlanta Braves Yes Team
NL Wrigley Field Chicago Cubs Yes Team
NL Great American Ball Park Cincinnati Reds
NL Coors Field Colorado Rockies
NL Sun Life Stadium Florida Marlins Yes Team
NL Minute Maid Park Houston Astros
NL Dodger Stadium Los Angeles Dodgers
NL Miller Park Milwaukee Brewers Yes Team
NL Citi Field New York Mets Yes AP, appadvice
NL Citizens Bank Park Philadelphia Phillies
NL PNC Park Pittsburgh Pirates Yes Team
NL Busch Stadium St. Louis Cardinals Yes Team
NL PETCO Park San Diego Padres
NL AT&T Park San Francisco Giants Yes Team
NL Nationals Park Washington Nationals

[ed. note: Props to the hugely helpful Tableizer, which made this post a lot more easy to publish.]

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Around the Horn: Monday, 5/24/10

May 24

Posted by Tom Biro in Around the Horn, Awards, New York Yankees, News, R.I.P. | No Comments

Some links of interest from around the baseball world…

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Yankees confirm iPad security policy with AP

May 24

Posted by Tom Biro in New York Yankees | 3 Comments

iPad image courtesy of AppleOn Sunday evening, Mashable’s Christina Warren reported on a story recently making the rounds of IGN’s forums about iPads not being allowed inside Yankee Stadium due to the policy banning laptops from the ballpark. Currently, there is not an iPad or tablet device-specific policy on Yankees.com, only the one mentioning “laptop computers” as a prohibited item.

When reached earlier today, a New York Yankees spokesperson informed Bats Both that the team had no further comment, but that they had spoken with the Associated Press on Monday regarding this issue. Tonight, the AP published this story, which states that the team’s policy is due to “a security-and-safefy [sic] issue.” It also goes on to state that policies on iPads are a “team-by-team” decision, which surely makes it tricky to even consider bringing the device with you to a game without clarity from each and every team.

While ESPN’s iScore application might not have caught on with every iPad user just yet, it’s surely an attractive option for those fans who enjoy scoring the game – but it looks like the printed program or paper scorebook will live another day – at least at Yankee Stadium.

[update 5:48pm] Aside from the Mets, Angels, and Mariners being three teams the AP story states would allow iPads in their stadiums, CenterNetworks reported on May 20 that the Boston Red Sox also let fans bring them in.

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Mariners open interleague play with Padres blowout – 5/21/10

May 22

Posted by Tom Biro in Game recaps, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners | 4 Comments

On Friday night, the Seattle Mariners finally unloaded on someone, and the Padres were the unfortunate recipient of a 15-8 drubbing. DH Mike Sweeney put together a 4-5 night, including 2 home runs and six RBIs, and all but one starter (3B Jose Lopez) had at least one hit against the Padres, giving Cliff Lee his second win of the season (2-2) – even after he gave up all eight runs (seven earned).

A month and a half into a season filled with less-than-stellar pitching, a trip to the restricted list for OF Milton Bradley, a rough start to the season for Ken Griffey, Jr. and a few trips to the DL for some players, the Mariners seemingly deserved the last two days. Thursday’s afternoon tilt against the Jays ended with a walk-off single by Griffey, putting a halt to a five-game losing streak, a hit that MLB.com’s Jim Street noted as being well needed.

It was the 10th walk-off hit of Griffey’s Hall of Fame career. He left the building without commenting on the hit, but several of his teammates said the hit was something he and the entire team needed.

After having spent the better part of the last few spring weekends at this park, I could definitely see a little bit of deflation start to enter into the crowds’ attitude recently. But on a night when Cliff Lee appeared to be hitting the mark with his pitches only to be swatted around by some free-swinging Padres, however, “the wave” was still in full force, beach towel promo night items were being swirled about all over the stadium, and 3-2 counts got fans off their backsides, in the hope that the bottom frames of each innings would result in more offense – and the rewards kept on coming, for most of the game.

For the moment, all that matters is that fans walked out of Safeco in high spirits, transitioning their beach towels from over-the-head swinging position to over-the-shoulders to stay warm on a chilly May evening. Will Sweeney keep his recent power surge going? Will that single by Griffey open up his season a bit more? Who knows. What’s definitely apparent is that if a little bit of consistent pitching were to come about, the M’s certainly have enough bats still around to make the scoreboard light up.

The Seattle Times‘ Geoff Baker nailed it in his game story when talking about whether or not this would stick around, however.

One could forgive the 24,139 shivering fans at Safeco Field for being a little skeptical that what they witnessed was anything permanent. For thinking that this 15-hit blitzkrieg was more in the spirit of every dog having its day, or even the blindest of squirrels happening upon a jar full of Planters premium.

But for the optimists among them, there were other signs of hope besides Sweeney falling just one RBI shy of his career best.

For now, let’s see if the Mariners can take at least one more game this weekend and put a series win behind them.

5/22/10 Game Notes: Ian Snell (0-2) v. Clayton Richard (3-2)

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Mariners drop 8th in a row, 4-3, to Angels – 5/8/10

May 8

Posted by Tom Biro in Game recaps, Seattle Mariners | No Comments

On Saturday night, less than 24 hours after an 8-0 trashing at the hands of Jared Weaver and the Angels, the Mariners took the field at Safeco looking to end an seven-game skid with Doug Fister on the mound. From our seats in section 213, down near the right field foul pole, I was hoping that the streak had culminated the night before, in a game that included a three-homer-in-four-batter inning and 6 2/3 of no-hit ball by Weaver, before Ken Griffey, Jr. was able to bust a single to right – the first of the Mariners’ two hits for the evening. You’d think that would be bad enough, but you’d be wrong.

Eight games. Eight losses in a row.

Coming from the land of the Yankees, I’ve woken up to my share of morning news that hitting coaches have been fired, as Alan Cockrell was this morning, or that a player was cut or sent to the minors, as happened a week ago today when the Mariners let Eric Byrnes go, and sent three others down. But I can’t say that I’ve seen it happen this way in a span of a week.

When I’d first gotten our weekend season tickets, I’d heard a ton about how this team was “built for Safeco” – which clearly has its drawbacks – and I was certainly among the many excited about a pitching staff that contained Cliff Lee (pre-injury) and Felix Hernandez (pre-shellshocking). After about a month of the season, however, it was pretty clear that there was a bit of lacking in the power department, and the pitching wasn’t exactly stellar. Plus, Lee was on the shelf for a few weeks. Not fun.

Ichiro continues to be a bright spot for the team, as does Jack Wilson’s defense at short (pre-hamstring injury). Slow starts for Mike Sweeney, Ken Griffey, Jr. and others have sent fans to the exits on the regular, and it’s unclear as to what the next best steps are. No one’s going to be trading a whole team, and replacing four players on a Sunday should be enough of a roster shakeup to a group of 25, shouldn’t it? Maybe not.

On Saturday night, a lot of us who stuck around the stadium were excited about being “in the game” as the sun went down, especially as manager Don Wakamatsu brought closer David Aardsma into the game for his 12th appearance of the year. But with Mike Sweeney leaving the bases juiced in the bottom of the ninth and Aardsma giving up a hit to Hideki Matsui in the 10th, it was yet another “well, at least we were in this one” feeling as we headed out of the park. Let’s hope this doesn’t continue to be a trend – or the high hopes that the team and their fans had for 2010 join “Wall Street” and “the auto industry” as things we all thought were “too big to fail.”

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Around the Horn: Wednesday, 4/14/10

Apr 14

Posted by Tom Biro in Around the Horn, History, Uniforms | No Comments

Links of interest from around the baseball world on Wednesday, April 14, for your clicking-and-reading pleasure.

  • Our own Jerry Milani shares some news at Baseball Digest about Thursday being declared as “Jackie Robinson Day” across MLB, with all players wearing Robinson’s #42.
  • Yankee fans aren’t exactly ecstatic about Javier Vazquez being back in his old-time Yankees form, to say the least.
  • Bill Ivie points to the preseason predictions of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, who apparently have netted out on the Yankees and Phillies making it to the Fall Classic again this year.
  • The NYT’s Fred Bierman has the lowdown on those basketball-shoes-that-are-really-baseball-cleats (or something like that) that Yankees hurler CC Sabathia has been rocking.

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