Author: Mike Barnicle

While the Morning Joe panel talks about the slow start to the baseball season for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, veteran columnist Mike Barnicle praises the Tampa Bay Ray’s early season success as the team sits atop of the American League East Division. “Nobody goes to see Tampa Bay. The fans stay away in droves, and they are a model for what Major League Baseball teams ought to do. They have a really good team. They have a really good manager. They operate on a very lean budget, and still they’re right there: They’re competitive. They play well. Great team.” Listen to more of the baseball discussion here.

“Baseball is part of us. You know, it’s like our faith. You’re born with it, and you live with it, and it’s every day. It’s a constant. The days get longer, the weather gets warmer. It’s a relief from the everyday stress of things that we talk about each and every day, and it is back—finally—today,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle as he and Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough rejoice over the start of the 2019 Major League Baseball season. Listen to more of the discussion here about how baseball unites generations and provides a respite from “what’s happening in Washington, D.C.”

Listen in on the Morning Joe discussion about the record-breaking $426.5-million contract extension signed by Major League Baseball superstar Mike Trout with the Los Angeles Angels. “Certainly, (he’s) the greatest ballplayer since Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle in the early 1950s—there’s no doubt about that. He is a generational player, a generational talent, and if he had waited to go into free agency in another year or year and a half—the bidding would’ve started at around $600 million. The Yankees would’ve been all over him,” explains veteran columnist Mike Barnicle.

“Joe, I’m going out and buying a new catcher’s mitt today in anticipation of tomorrow. That’s what tomorrow is all about,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle to Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough as the two of them share their excitement for the start of the new Major League Baseball season as Boston Red Sox pitchers and catchers report to spring training. Listen to more here.

“Congratulations to Mariano Rivera, a wonderful human being, as well as a great pitcher, who single handedly gave up the greatest hit in the history of the Boston Red Sox—Bill Miller’s single in the ninth inning to drive in a run to tie the game in the 2004 American League Championship Series. The Red Sox went on to beat the Yankees,” teasingly says die-hard Boston Red Sox fan Mike Barnicle as Willie Geist and the Morning Joe team commends New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera on being the first unanimous choice for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Listen to a little more of the baseball discussion here.