Category: Barnicle on Baseball

The Morning Joe panel discusses the Toronto Blue Jays’ performance this MLB postseason as the team reached the World Series for the first time in over 30 years. “They played extraordinary baseball. It’s a simple game when you think about it, and they had two or three guys in the lineup—totally unknowns. You’ve never heard of them before you saw the World Series and them playing; but they played every day. They played hard, but the key is they put the ball in play,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle about the Blue Jays.

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Mike Brzezinski, Mike Barnicle and Carolyn Ryan as they reflect on an epic piece of sports journalism by the legendary Boston Globe staffer Peter Gammons, who wrote on deadline after the 12-inning battle between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds in Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. “Gammons just put his head down, wrote like a demon. You could have shot a gun next to him, and it wouldn’t have interrupted what he was doing…It’s a piece of literature…and it’s not the first time Peter did it. But he wrote that under immense pressure, obviously. I am like two chairs away from Peter in the press box, and I’m twiddling my thumbs trying to figure out how to write about Pete Rose the next day,” says Barnicle about his experience watching Gammons work. You can read the article here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/1975/10/22/carlton-fisk-home-run-beats-reds/BlpIMG4g0xLVwVsUarZBNI/story.html

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle as they discuss the Major League Baseball playoffs after the Seattle Mariners defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the American League Division Series, taking a 2-1 series lead. “The Lou Piniella era, I mean, he could have been in the World Series three separate years—they missed. They had Alex Rodriguez, then they had Ichiro; they missed. This team here, might be, it might be Seattle-Milwaukee,” says Barnicle about the potential of the Mariners finally breaking through these playoffs and making the franchise’s first ever World Series appearance.

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle as they discuss the latest in Major League Baseball, including why fewer teams are now winning one hundred games in one season and what Lemire called an “epidemic” of pitching injuries in Major League Baseball. “What’s happened to pitchers in Major League Baseball over the course of the last six or seven years is really extraordinary. More pitchers are going out now for surgery at younger and younger ages, and they can’t figure out why,” says Barnicle.

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire, Jason Crow and Mike Barnicle as they discuss the Trump Administration’s efforts to erase diversity, equity and inclusion from the federal government, following a report that an article about baseball great Jackie Robinson’s military career in the Army has been removed from the Department of Defense’s website. “Jackie Robinson, that’s only one of many. There is an African American recipient of the Medal of Honor who has been removed from the records in the Pentagon, a recipient of the Medal of Honor. That’s not DEI. That’s courage under fire. That’s what it is,” says Barnicle about the Department of Defense removing acknowledgements of Black history under Trump’s DEI removal policy.

“I’m not a native New Yorker. You know, I’m here three or four days a week each week. I am stunned at the electricity on the sidewalks and in the stores about the Mets, and about baseball in general, but specifically about the Mets. Last night, we were on a text chain, four or five other people during the game texting back and forth. The bases are loaded, and one of the text members, just a one-line text: ‘I feel a grand slam from Lindor.’ And boom. I mean, that’s the Mets’ season, and Francisco Lindor is symbolic of the Mets, I think. He’s a calming presence when you hear him interviewed, he’s a calming presence at the plate, and you just have a confidence and a joy in what he brings to the game each and every day,” says veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire about the New York Mets having reached the National League Championship Series with a 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies due to Francisco Lindor hitting a grand slam in the sixth inning during the 2024 Major League Baseball playoffs.

“I think he belongs in the Hall of Fame, but I think everything that he did, both positive and negative, ought to be put on the plaque. I mean, there are a few other people in the Hall of Fame, few other players who were not models of civilization or civility. Just recognize who Pete Rose was: he played 25 years, 25 years in the major leagues. He averaged 194 hits per season. He was a bad guy off the field. Let’s get that on the record; but he was a spectacular player, a spectacular player. And yeah, put him in the Hall of Fame, but put it on the plaque,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle during this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist and Jonathan Lemire as they remember Pete Rose, Major League Baseball’s hit king who then became an outcast for gambling on the game. Rose died at 83 years old, leaving behind a tainted legacy in baseball history.

Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire, Pablo Torre and Mike Barnicle about the gambling and theft allegations surrounding Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter and close friend of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, after at least $4.5 million in wire transfers were reportedly sent from Ohtani’s bank account to a Southern California bookmaking operation that is under federal investigation. “Major League Baseball and every baseball fan should really be praying that the greatest star that has appeared in the Major League Baseball stage maybe since Babe Ruth, Ohtani, did not bet on any games. That’s the hope here,” says Barnicle. Join the conversation here.

Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle talk about the Texas Rangers mashing their way to the World Series in Houston, soundly defeating the Houston Astros 11-4 after piling on eight runs in the first four innings. “Yesterday was a key example of (manager Bruce) Bochy’s importance to the Rangers, Jonathan. In that he goes out and he hooks Max Scherzer off that mound in the third inning. And Scherzer, you could tell, was disturbed about being taken out; but you’re not going to fool with Bruce Bochy,” says Barnicle about the three-time World Series-winning manager who came out of retirement to manage the Rangers.

MLB Open Day 2023 has arrived! ICYMI: Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist, Theo Epstein and Mike Barnicle as they preview another season of Major League Baseball and the new rules changes. “It’s the start of the year. We have New Year’s Day, but Opening Day is the real start of the year….It’s wonderful being at the park, and I’ve looked forward to it for far too long—every year, and every year, every year, I say, this is the year,” says Barnicle as he roots for his beloved Boston Red Sox once again.