Mike Barnicle on Baseball

Join this Morning Joe conversation between Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle about Los Angeles Angels hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani, who has dominated this MLB season. “He’s more than just a phenomenon….He’s multitalented. And he plays for a manager in Joe Maddon, who’s an old school guy who loves baseball and has made the decision to allow Ohtani to both appear at the plate as a hitter when Ohtani is on the mound pitching. It’s a tremendous show. I’d pay to go see him,” says Barnicle. Learn more about Ohtani here.

Watch this Morning Joe conversation with Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle as Barnicle dissects the ongoing saga over Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred’s controversial decision to remove the 2021 All-Star Game from Georgia after the state created more restrictive voting laws, to the dismay of Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams who urged MLB to keep the All-Star Game in her state, which will reportedly lose an estimated $100 million in revenue from the move. “Baseball has always lagged behind the other professional sports, especially the National Basketball Association, in terms of addressing prominent, social and cultural issues, especially regarding race in this country, and this is an opportunity for (Manfred) to declare Major League Baseball on the right side of history, which he did, and he did it by himself,” says Barnicle. Hear more of the details here.

Watch this Morning Joe conversation between Mike Barnicle and sportscaster Jim Gray about his golfing experiences with Donald Trump who wanted “the moniker of the best” and his opinion on whether baseball great Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame. Gray’s new memoir, “Talking To GOATs: The Moments You Remember and the Stories You Never Heard” details his relationships with iconic sports figures Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, Michael Phelps and others.

Tune in for this Morning Joe conversation between Joe Scarborough and Mike Barnicle as they remember Tom Seaver, a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher and the hero of New York’s Miracle Mets, who has passed away at 75 years old from complications of Lewy body dementia and COVID-19. “Tom Seaver was an artist. To watch him perform on the mound with the New York Mets, especially Mr. Met, was an incredible experience. He was a legitimate Hall of Famer before they even voted him into the Hall of Fame,” says Barnicle. Hear more here.

“Oh, it couldn’t be more appropriate than to have Dr. Anthony Fauci on the mound, on the hill, for the Washington Nationals opener. It just couldn’t be more perfect,” says Morning Joe contributor Mike Barnicle during this conversation with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski about news that Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert amid the coronavirus pandemic, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the first game of Major League Baseball’s pandemic-delayed regular season.

Morning Joe’s Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle talk baseball and the viability of a 2020 MLB season amid the coronavirus pandemic, following MLB teams being forced to cancel practices after failing to receive COVID-19 testing results, players contracting the virus and more. “I think the season is jump ball right now,” says Barnicle. Join the conversation here.

The Morning Joe panel discusses the 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals’ trip to the White House to celebrate their victory with President Donald Trump and whether star pitcher Stephen Strasburg will rejoin the team after opting out of the final four years of his contract, three days after being chosen MVP of the World Series. Hear what Willie Geist, Claire McCaskill and Mike Barnicle predict Strasburg’s next move will be.

Listen in on this Morning Joe conversation with Mika Brzezinski, Willie Geist, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle as they review and discuss the Washington Nationals having defeated the Houston Astros in Game One of the 2019 World Series. Join the conversation here.

Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough, Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle discuss former New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera—the first man unanimously elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame—having received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony with President Donald Trump. “Mariano Rivera is one the nicest human beings that you’ll ever meet in your life, even though he’s an exalted and honored professional baseball player. Hall of Fame baseball player,” says Barnicle. Join the conversation here.

Listen in on the Morning Joe conversation with Joe Scarborough, Jonathan Lemire and Mike Barnicle about Red Sox legend David Ortiz’s surprise appearance at Fenway Park to throw out the first pitch of the final Red Sox-Yankees game of the season, marking Big Papi’s return to the historic ballpark after recovering for a gunshot wound that occurred during an attack in June in his native Dominican Republic and following the recent announcement that the Red Sox fired their president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “That was a great moment and it was nice to see him out there…back healthy, throwing the way he always throws,” said Barnicle. Listen to more of the discussion here.