Mike Barnicle on Baseball

“The [Cleveland] Cavaliers get their rings….The Cleveland Indians begin game one of the World Series. It’s great for Cleveland. It’s great to see these two mid-Western teams in it,” says Morning Joe veteran columnist Mike Barnicle in conversation with the show’s host Joe Scarborough about the Cavs celebrating their first-ever NBA championship and the Indians in their first World Series since 1948. Tune in to hear Barnicle’s prediction on which team will win the World Series – the Indians or the Chicago Cubs.

Following David Price’s pitching debut with the Boston Red Sox in a 6-2 win against the Cleveland Indians, Mike Barnicle makes light of Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski’s decision to contract the ace pitcher for $217 million. Watch Mike humorously recreate the decision, only on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, contributor Mike Barnicle shares his thoughts on the controversial Major League Baseball player Pete Rose, who was just inducted into the Cincinnati Reds’ Hall of Fame. “Pete Rose belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame,” states Mike. “Put on his plaque what happened and what he did to himself.” The all-time Major League leader in hits, Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 amidst accusations that he gambled on baseball games while playing and managing the Cincinnati Reds. Watch the conversation on Rose here and catch Mike’s comments on the Boston Red Sox’s Ted Williams.

Morning Joe’s Willie Geist and Mike Barnicle talk about the newest additions to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown — Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle Mariners) and Mike Piazza’s (New York Mets). Find out who else Barnicle believes should make the cut and who may never make it. Only on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

 

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Courtesy of The New York Governor’s Office

“His ambition for himself wasn’t great enough (he should have run!), but his ambition for America was as noble as a politician’s could be.”

Extract taken from Mike Barnicle’s “Mario Cuomo, Always Moving Us Toward the Light.”

Courtesy Sarah Glenn/Getty

“He is semi-fluent in Japanese. He is a gourmet cook, a ballroom dancer, inventor of the wrap sandwich, a consumer of Malcolm Gladwell’s books as well as sheet after sheet of sabermetrics; he has been fired by George W. Bush, worn a disguise in a dugout, colored his hair for TV, and never, not once, missed an opportunity to grab life with both hands each and every day.”

Extract taken from Mike Barnicle’s “Is Bobby Valentine really the guy to turn the Red Sox around?”

“…characters out of a kind of baseball version of Upstairs-Downstairs the old PBS series about class and expectation. One is Ivy League. The other is Summer League. One grew up dreaming of baseball. The other played it, raised in a house with a father who made a living at it in the major leagues…”

Excerpt taken from Mike Barnicle’s “Tito and Theo”

Courtesy Wikimedia

“…given the short national attention span, nobody cares what happened in the 20th century. Life and sports are about the moment.”

Extract taken from Mike Barnicle’s “Boston getting used to idea of beating New York following so much heartbreak.”

Courtesy Wikipedia

“…a funny thing happened. In between the marketing blitz, an actual baseball game took place.”

Extract from Mike Barnicle’s “Good game, bad ballpark”