Ohtani deal in Dutch media

In the final days I kinda suspected the deal would not happen. Then people started to follow a flight to Toronto which had Ohtani on board... but it turned out to be fake news and shortly after, the big news broke: Ohtani moves from Anaheim to Los Angeles! Ten years, $700 million. $2 a year for the first ten years, then $68 a year for ten more years. Now, that's a smart deal!

Internet exploded but what about media in my country? Well, news travels fast and although baseball isn't very big in the Netherlands this bomb was too big to ignore. The NOS posted on its website 'Dodgers tempt superstar Ohtani with record salary' and NU.nl: 'Ohtani trumps Messi'. Multiple newspapers had extensive articles about it as well. Parts of some of the articles shown below.

Retired Bracelet

I’d always been looking for a way to have my Boys in Blue with me at all times. I’ve thought about a tattoo, but somehow that didn’t really do it for me.

So, some years back I found this online jewelery shop that sells bracelets with engravable beads. I was sold and had the names of the players that had their jersey number retired engraved and I still wear the bracelet with pride.

Ten beads, ten names. It’s been in Dodgers history for years and years: 10 retired numbers, 6 World Series titles. Those numbers were fixed for so long.
Then came 2020 and ‘we’ won a 7th championship. That fact had to settle into my brain for quite some time.

Then, after years of hoping, and to be honest: years of expecting, the Classic Baseball Committee in 2022 was wise enough to, finally, induct Gil Hodges into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Dodgers organization responded swiftly by retiring number 14 soon after.

Before I could get used to 11 retired numbers, the Dodgers decided to retire number Fernando’s #34! This will happen in August 2023.

Now, I have 12 name beads on my bracelet and we all know there will be al least one more in the near future, the moment he is eligible for the Hall of Fame: #22.

Book review: A Damn Near Perfect Game

A Damn Near Perfect Game : Reclaiming America’s Pastime written by Joe Kelly with Rob Bradford sounded, to me, like a book about how Joe himself would make baseball more entertaining. I could not have been more wrong.

It is a personal book in which Joe tells the reader intimate details about his struggle as a kid with an abusive father and how the man influenced him and the way he plays the game.

It’s honest, often funny and well written with the help of Rob Bradford.

Joe is also honest about his view of the game as it is played nowadays. I was surprised by some of his opinions about altering the game, coming from a pitcher. It’s good, though, to read these kind of statements from the guy on the mount.

While Joe kelly isn’t a Dodger anymore, (july 2023 update: he's back!),there is enough stuff in the book about his time with the Boys in Blue. I always enjoyed his antics and by the looks of it, so did his teammates.

All in all a good read and I know you mustn’t judge a book by its cover, but this cover is awesome!