LA managers Roberts, Washington help voice new Hall exhibit

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington were thrilled to be invited by the Hall of Fame to be the voices on their new exhibit, “The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball.”

“I think it’s going to be phenomenal for people to hear and see this interactive exhibit,” Roberts said. “They asked me things like what it was like being be a Black player, what was the experience of being a Black manager, how the game has changed, and how we can have more people of color playing baseball.

“I wish I could have seen and met some of the Negro League players. I would have loved to have a glass of wine and talk to Satchel Paige. He had so much fun, and was so dominant for so long. A crazy competitor.”

The exhibit opens on May 25 when Cooperstown hosts the Hall of Fame East-West Classic: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is make sure that we go back to the beginning of when Black people started playing baseball all the way through modern times,” Hall President Josh Rawitch said. “These two guys, what they’ve accomplished both as players and managers, what they’ve seen and what they’ve experienced, we think are really important voices in the exhibit.”

The Hall of Fame also will have Hall of Famers Lee Smith, Andre Dawson and Dave Winfield as part of the exhibit.

“It’s important that we also find a way to take this whole project outside of Cooperstown and share it virtually with schools across the country,” Rawitch said. “We’re excited about this.”

Concern over more pitch clock changes

Union chief Tony Clark says he’s still concerned that shaving two seconds off the pitch clock this season with runners on base, from 20 seconds to 18, could lead to pitching injuries.

“When fatigue happens, you’re more susceptible to injury,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of injuries, and we’re seeing them in a way that simply can’t remove the question of whether or not shortening recovery time is in anyone’s best interest.”

Clark believes MLB should have kept the rules in place from 2023. The average time of game was cut by 24 minutes to 2:40, the quickest games since 1984.

“That’s a conversation that should have warranted a much longer dialogue than what we had,” Clark says. “We voiced those concerns, players voiced those concerns, and yet, the push through of the change to the pitch clock still happened. …

“We just had the biggest adjustment this league has seen in regards to length of game and how the game was affected by including a clock. Rather than give us another year to adjust and adapt to it, why are we adjusting again, and what are the ramifications going to be?”