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Ryan's mother, Diane, is a marathoner and once ran in the Miller Park sausage race. Diane also is a brewer . . . seriously. She makes beer for Anheuser-Busch in Van Nuys, California.
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Ryan's Dad, Joe Braun, coached both his sons every year they were able to play Little League together. Steve Braun, who was an infielder at the University of Maryland, retired prematurely in 2010 due to vision problems. The two boys also loved soccer, and Joe Braun believes his sons were better soccer players than baseball players by the time they get to high school.
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In 2002, Braun graduated from Granada Hills High School in California, where he broke the school's career home run record with 25. He was a two-time all-area selection by the Los Angeles Times and a three-time choice by the Los Angeles Daily News. As a senior, he hit .451-8-29 and also stole 18 bases.
Braun wasn't drafted out of high school even though he was such a highly touted prospect. He told teams he was way out of their price range because he definitely wanted to go to college. He chose Miami for its social scene, its academics, its athletics and because, "I think the girls were the deal closer on the recruiting trip."
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Ryan was a star soccer player as a freshman in high school.
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Ryan went on to the University of Miami as a business major. He was on a partial academic scholarship, so he is an intelligent guy. In 2003, his freshman year, he hit .364 and broke Pat Burrell's school freshman RBI record (64). In 2004, as a sophomore, he missed 18 game with a strained rib cage that hindered his hitting, but still managed a .335 average with 10 home runs and 45 RBI in 45 games.
- Braun worked through the transition from shortstop to third base with A-Rod, the Miami resident and the New York Yankee who made the same move prior to the 2003 season. He had a number of conversations with the superstar, who uses the University of Miami facilities during the offseason.
"He's been able to give me some helpful hints and pointers to help me out," said Braun, on everything to adjusting to new angles to fielding bunts.
"He basically told me everything he went through, and it was a difficult transition for him, too," Braun said. "He understood what I was going through. That's been able to help me."
JEWISH BACKGROUND
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Ryan is believed to be the highest-drafted Jewish player since Ron Blomberg was taken first overall in 1967.
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Braun has connections with two other Jewish baseball icons: Sandy Koufax was born Sanford Braun, but took his stepfather's name when his Mom remarried. And Braun's grandfather has lived for 40 years in a home once owned by Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg.
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Braun has a Jewish father and is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor.
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During the offseason before 2006 spring training, Baseball America rated Ryan as the third best prospect in the Brewers organization. And they moved him up to #2 in the Milwaukee farm system in the spring of 2007.
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Braun worked hard in the offseason before 2006 spring camp opened to improve his balance at the plate by taking yoga classes with Mike Lieberthal.
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Ryan is driven. On his way up, he wanted to be a star in the Majors yesterday. So he had to work at toning it down.
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In 2007 spring training, Braun's bat was impressive. In 11 exhibition games with the Brewers, he hit .353/.405/.912 with five homers and 15 RBIs in 34 at-bats. But Ryan also committed throwing errors in each of the two games before he was cut, running his camp total to four.
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In May 2007, when Ryan was promoted to the Majors, Brewers manager Ned Yost put him right into the #3 spot in the batting order. Yost had seen Braves manager Bobby Cox do the same with Chipper Jones for his big league debut. Yost affirmed that part of what makes Braun so good is his attitude.
"Cockiness is all right," Yost said. "I would much rather tone down a player's confidence than try to build it up. It's really hard to build up a player's confidence and cockiness, his swagger. Braun has it."
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In 2007, Braun was named the NL Rookie of the Year in a very close vote, winning over Colorado SS Troy Tulowitzki by two points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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The spotlight seems to work well for Braun. "For me, I grew up in Los Angeles, I went to college at Miami, I've always been really comfortable in the spotlight," he said. "It's something that I definitely enjoy. This right here, it doesn't get any better than this, it doesn't get any bigger than this, it's pretty cool."
Braun is candid, witty, self-confident to the point of being brash but not obnoxious. These are traits that can work if the individual in question can play, which he obviously can.
This All-Star experience for Braun, who is well-versed in baseball history, is unique and easily appreciated.
"I appreciate the support that everybody has given me," Braun said. "It's unbelievable. The Milwaukee fans really got out there and voted. They're crazy for baseball right now." (Mike Bauman/MLB.com)
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On June 12, 2009, Braun launched his new bat line "RB8" in conjunction with SAM BAT, the Original Maple Bat Corp., based out of Ontario, Canada. The "RB8" line will be affiliated with Good Sports and its "10,000 Swings" campaign, a non-profit organization that distributes sports equipment, footwear and apparel to disadvantaged youths. For every home run Braun hits this season, Sam Bats will donate 10 bats to that organization.
"I love being a baseball player. I'm living my dream every day. But at the same time I don't ever want to be defined just by baseball. I have a lot of ambitions to succeed with all of my business ventures and other parts of my life," Braun said.
He started a clothing line for men and women: Remetee, a "California Couture." It is stylish T-shirts.
"I only get involved in things I believe in, companies that I think have the same ambition, same drive that I have," Ryan said. "I wouldn't get myself in something and put my name and reputation on the line unless I really believed in it and unless I was involved."
Braun endorses CytoSport nutritional beverages, including Muscle Milk, a legitimate means for athletes to get an edge. He also decided to try his hand at the restaurant business. (Tom Haudricourt-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-March 2010)
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In 2010, Braun opened two restaurants in Wisconsin, Ryan Braun's Waterfront in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward and Ryan Braun's Tavern & Grill in Lake Geneva. In late 2010, Braun's Milwaukee location closed for remodeling and re-opened in April 2011 as Ryan Braun's Graffito, an Italian restaurant.
In July 2012, Braun teamed up with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to open a restaurant, 8-Twelve, in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
The restaurants dropped Braun when he was suspended for using steroids.
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In 2011, Braun won the N.L. MVP after helping lead the Brewers to the their first division title in nearly 30 years. He received 20 of 32 first-place votes and 388 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Los Angeles center fielder Matt Kemp, who came close to winning the Triple Crown, received 10 first-place votes and finished with 332 points. Braun's teammate Prince Fielder was third with 229 points.
STEROIDS
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February 23, 2012: Braun was cleared, winning his appeal of a positive drug test and 50-game suspension because "the truth is on my side."
"Today is for everybody who has ever been wrongly accused," he said at a news conference at the Brewers' training facility in Maryvale, Arizona. "The simple truth is that I'm innocent," the outfielder said, with his teammates sitting in the stands in uniform behind him. "The truth is always relevant and the truth prevailed."
Braun tested positive on October 3 for elevated testosterone, and ESPN's "Outside The Lines" revealed the positive test in December. His case marks the first time a baseball player has successfully challenged a drug-related penalty in a grievance.
Ryan's test was over three times higher than any testosterone test, ever. That raised questions. He had been tested three other times in 2012.
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After declaring his innocence for a year and a half, Braun came clean July 22, 2013 and accepted a suspension through the remainder of 2013 for violations of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
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March 2013: Braun played for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
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2013: Braun and Canadian model Larisa Fraser, were engaged to be married.
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July 11, 2013: Ryan was placed on the bereavement list due to a family medical issue.
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December 7, 2013: Ryan was married to model Larisa Fraser.
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Ryan and his wife, Larisa, welcomed the couple's first child, a daughter, Celine Elysse, on September 3, 2014.
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September 5, 2014: Braun returned to work after spending the previous two days with wife Larisa and their newborn daughter.
"When I get here, my full focus is on the team and doing everything I can to contribute and help us win as many games as possible," Braun said. "When I'm at home, I'm figuring out how to be a father. It's certainly new to me."
The baseball schedule allowed dad to arrive in plenty of time to see the birth of the couple's first child. The Brewers were in Chicago when he got word he was needed back in Milwaukee, so Braun hustled home and missed games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and the Cardinals at Miller Park.
"I was hoping I would be able to make it back, but it just didn't work out. Timing," Braun said. "Everything is OK. It was just a long labor." He was thankful to be present.
"It's special, you know?" Braun said. "It's indescribably beautiful, a life experience unlike anything I've experienced before. Really special. It's incredible. Everybody is healthy and happy, and that's all I can ask for." (Adam McCalvy - MLB.com - 9/6/2014)
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In August 2014, Braun and his wife, Larisa, helped Brewers Community Foundation unveil a "Growing Power" mosaic mural which is on display on the loge level Miller Park for the rest of this season. The mural will travel to schools throughout Wisconsin during the 2015-2016 school year as part of a program that teaches kids about healthy eating.
Braun also has made $25,000 donations to ARCW in support of families affected by AIDS, and in 2014 gave $25,000 in partnership with Brewers Community Foundation to support Make-A-Wish's 30th anniversary. Continuing a tradition he has upheld since 2007, Braun funded 15 scholarships in 2014 worth $1,000 apiece for students from the Greater Milwaukee area whose families face financial barriers to affording college. (McCalvy - mlb.com - 9/16/2014)
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Ryan and wife Larisa had their second child, a son named Greyson Joseph. (9/20/2016)
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March 10, 2017: Braun finished the day with a strikeout and a walk. Jim Gallagher had two skinned knees and a keepsake.
Braun played his first Cactus League game and provided only one highlight courtesy of Gallagher, an Army veteran from nearby Goodyear, Ariz., who attended the game with his son. Wearing a Carl Yastrzemski Red Sox jersey—No. 8, just like Braun—Gallagher half-tumbled, half-dove over the railing along the third-base line to retrieve Braun's bat after it slipped away and sailed through the air. Gallagher quickly turned the bat over to Brewers third-base coach Ed Sedar, but Braun waved and signaled Sedar to give it back.
"That was an incredible effort," Braun said. "If ever somebody deserved a bat that almost went into the stands ... he earned that bat."
Within minutes, another fan offered to buy the bat, but Gallagher declined before the man could mention a price. He gave it to his son, Joe, a straight-A student at Phoenix North High School and a White Sox fan. It was a rare occurrence. Braun's bats are slathered in pine tar, and he remembers only one or two other instances of one slipping from his hands and helicoptering into the stands.
"I saw the bat coming at us and I thought, 'I'm going to reach for it and try to grab it,'" Gallagher said. "It was too far out, so I kind of dove. I acted like I was falling over the side. It was intentional, yeah. Look, my footprints are way out there." He added with a laugh: "My son was kind of embarrassed."
They decided the bat will hang on Joe's bedroom wall.
"Tell him thank you," Jim Gallagher said. "Tell him we are now going to follow the Milwaukee Brewers." (A McCalvy - MLB.com - March 10, 2017)
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It was Braun being Braun, at least when it comes to Spring Training. "My favorite Spring Training at-bat is a first-pitch lineout to center," Braun said. "Or even better, a first-pitch line-drive double-play. Because we're all in the business of saving time. We don't get paid by the hour. I'm serious. I'm not kidding." (McCalvy - mlb.com - 3/16/2017)
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Oct 19, 2017: If the Brewers try to move Braun to another team before the end of his contract, it's "in all likelihood" Dodgers or bust, he suggested in a radio interview. But if they someday decide to move him to a new position, the options are not as limited.
"As long as they don't want to put me back at third, I'm in," Braun told Greg Matzek of WTMJ-AM, the flagship of the Brewers Radio Network. "I was never a big fan of third. I was really good at short, though. I always tell [manager Craig Counsell] that I can play shortstop, and I still actually really believe that.
"If they want me to play first, if it's something that's going to help our team at any point, whether it's just for a few of games depending on what our personnel may be, I'm not opposed to it by any means. If they approach me with that, I'm open to it." For now, Braun is anchored in left field on a contract that guarantees $57 million through 2020.
"Frankly, in Spring Training, there were some more discussions with the Dodgers, which is in all likelihood the only team I would approve a trade to at any point," Braun said, "and then once the season started, there were never any conversations about any of that stuff. For me, my goal is to focus on the season. Stay present, stay in the moment. As long as we're winning, I wouldn't imagine there would be a situation in which we would have those discussions again. So it was good to be in a position where we weren't having those discussions. We were having a good season and winning games."
Braun, disappointed with his own limited contributions, did say he took pride in doing other things to help the Brewers surprise the baseball world by contending for a postseason spot until the penultimate day of the regular season.
He said it was "very rewarding and fulfilling knowing how much I was able to help a lot of our young guys take a step forward, and figure out routines and processes that put them in a position to be successful. That allowed them to take steps forward in their career and be able to contribute to us having a better season than just about anyone anticipated us having. From a team perspective, that was very rewarding. But individually, I expect to be better and healthier next year." (A McCalvy - MLB.com - Oct 19, 2017)
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Nov 22, 2018: Braun had more than the usual reasons to give thanks as he helped the Brewers kick off the holiday season. Braun, visiting Milwaukee for what has become annual participation in the Brewers' Thanksgiving food drive, wore a shirt that read, "California Strong" and spoke of the wildfires that swept through his home state in recent weeks, including the Woolsey fire that forced his family to evacuate their Malibu residence. Two doors down, a house burned. Braun felt lucky that his home suffered only external damage from the flames and smoke damage inside.
"We thought we had lost it at one point," Braun said. "We just feel incredibly grateful and fortunate that we will eventually have a house to go back to. There are things that happen that always put life in perspective. I'm thankful for the firemen, policemen, all the first responders. But at the same time, I just feel awful for so many friends and family members who lost their houses. A lot of friends from our kids' school lost their houses. The thought of having to completely start over is a really difficult thing, especially as you approach the holidays."
Some friends impacted by the fire had just come to stay with the Brauns when the group, aware that winds were blowing the Woolsey fire toward Malibu, made the decision to evacuate. Ryan and his wife Larisa packed only a change of clothes or two and their wedding photos, since the rest of the car was full of necessities for the kids. His memorabilia, including items like the baseball from his first career hit and his 2011 MVP award, stayed behind.
Only later did Braun return to retrieve the baseball and some other irreplaceable mementos. Their early decision proved wise, because Malibu eventually was subject to a mandatory evacuation, and the Pacific Coast Highway became jammed with traffic. For many residents, it was the only way to safety because of fires in the surrounding canyons.
"The first time I got back to some of those areas and was able to drive through and see the devastation firsthand—it really does look like a scene out of a movie," Braun said. "It's apocalyptic."
Where once there were lush, green lawns, Braun said, there was blackness. "It's heartbreaking," Braun said. Since evacuating, Braun, Larisa and their two young children have bounced around to his mother's, a friends' home and now a hotel. Meanwhile, Braun and some teammates have been working on ways to help. (A McCalvy - MLB.com - Nov 22, 2018)
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2018: Braun had the highest current WAR (46.4) of any Brewers player.
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Parents play a huge role in a ballplayer's development, providing those special qualities that every kid needs as he's pursuing his dream. Support. Encouragement. Advice. An ability to mash lefties.
Wait, what? "I do think that's something that's benefited me in my career," Ryan said.
Ryan's dad, Joe, is a southpaw. He threw hours of batting practice to Ryan throughout Ryan's childhood, and all of those pitches from the left side had an effect—a positive one—on the Ryan.
"I think it is one of the things that's helped me have success against left-handed pitchers in the Major Leagues," Braun said. "Every time we'd go out to the field, he'd be the one throwing me batting practice."
Hard to argue with the theory, given Braun has a slash line of .318/.389/.600 vs. lefties. That .989 OPS against left-handers is fourth-best among active players, trailing only Giancarlo Stanton, Nolan Arenado, and Paul Goldschmidt.
"I think he was a great coach—motivating and inspiring but tough when he needed to be," Braun said of his dad. "You learn so many life lessons through playing this game, and he instilled a lot of those things in me at a young age." (Footer - mlb.com - 6/16/2019)
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Ryan got into business in downtown Milwaukee, investing along with teammate Christian Yelich in a Wisconsin Ave. real estate venture. Both players are investors in The Avenue, a project that includes a food hall, apartments, and office and retail space in the former Shops of Grand Avenue.
“We started talking about it about two months ago,” Yelich said. “The more I become involved with things like this, it becomes more intriguing. You want it to do well. You want your city to do well. This was the type of thing that, once we started talking about it, it's something we became passionate about and wanted to see all the way through.” (McCalvy - mlb.com - 8/13/19)
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Entering the 2020 season, Braun is the WAR leader for the Brewers.
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April 29, 2020: Best trash talker on the Brewers? Braun with out a doubt.
“He goes straight for the jugular,” said Gio Gonzalez when the topic of trash talking was raised last year. “And what are you going to say back to the guy? He’s got 18 years with the Brewers.”
When Christian Yelich became MLB’s first player with 40 homers and 30 steals since Braun in 2012, Yelich was asked whether he was aware of the connection: “Um, he’s been telling us for a while now. Not just tonight or lately -- he’s been making that known for quite some time. I was probably younger than he was, right?”
Braun happened to walk by at just that moment, and said of Yelich, “Most improved trash talker in the National League. When he came [to Milwaukee], he had a complete inability to talk trash. He’s improved on that more than anything.”
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Brewers biggest trash talker : “He goes straight for the jugular,” said Gio Gonzalez when the topic of trash talking was raised last year. “And what are you going to say back to the guy? He’s got 18 years with the Brewers.”
When Christian Yelich became MLB’s first player with 40 homers and 30 steals since Braun in 2012, Yelich was asked whether he was aware of the connection: “Um, he’s been telling us for a while now. Not just tonight or lately -- he’s been making that known for quite some time. I was probably younger than he was, right?”
Braun happened to walk by at just that moment, and said of Yelich, “Most improved trash talker in the National League. When he came [to Milwaukee], he had a complete inability to talk trash. He’s improved on that more than anything.” (MLB.com - Apr. 29, 2020)
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May 7, 2020: Braun’s competitiveness? It all comes from mom.
If then-Brewers scouting director Jack Zduriencik wondered about the genetic basis for Ryan Braun’s competitive streak, he found out the night the Brewers introduced their 2005 first-round Draft pick to the Miller Park faithful. It was June 25 of that season, the night Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks each hit their first Major League home runs in a win over the Twins at Miller Park. Braun signed his first pro contract earlier in the day, then watched the game from a suite with his mother, Diane, his father, Joe, and club officials. Zduriencik happened to learn that Diane Braun, besides literally being a brewer -- she had a long career at Anheuser-Busch -- was a marathoner, and Zduriencik mentioned offhand that had he known, he would have reserved a spot in the Sausage Race.
“Not knowing anything about Milwaukee, I said, ‘The what?’” said Diane Braun, who has 12 marathons on her resume, including the prestigious Boston Marathon.
The racing sausages were well-established as a staple of a day at the ballpark in the Brew City by then, beginning with their appearance on the County Stadium scoreboard in the mid-1990s and the occasional “live” appearance beginning in June 1993. In 2000, the live mascots raced on the field every day, and in 2005 there were four of them -- bratwurst, Polish sausage, Italian sausage and hot dog (the chorizo didn’t debut until 2006).
“She grabs my arm,” he said, “and goes, ‘I want in!’”
So, the Brewers made it happen. They found shorts and socks and running shoes that fit, and Zduriencik accompanied Diane down to the tunnel in the left-field corner, where the sausages warm up for the race, which now takes place after the sixth inning. Any number of other family members have run it over the years -- Braun’s wife, Larisa, is among them. Even some players have taken part, including Hideo Nomo and Geoff Jenkins. Diane Braun got her shot as the bratwurst that night. Racing against the college-aged veterans of the race who participate daily, she finished fourth.
“She was pumped up about it,” Ryan Braun said. “It was the first time any of us had spent any amount in Milwaukee, and her running in the sausage race was one of the more memorable experiences of that day for me. If it was a longer distance, that’s her specialty.
“Had it been two laps around the warning track, I’m very confident she would have won the race.”
As it was, fans in the stands did not hold back in their criticism of the performance.
‘I brought up the rear so bad that the rest of them had finished and I was just rounding home plate,” Diane Braun said with a laugh. ‘My only goal was to stay upright.”
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Up in the suite, her son watched with a smile. Mom played a significant role in his baseball development, Ryan Braun said, including one notable construction project when Ryan was about 14 years old and younger brother Steve was 12. It was Diane Braun who built them a full-sized batting cage in the backyard of their Southern California home, a popular place for neighborhood kids and future high school teammates.
And it was Diane Braun, according to Ryan, who kept the boys focused on school. Ryan Braun eventually turned down baseball scholarships to Stanford and Cal and instead went to the University of Miami on an academic scholarship.
“I grew up with the most incredibly loving and supportive parents I could ever imagine having,” Ryan Braun said. “My mom set the bar almost impossibly high for what it is to be an incredible parent, and I strive to be half the parent to my children that she was to me.”
Ryan and Larisa have two children of their own, with a third due May 24. But the memories of that first night at Miller Park remain clear.
“I remember feeling enormous pride,” Diane Braun said. “It’s amazing to see everything your child has worked for come to fruition.” (A McCalvy - MLB.com - May 7, 2020)