The Dodgers surely could have postponed his callup. It's unlikely Australia would have advanced to the medal round so it wouldn't have lasted long. To allow him to have his moment in the sun in his home country would have been a classy move.
NBA players have been competing in the Olympics since the 1992 Dream Team. The NHL used to shut down its schedule to allow its players to compete in the Winter Olympics.
There are a couple of reasons why MLB does not allow their players to play in the Olympics. Number one the Olympics are played in the middle of baseball season. Baseball cannot shut down for a couple of weeks in the middle of summer. Because it is a mostly outdoor sport. If they did that the season would go on until the middle of November when the weather in most of the USA is not favorable to say the least. NHL hockey is an indoor sport, so it does not matter what the weather outside is. So they can afford to shut down for a couple of weeks and still play in good conditions all season. Basketball is the same. It is also an indoor sport so weather does not matter and the Olympics are played during the NBA’s off-season. So they do not have to shut down the league for two weeks like hockey does.
@@pullt that would be correct. Although I will say this. I have lived in Minnesota and Arizona. It is a lot easier to be a hockey fan in Minnesota because the weather is colder. When I lived in Minnesota, I even had season tickets to the Minnesota north stars for a couple of years Here in Arizona in the valley of the sun, the weather is so different than Minnesota in the winter that I don’t even think of hockey.
So I remember this guy for one reason. After going 8-7 with a 4.88 ERA in 22 starts for the Dodgers in 2001. New Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi fell in love with him and made a terrible trade. To the Dodgers went shortstop Cesar Izturis (Who won a Gold Glove and was named an All Star in 2005 for LA) And Paul Quantrill who in 175 relief appearances for the Dodgers had a 2.22 ERA. Prokopec in 22 games for Toronto had a 6.78 ERA and that was it for his career
I think Zack Grienke has to be one of the strangest major leaguers. He wanted to go back to the minors to play shortstop. He also hinted at retirement several times so he could either play golf full time or mow lawns for a living.
This is crazy. You never know if you ever get called up to the show ever again! What if there was an injury or all of the sudden he started to suck. One and a million shot at making it to the show where you can set you and your family up the rest of his life.
We’ll have a new video coming out on Monday too and another one sometime next week! Was on vacation last week so had to take a quick pause but the goal is once every 3 days
From 1984-86, the Pirates were a last place team who played in front of less than 1MM fans per year. Their AAA team was in Hawaii at the time. For obvious reasons, some AAA players preferred NOT to be called up. I suspect Bob Walk was one of them. He dominated AAA and was clearly an MLB caliber pitcher but he remained in AAA until mid-85.
The Dodgers surely could have postponed his callup. It's unlikely Australia would have advanced to the medal round so it wouldn't have lasted long. To allow him to have his moment in the sun in his home country would have been a classy move.
NBA players have been competing in the Olympics since the 1992 Dream Team. The NHL used to shut down its schedule to allow its players to compete in the Winter Olympics.
There are a couple of reasons why MLB does not allow their players to play in the Olympics. Number one the Olympics are played in the middle of baseball season. Baseball cannot shut down for a couple of weeks in the middle of summer. Because it is a mostly outdoor sport. If they did that the season would go on until the middle of November when the weather in most of the USA is not favorable to say the least.
NHL hockey is an indoor sport, so it does not matter what the weather outside is. So they can afford to shut down for a couple of weeks and still play in good conditions all season. Basketball is the same. It is also an indoor sport so weather does not matter and the Olympics are played during the NBA’s off-season. So they do not have to shut down the league for two weeks like hockey does.
NHL and NBA don't need their seasons to coordinate with the seasons as far as weather.
@@pullt that would be correct. Although I will say this. I have lived in Minnesota and Arizona. It is a lot easier to be a hockey fan in Minnesota because the weather is colder.
When I lived in Minnesota, I even had season tickets to the Minnesota north stars for a couple of years
Here in Arizona in the valley of the sun, the weather is so different than Minnesota in the winter that I don’t even think of hockey.
@@shackdaddy7106 Luckily, Predators fans don't have to deal with the weather past early April.
So I remember this guy for one reason. After going 8-7 with a 4.88 ERA in 22 starts for the Dodgers in 2001. New Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi fell in love with him and made a terrible trade.
To the Dodgers went shortstop Cesar Izturis (Who won a Gold Glove and was named an All Star in 2005 for LA)
And Paul Quantrill who in 175 relief appearances for the Dodgers had a 2.22 ERA.
Prokopec in 22 games for Toronto had a 6.78 ERA and that was it for his career
I think Zack Grienke has to be one of the strangest major leaguers. He wanted to go back to the minors to play shortstop. He also hinted at retirement several times so he could either play golf full time or mow lawns for a living.
Also, MLS teams play without their best players during the World Cup. I wonder what the NWSL will do when the 2023 Women’s World Cup takes place.
There's another Australian who was pitching in the minors in the early 2000s that has an interesting story: Brad Thomas.
This is crazy. You never know if you ever get called up to the show ever again! What if there was an injury or all of the sudden he started to suck. One and a million shot at making it to the show where you can set you and your family up the rest of his life.
nah we still chilling
Just wanna say I’ve loved what you done with this page. Been waiting for you to get into Baseball. Big fan of your work, dude.
"When I spoke to commissioner Bud Selig about this" wait, seriously?! 😂
I went to ASU Law, and one of the classes was a class about the history of baseball in law and society, and it was taught by Commissioner Selig
That was an agonizing choice for Prokopec, but he made the right decision in the end.
Hope to see this channel upload more soon!
We’ll have a new video coming out on Monday too and another one sometime next week! Was on vacation last week so had to take a quick pause but the goal is once every 3 days
@@jaguargator7 Have you thought of telling the story of how Macho Man Randy Savage went from MLB to Pro Wrestling?
I remember seeing him play here in San Antonio for the Missions.
From 1984-86, the Pirates were a last place team who played in front of less than 1MM fans per year. Their AAA team was in Hawaii at the time. For obvious reasons, some AAA players preferred NOT to be called up. I suspect Bob Walk was one of them. He dominated AAA and was clearly an MLB caliber pitcher but he remained in AAA until mid-85.
I would guess that the weather in Hawaii was one of the reasons why some players wanted to stay in Hawaii.
Man that was a bad olympics for so many people.
You should do a video on Adam Greenberg
How about Larry Yount, Robin's brother? Do many baseball fans know his story?
@@toddbiesel4288 Zack Greinke legitimately didn't want to be called up.
I'm surprised to learn that he actually had a choice.
23 Years Ago
Did Kropopec ever pitch for Australia at the World Baseball Classic?
No. The torn labrum basically ended his career
Now we know the inspiration for this story-team vs. country.
#RealBaseballStories!
W dad