10 Things You Need to Know About Major League Baseball This Week

Image via Complex Original

Image via USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron

While at a baseball game, your priority would probably be catching a foul ball over your cup of beer, but last Tuesday a fan proved that both are equally important.

At the Texas Rangers-Baltimore Orioles game on June 30, the foul ball that was hit by Orioles infielder Ryan Flaherty landed right inside a fan’s cup. Seen in the video, the fan proves his allegiance to the almighty beer when he refuses to spill anymore of it and leaves the foul ball inside the cup instead of simply turning the cup over.

What commitment.

On the same night as that fateful foul ball, White Sox pitcher Chris Sale joined the ranks of Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez in his 100th career start.

The game against the Arizona Cardinals marked Sale’s eighth consecutive game of at least 10 strikeouts—a record set by Martinez in 1999 when he was a member of the Red Sox—which is noteworthy, considering only four pitchers have had a streak like this to last over five games.

The Los Angeles Angels’ general manager, Jerry Dipoto, stepped down from his position on Wednesday. His resignation came right after reports of feuding with manager Mike Scioscia surfaced five days earlier. Bill Stoneham, who served as GM during the franchise’s only World Series title in 2002, will step in as interim GM for the rest of the season.

While Dipoto says he regrets leaving in the middle of the season he also claims that it was the right thing to do for his family and self. He also refuted rumors of a power struggle between him and Scioscia, which many allocated as the reason behind Dipoto’s sudden departure.

Previous presidential candidate and current U.S. Senator John McCain proved at the Diamondbacks-Dodgers game on July 1 that catching a foul ball might be just as difficult as running for president.

With Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ pop-up landing in the lap of the frazzled Arizona senator and a 6-4 loss for the Diamondbacks, let’s just say McCain didn’t have the greatest time at the ballpark. Watch the video here. 

For this year’s birthday, Nelson Cruz decided not to wait for anyone’s gift as the Seattle Mariners outfielder had other ideas in mind. On July 1, Cruz celebrated his 35th birthday the best way a player could, with his 20th home run of the season.

With Seattle’s 7-0 victory over the San Diego Padres, and Cruz’s home run to close out the day it was a sweet birthday indeed—even if there wasn’t any cake.

"It's nice to get your own present, I guess," Cruz said.

For many, July 4th would prove to be the most important day of the week—but, this isn’t the case for Bobby Bonilla. July 1st marked the retired Mets player’s annual payday. And with a payment of $1.2 million, we can easily see why this day surpasses Independence Day.

Instead of paying him his promised $5.9 million in 2000, the Mets decided to pay him in deferred payments with an interest rate of 8 percent annually. Beginning in 2011, Bonilla was promised a payday every year for the next 25 years. This year his salary is almost double Matt Harvey’s, who is second to Bonilla in salary wages at $614k.

While this might seem like the Mets got the bad end of the deal, it actually worked out great for them at the time. When they freed up the money they owed Bonilla in 2000, they were able to pay the salaries of Derek Bell and Mike Hampton, who helped contribute to their trip to the World Series that year. 

The NBA isn’t the only sport dealing with free agency signing this week. Thursday, July 2, marked the first day of international free agency signing in MLB. While in previous years teams were allowed to spend as much money as they want on players, after the last collective bargaining agreement a budget was put in place with an amount determined by a team’s record in their previous season.

In more recent signings, many MLB teams—especially the Red Sox and Yankees—far surpass their budget, disregarding the penalties in the process. And this year, the Dodgers joined their ranks by already exceeding their $2M by over $20M—with 11 months left of the signing period. Los Angeles picked up Cuban prospects Yadiel Álvarez and Straling Heredia.

The 4th of July is one of the most important days for our nation. And what better way to celebrate it then watching America’s greatest pastime? To show some Independence Day spirit, MLB teams donned American-themed uniforms during Saturday’s games.

Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper even went so far as to play with, what can be considered, the most patriotic bat in MLB history—a star-spangled one!

All that patriotism definitely paid off, though, as Harper was able to hit his 25th home run of the season. 

Yesterday, we were treated to the first release of names for the 2015 All-Star Game. As the starters are selected entirely on votes by fans, there was no surprise that the Royals led the teams with four starters selected. Here's the full list of selections:

National League:

C: Buster Posey

1B: Paul Goldschmidt

2B: Dee Gordon

3B: Todd Frazier

SS: Jhonny Peralta

OF: Bryce Harper

OF: Giancarlo Stanton

OF: Matt Holliday

American League:

C: Salvador Perez

1B: Miguel Cabrera

2B: Jose Altuve

3B: Josh Donaldson

SS: Alcides Escobar

OF: Mike Trout

OF: Lorenzo Cain

OF: Alex Gordon

DH: Nelson Cruz

John Donaldson received the most votes any player has ever received, with over 14 million votes. The previous record holder, Josh Hamilton from the 2012 All-Star game, had 11 million.

The rest of the players—the reserves—will be announced Monday at 7 p.m.