Skin color wrong on Roberts bobbleheads
Baltimore Orioles players have joked in the past that they didn’t look like their bobblehead dolls. But when a recent shipment of Brian Roberts bobbleheads arrived, team officials knew something was wrong.
Roberts, who is white, had dark skin.
“It didn’t look like Brian Roberts. The coloring was bad,” Orioles spokesman Bill Stetka said. “I didn’t actually see it. I’ve heard various versions that it was very dark and bluish.”
The team returned the entire shipment of 20,000 Roberts dolls, which they had planned to hand out today. Instead of bobbleheads, all fans who attend the game against the Texas Rangers will be given vouchers that they can use to pick up more accurate Roberts dolls at Camden Yards after Sept. 1. The team may end up giving away more than 20,000 dolls because of the mistake, Stetka said.
Bid for Braves opposed
Liberty Media’s bid to buy the Atlanta Braves is facing new opposition from pro-family advocates because Liberty owns On Command, which sells adult movies in hotel rooms across the nation.
Those opposed to the sale call Liberty chief John Malone a “white-collar pornographer.”
The opposition to Malone is coming from such organizations as James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America and Georgia Family Council.
According to its Web site, On Command sells movies in about 890,000 rooms in 3,300 hotel properties.
Baseball owners could consider the bid from Liberty Media as early as their scheduled Aug. 8-10 meeting in New York.
Melvin’s contract extended
Bob Melvin was Arizona’s second choice to manage the Diamondbacks two years ago.
But if he serves out his new two-year contract extension, he will be the longest-tenured manager in team history, surpassing Bob Brenly, who led Arizona to the 2001 World Series title in a 3 1/2-year stint at the helm.
“That would certainly be quite the honor,” Melvin said as the club announced the extension after days of media reports that the deal had been made.
The extension runs through 2008 with a club option for 2009. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
New stamps honor sluggers
The post office hopes to hit a grand slam by honoring a quartet of baseball’s great sluggers on postage.
Ceremonies are scheduled for Yankee Stadium today to release new 39-cent stamps and 24-cent postal cards honoring Mickey Mantle, Roy Campanella, Hank Greenberg and Mel Ott.
Clearing the bases
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers rejoined the team and is expected to pitch Sunday after taking a leave of absence following his arrest on charges that he hit his wife in the face. A somber Myers spoke to the media for 45 seconds and left without taking questions. … Chicago White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski said that his fine for inciting the crowd after a brawl in a game against the Chicago Cubs was reduced to $250 after his appeal. Pierzynski was originally fined $2,000 for his role in the brawl in the White Sox’s 7-0 victory on May 20.