The March meeting of the OLLI Baseball Interest Group will be held on Tuesday, March 10, 3 p.m., at Stauffer’s Cafe & Pie Shoppe, 5600 S. 48th Street. All OLLI members are welcome to come and participate.

Here’s what we will be talking about this month:

• MLB Opening Day 2020 is Thursday, March 26 with all 30 teams scheduled to play on that date. So … It’s time to make your predictions for 2020! Download the predictions form for you to pick the division winners and two wild-card teams for each league and then the AL and NL champions and eventual World Series winner.

Bring your form to the meeting on March 10 and be prepared to defend your choices!

Download the predictions form:
https://olli.unl.edu/Documents/Baseball_Predictions.pdf

• The Houston Astros sign stealing scandal just won’t go away. Oakland A’s pitcher Mike Fiers got a standing ovation from the fans when he appeared in his first spring training game after revealing the details of the sign stealing scheme.

• Outspoken Cincinnati Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer claimed that 70% of MLB pitchers are “doctoring the ball.” Do you believe him? If so, is that a part of the game or is it just as wrong as stealing signs electronically? Don’t forget that Gaylord Perry is in the Hall of Fame!

• The UNL baseball team started the season with some shaky pitching and fielding. Thoughts and comments on whether Will Bolt will right the ship?

• Too often we focus on the “scandals” around the game of baseball and over look the good that many players perform for the community. Our OLLI “Great Decisions” class had a lesson on human trafficking and slavery and learned about an organization that Albert Pujols and his wife started to campaign against those crimes. Other players involved with their “Strike Out Slavery” organization include Robinson Cano, Brad Keller and Stephen Strasburg.

Here’s a link to their website: https://www.strikeoutslavery.com/