baseball

MLB brings live game streaming to YouTube, but not in U.S.

Major League Baseball is about to begin live streaming America's pastime to fans on YouTube for free, but there is a catch: The arrangement will pass over fans in the U.S. and a handful of other countries where the sport is already dug in.

YouTube announced on Monday that fans in countries other than the U.S., Canada, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan will be able to view two live games per day during the regular season on the video-sharing site. Fans in all countries will be able to view game highlights "about a day or two&… Read more

Toledo Mud Hens mark May the 4th with Chewbacca uniforms

The Toledo Mud Hens, a minor league baseball team in Ohio, are about to become the Toledo Wookiees for a weekend. Unfortunately, the team isn't going so far as to all dress up in big, brown fur suits, but they will be wearing some pretty special duds. The uniforms have an exaggerated Chewbacca-hair pattern all over them. Talk about sci-fi stylin'.

The "Star Wars" outfits are just the beginning for May the 4th celebrations at Fifth Third Field. The first 3,000 fans will get a free kazoo to participate in a massive post-game kazoo band version of the "Star Wars" theme song. There will be "Star Wars" face painting for the kids, too.… Read more

See a pro photog's beautiful Instagram view of baseball

San Francisco Bay Area photographer Brad Mangin -- a veteran shooter of baseball games and other sporting events for Sports Illustrated -- uses a high-powered dSLR for most of his work, but turned to an iPhone and Instagram to capture a more personal view of the 2012 Major League Baseball season. His upcoming book, "Instant Baseball: The Baseball Instagrams of Brad Mangin," features many sights only a pro photographer would have the chance to observe. The book comes out in late April. … Read more

Landlines, you're out! T-Mobile to make MLB bullpen calls wireless

T-Mobile has finally made the big leagues.

The wireless carrier has has signed a deal with Major League Baseball to beef up certain stadiums with its own brand of wireless technology.

Coming up to bat will be a new wireless "on-field communication system" connecting managers in the dugouts with their coaches in the bullpen. The carrier will replace the old-fashioned wall-mounted phones with new cell phones, giving managers greater flexibility. The dugout-to-bullpen system will start to roll out to select stadiums this year.

As part of the multiyear MLB deal, T-Mobile will also tap into its growing 4G … Read more

Groupon scores Major League Baseball partnership

Groupon announced a partnership with Major League Baseball today, promising discounted game tickets and exclusive perks for all 30 of the league's teams.

The multi-year agreement with MLB's media arm is good news for the daily deals company, which has had trouble convincing Wall Street of its worth. It's a big name for Groupon to add to GrouponLive, its local live entertainment offerings, and builds on Groupon's baseball game discounts offered during the regular 2012 season and the post season.

GrouponLive General Manager, Greg Rudin said fans can expect exclusive access, luxury seats, and clubhouse and … Read more

Listen to and follow the World Series online

Want to watch the World Series online? Sorry. Fox Broadcasting seems to have made that impossible (or just illegal) in 2012. But have no fear: when you're away from your TV, you can still listen to or follow the MLB championship games easily with a few choice Android apps.

Listen to the World Series live on your Android device

If you've sprung for a subscription from MLB At Bat, you're already covered. Those of us on the cheap can get our World Series broadcast on our Android phones for free with the ESPN Radio Android app. ESPN … Read more

Apple's Passbook scores home run with Major League Baseball

Passbook has already found one big fan in Major League Baseball.

Still in its initial innings, Apple's new electronic ticketing system scored well in a recent test conducted by MLB. In the final two weeks of the regular season, four teams tried out Passbook. Among 1,500 e-ticket buyers, 12 percent chose to receive their tickets via Apple's service, reports The Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch.

"That adoption rate really floored us -- there is no question our fans want digital tickets," Bob Bowman, CEO of MLB Advance Media, told MarketWatch. "Fans can use the … Read more

Giving Apple's Passbook a real-world spin

SAN FRANCISCO -- Does Passbook, Apple's new digital wallet, live up to its lofty expectations?

With the first batch of companies just rolling out integration with the feature, we're getting the first taste of just how well it works in the wild.

Tonight that's a baseball game here at AT&T Park, where the San Francisco Giants face off against the Colorado Rockies, a game we got into using Apple's newly released wallet technology.

Passbook, which went out today inside of iOS 6, is a new application from Apple designed to store membership cards, tickets, … Read more

Collecting autographs, voice recordings in a digital age

Collecting baseball player autographs is a time-honored tradition, one that goes hand-in-hand with the sport itself. Before and after any Major League Baseball game, fans will crowd the stands above the dugouts with pens, baseballs, and photographs in hand, waiting for their favorite players to emerge.

But fans who don't have access to a nearby stadium or the players have to settle for collecting autographs from memorabilia shops or Web sites like eBay. Enter Egraphs, a new online service where fans pay a fee for a personalized autograph and MP3 voice recording. It's the unique, one-on-one interaction between … Read more