New York Yankees vs. Cleveland Indians Tickets

Indians News:

Looking to break an unenviable trend of poor April starts, the Indians thought better of playing an extra exhibition game outside Florida before the '06 season.

The club was happy enough with the resulting 6-1 start to the season that the plan was to avoid such "barnstorming" again before the 2007 season opener in Chicago.

Then came an invitation to play in the inaugural Civil Rights Game, which, as announced at Monday's Winter Meetings, will commemorate the Civil Rights Movement and acknowledge the African-American players who broke baseball's color barrier. The exhibition will take place March 31 at AutoZone Park in Memphis.

The opportunity, as general manager Mark Shapiro explained, was one the Indians simply couldn't turn down.

"Not barnstorming at the end of Spring Training is something we discussed, from a competitive standpoint," Shapiro said. "But [the Civil Rights Game] immediately aligned and fit with our values and beliefs. It was a cause we thought was fit to honor, and the competitive concerns went aside."

The World Series champion Cardinals will oppose the Tribe in the game, which will become an annual MLB event. Because the Cardinals' Triple-A club is based in Memphis, their selection for the event seemed a logical choice.

The Indians, meanwhile, were chosen for their history in contributions to integrate the game -- specifically, the 1947 signing of Larry Doby, who became the first black player in the history of the American League, and the 1975 naming of Frank Robinson as baseball's first black manager.

"The Cleveland Indians organization considers it an honor to participate in the inaugural Civil Rights Game," team president Paul Dolan said in a release. "We are extremely proud of our role relative to the integration of Major League Baseball."

Sadly, the waning appeal of the game of baseball to young African-Americans has led to historic lows in the number of black Major Leaguers. In 2005, just 8.5 percent of big leaguers were black, according to a study by sport sociologist Richard Lapchick. Twenty years earlier, that figure was 27 percent.

Yankees News:


The Yankees took a chance on Gerardo Casadiego when they signed him out of the independent Central League this past season. But so far, the organization has been a good fit for him.

The 25-year-old reliever split the 2006 season between Class A Advanced Tampa and Double-A Trenton, and ended up with a 2.81 combined ERA -- his best numbers coming against the tougher competition he saw while with the Thunder. He moved away from the closer role he had in Tampa, but posted a 2.12 ERA in 22 appearances for Trenton.

Casadiego spent parts of nine seasons in the Montreal organization, bouncing back and forth from the Central League. He continues to put up good numbers in Venezuela this offseason.

With the Tiburones de la Guaira, Casadiego is 3-2 with a 2.55 ERA in 24 2/3 innings. He hasn't given up a run in his last five relief outings and has only let the opposition score in five of his 20 appearances.

Casadiego and nine other Yankee prospects are currently playing in the offseason, while 11 others recently wrapped up their seasons in Hawaii Winter Baseball and the Arizona Fall League.