Possibly you have not noticed due to Christmas stuff and world events and so forth, but the MLB lockout is nearing the end of its second week and there is just no action whatsoever. Not that there would normally be much baseball action in mid-December, but owners justified their move to lock out all players and shut down league business—historically an inventive way for owners to participate in the kicking of their own asses—by insisting that the move would "jumpstart negotiations" that to that point had made very little progress. Clearly that was baloney: The 2021 lockout is now on Day 13 and owners and players aren't talking at all.
That doesn't mean there isn't a steady trickle of small-scale, marginal baseball stuff going on. The Mets are narrowing down a list of manager candidates. Fernando Tatis Jr. "scraped his knee and hands a little" in the Dominican Republic, according to his father. MLB is even approving deals between players and teams, despite the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. But neither the MLB nor the Players Association have released any official updates on collective bargaining since Dec. 1. The sides appear dug in for the long haul.
Meanwhile, the work of remembering baseball guys continues. MLB's website removed all images of more than 1,500 players at the outset of the lockout; to pass the time, we here at Defector have made it our mission to provide visual evidence of each of these fellas, so that we may enjoy remembering them. The collection of baseball faces at the top of this blog may be the toughest yet: I recognize a mere five of them on sight, and even the one National is a total stranger to me. Who are these men? Who the hell are they?
The key for the collection from Day 5 is below. I would like to acknowledge in particular the funny faces of Peter Lambert and Peter Solomon, and to appreciate Mark Melancon and Mike Tauchman for seeming to scream into each other's mouths. Please remember some guys down in the comments, and please never forget the guys!
