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Baseball Hall of Fame

Getty Images Chase Utley had one of the greatest five-year runs in MLB history for a second baseman and put up enough production the rest of his career to justify becoming a Hall of Famer one day. He won’t make it this year, but he has a chance and he’ll be getting my vote every […]

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4 months ago

January 16, 2025

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Chase Utley had one of the greatest five-year runs in MLB history for a second baseman and put up enough production the rest of his career to justify becoming a Hall of Famer one day. He won’t make it this year, but he has a chance and he’ll be getting my vote every year until it happens. I ended up going with Bobby Abreu, who was long underappreciated and deserves a long look. And I stopped at nine. I just can’t get there with Pedroia, Rollins or Wright and those were the closest ones for me. There’s also been a bit a long-standing tradition among voters when they have open spots to throw votes on personal favorites. As a die-hard, life-long Cubs fan, I’m eternally grateful for Ben Zobrist, notably the monstrously clutch hit and MVP in the 2016 World Series. I just didn’t feel like it was right in my first ballot to go with such a homer move when there were justifications for votes for people like Pedroia, Rollins and Wright, so it’s a no. Basically, I believe it is poor enough sportsmanship to try and skirt the rules agreed upon by the players association for individual benefit — to the point that it was risking hurting the team — that I’m willing to withhold my Hall of Fame for those busted. When there weren’t rules in place, it was the wild west, and I’m not worried about the players who were singled out in reports. Andruw Jones might be the single greatest defensive center fielder ever and he also hit 434 career home runs. There’s a domestic violence incident in his background, but it happened after he was done playing. I don’t like it at all, but I’m trying to establish consistency as best I can and I’m sticking to the on-field product here. That means he’s in.

For the first time, I have an official Hall of Fame ballot in my hands. As I write this, I’m about to mail it. I have done a virtual truckload of homework in anticipation of this and it all started when I was a little kid. For my whole story there, I’ve already laid it out. The obvious start is that little PED thing that continues to linger over the ballot. I’ve been saying for years what my stance will be and I’m a man of my word. If a player was caught by MLB to be violating the Joint Drug Agreement and suspended once the system was put into place, he’s a no for me. If a player was alleged to have used or even admitted use before any system for suspension was put into place, I’m not holding it against him, as it was a league-wide issue and the league itself was benefitting while looking the other way (plus, Bud Selig is in the Hall of Fame). As for anything in the realm of off-field behavior, I’ve chosen to ignore. The voting rules can be interpreted in many ways, but they read to me the voting should be based on the “player’s record” and “contributions” to the team, in that we’re only talking about in the baseball world. I could see how there’s an argument against a player who draws a suspension for domestic violence hurting the team, but no one that I strongly considered fits that criteria.

Billy Wagner is one of the greatest closers in baseball history and I’ve been driving this train for 10 years. I’m very pleased to be part of getting him inducted into the Hall in his final try. First things first, I feel compelled to explain my “Big Hall” voting stance. Remember, I’m but one voter of around 400. Players need to get 75% of the vote to make the Hall of Fame. Given that, essentially, one “no” vote nearly cancels out three “yes” votes, I’m going to be lenient with my votes. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I believe every single player I vote for should definitely be in the Hall of Fame. It means I think they are worthy of my vote and we’ll see how the rest of the voting body feels.Specific to this ballot, I’ve done several months worth of work and I’ll link off to everything pertinent as we walk through my selections and non-selections.

This means that I would have been a yes for the likes of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire but also a no for Rafael Palmeiro. I will be a no for players like Ryan Braun and Robinson Canó in the future. Feel free to scroll to the bolded names to find who I’m voting for or even just to the end to see my ballot. In the meantime, I’m going to do some explaining, because part of my process is to be such an open book that I’m accountable for my ballots. What a downer to start on the negative, huh? Let’s get to the YES! votes. Right off the top, we can eliminate Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, thanks to my PED rule. A-Rod was doing nefarious stuff for years to get around the rules and was handed a 211-game suspension. He has a very complicated case, but I’m comfortable leaving him off. Ramirez’s case isn’t quite as complicated. He was busted twice. He’s out.

The official ballot:I have come to very strongly believe we need to loosen the standards a bit — again, only a bit! — for starting pitchers, given the current climate. That means that I am voting for Mark Buehrle and Andy Pettitte. There’s a PED connection on Pettitte, but keep in mind this happened before there was a testing system in place and he played nine seasons with a testing system and was never nailed. I’m comfortable with a vote for him.Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia, come on down. The only question for Ichiro is if he’s unanimous and while I’m pretty sure he will be, I’m not going to stand in the way. CC’s case is very strong and I’m ecstatic to be part of the movement in his favor.

Next up, the rules mailed to us say that “voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.” I have two spots left and some of the players in the group I’ve considered are Félix Hernández, Ian Kinsler, Dustin Pedroia, Jimmy Rollins and David Wright. I can see why there would be questions on Carlos Beltrán due to the 2017 Astros sign-stealing scandal. For me, a team-wide operation with the goal of achieving team success by reading catcher signs is a lot less disqualifying for the Hall of Fame than individually juicing despite the possibility of a 50-game suspension. I can understand why mileage would vary here, but I’m just one voter. We aren’t all going to agree and that’s acceptable. With him clearing the hurdle here for me, he’s an easy yes.

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Sammi Thiele Joining Emory For 5th Year After Undergraduate Career With Austin College

Sammi Thiele will join Emory for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year to use her COVID-19 fifth year of eligibility. Thiele spent her undergraduate career at Austin College and spent the last year finishing her masters degree at Austin College while teaching at the local high school as the head swim coach. In addition to swimming […]

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3 minutes ago

May 18, 2025

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Sammi Thiele will join Emory for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year to use her COVID-19 fifth year of eligibility. Thiele spent her undergraduate career at Austin College and spent the last year finishing her masters degree at Austin College while teaching at the local high school as the head swim coach. In addition to swimming at Austin College, she also played water polo for four years.

“So incredibly excited to announce my commitment to swim at 5th year at Emory University while pursuing a master’s in business management”

As a junior, Thiele qualified for the 2023 NCAA Championships finishing 23rd in the 100 backstroke in a 56.73. That was just off her lifetime best at the time of a 56.23 that she swam at the 2023 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships.

She made huge strides as a senior, dropping about a second and a half in the 100 backstroke to finish 3rd at 2024 NCAAs touching in a 54.73. She also was 7th in the 200 back in a 2:02.55 but swam a 1:59.67 in prelims. She finished 4th in the 200 IM in a lifetime best of a 2:01.86.

Thiele’s SCY best times are:

100 back: 54.73
200 back: 1:59.67
200 IM: 2:01.86

The Emory women finished 6th at the 2024 NCAA Championships, the last meet Thiele swam at, and moved up to 5th this past season with 337 points. Denison was 4th with 370.5 points.

Thiele’s time from 2024 NCAAs in the 100 back would have finished 4th this year. Emory notably did not have any ‘A’ finalists in the event but had two ‘B’ finalists. Her 200 back best time would have been 7th at 2025 NCAAs, adding points to another event the team had no ‘A’ finalists in. Emory also had zero ‘A’ finalists in the 200 IM, an event she would have been 5th in.

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Bissoondial, Men’s 4×100 Meter Relay Nab Spots in NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships

Story Links Indianapolis, IN — WPI graduate student Avinash Bissoondial (Millbury, MA) and the Engineers 4x100m relay squad of Sam Manteria (Wilbraham, MA), Ethan Schnyer (Nashua, NH), Alex Cole (Weymouth, MA), and Tristan Andrew (Newtown, CT) have earned spots in next weekend’s NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The three-day […]

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18 minutes ago

May 18, 2025

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Indianapolis, IN — WPI graduate student Avinash Bissoondial (Millbury, MA) and the Engineers 4x100m relay squad of Sam Manteria (Wilbraham, MA), Ethan Schnyer (Nashua, NH), Alex Cole (Weymouth, MA), and Tristan Andrew (Newtown, CT) have earned spots in next weekend’s NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The three-day event will begin on Thursday, May 22 at the SPIRE Institute’s Outdoor Track and Field and hosted by the North Coast Athletic Conference.

The 4×100 meter relay will make its debut Thursday at 5:15pm in the preliminaries. The foursome secured a spot in field on the final day of competition on Thursday, May 15th by smashing their own school record in a time of 40.66 at the UMass Amherst Final Qualifier. The Crimson and Gray shared the 12th best time nationwide with Roanoke and WPI was the only New England in either of the two men’s relay event’s 16-team fields. If the Engineers are qualify for the finals, they would race again on Saturday, May 24th at 1:05pm.

Bissoondial will be making his first appearance at an NCAA Track and Field Championships but is no stranger to NCAA competition as the graduate student appeared in three Cross Country championships, including this past fall, and was an alternate for a fourth championship. Bissoondial will race in the 5,000 meters and secured his spot in Ohio by winning last weekend’s Farley Inter Regional Extravaganza (FIRE) Meet at Williams. The graduate student shattered his own school record by 25 seconds by registering a time of 14:09.22, the 13th quickest in the 22-person field. The 5,000 meter is the penultimate track event on Saturday and slated for a 5pm start.

NCAA Selections

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Govs Earn Four Silvers to Conclude ASUN Championships

Story Links Final Results Photo Gallery JACKSONVILLE – Austin Peay State University’s track and field team earned four silver medals on the final day of the 2025 Atlantic Sun Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship, with freshman Taylin Segree being a […]

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43 minutes ago

May 18, 2025

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JACKSONVILLE – Austin Peay State University’s track and field team earned four silver medals on the final day of the 2025 Atlantic Sun Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship, with freshman Taylin Segree being a part of three of those podium finishes, Saturday, at Hodges Stadium on the campus of North Florida.

Austin Peay’s first points of the day came in the triple jump, with both Denim Goddard and Myra Eriksson recording counting scores. Emma Tucker then posted the second-best mark of her career in the shot put with a 13.10-meter hurl in the event.

The Governors’ first podium finish of the afternoon came in the 4×100-meter relay, with Gabrielle Miller, Gabrielle Hoskins, Alijanae Cole, and Segree finishing as the runner-up in the event with a time of 45.81.

Next up on the track, Sydney Freeman posted a personal best in the 1500-meter for the fourth-straight meet in which she shaved over two and a half seconds off her previous best set two weeks ago at Vanderbilt’s Music City Challenge.

After qualifying in the 100-meter hurdles yesterday, freshman Emmani Roberts bested her season’s best mark by nearly two seconds with a time of 14.89 to earn fifth in the event.

Segree’s second medal of the day came in the 400-meter where she posted the second-best mark of her freshman campaign with a time of 53.81. Segree’s mark in the 400-meter trails only her previous personal best set yesterday in the preliminary round by six hundredths of a second. Alexis Arnett’s time of 55.84 was a personal best, as the junior earned a fifth-place finish in the event.

Busiwa Asinga then earned APSU’s third silver medal of the day in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:00.47.

In its final event of the day, Mia McGee, Cole, Arnett, and Segree sprinted to a silver finish in the 4×400-meter relays.

This weekend, the Governors obtained their largest point-total since joining the ASUN Conference prior to the 2023 season with 61, while also having their most finalists in the championships at 17.

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Track and Field Earns Three Top-Eight Finishes on Final Day of SEC Outdoor Championships

Story Links LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Missouri track and field capped off the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships with three top-eight finishes on Saturday at UK Track & Field Complex. Ames Burton was the first scorer for the women’s team on the final day of competition, adding three points […]

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1 hour ago

May 18, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Missouri track and field capped off the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships with three top-eight finishes on Saturday at UK Track & Field Complex.

Ames Burton was the first scorer for the women’s team on the final day of competition, adding three points from a sixth-place finish in discus after a 54.40m (178-6) mark. On the men’s side, Skylar Coffey and Sterling Scott earned eighth-place finishes, with Coffey adding a point from discus with a season-best throw of 57.71m (189-4) and Scott’s 15.65m (51-4.25) in triple jump.

Tarique George joined Coffey in the top-10 finishers in men’s discus, taking ninth with a throw of 57.58m (188-11), a personal-best result. Kobi Walker and Mirriam Chepkirui posted individual records in the women’s 5000m, finishing 27th in 16:33.66 and 28th in 16:34.99, respectively.

In the men’s 5000m, Tyler Freiner closed out the day with a personal-record time of 14:08.81 to take 14th, just behind the team’s top finisher in the event, Drew Rogers, who earned a 12th-place result in 14:02.04.

UP NEXT

The Tigers continue postseason action at NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships West Region Preliminary Round at E.B. Cushing Stadium in College Station, Texas, on May 28-31. Competitors will receive a berth to the competition if they are ranked among the top 48 marks in the region in each event.

FOLLOW THE TIGERS

For all the latest on Mizzou Cross Country and Track & Field, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the teams on Facebook, Instagram and X (MizzouTFXC).

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Kennedy volleyball relies on survival skills to beat Esperanza in D5 final – Orange County Register

Kennedy volleyball players win the volleyball CIF Southern Section Division 5 Championships against Esperanza in Norwalk on Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) Kennedy volleyball players win the volleyball CIF Southern Section Division 5 Championships against Esperanza in Norwalk on Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County […]

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May 18, 2025

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NORWALK – Kennedy’s boys volleyball team beat Esperanza in four close and entertaining sets, 23-25, 27-25, 25-20, 26-24, in the CIF Southern Section Division 5 championship match Saturday at Cerritos College.

As Fighting Irish senior libero Karl Narshall said afterward, “We survived.”

The athleticism and quality of play from both teams showed the depth of talent of Southern California high school boys volleyball. The match featured explosive kill shots, seemingly impossible digs and sharp serving from both teams.

It is the second boys volleyball championship for the Fighting Irish, who won their other title in 2017.

The Fighting Irish (20-10) continue their season in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs that begin Tuesday. Regional brackets will be released Sunday. Six teams from CIF-SS Division 1 and the champions of Division 2-9 are invited to play in the regional.

Esperanza finished the 19-14.

Kennedy senior opposite hitter Logan Benda had 17 kills. Senior middle blocker Seth Sainz had 15 kills and sophomore outside hitter Kaiden Kim had seven kills.

Jaden Baena had 19 assists and Jason Narike had 16 assists.

Narike scored the match’s final two points with service aces.

Esperanza senior outside hitter had a match-high 22 kills. Senior outside hitter Tyler Lemmon added 16 kills for the Aztecs.

Travis Walker, in his 20th year coaching Kennedy’s boys volleyball team, said his team was close to self-destructing in various matches during the season.

“We knew we’ve had the most talent on the floor any time we’re out there,” Walker said. “It’s just a matter of, ‘Can we get through those three or four errors we’re going to make.’ That’s been our Achilles’ heel all year.”

Esperanza led for much of the first set and won it 25-23.

“If you play a team like Esperanza,” Walker said, “they’re going to take advantage of your errors and they did.”

Kennedy led most of the way in the second set. Esperanza caught up at 25-25 but the Irish won it 27-25.

Kennedy led all the way in the third set, a 25-21 win that ended with one of Sainz’s many high-velocity kills. The fourth set was a great back-and-forth battle, with Narike’s two aces to the back left corner providing the match-winning points.

Narshall said Kennedy has struggled with consistency at times.

“Volleyball is a momentum sport,” said Narshall, who had a team-leading nine digs Saturday. “It’s not all about huge plays and huge aces. It’s all about playing the game, winning the rally.

“We made a lot of errors in that last set, and we barely made it out alive.”

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No. 8 Baseball Blasts Old Dominion 12-1 to Cap Weekend Sweep

Story Links HAMPTON, Va. — No. 8 Coastal Carolina flexed the offense again on Saturday, routing Old Dominion 12-1 in seven innings at War Memorial Stadium to complete its sixth-straight weekend sweep and extend its winning streaks to 14 games overall and 18 games in […]

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1 hour ago

May 18, 2025

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HAMPTON, Va. — No. 8 Coastal Carolina flexed the offense again on Saturday, routing Old Dominion 12-1 in seven innings at War Memorial Stadium to complete its sixth-straight weekend sweep and extend its winning streaks to 14 games overall and 18 games in Sun Belt Conference play.

The Chanticleers (44-11, 26-4 SBC) scored 11 runs over their final three at-bats and got a long-awaited home run from Ty Barrango, whose three-run blast to deep center in the sixth inning broke the game wide open. It was Barrango’s first home run since Opening Weekend and the exclamation point of a six-run frame.

Sebastian Alexander and Blake Barthol also homered for Coastal, while Chad Born and Colby Thorndyke combined for five RBIs. Barthol went 2-for-5 with his 11th long ball of the season and added a stolen base, while Alexander reached base four times and scored three runs.

Freshman Jaxon Appelman made his second career appearance and struck out five of the six batters he faced to close the door. Starter Riley Eikhoff, along with Luke Jones and Matthew Potok, held the Monarchs (21-29, 15-15 SBC) to just one run on six hits.

The Chants plated four runs in the fifth to take control before breaking it open with the six-run sixth. Barrango added a sacrifice fly in the fifth to finish with a career-high four RBIs.

NOTEBOOK

Series Sweep Streak Grows to Six: Coastal’s three-game sweep of Old Dominion marked its sixth consecutive weekend sweep and its 14th win in a row overall. The Chants have now won 18 consecutive Sun Belt Conference games and finish the regular season with a league-best 26-4 conference record.

Barrango Breaks Out: Shortstop Ty Barrango delivered a towering three-run homer to center field during the Chants’ six-run sixth inning. It was his first round-tripper since Feb. 15 against Kansas State. Barrango finished with four RBIs — the most in a game during his collegiate career — including a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Appelman Dominates in Relief: Freshman right-hander Jaxon Appelman was electric in his second outing of the season. The 6-foot-5 reliever struck out five of the six batters he faced over two perfect innings, throwing 25 pitches and needing just 16 strikes to carve through the Monarchs.

Offensive Firepower Continues: The Chants have now scored 10 or more runs in 19 games this season. Saturday’s effort was powered by nine hits and six free passes. Coastal took advantage of six hit-by-pitches and three ODU errors to plate runs in bunches.

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