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Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist LOS ANGELES - Reggie Jackson - Mr. October - has a tough call. 2024 World Series (Best-of-7; all 8:08 EDT on Fox) Friday: Yankees at LA [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist NEW YORK - Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden are living legends in New York. They won a World Series in 1986, broke numerous records, had their [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Katelyn Pavey, born with one arm and raised by parents who lived in shame because of their adulterous affair, rose to become a high school [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY This is the place where he stood on the mound, so nervous that he could actually feel his legs shaking, wanting to dig a [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Evan Longoria is showing he can still play. Longoria planned to retire this past offseason unless Arizona or the Tampa Bay Rays [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY PHOENIX - Those lost passports are now safely secured in a brightly colored folder in their home. There will be not be another postponed [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Roger Clemens was recently sitting around with Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, talking about the state of today's pitching in the game, when he asked [...]

Byline: Scooby Axson, USA TODAY When most athletes are asked about their legacy, whether they are famous or infamous for their play on or off the field, their responses are [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY MESA, Ariz. - It is 76 degrees outside Wednesday afternoon, there's not a cloud in the sky, fans are wearing shorts and T-shirts, and [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman, growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, always dreamed of being a big-league ballplayer. Check. He wanted to be a [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY OAKLAND, Calif. - Mark McGwire, who will turn 59 in three weeks, with 12-year-old triplets at home and two arthritic thumbs that keep him from [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY We sat on the veranda at Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown, New York, last month, talking about the state of the game to religion [...]

Byline: Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAY Any time a player comes into a new market and fails to live up to expectations it can be mentally and emotionally taxing. And now [...]

Byline: Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY LOS ANGELES - There is so much still ahead for Willson and William Contreras. Already a World Series champion catcher with the Chicago Cubs, Willson [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist PHOENIX - Cincinnati Reds left fielder Tommy Pham is sitting at a table in the middle of the visiting clubhouse at Chase Field, looks down at [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale USA TODAY PHOENIX - Go ahead, keep ignoring him. Laugh when he's mentioned in Cy Young conversations. And don't regard him as one of the elite pitchers [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale USA TODAY Robinson Cano once was ticketed for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was an eight-time All-Star, five-time Silver Slugger, two-time Gold Glove winner and a [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY They met secretly, deep into the night, and hung out until the wee hours of the morning in a deserted, deprecated joint in Oakland, [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY CARLSBAD, Calif. - Nationals All-Star outfielder Juan Soto, who tested positive for the coronavirus a year ago and resisted getting vaccinated, changed his mind [...]

Byline: Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Bryan Ruby used to regularly Google 'openly gay pro baseball player.' He suspected he wasn't alone in searching for someone closeted like himself to serve [...]

Byline: Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Bryan Ruby first started to realize he was different at 14 years old. That's when the hiding began. Along with the darkness. He found emotional [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY PHOENIX - All-Star first baseman Eric Hosmer came to San Diego when no one wanted to be there. Now, the Padres are trying to get [...]

Byline: Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY DENVER - It is perhaps the most frivolous event on the sports calendar, three glorious hours of empty calories and marveling at grown men wailing [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY DENVER - The harrowing telephone call came to LaTroy Hawkins' home nearly 24 years ago. It was his mother. It was about Ronald, LaTroy's younger [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY PHOENIX - They are the old guys who symbolized the Giants' glorious past. They were going to get their tributes and celebrated sendoffs, fans could [...]

Byline: Evan Petzold, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network It was April 26, 2012. Alabama freshman Spencer Turnbull stood atop the pitcher's mound, mowing down South Carolina's offense. He [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY TEMPE, Ariz. - It was 20 years ago when Albert Pujols strolled into the Cardinals spring training complex for the first time, sharing a [...]

Byline: Chris Bumbaca, USA TODAY Major League Baseball may be on the road to a possible return. Manny Ramirez hopes it's the same for him, although he realizes that at [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY PEORIA, Ariz. - Padres outfielder Tommy Pham sits on a bar stool in his kitchen. Two black bags and a box are on the [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY MESA, Ariz. - Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, one of the intriguing and cerebral players in the game, tries to quietly blend into the [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY PHOENIX - David Price, standing by his locker with the music blaring, watches Mookie Betts dive across the floor playing pingpong in a laid-back clubhouse [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY JUPITER, Fla. - They booed him during the summer and begged management to dump during the winter. They dreamt of having Nolan Arenado in their [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAY FORT MYERS, Fla. - The apology tour began Tuesday on the first day of Twins camp, the opening act for what should be a [...]

Byline: Tom Haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, USA TODAY Network People who know Bud Selig well, especially those who have worked with or for him over a number of years, will [...]

Byline: Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY As if Tim Tebow didn't have enough on his plate, continuing his quest to switch from pro football to pro baseball while playing with the [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA TODAYTEMPE, Ariz. - Mike Trout didn't offer any glimpse Monday on whether he wants to stay with the Angels when his contract expires in two [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, USA TODAYLAS VEGAS - It should be the greatest time of their professional lives.You are wined and dined, courted and flirted, with riches beyond your wildest imagination [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA Today ANAHEIM, Calif. - It's late in the evening, after the latest Angels defeat, and reporters gather around Mike Trout's locker as he slowly dresses. [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, Columnist, USA Today It's a series with significant stakes, with a buildup leaving Nationals star Bryce Harper sleepless at night, swept by an adrenaline rush that sometimes [...]

Byline: Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports MESA, Ariz. - Anthony Rizzo was diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago and endured six months of chemotherapy. That wasn't as difficult as [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, bnighten@usatoday.com, USA TODAY Sports They wrote a best-selling book about his baseball team. They made a Hollywood movie about their winning streak. They made a celebrity out [...]

Byline: Dave Clark and Tara Sullivan, USA TODAY Sports Todd Frazier, the New York Yankees slugging third baseman and one-time Little League World Series star for Toms River, N.J., is [...]

Byline: Ted Berg, @OGTedBerg, USA TODAY Sports Mauricio Dubon grew up in a baseball family, if not in a baseball hotbed. His father and his older brother played in their [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, bnighten@usatoday.com, USA TODAY Sports Six months ago, David Ross was a backup catcher. Today, he's a 40-year-old heartthrob. Since he last wore a Chicago Cubs uniform, Ross [...]

Byline: Jorge L. Ortiz, @jorgelortiz, USA TODAY Sports Jose Canseco sits at one of the two long poker tables in the living room of his Las Vegas home, his massive [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, bnighten@usatoday.com, USA TODAY Sports Eric Gagne gave up his movie career, along with his trademark goggles, for the opportunity to pitch for his country and perhaps launch [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, bnighten@usatoday.com, USA TODAY Sports Bryce Harper might be one of the greatest young talents in baseball, a four-time All-Star outfielder for the Washington Nationals, but he can't [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, bnighten@usatoday.com, USA TODAY Sports Chicago Cubs shortstop Addison Russell has the keys to his hometown of Pensacola, but not to his own home. He won a historic [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, bnighten@usatoday.com, USA TODAY Sports He vanished years ago from the public spotlight and today is forgotten by baseball. Once destined for the Hall of Fame, he now [...]

Byline: Bob Nightengale, bnighten@usatoday.com, USA TODAY Sports Bo Jackson, the world's greatest living athlete and the only man to be an All-Star in baseball and a Pro Bowler in football, [...]