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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: JIMMY GOLEN; THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON -- Boston Red Sox catcher Danny Jansen is enjoying his odd slice of baseball history as he prepares to become the first major [...]

Byline: SIMON HOUPT; Staff WEEKENDS WITH ... It's been more than 30 years since Joe Carter galumphed triumphantly around the bases, touching 'em all after clobbering that ball over the [...]

Byline: RACHEL BRADY; Staff WEEKENDS WITH ... The Toronto Blue Jays are in the basement of the American League East, but catcher Danny Jansen has provided some bright moments - [...]

Byline: RACHEL BRADY; Staff WEEKENDS WITH ... Jordan Romano has begun the Toronto Blue Jays season on the injured list because of inflammation in his elbow. So fans will have [...]

Byline: Herb Scribner Toronto Blue Jays star Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still plays video games. It was a big hobby for him when he was a kid, and when he was [...]

Her sudden sprint to celebrity started on a small mound of dirt in South Williamsport, Pa., 46 feet from home plate, winging 71 mile-per-hour fastballs and sweeping curveballs, braids bouncing [...]

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: Chelsea Janes Even two years ago, the idea of Kumar Nambiar becoming one of the first minor league union representatives in the sport's history seemed almost unimaginable. And the [...]

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: Barry Svrluga Almost two decades ago, when Chad Kuhl entered middle school in Middletown, Del., his eye immediately fell on a new classmate. 'I spotted a blond girl, blue [...]

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: Sydney Page During his first baseball practice with Pennsylvania's Montgomery County Community College Mustangs, Jim Fullan struck out on three pitches. He nearly quit the team. 'What did I [...]

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 [...]

Maybelle Blair walked into a sporting goods store in her early 90s with a mission: to try on a pair of spikes. The salesman suggested that she meant to ask [...]

Byline: Chelsea Janes STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Kelsie Whitmore always wanted to play in the major leagues. She did not always want to admit it. 'Are you sure?' people would [...]

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: Jesse Dougherty Dancing his way down the third base line on a homer, doing another little something after hitting a double, Josh Palacios isn't asking for forgiveness. He's not [...]

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: Chelsea Janes CINCINNATI - A week ago, before their disappointing start evolved into a full-blown nightmare, the Cincinnati Reds had an off-day. Joey Votto went to yoga. He attended [...]

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: Jesse Dougherty WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - One morning in March, in the deepest back corner of the Washington Nationals' spring training clubhouse, Juan Soto sat alone, holding a [...]

Byline: Jesse Dougherty WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Forgive Victor Arano and Jordan Weems if they looked around the spring training clubhouse, did some math, wondered how many more cuts [...]

Mike Montgomery once threw a ''golden pitch'' in a World Series, but at 32 he is in minor league camp for the Mets hoping for one more chance for things [...]

Byline: RACHEL BRADY; Staff TAMPA -- T roy Tulowitzki reached out to Bo Bichette's father, Dante, last year and said, 'If Bo ever needs me, let me know.' This off-season [...]

The slugging outfielder wants to stay with the team that drafted him, but he does not want to talk about a contract extension once the season begins. TAMPA, Fla. -- [...]

Byline: Jesse Dougherty WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - For now, Luis García is back at shortstop, where he played when the Washington Nationals signed him as a teenager out of [...]

Byline: Jesse Dougherty SURPRISE, Ariz. - Jackson Cluff's goal at the Arizona Fall League, the one above all the others, was to prove his 2021 numbers were not a reflection [...]

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: Jesse Dougherty GLENDALE, Ariz. - For reasons he could not control, Drew Millas was the third catcher acquired by the Washington Nationals at the trade deadline, more than a [...]

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: Jesse Dougherty When Keibert Ruiz was traded to the Washington Nationals, one name kept popping up in texts from friends and family in Venezuela. Not Juan Soto, who would [...]

Byline: Jesse Dougherty MIAMI - Twelve days before he announced his retirement from baseball, Alex Avila kicked back in the dugout at Truist Park in Atlanta, at ease. He deflected [...]

Byline: Jesse Dougherty Andrew Stevenson passed second, then third, his long blond hair smacking the back of his neck Friday night. But until he ran 90 more feet, collided with [...]

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 [...]