NEW YORK (AP) — When it comes to unanimous picks for baseball's Hall of Fame, Derek Jeter quite appropriately has the chance to be No. 2. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera became the first player to appear on every ballot when he swept 425 votes in last year's election. Ken Griffey Jr. was three votes short perfection in 2016, breaking the mark of five shy that had been held since 1992 by Tom Seaver.Bill Madden, the longtime New York Daily News baseball writer, said attitudes had changed and Rivera's performance could lead to more 100% results from the Baseball Writers' Association of America, whose 2020 votes are announced Tuesday."Nobody wants to be branded or held accountable on social media if they're not voting for an obvious selection," Madden said Monday. "I could see people's lives being threatened if they didn't vote for Derek Jeter."Jeter was picked by all 214 voters tabulated through midday Tuesday by Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame vote tracker, about half the expected ballots. A... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — When it comes to unanimous picks for baseball's Hall of Fame, Derek Jeter quite appropriately has the chance to be No. 2. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera became the first player to appear on every ballot when he swept 425 votes in last year's election. Ken Griffey Jr. was three votes short perfection in 2016, breaking the mark of five shy that had been held since 1992 by Tom Seaver.Bill Madden, the longtime New York Daily News baseball writer, said attitudes had changed and Rivera's performance could lead to more 100% results from the Baseball Writers' Association of America, whose 2020 votes are announced Tuesday."Nobody wants to be branded or held accountable on social media if they're not voting for an obvious selection," Madden said Monday. "I could see people's lives being threatened if they didn't vote for Derek Jeter."Jeter was picked by all 210 voters tabulated through late Monday evening by Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame vote tracker, about half the expected ballots.... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — When it comes to unanimous picks for baseball's Hall of Fame, Derek Jeter quite appropriately has the chance to be No. 2. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera became the first player to appear on every ballot when he swept 425 votes in last year's election. Ken Griffey Jr. was three votes short perfection in 2016, breaking the mark of five shy that had been held since 1992 by Tom Seaver.Bill Madden, the longtime New York Daily News baseball writer, said attitudes had changed and Rivera's performance could lead to more 100% results from the Baseball Writers' Association of America, whose 2020 votes are announced Tuesday."Nobody wants to be branded or held accountable on social media if they're not voting for an obvious selection," Madden said Monday. "I could see people's lives being threatened if they didn't vote for Derek Jeter."Jeter was picked by all 201 voters tabulated through late afternoon Monday by Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame vote tracker, nearly half the expected ballots.... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Curt Flood set off the free-agent revolution 50 years ago Tuesday with a 128-word letter to baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, two paragraphs that pretty much ended the career of a World Series champion regarded as among the sport's stars but united a union behind his cause.St. Louis had traded the All-Star center fielder to Philadelphia just after the 1969 season. Flood broke with the sport's culture of conformity and refused to accept the Cardinals' right to deal him, becoming a pioneer and a pariah.After weeks of discussions with the Major League Baseball Players Association, Flood began the union's equivalent of Lexington and Concord, challenging the reserve clause in first shot of a labor war that would consume the sport for more than a quarter-century."After 12 years in the major leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes," Flood wrote in his Dec. 24 missive. "I believe that any system which produces that result... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Curt Flood set off the free-agent revolution 50 years ago Tuesday with a 128-word letter to baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, two paragraphs that pretty much ended the career of a World Series champion regarded as among the sport's stars but united a union behind his cause.St. Louis had traded the All-Star center fielder to Philadelphia just after the 1969 season. Flood broke with the sport's culture of conformity and refused to accept the Cardinals' right to deal him, becoming a pioneer and a pariah.After weeks of discussions with the Major League Baseball Players Association, Flood began the union's equivalent of Lexington and Concord, challenging the reserve clause in first shot of a labor war that would consume the sport for more than a quarter-century."After 12 years in the major leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes," Flood wrote in his Dec. 24 missive. "I believe that any system which produces that result... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Curt Flood set off the free-agent revolution 50 years ago Tuesday with a 128-word letter to baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, two paragraphs that pretty much ended the career of a World Series champion regarded as among the sport's stars but united a union behind his cause.St. Louis had traded the All-Star center fielder to Philadelphia just after the 1969 season. Flood broke with the sport's culture of conformity and refused to accept the Cardinals' right to deal him, becoming a pioneer and a pariah.After weeks of discussions with the Major League Baseball Players Association, Flood began the union's equivalent of Lexington and Concord, challenging the reserve clause in first shot of a labor war that would consume the sport for more than a quarter-century."After 12 years in the major leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes," Flood wrote in his Dec. 24 missive. "I believe that any system which produces that result... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Scott Boras showed up at the winter meetings with his own press conference backdrop. How appropriate, given his banner offseason.Beloved by his high-profile clients, courted by powerful owners and a polarizing figure for fans, baseball's most famous agent negotiated $814 million of contracts in little over three days last week.All told, he projects his deals will top $1.2 billion and lift his career agreements past $9 billion. In an industry where agent commissions typically are 3 to 5%, that adds up. Not bad for a former Cardinals and Cubs infielder who never made it above Double-A."The greatest joy certainly in my life is when you get to make the phone calls I got to make last week," Boras said. "You've gone on a journey with them that may have taken 10, 11 years for them to reach this point in their lives where they're getting their ultimate reward of what they hoped for when they came into the game. It provides them the opportunity to win, it provides them security for... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Scott Boras showed up at the winter meetings with his own press conference backdrop. How appropriate, given his banner offseason.Beloved by his high-profile clients, courted by powerful owners and a polarizing figure for fans, baseball's most famous agent negotiated $814 million of contracts in little over three days last week.All told, he projects his deals will top $1.2 billion and lift his career agreements past $9 billion. In an industry where agent commissions typically are 3 to 5%, that adds up. Not bad for a former Cardinals and Cubs infielder who never made it above Double-A."The greatest joy certainly in my life is when you get to make the phone calls I got to make last week," Boras said. "You've gone on a journey with them that may have taken 10, 11 years for them to reach this point in their lives where they're getting their ultimate reward of what they hoped for when they came into the game. It provides them the opportunity to win, it provides them security for... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Scott Boras showed up at the winter meetings with his own press conference backdrop. How appropriate, given his banner offseason.Beloved by his high-profile clients, courted by powerful owners and a polarizing figure for fans, baseball's most famous agent negotiated $814 million of contracts in little over three days last week.All told, he projects his deals will top $1.2 billion and lift his career agreements past $9 billion. In an industry where agent commissions typically are 3 to 5%, that adds up. Not bad for a former Cardinals and Cubs infielder who never made it above Double-A."The greatest joy certainly in my life is when you get to make the phone calls I got to make last week," Boras said. "You've gone on a journey with them that may have taken 10, 11 years for them to reach this point in their lives where they're getting their ultimate reward of what they hoped for when they came into the game. It provides them the opportunity to win, it provides them security for... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — It had never been so difficult for Mike Trout to arrive at the ballpark, get his mind and body ready, and perform at the level baseball fans have come to expect.And still, nobody did it better in the American League.Trout overcame injury and tragedy to win his third AL MVP award Thursday night, getting 17 of 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros was second, and that duo combined for all the first- and second-place votes. Trout also won the award in 2014 and ’16.“This year was probably the toughest year,” Trout said.Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger made it a Southern California sweep, beating out the Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich for the NL prize. Bellinger got 19 of 30 first-place votes, Yelich got 10, and Washington’s Anthony Rendon got one while finishing third. Yelich won the award last year.Trout had season-ending foot surgery in September while the Angels languished to a fourth-place... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout has overcome injury and tragedy to win his third AL MVP award.Trout got 17 of 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America revealed Thursday night. Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros was second with the other 13 first-place votes. That duo combined for all the first- and second-place votes.Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger made it an LA sweep, beating out the Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich for the NL prize. Bellinger got 19 of 30 first-place votes, Yelich got 10, and Washington’s Anthony Rendon got one while finishing third. Yelich won the award last year.Trout had season-ending foot surgery in September. The outfielder played just 134 games but still set a career high with 45 homers. He batted .291, led the majors with a .438 on-base percentage and drove in 104 runs. It was just enough to avoid another second-place finish — he’s tied for the record with four runner-ups.The 28-year-old shined even... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout has overcome injury and tragedy to win his third AL MVP Award.Trout got 17 of 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America revealed Thursday night. Alex Bregman of the Houston Astros was second with the other 13 first-place votes. That duo combined for all the first- and second-place votes.Trout had season-ending foot surgery in September. The outfielder played just 134 games but still set a career high with 45 homers. He batted .291, led the majors with a .438 on-base percentage and drove in 104 runs.The 28-year-old shined even following the death of close friend and teammate Tyler Skaggs on July 1. Trout smashed a 454-foot homer wearing Skaggs’ No. 45 in the team’s first game back, when LA pitchers threw a combined no-hitter.Trout is the 10th three-time MVP and joins an elite group: Barry Bonds, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez and Mike Schmidt. Bonds is the only player with more than three MVPs — he won seven.Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Cody Bellinger beat out the Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich for the NL prize. Yelich won the award last year.___Follow Jake Seiner: https://twitter.com/Jake_Seiner___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

SEATTLE (AP) — And then there was one.The Washington Nationals are off to the World Series for the first time in franchise history after sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night, becoming the final National League team to reach the Fall Classic and leaving a single team with the distinction of never playing for a title.Congratulations, Seattle Mariners. Not only do you have the longest playoff drought in professional sports, but you are now the only team that hasn't been to a World Series.Since the Mariners came into existence in 1977, there has been a void. Despite lineups that included the likes of Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro Suzuki, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez and Alex Rodriguez, they have just four playoff appearances in their history, all coming between 1995 and 2001.The Mariners have been to three American League Championship Series and were sent home each time. The city has never experienced a major league ball game beyond Oct. 22.Seattle's 1995 playoff run may have saved... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Astros manager AJ Hinch has heard the chatter — that Rays starter Tyler Glasnow was offering a sneak peek on his off-speed deliveries, that Houston had a poker-worthy tell on Yankees hard throwers James Paxton and Luis Severino.All that pitch-tipping paranoia?"I think it's kind of funny," Hinch said.A year after suspicions on sign stealing made headlines when a man associated with the Astros was caught pointing a cellphone into opposing dugouts, Houston is giving pitchers pause again, perhaps with nothing more than the naked eye.There's no rule against noticing a tipped pitch, and Hinch stated plainly during this AL Championship Series who is at fault if Houston knows what's coming."If they don't want to tip their pitches," Hinch said, "then they should take consideration into doing the same thing over and over again."Batter's box espionage can take two forms — pitch tipping or sign stealing. The first is totally legal, just a matter of good scouting. Hitters might get an... [More]

NEW YORK (AP) — Astros manager AJ Hinch has heard the chatter — that Rays starter Tyler Glasnow was offering a sneak peek on his offspeed deliveries, that Houston had a poker-worthy tell on Yankees hard throwers James Paxton and Luis Severino.All that pitch-tipping paranoia?"I think it's kind of funny," Hinch said.A year after suspicions on sign stealing made headlines when a man associated with the Astros was caught pointing a cellphone into opposing dugouts, Houston is giving pitchers pause again, perhaps with nothing more than the naked eye.There's no rule against noticing a tipped pitch, and Hinch stated plainly during this AL Championship Series who is at fault if Houston knows what's coming."If they don't want to tip their pitches," Hinch said, "then they should take consideration into doing the same thing over and over again."Batter's box espionage can take two forms — pitch tipping or sign stealing. The first totally legal, just a matter of good scouting. Hitters might get an idea... [More]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Elvis Andrus has spent his entire career as a player in the Texas Rangers' ballpark, from his debut as a 20-year-old shortstop to consecutive World Series and now being the team's longest-tenured player.Hunter Pence grew up in Arlington dreaming of what it would be like to play there while watching in awe the construction of the retro-style ballpark that opened in 1994, only days before his 11th birthday. He later parked cars there as a teen, his pay being hot dogs and game tickets, before the four-time MLB All-Star this year played with his hometown Rangers for the first time.The stadium halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, first known as The Ballpark in Arlington, is down to its final homestand after more than 2,000 regular season games over 26 seasons. Kenny Rogers pitched a perfect game in the first summer there, and MLB's first interleague game was played there in 1997. An All-Star Game was played in the Texas heat, and those two World Series were among 25... [More]

Sept. 221911 — Cy Young, 44, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 for his 511th and final major league victory.1936 — The Detroit Tigers swept the St. Louis Browns 12-0 and 14-0 to record the biggest double shutout in major league history.1954 — Karl Spooner of Brooklyn became the first pitcher in the majors to strike out 15 in his first game as the Dodgers beat the New York Giants 3-0.1966 — The Baltimore Orioles clinched their first AL pennant in 22 years with a 6-1 victory over the Kansas City A's. Their last pennant came in 1944 when they were the St. Louis Browns.1968 — Cesar Tovar played one inning at each position for the Minnesota Twins, becoming the second major leaguer in history to do it. Bert Campaneris of the Oakland A's was the other.1969 — Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants became the second player to hit 600 career home runs — joining Babe Ruth. The two-run shot off San Diego's Mike Corkins in the seventh inning, gave the Giants a 4-2 win.1973 — Baltimore's Al Bumbry tied... [More]

Sept. 151912 — Joe Wood of the Boston Red Sox pitched his 16th consecutive victory to tie Walter Johnson's record as he beat the St. Louis Browns 2-1.1938 — Brothers Lloyd and Paul Waner hit back-to-back homers for the Pittsburgh Pirates off Cliff Melton of the New York Giants. This was the only time brothers hit successive home runs in a major league game. It was Lloyd's last homer.1946 — The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 2-0 in five innings when the game was called because of gnats. The insects became such a problem for the players, umpires and fans that the game had to be stopped.1963 — All three Alou brothers — Felipe, Matty and Jesus — played in the outfield at the same time for the San Francisco Giants in a 13-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.1969 — St. Louis left-hander Steve Carlton struck out 19 Mets for a nine-inning game record. New York won the game 4-3 on two, two-run homers by Ron Swoboda.1979 — Bob Watson of the Red Sox became the first player to hit for the... [More]

Sept. 81905 — The Pittsburgh Pirates stranded 18 runners in an 8-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds to set a National League record for men left on base.1939 — With his 12-1 victory over the Browns in St. Louis, 20-year-old Bob Feller became the youngest modern-era player to win 20 games.1940 — Joe Gordon of the New York Yankees hit for the cycle in a 9-4 win over the Boston Red Sox.1940 — Johnny Mize of St. Louis hit three homers and drove in six runs in a 16-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first game of a doubleheader. Mize became the first player to hit three homers in one game four times in a career.1955 — The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Braves 10-2 to clinch the National League pennant with a 17-game lead.1958 — Roberto Clemente tied a major league record by hitting three triples in a 4-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.1965 — Bert Campaneris of the Kansas City A's played all nine positions but had to leave after a ninth-inning collision with Ed Kirkpatrick of the Angels.... [More]

Sept. 11906 — The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1 in 24 innings. Jack Coombs of the Athletics and Joe Harris of the Red Sox pitched all 24 innings. Coombs fanned 18.1930 — Wes Ferrell of Cleveland beat the St. Louis Browns 9-5 for his 13th straight victory.1931 — Lou Gehrig hit his third grand slam in four days as the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 5-1.1945 — The Philadelphia Phillies, behind Vince DiMaggio's grand slam, beat the Braves 8-3 in Boston. It was the fourth grand slam of the year for DiMaggio to tie a major league mark.1958 — Vinegar Bend Mizell of the St. Louis Cardinals set a National League record by walking nine batters and tossing a shutout. Mizell beat Cincinnati 1-0 in the first game of a doubleheader.1963 — Curt Simmons of the St. Louis Cardinals allowed six hits, drove in two runs with a triple and stole home plate in a 7-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. Simmons' steal of home is the last by a pitcher.1967 — Cincinnati's Bob Lee walked Dick... [More]