Darryl Strawberry’s life has long read like a Major League Baseball box score gone off the rails — stunning highs, crushing lows, and a late-inning redemption that feels like it was scripted for the silver screen. On one hand, there’s the young phenom who burst onto the scene in 1983, the National League Rookie of the Year, whose bat and charisma made him an eight-time All-Star and a cornerstone of the New York Mets’ power-hitting lineup. Over 17 seasons, Strawberry amassed 335 home runs, more than 1,000 RBI, and 221 stolen bases. For fans, he was the epitome of the Mets’ magic. Off the field, however, life had other plans.
Strawberry’s post-baseball years were a litany of troubles. In 1995, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of tax evasion, failing to report $350,000 in income from memorabilia, personal appearances, and autographs. Legal and financial repercussions followed. In 1998, colon cancer struck, requiring surgery and chemotherapy. By the next year, he faced more legal trouble — pleading no contest to cocaine possession and soliciting a prostitute, and enduring probation violations that included arrests on his 40th birthday. He ultimately served 11 months in the Florida state prison system and was finally released in 2003.
But there was a pivot — a spiritual turning point that would redefine the man behind the stats. Strawberry encountered Jesus Christ in 1991, but it took years for his faith to anchor him. A key figure in his journey was Tracy, a born-again Christian who had her own battles with addiction. Together, they found a shared path to sobriety and purpose. Their partnership evolved into Strawberry Ministries, a ministry dedicated to helping addicts, teens, and communities find hope through faith. He describes it simply: “This experience has deepened my faith and commitment to working for His kingdom as a true follower of Jesus Christ.”
The latest chapter arrived in a phone call from the White House. President Donald Trump personally called Strawberry to announce a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-pardon-strawberry-mets-drugs-tax-evasion-cf64f71f89461b61c1424daf7e5c2dd9">full pardon </a>for his past tax and drug offenses, citing his post-career sobriety and Christian ministry. Strawberry shared the moment on Instagram, describing the surreal conversation: sitting at home caring for his wife, half-asleep, and suddenly hearing Trump’s voice praising his baseball career and granting him a full pardon. “Overwhelmed with gratitude,” Strawberry wrote, “thanking God for setting me free from my past, helping me become a better Man, Husband and Father.”
Last year, at 62, Strawberry continued to face life’s hurdles. He <a href="https://cbn.com/news/health/baseball-star-darryl-strawberry-points-gods-amazing-grace-after-surviving-heart-attack?utm_source=chatgpt.com">suffered a heart attack,</a> yet emerged with his faith intact, praising God for another chance at life. The Mets, too, have honored him: Strawberry is one of 10 former Mets to have his number retired by the team. The others include legendary Yankees manager Casey Stengel, who became the Mets’ first manager; former manager Gil Hodges, who led the “Amazin’ Mets” to their first World Series title in 1969; Willie Mays; Tom Seaver; Jerry Koosman; Mike Piazza; Keith Hernandez; Dwight Gooden; and David Wright.
Darryl Strawberry’s story is a testament to resilience, redemption, and the transformative power of faith.

New York Mets v Los Angeles Dodgers

Trump Pardons MLB Legend Darryl Strawberry, Whose Christian Faith Turned His Life Around

Celebrities

Darryl Strawberry

Donald Trump

Executive

Major League Baseball

New York Mets

Pardon

U.S.

Federal prosecutors have charged two pitchers for the Cleveland Guardians on counts related to a Major League Baseball (MLB) gambling scheme.
Prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz on Sunday. The charging document alleges that the two professional athletes committed fraud, conspiracy, and bribery while collecting on bets and receiving kickbacks for their on-field performances.
“We are aware of the recent law enforcement action,” the Guardians told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/09/sport/baseball-mlb-guardians-emmanuel-clase-luis-ortiz">CNN</a>. “We will continue to fully cooperate with both law enforcement and Major League Baseball as their investigations continue.”
Clase and Ortiz have been on paid leave from the MLB since July, when the league began investigating allegations related to the illegal gambling scheme. If found guilty, the two pitchers face a potential punishment of up to 20 years in prison, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/09/cleveland-guardians-pitchers-indicted-gambling.html">CNBC</a>.
“Professional athletes … hold a position of trust — not only with their teammates and their professional leagues, but with fans who believe in fair play,” Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/two-current-major-league-baseball-players-charged-sports-betting-and-money-laundering">statement</a>. “As alleged, the defendants sold that trust to gamblers by fixing pitches. In doing so, the defendants deprived the Cleveland Guardians and Major League Baseball of their honest services. They defrauded the online betting platforms where the bets were placed. And they betrayed America’s pastime.”
An attorney for Ortiz has maintained that his client is innocent of the charges.
“There is no credible evidence Luis knowingly did anything other than try to win games, with every pitch and in every inning. Luis looks forward to fighting these charges in court. The government’s case is weak and circumstantial. He will defend himself, and he will be (sic) prevail,” attorney Chris Georgali told CNBC.
The scheme traces back to 2023 when Clase agreed to work with “corrupt sports bettors” who would place wagers on the type and speed of Clase’s pitches. Clase would coordinate with the bettors on the pitch he would throw. In many cases, Clase’s pitches would hit “in the dirt, well outside the strike zone” to satisfy the wager, according to the Department of Justice.
Ortiz joined the scheme around June 2025 after he was traded to the Guardians in December 2024, according to prosecutors.
“Together with Clase, Ortiz agreed in advance to throw balls (instead of strikes) on pitches in two games in exchange for bribes and kickbacks. Before an MLB game on June 15, 2025, Ortiz agreed with his co-conspirators to throw a ball on a particular pitch in exchange for bribes. The bettors agreed to pay Ortiz a $5,000 bribe for throwing the rigged pitch and Clase a $5,000 bribe for arranging the rigged pitch,” the Justice Department press release states.
Clase is a three-time All-Star and two-time Reliever of the Year who has made more than $12 million over the course of his professional baseball career. He was set to make $6.4 million more in 2026, according to <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46906636/guardians-emmanuel-clase-luis-ortiz-indicted-pitch-rigging">ESPN</a>.

Emmanuel Clase

‘Betrayed America’s Pastime’: MLB Pitchers Indicted In Betting Scam

‘Betrayed America’s Pastime’: MLB Pitchers Indicted In Rigged Sports Betting Scheme

Cleveland Guardians

Courts

gambling

Three strikes and you&#8217;re out! Maybe not so fast anymore after Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that it will roll out a new rule allowing players to appeal to robot umpires to overturn pitches they think were incorrectly called by human umpires.
The new rule will take effect for the entire 2026 MLB season and will give each team two opportunities to challenge whether a pitch was correctly ruled a strike or ball. The pitch will then be assessed through a complex automated camera system to judge whether the human umpire was correct.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING: Major League Baseball will use the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System (ABS) during the entire 2026 season
ABS CHALLENGE RULES:
&#8211; Each team will get two challenges and can keep them if they&#8217;re successful
&#8211; Challenges can only be initiated by a pitcher, catcher, or… <a href="https://t.co/xHkRIbHrRx">pic.twitter.com/xHkRIbHrRx</a>
— MLB (@MLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1970546182893248800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The rule to bring the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System to the MLB was approved Tuesday by the MLB’s Joint Competition Committee. The system had previously been used in the Minor Leagues, as well as during MLB spring training and the All-Star Game.
The new rules will allow two appeals per game for each team to challenge a pitch call. Challenges must be initiated by a pitcher, batter, or catcher right after the pitch. To challenge, the pitcher will tap his hat or helmet to let the umpire know. According to the MLB, “no help from the dugout or other players on the field is allowed.”
If a game goes into extra innings, each team will get one challenge per inning if it used up its challenges in regulation.
“Throughout this process we have worked on deploying the system in a way that’s acceptable to players. The strong preference from players for the Challenge format over using the technology to call every pitch was a key factor in determining the system we are announcing today,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said.
The MLB said that the system was “powered by T-Mobile 5G network&#8221; and &#8220;uses cameras set up around the perimeter of the field to track the location of each pitch and a graphic on the scoreboard shows the result of the challenge.”
&#8220;We’ve accomplished a lot through our longstanding partnership with MLB, and the rollout of ABS — powered by T-Mobile 5G — is one of our most exciting milestones yet,” said Mike Katz, the president of marketing, strategy and products at T-Mobile. “It’s a powerful example of how we’re using our technology to help MLB innovate, while preserving the character of the game we love.&#8221;

MLB: SEP 18 Giants at Dodgers

Major League Baseball Makes Final Decision On Robot Umpires

Baseball

General

Sports

Former three-time All-Star first-baseman Mark Teixeira, one of the most powerful switch-hitters in MLB history who played 14 years in Major League Baseball with the Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Angels, and the New York Yankees while amassing a whopping 409 home runs, announced he would run for the GOP seat vacated in Texas’ 21st Congressional District by Rep. Chip Roy.
Roy announced on August 21 he would run for attorney general of Texas.
“Big news: I’m ready to go!” Teixeira wrote on X. “As a lifelong conservative who loves this country, I’m running for Congress to fight for the principles that make Texas and America great. It takes teamwork to win – I’m ready to help defend President Trump’s America First agenda, Texas families, and individual liberty.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Big news: I’m ready to go! 
As a lifelong conservative who loves this country, I’m running for Congress to fight for the principles that make Texas and America great. 
It takes teamwork to win – I’m ready to help defend President Trump’s America First agenda, Texas families,… <a href="https://t.co/bVb6j9qP6i">pic.twitter.com/bVb6j9qP6i</a>
&mdash; Mark Teixeira (@teixeiramark25) <a href="https://twitter.com/teixeiramark25/status/1961080787584897174?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Teixeira was twice a finalist for the Roberto Clemente Award, presented annually by Major League Baseball to a player who best embodies the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, and philanthropy on and off the field. He has served on the board of directors of DREAM, which uses sports and academic programs to help inner-city youth recognize their potential.
Teixeira has worked with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank that has pushed for school vouchers, property tax caps, restrictions on state contracts with ESG-compliant businesses, and prison reforms. The organization has been <a href="https://www.expressnews.com/politics/article/texas-public-policy-foundation-20054168.php?utm_source=chatgpt.com">described</a> as the “most influential conservative think tank in the state.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“I am a Christian conservative, God-loving man who understood where the Northeast was going and didn’t want to raise teenagers there,” Teixeira, who moved from Grenich, Connecticut, back to Texas, said in an interview. “I loved our community in Grenich, Connecticut, great place for young kids; I wouldn’t want my kids to be teenagers, to be in high school and be in college in that area. The values that we teach at home were not being taught there, so coming back here, and having the no state income tax as a bonus. But it really was more about raising my family in a place where you can go to church and be proud of it. You can vote Republican and be proud of it. You can have conservative values and be proud of hanging a flag in your front yard or supporting police officers, supporting the military.”
“And that’s what we’ve got here, and it’s great to be back in Texas,” he concluded.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eydm5fvXzIg?si=MDpbqMmFK-QtunPt" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Texas Rangers v New York Yankees

Former Yankee And 3-Time MLB All-Star Running For Chip Roy’s Texas Seat

Chip Roy

Elections

New York Yankees

Politics

Texas

Texas Rangers

Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg, whose combination of power and scintillating defense led the Chicago Cubs to their first-post-season appearance in 38 years in 1984, died Monday at the age of 65.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
With great sadness, we share that Ryne Sandberg has passed away today. <a href="https://t.co/LJJ0jGqSy5">pic.twitter.com/LJJ0jGqSy5</a>
&mdash; Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1950004404104425975?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Ryne Sandberg. Second to None. <a href="https://t.co/jR0FCCiXwD">pic.twitter.com/jR0FCCiXwD</a>
&mdash; Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs/status/1950187053146341691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;The last couple of days, he wanted to speak to me, Andre [Dawson] and Mark Grace. He told us that he loved us and he loved all you <a href="https://twitter.com/Cubs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Cubs</a> fans too. Go Cubs.&quot;
An emotional Shawon Dunston speaks on the impact his legendary double play partner, Ryne Sandberg, made on him. <a href="https://t.co/OiHCJpAEcD">pic.twitter.com/OiHCJpAEcD</a>
&mdash; MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBNetwork/status/1950245687561769133?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
Sandberg, the father of five children and eleven grandchildren, had been fighting metastatic prostate cancer, which he announced in January 2024 before he went into remission in August, then revealed the cancer had spread and returned last December.
“The support has been tremendously overwhelming right from the first week, and it’s continued throughout,” he told the Chicago Tribune last year. “It’s just been incredible and I think that’s been as much medicine to me as anything really.”
“While I am continuing to fight, I’m looking forward to making the most of every day with my loving family and friends,” he wrote on July 16. “I haven’t been to Wrigley Field as much as I hoped in the first half but I’m watching every game and am excited to see Wrigley rocking like 1984!”
Sandberg, who won nine Gold Gloves, and made the All-Star team in ten consecutive seasons, won the national League’s MVP award in 1984, when he batted .314 with 19 home runs, 36 doubles, 19 triples, 84 RBIs, 114 runs and 32 stolen bases. On June 23, 2024, the Cubs unveiled a statue of Sandberg to mark the 40th anniversary of “The Sandberg Game,” when he slugged game-tying home runs in the ninth and 10th innings off St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame reliever Bruce Sutter in an 11-inning Cubs win at Wrigley Field.
“Some of the things I wanted on the statue was being on the balls of the feet, being ready for every single pitch,” Sandberg told reporters when the statue was unveiled. “My defense was very important for me. For me, it was ‘Bring your glove every single day.’ You might go into some hitting slumps, but as far as defense goes, as long as I did my pregame work, I wanted to play defense every day for the pitcher, for everybody on the field.”
“In 16 seasons, Sandberg hit .285 with 282 home runs and 1,061 RBIs in 2,164 games. His 68.1 wins above replacement rank third in Cubs history behind Cap Anson (84.8) and Ron Santo (72.2),” the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/28/ryne-sandberg-chicago-cubs-dies/?lctg=B4845491D5F64499A4E4B513EB&amp;utm_email=B4845491D5F64499A4E4B513EB&amp;utm_source=listrak&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.chicagotribune.com%2f2025%2f07%2f28%2fryne-sandberg-chicago-cubs-dies%2f&amp;utm_campaign=trib-chicago_tribune-breaking_news_sports-nl&amp;utm_content=alert">Chicago Tribune</a> noted. “Sandberg hit 25 home runs or more six times, including a career-high 40 in 1990, and had back-to-back 100-RBI seasons in ’90 and ’91. His 344 steals rank fourth on the Cubs’ all-time list.”
Growing up in Spokane, Washington, Sandberg was All-State in basketball and named to Parade Magazine’s Prep All-America Football Team, receiving scholarship offers from Nebraska and Oklahoma.
“I never thought it was a mistake to decide on baseball instead of football and college,” he recalled. “But I thought it was going to be a long, hard road. They say the odds are that only one or two guys in A-ball will ever make it to the big leagues.”
In mid-season 1994, hitting only .238 and in the middle of a terrible slump, he temporarily retired. “I am not the type of person who leaves my game at the ballpark feeling comfortable that my future is set regardless of my performance,” he admitted. “And I’m certainly not the type of person who can ask the Cubs organization and Chicago Cubs fans to pay my salary when I am not happy with my mental approach and performance.” He returned for the 1996 and 1997 seasons.

Ryne Sandberg Chicago Cubs

Cubs Hall Of Fame Second Baseman Ryne Sandberg Dies At 65

Chicago Cubs

Hall of Fame

Ryne Sandberg

New York Yankees all-star Aaron Judge this week discussed his faith in God, when asked about money and fame.
Judge was <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DMG2BgGg2QU/">asked</a> on Monday by a CBN Sports reporter, &#8220;What would you say to someone who thinks fame and fortune is the answer to all their problems?&#8221;
Judge responded by pointing his fans to Jesus. &#8220;Our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. He’s given me this platform, this ability,&#8221; Judge said. &#8220;The fame, getting the chance to do this is great and all, but it’s not fulfilling as much as the relationship I have with Him.&#8221;
<div class="ad-container desktop ad-h-50 ad-w-300">
<div id="desktop-desk-ad-lb2" class="ad gam" data-iu="lb2" data-ad-lz="1" data-ad-init="1" data-google-query-id="CMb04qO-xI4DFXYETwgdpAw1Og" data-ad-slot-rendered="1" data-rendered-size="1x1">&#8220;That&#8217;s what I would tell anybody: just build a relationship with Him, and that’ll solve all your problems,&#8221; the 33-year-old added.</div>
<div data-iu="lb2" data-ad-lz="1" data-ad-init="1" data-google-query-id="CMb04qO-xI4DFXYETwgdpAw1Og" data-ad-slot-rendered="1" data-rendered-size="1x1"></div>
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMG2BgGg2QU/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
<div style="padding: 16px;">
&nbsp;
<div style="flex-direction: row; align-items: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div>
<div style="flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div>
<div style="height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div>
<div style="padding-top: 8px;">
<div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div>
</div>
<div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div>
<div style="flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;">
<div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px;"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: 8px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent;"></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: auto;">
<div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px;"></div>
<div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent;"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;">
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"></div>
<div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"></div>
</div>
&nbsp;
<a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMG2BgGg2QU/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by CBN Sports (@cbnsports_)</a>
</div>
</blockquote>
During the MLB All-Star Game on Monday, Judge showcased a bat that featured his daughter’s name, Nora, and a Bible verse reference.
&#8220;For we live by faith, not by sight,&#8221; the verse, 2 Corinthians 5:7, reads. Judge&#8217;s bat says, &#8220;Faith, not sight.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_948589" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-948589" class="wp-image-948589 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2224529063-864x576.jpg" alt="The bat of Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees before the Workout during MLB All-Star Week at Truist Park on July 14, 2025 in Atlanta, Georgia." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2224529063-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2224529063-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2224529063-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/GettyImages-2224529063.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />New York Yankees/Getty Images</div>
Judge has been open about his Christian faith his whole career. The ball player&#8217;s social media <a href="https://x.com/thejudge44?lang=en">bio</a> reads in part, &#8220;Christian. Faith, Family, then Baseball.&#8221;
The athlete has spoken specifically about his adoptive parents and how their love informs his faith, as well.
&#8220;The position I was in, being adopted by my parents &#8212; for them to pick me, choose me, to put me in their lives, it&#8217;s incredible,&#8221; Judge, who was adopted when he was a one-year-old, <a href="https://sportsspectrum.com/sport/baseball/2025/05/01/yankees-aaron-judge-blistering-start-faith-foundation/">said</a> last year. &#8220;Having His blessings, keeping the faith through good times and bad times, knowing He&#8217;s always with me, that&#8217;s definitely helped me get to this position.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&amp;href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F561052863241503%2F&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=267&amp;t=0" width="267" height="591" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Judge learned he was adopted at age ten. “I knew I didn’t look like them,” he <a href="https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/columnists/bob-klapisch/2017/06/23/klapisch-aaron-judge-never-forgot-his-roots/420872001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> NorthJersey.com in 2024. “I finally said, ‘Okay, what’s going on?’ And that’s when they told me.&#8221;
&#8220;I was fine with that, they were the only parents I ever knew,&#8221; he added. &#8220;It actually wasn’t a big deal.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dodgers-ace-clayton-kershaw-adds-bible-reference-to-rainbow-hat-for-pride-night">Dodgers Ace Clayton Kershaw Adds Bible Reference To Rainbow Hat For Pride Night</a>
</div>

Aaron Judge

Yankees All-Star Aaron Judge Asked About Fortune And Fame, Directs Fans To Jesus

Bible

Christianity

Religion

Both the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals made their homes in Missouri in the 1960s. The teams won a combined six titles in the decades that followed, making Kansas City one of the most successful “<a href="https://sports.betmgm.com/en/blog/mlb/smallest-cities-with-mlb-team-bm23/">small</a>” sports cities in the United States.
But there’s an economic fight brewing over the teams, a fight between two cities of the same name: Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas. 
The historic Kansas City sports franchises currently play in two of the oldest stadiums still used by professional sports teams. The Chiefs’ famed Arrowhead Stadium <a href="https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/oldest-nfl-stadiums">opened</a> in 1972, and the Royals’ Kauffman Stadium <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2025/05/31/oldest-stadiums-mlb-active-baseball/83964425007/">opened</a> a year later. But decades of the Chiefs and Royals playing at Arrowhead and Kauffman and calling Missouri home are at risk of coming to an end as plans have been drawn up for the teams to move just across the Missouri River to Kansas City, Kansas — and Kansas lawmakers are actively seeking to bring the teams across state lines. 
On Monday, what promises to be a heated special session began in the Missouri State Legislature. The special session will, in part, address ways to keep the teams in the state, such as funding for improvements to the Chiefs’ stadium and a potential new ballpark on the Missouri side of the border for the Royals. 
Missouri&#8217;s Republican Governor, Mike Kehoe, is fighting to keep both teams in Missouri, as their neighbors in Kansas have offered big stadium incentives for the Chiefs and Royals to move across the Missouri River.
But the Chiefs and Royals — and the stadiums that they call home — come with an eye-popping cost, a cost that requires help from government handouts. According to the <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article307476771.html">Kansas City Star</a>, a new stadium for the Royals could cost over $1 billion, while renovations for Arrowhead could come with a pricetag of $800 million. 
The cost is worth it to the governor. According to Kehoe’s office, the Chiefs “contribute $575 million annually in economic value and over 4,500 jobs in Jackson County alone, bringing the State of Missouri nearly $30 million in annual tax revenue,” while a “new Royals ballpark district is expected to support 8,400 jobs and generate $1.2 billion in economic output annually.”  
In a statement to The Daily Wire, a Kehoe spokeswoman said that the governor “has been working for months to develop a competitive package to keep both the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs in Missouri where they belong.”
Conservative Republicans in the Missouri Freedom Caucus, however, don’t buy the governor’s economic estimations and don’t want to use taxpayer dollars for the benefit of billionaire owners. Instead, the Freedom Caucus Republicans argue that the state should focus on helping average Missourians with tax cuts. 
“I hate the thought of billions of taxpayer dollars going to fund bread and circuses, to be honest with you,” Republican State Senator Rick Brattin told The Daily Wire. “And that’s exactly what this is, especially when you see the Royals posting the ‘Pride’ stuff and totally disconnected from reality.” 
Brattin added that the Royals can “move to Kansas for all I care,” saying that the team’s games are “sparsely attended.”  
The state senator said his colleagues are prepared to negotiate with the governor to come to an agreement on tax cuts for all Missourians in exchange for stadium funding. He argued that incentives offered to the billionaire sports owners should be matched with tax cuts for average citizens. 
Some Democrats are also questioning the stadium funding, arguing that more money should be allotted for disaster relief after a major <a href="https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/wx/afos/p.php?pil=PNSLSX&amp;e=202505190006">tornado</a> struck St. Louis in May, killing five people and injuring dozens more. 
Paying for major stadium upgrades — or a new stadium — is a major cost for even the billionaire owners of sports franchises. In most cases, cities and states will chip in by offering government subsidies and tax incentives. The return on such a massive investment, however, is minimal for state and city governments, according to John C. Mozena, the president of the Center for Economic Accountability. 
Mozena told The Daily Wire in a phone interview that the economic projections on the stadiums touted by Kehoe’s office are “incredibly flawed.” 
“There is virtually nothing that economists agree on more than the idea that stadiums are terrible investments for governments and terrible economic development tools,” Mozena said. “The reason for that is really simple, it’s that stadiums spend almost their entire lives dark, empty, and silent. Most of the time, there’s nothing going on there.” 
Mozena added that a baseball stadium might draw up to three million people in a good season, which is “about what a single good-sized Walmart Supercenter might do.” 
“These are big facilities with a lot of infrastructure around them that barely ever get used and end up being economic black holes,” said Mozena.  
The stadium funding battle reignites a familiar fight, one that Missouri and Kansas once fought over Applebee&#8217;s. From the 1980s through the early 2000s, Applebee&#8217;s moved its headquarters from Missouri to Kansas and back to Missouri, lured by competing tax incentives. The economic “<a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/668790306">border war</a>” over Applebee&#8217;s ended when the restaurant chain moved to Southern California in 2023. 
The governor is positioning the war over the Chiefs and the Royals as another battle to keep jobs in the state. 
“Governor Kehoe views these efforts as important economic development retention projects, and believes Missouri’s proposal must be competitive to keep these major economic engines in the state, while also being a good deal for taxpayers,” his spokeswoman told The Daily Wire. 
Andy Roth, the president of the State Freedom Caucus Network, said the economic argument doesn’t add up.
“What’s particularly nuts about this whole thing is, by the governor’s own admission, they’re worried the Chiefs and the Royals are going to move 10 miles to the west,” Roth told The Daily Wire. “It’s not like they’re going to Seattle or Florida or New York. They’re literally just going across the road.”  
The economic border war over the two franchises likely won&#8217;t come to an end until at least the end of June as Missouri lawmakers seek to work out a deal with the governor. Kansas’ offer for the Chiefs and Royals is also coming off the table at the end of June, according to Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, the Kansas City Star <a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article307452161.html">reported</a>. 
“If one of them wants to — or both — wants to come to Kansas, we’d love to have them,” Hawkins said. “We have the tools.”

KC-Stadiums

A Tale Of Two Kansas Cities: Chiefs And Royals Spark Political Battle With Potential Stadium Moves

Kansas

Kansas City

Kansas City Chiefs

Missouri

Republicans

In what some expected to be a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/05/06/pride-month-defections-dei-backlash/83376447007/">tamed-down</a> &#8220;Pride Month&#8221; this year due to companies and organizations ditching diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, the MLB is going all in on LGBT festivities.
While the list of MLB teams promoting &#8220;Pride Month&#8221; on social media has grown smaller from 2024 to 2025, 29 of the 30 teams in the league will still celebrate the LGBT lifestyle with a &#8220;Pride Night&#8221; this month. From Atlanta and Kansas City to Cleveland and Phoenix, &#8220;Pride Nights&#8221; are coming to nearly every major league ballpark as every team in the MLB, except the Texas Rangers, has scheduled an LGBT celebration during the month of June.
The <a href="https://www.mlb.com/mariners/tickets/specials/pride">Seattle Mariners</a> will host two &#8220;Pride Night&#8221; events, the first on June 4 vs. the Baltimore Orioles and the second on June 13 vs. the Cleveland Guardians. The team writes on its website, &#8220;We have two amazing Pride Themed Ticket Specials on deck this season – don’t miss your chance to score a Belt Bag on June 4 and Stanley-style Tumbler on June 13. Plus, each night, $5 of every ticket sold will benefit the GSBA [an LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce] Scholarship Fund and Seattle Pride, respectively.&#8221;
The Atlanta Braves, meanwhile, are <a href="https://www.mlb.com/braves/tickets/specials/pride">hosting</a> a &#8220;Pride Night&#8221; on June 3 vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks, which includes &#8220;a pregame party&#8221; and &#8220;a Braves Pride t-shirt.&#8221;
At the historic Fenway Park in Boston, the Red Sox will celebrate &#8220;Pride Month&#8221; against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 9. At the game, fans will have the option to purchase a Red Sox &#8220;Pride&#8221; <a href="https://www.mlb.com/redsox/tickets/promotions/cultural-and-identity-celebrations/pride">hat</a>. The Colorado Rockies, who currently hold the worst record in the MLB, will host a &#8220;<a href="https://www.mlb.com/rockies/tickets/specials/themes/pride">Pride Night</a>&#8221; on June 6 vs. the New York Mets, where &#8220;a portion of each ticket package sold will benefit The Center on Colfax, Colorado’s largest LGBTQIA+ resource and community center, and One Colorado, the state&#8217;s leading advocacy organization for LGBTQIA+ rights.&#8221;
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial&amp;utm_campaign=memorial&amp;utm_content=editorialmemorialday&amp;_gl=1*1qdq03s*_gcl_au*MTYyNDg0MTE0OS4xNzQxODk4NTMz*_ga*MTEzOTk1NjkxNi4xNzI2MzI1MDQz*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*czE3NDgzNzg2NDgkbzEwMDMkZzEkdDE3NDgzODEwMTckajU4JGwwJGgw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get 40% Off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
The Rangers are the only MLB team that has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rangers-pride-mlb-lgbtq-56ce863b94a0d3fde951f9dec14b84b4">never</a> waded into the LGBT messaging during &#8220;Pride Month.&#8221; In response to questions about skipping &#8220;Pride Month&#8221; events, the team stated last year, “Our longstanding commitment remains the same: To make everyone feel welcome and included in Rangers baseball — in our ballpark, at every game, and in all we do — for both our fans and our employees. We deliver on that promise across our many programs to have a positive impact across our entire community.”
While nearly every team is once again throwing a &#8220;Pride Night,&#8221; fewer clubs celebrated &#8220;Pride Month&#8221; on social media on June 1 this year compared to 2024. Only six teams changed their official logos on social media to include some version of the &#8220;Pride&#8221; flag, while another 11 teams wrote a post acknowledging &#8220;Pride Month.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_928219" style="width: 586px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-928219" class="wp-image-928219 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/MixCollage-02-Jun-2025-02-01-PM-9610-576x576.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/MixCollage-02-Jun-2025-02-01-PM-9610-576x576.jpg 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/MixCollage-02-Jun-2025-02-01-PM-9610-300x300.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/MixCollage-02-Jun-2025-02-01-PM-9610-150x150.jpg 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/MixCollage-02-Jun-2025-02-01-PM-9610-768x768.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/MixCollage-02-Jun-2025-02-01-PM-9610-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/MixCollage-02-Jun-2025-02-01-PM-9610-2048x2048.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" />X Screengrabs: Mets, Orioles, Nationals, Phillies, Giants, Rays</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Happy Pride Month! <a href="https://t.co/8cxQkV5wbm">pic.twitter.com/8cxQkV5wbm</a>
&mdash; Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dodgers/status/1929222466997743758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Happy Pride Month! <a href="https://t.co/TjG4fzAEjx">pic.twitter.com/TjG4fzAEjx</a>
&mdash; New York Yankees (@Yankees) <a href="https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1929277462443139181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
June is Pride Month. We are proud to celebrate and support our LGBTQ+ community through advocacy and partnerships with organizations, like Center on Halsted and Howard Brown Health! 🏳️‍🌈
&mdash; Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) <a href="https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/1929182056602378425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Baseball is for everyone 🏳️‍🌈
Celebrate Pride at Comerica Park on June 25th with a special ticket package that includes a Pride bucket hat!
&mdash; Detroit Tigers (@tigers) <a href="https://twitter.com/tigers/status/1929196807168421968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Baseball is for everyone. 🏳️‍🌈<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PrideMonth?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PrideMonth</a> <a href="https://t.co/89axq3y1Xl">pic.twitter.com/89axq3y1Xl</a>
&mdash; Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals/status/1929161008989565403?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Happy Pride Month, Twins Territory! All are welcome here 🩷🩵🤎🖤❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 <a href="https://t.co/er0IcdPGR7">pic.twitter.com/er0IcdPGR7</a>
&mdash; Minnesota Twins (@Twins) <a href="https://twitter.com/Twins/status/1929174897378353323?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Happy Pride Month ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 <a href="https://t.co/ZOluis37Rc">pic.twitter.com/ZOluis37Rc</a>
&mdash; Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mariners/status/1929177363537105149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<h3></h3>
<div id="attachment_928147" style="width: 437px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-928147" class="wp-image-928147 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-02-at-1.17.29%E2%80%AFPM-427x576.png" alt="" width="427" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-02-at-1.17.29%E2%80%AFPM-427x576.png 427w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-02-at-1.17.29%E2%80%AFPM-222x300.png 222w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-02-at-1.17.29%E2%80%AFPM-768x1036.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/06/Screenshot-2025-06-02-at-1.17.29%E2%80%AFPM.png 1082w" sizes=" (max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px" />Screenshot: Blue Jays &#8211; X</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Baseball is for everyone 🫶 <a href="https://t.co/WwBCtThPKD">pic.twitter.com/WwBCtThPKD</a>
&mdash; Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dbacks/status/1929208206468993178?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Happy Pride! 
Celebrate at Coors Field with us on 6/6 ➡️ <a href="https://t.co/YQ3yJZOdtN">https://t.co/YQ3yJZOdtN</a> <a href="https://t.co/h465BoNGlT">pic.twitter.com/h465BoNGlT</a>
&mdash; Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rockies/status/1929197321675239796?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
We are <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BurghProud?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BurghProud</a> 🏳️‍🌈
To kick off Pride Month, we joined the <a href="https://twitter.com/penguins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@penguins</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/steelers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@steelers</a>, and the city of Pittsburgh to spread acceptance, inclusivity, and love at the Pittsburgh Pride Parade this morning. <a href="https://t.co/76bLH1KHjr">pic.twitter.com/76bLH1KHjr</a>
&mdash; Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) <a href="https://twitter.com/Pirates/status/1929251294943863262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Fenway Park Pride Night

Doubling Down: 29 Of MLB’s 30 Teams Celebrate ‘Pride Month’

LGBTQ

Pride Month

Social Issues

Former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner recently announced the tragic death of his 14-year-old son, Miller. 
Gardner shared a statement along with his wife, Jessica, which said the cause of death was unknown at this time and that the teen “passed away peacefully in his sleep” on Friday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Statement from Brett and Jessica Gardner: 
With heavy hearts we are saddened to announce the passing of our youngest son, Miller. He was 14 years old and has left us far too soon after falling ill along with several other family members while on vacation. We have so many… <a href="https://t.co/lBCBVmKGUe">pic.twitter.com/lBCBVmKGUe</a>
&mdash; New York Yankees (@Yankees) <a href="https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1903854341737386272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“With heavy hearts we are saddened to announce the passing of our youngest son, Miller,” the statement said. “He was 14 years old and has left us far too soon after falling ill along with several other family members while on vacation. We have so many questions and so few answers at this point, but we do know that he passed away peacefully in his sleep on the morning of Friday, March 21st.”
“Miller was a beloved son and brother and we cannot yet comprehend our life without his infectious smile,” it continued. “He loved football, baseball, golf, hunting, fishing, his family and his friends. He lived life to the fullest every single day.”
“We are so thankful to all who have reached out to offer support and encouragement during this difficult time and we are confident our faith, family, and friends will help us navigate this unimaginable loss. Our prayers go out to Miller&#8217;s teammates and friends, as well as to all other families who have lost a child far too soon as we share their grief.”
“Please respect our wishes for privacy as we mourn and search for healing,” the statement concluded.
Gardner spent his entire 14-year MLB career with the Yankees. He played his last game in 2021 and has been spending his retirement with his family in South Carolina.
The Yankees issued a statement, saying, “Our hearts are heavy, and the Yankees family is filled with grief after learning of the passing of Miller Gardner. Words feel insignificant and insufficient in trying to describe such an unimaginable loss. It wasn’t just Brett who literally grew up in this organization for more than 17 years — so did his wife, Jessica, and their two boys, Hunter and Miller.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone called the news “unimaginable.”
“We’re heartbroken,” Boone said Sunday, per <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/03/23/sports/yankees-great-brett-gardner-announces-death-of-14-year-old-son-miller/">The New York Post</a>. “We talk about being family all the time and even though Brett’s been gone for a few years, that doesn’t stop. A lot of people in there [in the clubhouse] that know that family intimately. It’s a very tough day and very tough news.”
“As best we can, we’ll be praying for the Gardner family and, where we can, offering support,” he added.

Brett Gardner

Former NY Yankees Star Announces Shocking Death Of 14-Year-Old Son

Former Yankees Star Announces Shocking Death Of 14-Year-Old Son

Death

Major League Baseball umpire Pat Hoberg was fired on Monday after the league said he shared sports betting accounts with a friend who placed money on professional baseball games.
Hoberg — who was widely viewed as one of the best umpires in baseball — was also accused of intentionally deleting messages to his friend with whom he shared the legal gambling accounts. The umpire &#8220;adamantly denied betting on baseball directly or indirectly,&#8221; according to the MLB, but Hoberg&#8217;s friend — a professional poker player — placed numerous bets on MLB games, including five games in which Hoberg was umpiring or had responsibility for replay reviews.
&#8220;An extensive investigation revealed no evidence that Mr. Hoberg placed bets on baseball directly or that he or anyone else manipulated games in any way,&#8221; said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. &#8220;However, his extremely poor judgment in sharing betting accounts with a professional poker player he had reason to believe bet on baseball and who did, in fact, bet on baseball from the shared accounts, combined with his deletion of messages, creates at minimum the appearance of impropriety that warrants imposing the most severe discipline.&#8221;
According to the MLB, Hoberg&#8217;s friend placed 141 baseball bets between April 2, 2021, and November 1, 2023, for a total of $214,000. The umpire&#8217;s friend won nearly $35,000 in those bets, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/umpire-pat-hoberg-fired-gambling-6ab65f3751addfb85a01434b18a81369" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. In a statement, Hoberg said he takes &#8220;full responsibility for the errors in judgment that are outlined in today&#8217;s statement [from the MLB].&#8221;
An analysis of Hoberg&#8217;s umpiring showed no evidence that his calls were influenced by his friend&#8217;s bets, nor did they reveal any connection to a specific team, player, or umpire, <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/43680990/mlb-upholds-firing-ump-pat-hoberg-gambling-violations">according</a> to ESPN. The pair met at a poker tournament in 2014, and they would regularly travel together and watch sports on TV. Hoberg and his friend, who was not named, would use Telegram to keep track of each of their bets on the gambling accounts, and they would settle any debts when they saw each other. Hoberg&#8217;s friend deleted the Telegram account after Hoberg was contacted by MLB investigators, a move Hoberg claimed was due to his embarrassment over the amount of legal bets he had placed on non-baseball events.
&#8220;Those errors will always be a source of shame and embarrassment to me,&#8221; Hoberg added. The umpire said that he &#8220;never and would never bet on baseball in any way, shape, or form&#8221; and that he has &#8220;never provided, and would never provide, information to anyone for the purpose of betting on baseball. Upholding the integrity of the game has always been of the utmost importance to me.&#8221;
Hoberg was praised for correctly calling all 129 balls and strikes during Game 2 of the 2022 World Series. The 38-year-old was first relieved of his duties by the MLB last May, a few months after MLB began its investigation. A lengthy appeals process followed, leading to the league&#8217;s decision on Monday.

Pat Hoberg

MLB Umpire Fired For Sharing Sports Betting Accounts With Friend Who Put Money On Baseball

Bob Uecker, who played <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mlb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major-league baseball</a> for six years for the Milwaukee Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and Atlanta Braves before starting a legendary career as the Milwaukee Brewers’ broadcaster for a whopping 54 years, died on Thursday at the age of 90.
Uecker’s career was anything but legendary; he finished his career with a lowly .200 batting average and only 14 home runs with 731 at-bats. “To make people laugh is a good thing. I used to get questions from my kids about, ‘Why do you do that? Why do you talk about yourself the way you do?’ I said, ‘Because it’s funny and it makes people laugh,” Uecker said.
“Could he hit?” the legendary slugger Hank Aaron <a href="https://www.mlb.com/video/remembering-the-life-and-career-of-bob-uecker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quipped</a>. “I’m just glad I didn’t take his advice. (Hall of Fame pitcher Warren) Spahn, (Hall of Fame third-baseman Eddie) Mathews, myself, we would talk about hitting and everybody would tell, ‘Bob, this conversation you’re out of.”
“I roomed with him in St. Louis,” former Cardinals star catcher and later famed broadcaster Tim McCarver recalled. “And from day one he was screamingly funny.”
“If the ball club was going bad he could say something that could make everybody laugh, relax,” Aaron remembered.
Uecker would <a href="https://www.mlb.com/brewers/news/bob-uecker-favorite-stories-memories?t=brewers-history-trivia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">joke</a> about signing with his hometown Milwaukee Braves for $3,000 in 1956, “That bothered my dad at the time because he didn’t have that kind of dough. But he eventually scraped it up.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl=1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl%3D1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA..&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1737044212122000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3mp2MZNwEXBk00lKmCtOss">CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT</a>
“He’s very funny on the air. But he’s an exceptionally good broadcaster,” Bob Costas declared. “You really feel the game through him.”
“I think where he really shines is when the game is 11 to 2, and it’s the sixth inning, because then you have to go to plan B, and he starts telling stories,” Pat Hughes, his broadcast partner from 1984-1995, said. “That aspect differentiates him maybe, from any other play-by-play man that’s ever lived.”
“Bob is a comedic genius. And no one would have seen it had he not gone on Johnny Carson and done what he did,” McCarver asserted. Carson laughed so often at Uecker’s jokes that he had Uecker on frequently, more than 100 times, and called him “Mr. Baseball.” Uecker’s frequent appearances on &#8220;The Tonight Show&#8221; led to TV and movie roles. But in the end, it was baseball for which he was famous.
Milwaukee adored Uecker. McCarver noted, “When a man has two statues of himself, one outside the stadium and one inside the stadium, that gives you an idea of just how much Bob Uecker has meant to the city of Milwaukee.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Our statement on the passing of Bob Uecker: <a href="https://t.co/OGbzM8QL11">pic.twitter.com/OGbzM8QL11</a>
&mdash; Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) <a href="https://twitter.com/Brewers/status/1879921141932044644?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

New York Mets v. Milwaukee Brewers

‘Comedic Genius’: MLB Hall Of Fame Broadcaster Bob Uecker Dies At 90

Bob Uecker

Media

Milwaukee Brewers

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/mlb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Series</a> scored its highest ratings a Game 5 has seen in years when the Los Angeles Dodgers won the championship 7-6 against the New York Yankees.
On Wednesday night, the Dodgers-Yankees final game averaged 18.6 million viewers across all Fox Sports platforms, including the broadcast network, Fox Deportes, and streaming services, with the main broadcast network having an audience of <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/world-series-2024-tv-ratings-best-7-years-1236050038/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">18.15 million</a> people, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Dodgers&#8217; victory also ended up being a seven-year high for the game since 2017, when the Houston Astros had a seven game victory over the Dodgers with an average audience of 18.93 million.
As a whole, the entire series gave Major League Baseball its fourth largest audience baseball has seen since 2010, trailing only behind the 2016 series with nearly 23 million viewers, 2017&#8217;s 18.93 million viewers, and 2011’s 16.5 million viewers. All three of those series went a full seven games.
This year&#8217;s series averaged 15.81 million viewers over the entire five nights of nail-bitting action on the field, with the first three games in Los Angeles and later to New York as the Dodgers led the series 3-0. However, it was the Yankees who scored a massive win in the fourth game, 11-4, to take it to a fifth game where the Dodgers scored a victory on Wednesday night.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
The year&#8217;s series ended up being a huge draw for viewers in Japan, and it was the first time ever that viewership was larger there than in the United States, driven largely by Japanese-born Dodgers pitcher/designated star hitter <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/greatest-day-in-baseball-history-dodgers-star-sets-new-mlb-milestone">Shohei Ohtani</a>, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/world-series-ratings-soar-in-japan-thanks-to-ohtani">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The 2024 World Series goes in the books as the most watched Fall Classic since 2017 <a href="https://t.co/Xfxqyygn6M">https://t.co/Xfxqyygn6M</a>
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) <a href="https://twitter.com/THR/status/1852472020841193851?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2024</a></blockquote>
The ratings for the second game of the series between LA and NY scored 15.9 million viewers in Japan, while the viewership in the U.S. fell to 13.8 million, making it the second biggest TV market for the series, according to <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/shohei-ohtani-lifts-world-series-tv-ratings-japan-record-1236047222/">data</a> from the Major League Baseball and Fox Corp’s sports division, THR noted.
Due to the 16-hour time difference, the first two games of the World Series, which were held in Los Angeles, aired in Japan on Saturday morning and Sunday morning. After game one, the Dodgers came away with a 6-3 victory over the NY team and LA also scored a 4-2 victory in game two.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/world-series-ratings-soar-in-japan-thanks-to-ohtani" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Series Ratings Soar In Japan Thanks To Ohtani</a>

Los Angeles Dodgers World Series

World Series Scores Highest Ratings In Years For Dodgers’ Game 5 Championship Win

World Series Scores Highest Ratings In Years For Dodgers' Game 5 Championship Win

Entertainment

Los Angeles Dodgers

Ratings

World Series

Menu

MLB