Sport Scores

(Flickr Creative Commons) DETROIT, MI—Tom Gage is a Detroit baseball writer who will be inducted this month into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as the 2015 Spink Award winner, the highest honor in the field. (The New Yorker’s Roger Angell won last year.) Gage is due to give a speech this month during the lavish induction weekend in Cooperstown, New York. Trouble is? He’s unemployed. Gage was the longtime Tigers…

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CINCINNATI — There is no doubt. Not after another All-Star game MVP. Not when player after player and manager after manager rained down compliments on him. Not after he took Zack Greinke deep on the fourth pitch of the game —  the pitcher who hadn’t allowed a run in over a month.  Mike Trout is the best player in baseball. He is the reigning American League Most Valuable Player. He has…

Baseball fans filled The Banks to take in All-Star Game on Tuesday. Major League Baseball All Stars, their families and team mascots cruised through Cincinnati Tuesday. More The All-Star Game brings stars of sports and Hollywood to town for the big games and events surrounding it. More “I couldn’t see myself anywhere else,” Bryon Vann said. Even without a ticket Vann…

I know they both receive plenty of attention, but while looking over the All-Star rosters it struck me that we’re seeing something truly special with Angels center fielder Mike Trout and Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper being the two best players in baseball at ages 23 and 22. Trout, the reigning MVP, leads the American League in home runs, slugging percentage, runs scored, and Wins Above Replacement at age 23….

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

I know they both receive plenty of attention, but while looking over the All-Star rosters it struck me that we’re seeing something truly special with Angels center fielder Mike Trout and Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper being the two best players in baseball at ages 23 and 22. Trout, the reigning MVP, leads the American League in home runs, slugging percentage, runs scored, and Wins Above Replacement at age 23….

Baseball’s Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown, New York, where legend holds that baseball was invented virtually from scratch by 20-year-old Abner Doubleday in 1839. Alas, as with so many other things in this American life, the Doubleday story is largely a matter of marketing. The Strange Truth Behind Nine Baseball Traditions At the turn of the century, baseball’s popularity was rapidly expanding. Entrepreneur Al Spalding — a former…

AP Masanori Murakami in 1964 He changed the relationship between Japan and Major League Baseball. Then what happened? More The Disappointing Reason Babe Ruth Left Baseball This Map Shows the Best and Worst Cities for Baseball Fans In baseball, not all pioneers are created equal. Some, like Jackie Robinson, are recognized immediately as formative figures whose impact reverberates forever, in the game and throughout society. Others, though, need some time…

Jake Kelzer (pictured) announced his intention to return for another season at IU on Tuesday.(Photo: Courtesy photo / IU Athletics) Tags Christian Morris New York Yankees Indiana Hoosiers Chicago Cubs If Christian Morris’ departure for the pros a week ago dealt a blow to Indiana’s pitching rotation, then that wound was at least partially healed Tuesday when Jake Kelzer announced his intention to return. Kelzer, a 6-8 redshirt sophomore who…

CINCINNATI — Before the American League and National League All-Star managers announced their starting lineups at a media conference on Monday, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred took the podium to announce a new $30 million partnership with the MLB Players Association to foster participation in youth baseball around the United States. Manfred, who has decried the growing perception of baseball as a “country club sport” reserved for those with the increasing…

It’s Monday, which means our regularly scheduled programming of This Week in (Dumb) Baseball is ready for consumption. As regular readers already know, this feature has the title, sure, but it’s mostly for fun— a fact that eludes the masses but remains the case. For example, if you tell me to “quit whining,” you are missing the point. I’m mostly chuckling to myself as I write these things (with some…

I know they both receive plenty of attention, but while looking over the All-Star rosters it struck me that we’re seeing something truly special with Angels center fielder Mike Trout and Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper being the two best players in baseball at ages 23 and 22. Trout, the reigning MVP, leads the American League in home runs, slugging percentage, runs scored, and Wins Above Replacement at age 23….

CINCINNATI — When Bryce Harper was 16 years old, a Sports Illustrated cover dubbed him “Baseball’s Chosen One.” He spent the next three years becoming, almost inarguably, the sport’s most hyped prospect of all time, then graduated to the Major Leagues in 2012 and became the sport’s most hyped rookie of all time. Harper far exceeded any reasonable expectations for a 19-year-old (and for a 20-year-old, and for a 21-year-old)…

Pretend you are in a batter’s box getting ready to face former Rockies all-star pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. Now blink. By the time your eyes are open again, Jimenez’s 95 mph fastball would have screamed past you for strike one. It takes 0.40 of a second to complete a full blink and 0.395 of a second for that 95 mph fastball to travel from the mound to the plate, according to…

ENLARGE By the age of 9, Bryce Harper was a coveted free agent. Long before he became the best player in the National League, he would leave his family’s home near Las Vegas on weekends and join travel teams playing everywhere from California to Georgia. He had a year-round schedule, bankrolled by strangers looking to profit from his mere presence. 86th MLB All-Star Game Cincinnati Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET (Fox)…

In Short Child Baseball Simulator, you will not be able to make very many meaningful decisions. You’ll just watch yourself as you continue to fail, and you’ll be lectured endlessly about life lessons, morals, and other things you do not care about. In other words, it’s just like childhood. Enjoy! Oh, and if you’re on mobile and are having trouble accessing the game, click here.

In Monday’s USA Today, an ardent Pete Rose fan named Dana Buttrick tried to make a case for baseball opening its doors to his hero. His comments screamed out for a rebuttal. So rebut I will. “Everybody loves Pete Rose,’’ Buttrick said. Everybody who loves a man who continues to lie about the extent of his gambling on baseball loves Pete Rose. “Pete is the Reds.’’ If Pete is the…

CINCINNATI — When Bryce Harper was 16 years old, a Sports Illustrated cover dubbed him “Baseball’s Chosen One.” He spent the next three years becoming, almost inarguably, the sport’s most hyped prospect of all time, then graduated to the Major Leagues in 2012 and became the sport’s most hyped rookie of all time. Harper far exceeded any reasonable expectations for a 19-year-old (and for a 20-year-old, and for a 21-year-old)…

CINCINNATI — The new format for the Home Run Derby was — pardon the pun — a grand slam. In fact, I’m gonna go grandiose here and say it: That was the best Home Run Derby ever. Sure, it helped that Todd Frazier won in front of the Reds fans, but that’s what pushed it over the top. The new format already had this thing saved before Frazier even hit….