(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Washington 5, Cleveland 2 Atlanta 3, Oakland 1 Texas 6, Miami 0 Toronto 5, Pittsburgh 4 Milwaukee 6, Chi White Sox 3 Kansas City 4, San Diego 3 NY Yankees 7 San Francisco 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE Minnesota 4, Houston 3 Tampa Bay 4, Baltimore 3 Detroit 8, Boston 4 Seattle 5, LA Angels 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE Arizona 5, NY Mets 4 Cincinnati 5, Chi Cubs 2 LA Dodgers 4, Colorado 0 St. Louis 5, Philadelphia 4
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS Edmonton 2, Dallas 1 (Edmonton wins 4-2)
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Connecticut 69, Atlanta 50 Phoenix 87, Los Angeles 68 New York 104, Indiana 68 Minnesota 87, Dallas 76
President Joe Biden wears a helmet presented to him by the NFL Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs as he speaks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, May 31, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden got a chance to get under the helmet with this year’s Super Bowl champs as he welcomed the Kansas City Chiefs to the White House on Friday.
The visit marked the second year in a row that the team met with Biden to celebrate their win and presented the president with his own red and white helmet.
Biden wore the helmet as he commended their 2023 season, where they went 11-6, and their victory against the San Francisco 49ers in a 25–22 overtime win at Super Bowl LVIII.
“You all had your share of struggles when the doubters questioned whether you could pull it off again. Believe me, I know what that feels like,” Biden said. “But anyway, I don’t think anybody’s doubting you now.”
The president commended the team for inspiring fans across the world.
“Everyone watching, especially our children, that’s a powerful lesson about sports in the nation. We’re a great nation because we’re good people. We never give up. We look out for one another,” he said.
Travis Kelce, the team’s star tight end, got extra special attention this season after he began dating Taylor Swift last year. The pop star was frequently seen on the sidelines cheering her boyfriend on throughout the season and playoffs, which created a bigger draw to the games from nonsports fans, according to experts.
Kelce was asked by Biden to come up to the podium and talk during the event.
“My fellow Americans, it’s nice to see you all, yet again. I’m not gonna lie, President Biden, they told me if I came up here, I’d get Tased. So, I’m going to go back to my spot,” Kelce joked.
Swift was not at the White House event.
Among the other players standing behind the president was kicker Harrison Butker, who has come under fire after his May 11 commencement speech at Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts college in Kansas.
Butker criticized Biden over his abortion stance, called Pride Month a “deadly sin” and told the school’s female graduates they had been told “the most diabolical lies.” The NFL distanced itself from Butker’s statements and said the league welcomes diversity.
No one publicly addressed Butker’s comments during the White House ceremony.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid told reporters they were honored to be welcomed by the president. Mahomes said he thought it was cool that Biden put the helmet on.
Josh Gibson of East is out at home in the fourth inning of the 12th annual East-West All Star Negro baseball game at Comiskey Park. Gibson was put out by Ted Radcliffe of the West. The West won, 7 to 4. — Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — From the 1920s to the ’50s, Negro League Baseball (NLB) was the home for Black players who were segregated from the other, whites-only, baseball clubs. And for decades, the stats of those Black players were kept separate from the official Major League Baseball (MLB) record books.
That is, until Wednesday, when MLB officially merged the NLB stats with their own.
As a result, many MLB records have now been supplanted by the achievements of previously overlooked Black players.
Josh Gibson, for example, now holds the records for highest career batting average, with .372, surpassing Ty Cobb. Gibson’s .718 slugging percentage and 1.177 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) also beats the great Babe Ruth, according to ESPN, while his .459 career on-base percentage now ranks as the third-highest of all-time.
Another player who has made his way onto the updated list of power hitters is fellow Baseball Hall of Famer Norman “Turkey” Stearnes. One of the best hitters in NLB history, he boasted a .348 lifetime batting average and 21 more home runs than Gibson, with 186.
Stearnes’ granddaughter, Vanessa Ivy Rose, spoke with “Start Here” about her reaction to hearing the news about the merger.
START HERE: You’ve been talking about this issue for a long time. You even hosted a season of ABC’s podcast “Reclaimed” on this, called “The Forgotten League.” What was your reaction to hearing this news today?
Vanessa Ivy Rose: To be honest, I was stunned. I mean, it felt like a dream come true. And I was so happy and so proud of my grandfather, who obviously is no longer here. But to see that he’s getting this recognition, this visibility – and it’s not just about him, but about his brothers and sisters who played in the Negro Leagues, too, as well. To see them actually be introduced to the mainstream public in this way and being cemented as legends. I mean, this was unbelievable. I’m still taking it all in. I can’t believe it.
START HERE: In the show, you talk about your grandfather’s legacy: what it means to your family, what it means to baseball as a whole. What is your family’s reaction today, first, and also what have they said about your grandfather in the past?
Vanessa Ivy Rose: You know, it really starts with my grandmother. I have to talk about her first, because my grandfather passed away in 1979 and my grandmother is no longer with us but in 1979, she started writing letters to advocate for my grandfather to be in the Hall of Fame, to make sure that people knew who he was outside of our family and outside of historians. So I know she’s in heaven jumping for joy right now and just celebrating, hopefully with Grandpa Turkey, too. They’re probably just so ecstatic to see this and to see it come to fruition.
My mom, Joyce, and my aunt, Rosalyn, have been advocating for so long – giving speeches, talking about things pertaining to my grandfather’s legacy and talking about his story. And so to have everybody across the country be able to see Turkey Stearne’s name and know that he can kind of become a household name now is just unbelievable.
START HERE: Speaking of everybody seeing his name, your grandfather in these new stats is now sixth in all-time batting average. He’s sixth in all-time slugging percentage. He was a great baseball player. But those stats that have got him on to these record books now, they haven’t changed for decades. So why, in your view, has this recognition taken so long?
Vanessa Ivy Rose: Well, the Negro League’s history has been hidden for quite some time, and when we look at the Negro League’s players, we would always think of them in terms of, like, the mainstream. He’s like a hidden figure, you know, my grandfather is, and also all the other players who came along with him. But everyone knows Jackie Robinson. That’s the name that they remember, that’s the name that they see, and that’s a face that they can recognize.
I think the stats have been hidden for quite some time because they’ve been cast away. They were deemed as unimportant. The segregation of the league actually had people thinking, “Okay, why should we care about these people? They don’t matter.”
We talked to Bob Kendrick, who’s the president of the Negro League’s Baseball Museum for the podcast, to get a better sense of the history behind the Negro Leagues. So now that people actually know the Negro Leagues were there and they can go back and look at some of the history that we can find – because a lot of it has been lost to time and a lot of those statistics are not able to be found, a lot of the box scores and different things – this opportunity for people to actually see, “Okay. Wow! Look at these players. They were excellent!” as you mentioned. They’re some of the greatest of all time. They should have been playing in the major leagues all along.
START HERE: In your podcast, one of the images that struck me the most was the plaque of your grandfather, and the fact that his plaque is on the outside of Tiger Stadium, while the other Tiger greats, the other Detroit greats, are on the inside of Tiger Stadium. So, I guess that leads to my question of, as you mentioned, this league was repeatedly overlooked. There has been this big victory now with these stats, but is there more to do in your eyes?
Vanessa Ivy Rose: You know, in terms of the plaque, It’s an amazing plaque. I go visit it every time I go down to Comerica Park. I was just there Sunday and went over to granddad and kissed it and told him that I loved him because, , he wore number 8 and actually the game that we were at, the Toronto Blue Jays went up on us in the 8th inning, 11 to 9. And number 8, Matt Verley, came up in the bottom of the 9th and hit a home run to win the game for us. And I was like—
START HERE: He was right there with you.
Vanessa Ivy Rose: Right there with us, you know? So, he’s always there. People do ask, “How come it’s outside instead of inside?” And the main reasoning behind it in terms of what the Tigers told us at the time was because he wasn’t a Detroit Tiger, he was a Detroit star, he didn’t get a statue inside of Comerica Park where they have all those other Tiger greats: Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, and so on and so forth, right?
It still hurts. It’s like a bittersweet thing. It’s amazing. The plaque is unbelievable outside, but we wish grandpa had been a Detroit Tiger because he belonged there, clearly, with the stats that we see now.
START HERE: Aside from that, is there more to be done just across the league, in your view, in recognizing, the Negro Leagues?
Vanessa Ivy Rose: Yeah. You know, the work never ends. And so when we’re looking at the game of baseball and trying to grow the game of baseball and looking at how many Black kids are playing baseball, or just the fact that the Negro Leagues today are being talked about, and like I said, even educators that I know are walking up to me today going, “Wow, this is amazing.” But they just learned about Turkey Stearnes literally because of the podcast or literally just this year. And these are educated people with master’s degrees and everything, right? So we’re missing that piece overall in terms of education. And that’s what this is going to provide: the opportunity for people to learn more and to see what they didn’t learn, what was left out on purpose. And so baseball has the opportunity to not just be a sport, but it’s going to be transformative and provide education for people to help this world be better.
START HERE: Vanessa Ivy Rose, the granddaughter of Turkey Stearnes, the host of “The Forgotten League.” Check it out. Thank you so much for your time today.
Vanessa Ivy Rose: Thank you so much for having me. It’s such an honor.
Lexi Thompson of the United States looks on during a practice round prior to the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at Lancaster Country Club on May 29, 2024 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A 29-year-old player on the women’s professional golf tour has announced her retirement, citing the pressures that come with playing a professional sport in the public eye.
Lexi Thompson, a 12-year veteran of the LPGA, confirmed she will retire from professional golf at the end of this season in an open letter she shared on Instagram on May 28.
“Although this has been an amazing journey, it hasn’t always been an easy one,” Thompson said in the letter, which was shared on Instagram along with a video montage of highlights from her career. “Since I was 12 years old, my life as a golfer has been a whirlwind of constant attention, scrutiny and pressure. The cameras are always on, capturing every swing and every moment on and off the golf course.”
“Social media never sleeps, with comments and criticisms flooding in from around the world,” she added. “It can be exhausting to maintain a smile on the outside while grappling with struggles on the inside.”
Thompson made history when she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at the age of 12 in 2007, becoming the youngest person to ever do so, according to her LPGA biography.
Over the course of her career, Thompson became an 11-time LPGA Tour winner, a major champion, a two-time Olympian and earned over $14 million.
Thompson said in her retirement video that amid her career highs, she has found comfort in speaking publicly about her mental health “battles.”
“By opening up about my own battles, I’ve been able to connect with others who feel isolated in their struggles, offering them a sense of community and understanding,” she said. “Each time I share, it reinforces the message that it’s OK to not be OK, and that seeking support is a sign of strength, not weakness.”
Thompson also spoke about the role mental health played in her decision to retire from professional golf in a press conference Tuesday at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open, the same tournament where her career started.
“I think we all have our own [mental health] struggles, especially out here,” she said. “Unfortunately in golf, you lose more than you win, so it’s an ongoing battle to continue to put yourself out there in front of the cameras and continuing to work hard and maybe not seeing the results you want and getting criticized for it. So it’s hard. I will say, yes, I’ve struggled with it. I don’t think there’s somebody out here that hasn’t. It’s just a matter of how well you hide it, which is very sad.”
She continued, “It’s an important thing to address and be okay with getting help and getting the support and surrounding yourself with the people that support you and love you because there are always people who do care so much about you and will help you get through those tough moments.”
Thompson’s comments on mental health come just days after the parents of professional golfer Grayson Murray confirmed the two-time PGA Tour winner died by suicide.
“Life wasn’t always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now,” Eric and Terry Murray said in a statement about their son.
Other professional athletes have also spoken publicly about the pressures of competing in the public eye, including gymnast Simone Biles and Los Angeles Rams backup quarterback Stetson Bennett, who recently confirmed his time away from the team last season was related to mental health.
Thompson said that in her experience, being a professional athlete can be “lonely.”
“Being out here, it can be a lot. It can be lonely. Sorry if I get emotional,” she said Tuesday, fighting back tears. “A lot of people, they don’t realize a lot of what we go through as a professional athlete … We’re doing what we love. We’re trying our best every single day and we’re not perfect. We’re humans. Words hurt, and it’s hard to overcome sometimes.”
She credited a core group of people around her with helping her “get through some really hard times.”
“I think it’s a lot for everybody out here, or in any professional sport,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know what we go through and the amount of training and hard work that we put ourselves through. It’s a lot and I think we deserve a lot more credit than what we get.”
If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal, substance use or other mental health crises, please call or text 988. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Pittsburgh 0, Detroit 8 (Doubleheader, game 1) Pittsburgh 10, Detroit 2 (Doubleheader, game 2) Cleveland 4, Colorado 7 Kansas City 6, Minnesota 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE Oakland 3, Tampa Bay 4 Baltimore 6, Boston 1 NY Yankees 2, Los Angeles Angels 1 Toronto 3, Chi White Sox 1 Seattle 2, Houston 1 Arizona 1, Texas 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE LA Dodgers 10, NY Mets 3 Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 5 Milwaukee 10, Chi Cubs 6 Washington 7, Atlanta 2 San Francisco 1, Philadelphia 6 San Diego 1, Miami 9
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS Dallas Stars 2, Edmonton Oilers 5
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Pittsburgh, Detroit (Postponed) Cleveland 13, Colorado 7
AMERICAN LEAGUE Oakland 3, Tampa Bay 0 Baltimore 3, Boston 8 NY Yankees 3, Los Angeles Angels 4 Toronto 7, Chi White Sox 2 Seattle 4, Houston 2 Arizona 2, Texas 4
NATIONAL LEAGUE LA Dodgers 5, NY Mets 2 (Doubleheader, game 1) LA Dodgers 3, NY Mets 0 (Doubleheader, game 2) Cincinnati 1, St. Louis 7 Milwaukee 3, Chi Cubs 6 Washington 0, Atlanta 2 San Francisco 1, Philadelphia 0 San Diego 4, Miami 0
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS Minnesota 105, Dallas 100
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS NY Rangers 2, Florida Panthers 3 (OT)
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Colorado 8, Cleveland 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE Baltimore 11, Boston 3 Minnesota 6, Kansas City 5 Toronto 5, Chi White Sox 1 Seattle 3, Houston 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE LA Dodgers at NY Mets (Postponed) Cincinnati 3, St. Louis 1 Milwaukee 5, Chi Cubs 1 Washington 8, Atlanta 4 San Francisco 8, Philadelphia 4 San Diego 2, Miami 1
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS Boston 105, Indiana 102 (Boston wins series 4-0)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS Dallas 5, Edmonton 3 (Dallas leads series 2-1)
Grayson Murray of the United States hits a tee shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club on May 23, 2024 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tim Heitman/Getty Images)
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Professional golfer and PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died by suicide on Saturday morning at 30 years old, according to his family and PGA officials.
“We have spent the last 24 hours trying to come to terms with the fact that our son is gone,” Eric and Terry Murray said in a statement Sunday shared by the PGA. “It’s surreal that we not only have to admit it to ourselves, but that we also have to acknowledge it to the world. It’s a nightmare. We have so many questions that have no answers.”
They later added: “We would like to thank the PGA TOUR and the entire world of golf for the outpouring of support. Life wasn’t always easy for Grayson, and although he took his own life, we know he rests peacefully now.
“Please respect our privacy as we work through this incredible tragedy, and please honor Grayson by being kind to one another. If that becomes his legacy, we could ask for nothing else.”
“We were devastated to learn — and are heartbroken to share — that PGA TOUR player Grayson Murray passed away this morning,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said Saturday in a statement, adding: “I am at a loss for words.”
Murray’s passing comes one day after withdrawing from the Charles Schwab Challenge on Friday, citing an illness, according to ESPN.
Monahan said the Charles Schwab Challenge would continue as scheduled and that he’s been in contact with Murray’s parents.
“I reached out to Grayson’s parents to offer our deepest condolences, and during that conversation, they asked that we continue with tournament play,” Monahan said. “They were adamant that Grayson would want us to do so. As difficult as it will be, we want to respect their wishes.”
Murray’s career in professional golfing was distinguished with several major titles, since becoming the second-youngest player to compete in the Korn Ferry Tour at 16 years old.
He won his second PGA Tour title at this year’s Sony Open in Hawaii after winning the 2017 Barbasol Championship.
Murray reached a career-high of 46th in the Official World Golf Ranking after his victory in Hawaii.
Murray was open about his past battle with alcoholism and depression, saying in January that he’s been sober since early 2023.
“The PGA Tour is a family, and when you lose a member of your family, you are never the same,” Monahan said in the statement Saturday. “We mourn Grayson and pray for comfort for his loved ones.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Colorado 9, Oakland 10 Texas 2, Philadelphia 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE Toronto 9, Detroit 1 Seattle 0, NY Yankees 5 Baltimore 8, Chicago White Sox 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE Cincinnati 4, San Diego 6 Chicago Cubs 0, Atlanta 3 San Francisco 7, Pittsburgh 6
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS Indiana Pacers 110, Boston Celtics 126
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION New York Liberty 81, Chicago Sky 90 Minnesota Lynx 82, Connecticut Sun 83 Washington Mystics TBA, Phoenix Mercury TBA
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE Edmonton Oilers TBA, Dallas Stars TBA
