A decade ago, the languishing St. Louis Rams were ranked dead last in the NFL with a franchise valuation of $930 million.
Faced with an unappealing stadium lease and dwindling prospects in St. Louis, the Rams turned their attention westward, toward their Los Angeles roots. Quietly, they acquired two parcels of land at the former Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood, where they would eventually build SoFi Stadium, a state-of-the-art venue that would redefine the franchise and reshape the NFL’s footprint in Los Angeles.
This valuation comes a month after CNBC ranked Stan Kroenke’s portfolio of teams — the Rams, the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and Premier League’s Arsenal — the most valuable in sports at $21.2 billion.
Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Rams owner Stan Kroenke talk before a preseason game at SoFi Stadium Saturday. The Cowboys and Rams are the two most valuable NFL franchises, according to a new Sportico report.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The Rams join the Lakers as the city’s second sports franchise with a valuation of at least $10 billion. The latter was based on an actual sale. In June, the Buss family entered into an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Lakers to Dodgers owner Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion.
The Chargers, who are tenants at Kroenke’s stadium, are 21st on the Sportico list at $6.2 billion, one spot up from last year.
The valuations are based on the team itself, along with any businesses and real estate holdings related to the team.
David Carter, principal at The Sports Business Group and adjunct professor of sports business at USC, said teams are usually valued based on a multiple of their annual revenue, and that valuation also takes into account the likelihood of future revenue growth.
“For Kroenke and the Rams, this has always meant monetizing SoFi in as many ways possible, while simultaneously positioning the venue as a global leader in sports and entertainment,” he wrote in an email to the Times. “Having accomplished this, and with the team’s strong fan bases – both traditional and corporate – the recipe is in place to continue to achieve high valuations, especially when you also consider the team’s competitiveness of late.”
Attaching a number to these teams is largely an academic exercise, because the only true test comes when they are sold — and those sales are rare.
Three NFL franchises have changed hands in the past 10 years: the Washington Commanders (2023), Denver Broncos (2022) and Carolina Panthers (2018).
Writes Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen: “Scarcity is a major driver in pushing team values higher, as more billionaires are minted each year and franchises are rarely added.”
Carter said the NFL franchise valuations published by Sportico and others aren’t entirely accurate because they don’t fully reflect the supply and demand for teams at any given time.
“The ultimate price, should a team be sold, will be determined by factors in real time,” he wrote, “such as how many bidders there are and how many teams are for sale at the time. This typically results in franchises being sold for more than the reported value calculated by the trade press. Nonetheless, these valuations serve as an important data point to those in the industry.”
As for the Rams, their valuation matters more directionally than numerically, reflecting success and stability in Los Angeles more than a specific price tag.
“As we enter our 10th season back in Los Angeles, Stan Kroenke’s vision to create the world’s greatest sports and entertainment district at Hollywood Park – and to build one of the NFL’s greatest stadiums – continues to help build the profile of the Rams and the NFL,” said Kevin Demoff, president of team and media operations for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
“While these rankings may reflect that, the focus remains on building great teams and a district that Angelenos can enjoy, more than focusing on valuations.”
From Jack Harris: On the first day of spring training, at a Camelback Ranch facility adorned with ever-present reminders of the team’s 2024 World Series title, a Dodgers staff member took in the scene, then chuckled while reflecting on the club’s trek to a championship.
“Last year was not a fun year,” the staff member said. “At least, not until the end.”
Indeed, in the afterglow of the franchise’s first full-season title in more than three decades, the turbulent path getting there became easy to forget.
Last season’s Dodgers dealt with a wave of injuries to the pitching staff, inconsistencies in the lineup, and the club’s lowest full regular-season win total (98) in six years.
Fast-forward six months, and this year’s Dodgers find themselves in a similar place.
They are again navigating absences on the mound and in the bullpen over the last several weeks. Their offense has gone from leading the majors in scoring over the first half of the season, to suddenly sputtering over the last month and a half.
And after a 7-4 loss to the Angels on Monday, in the opener of a three-game Freeway Series at Angel Stadium, they are on pace for only 92 victories with a 68-51 record, clinging to what has dwindled to just a one-game lead in the National League West over the San Diego Padres.
Instead, the 37-year-old quarterback with a back issue was in a shiny metal Airstream-like trailer that sat next to the field and was emblazoned with the Ammortal logo. The chamber offers “absolute state of the art in restoration and rejuvenation,” according to the company’s website.
“It wasn’t anything specifically related to his back that he was doing in there,” coach Sean McVay said.
Hmm…
Stafford’s back, specifically what McVay has described as an aggravated disc, has been the overarching story for a Rams team that will be regarded as a Super Bowl contender if the 17-year pro is physically sound enough to lead them.
From Steve Henson: The pay is nonexistent, but the perk could be viewing games in the U.S., Mexico and Canada for free during the FIFA World Cup next summer.
FIFA launched the application process for the World Cup volunteers Monday. How many are needed? A staggering 65,000 across the 16 cities that will host the expanded 48-team format over 39 days beginning June 11, the largest volunteer program FIFA has ever attempted.
“Volunteers are the heart, soul and smile of FIFA tournaments,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. “They get to show off their local pride, gain a behind-the-scenes view of the tournament and make memories and friendships that can last a lifetime, while supporting a historic event.
“We hope interested individuals will join us as we welcome the world to North America in 2026.”
Volunteers in the past ranged from students to seniors. No experience is required but applicants must be at least 18 years old. Interested individuals can apply at fifaworldcup.com/volunteers.
1876 — Madeleine wins two straight heats over Canada’s Countess of Dufferin to defend the America’s Cup.
1936 — Rosalind, driven by Ben White, wins the Hambletonian Stakes in straight heats.
1937 — Shirley Hanover, driven by Henry Thomas, wins the Hambletonian Stakes in straight heats.
1942 — The Ambassador, driven by Ben White, wins the Hambletonian Stakes in the third heat.
1953 — Helicopter, driven by Harry Harvey, wins the Hambletonian Stakes in the third heat.
1978 — Cold Comfort, driven by 23-year-old Peter Haughton, ties the International Trot mark of 2:31 3-5 at Roosevelt Raceway which makes Haughton the youngest driver to win the International.
1990 — Wayne Grady of Australia sheds his runner-up image with a 3-stroke victory over Fred Couples in the PGA Championship.
1995 — Ernie Els sets a PGA record with the lowest three-day score in a major. Els, with a 197, holds a three-stroke lead in the PGA Championship.
2000 — Evander Holyfield scores a 12-round unanimous decision over John Ruiz in Las Vegas to win the vacant WBA heavyweight title.
2007 — Tiger Woods captures the PGA Championship to win at least one major for the third straight season and run his career total to 13. Woods closes with a 1-under 69 for a two-shot victory over Woody Austin.
2008 — American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins his 3rd of 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics when he takes the 200m freestyle in world record 1:42.96.
2011 — Tiger Woods misses the cut at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. With one final bogey for a 3-over 73, Woods finishes out of the top 100 for the first time ever in a major. He is 15 shots behind Jason Dufner and Keegan Bradley.
2012 — The U.S. men’s basketball team defend its title by fighting off another huge challenge from Spain, pulling away in the final minutes for a 107-100 victory and its second straight Olympic championship. The victory by the men’s basketball team gives the United States its 46th gold medal in London, the most ever by Americans in a “road” Olympics.
2012 — Rory McIlroy breaks the PGA Championship record for margin of victory that Jack Nicklaus set in 1980. McIlroy sinks one last birdie from 25 feet on the 18th hole to give him a 6-under 66 for an eight-shot victory. McIlroy closes out a remarkable week by playing bogey-free over the final 23 holes of a demanding Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C.
2016 — Katie Ledecky caps off one of the greatest performances in Olympic history with her fourth gold medal and second world record, shattering her own mark in the 800-meter freestyle. Ledecky is the first woman since Debbie Meyer swept the three longer freestyle events at the same Olympics. Meyer took the 200, 400 and 800 at the 1968 Mexico Games.
2017 — Usain Bolt ends his stellar career in excruciating pain. The Jamaican great crumples to the track with a left-leg injury while chasing a final gold medal for the Jamaican 4×100-meter relay team at the world championships in London. Having to make up lots of ground on the anchor leg, Bolt suddenly screams and stumbles as he comes down with the first injury he has experienced at a major competition.
2018 — Brooks Koepka wins his first PGA Championship, playing poised and mistake-free golf down the stretch amid ear-splitting roars for Tiger Woods and a late charge from revitalized Adam Scott. Koepka becomes the fifth player to win the U.S. Open and the PGA in the same year.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1948 — In the second game of a doubleheader, the Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns 26-3 with a 29-hit barrage. The Indians set a major league record as 14 players hit safely.
1964 — Mickey Mantle hit a home run both left- and right-handed in a 7-3 win over the Chicago White Sox. It was the 10th time in his career, a major league record.
1966 — Art Shamsky of the Cincinnati Reds connected for three home runs in a 14-11, 13-inning loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field. Two of the homers came in the 10th and 11th innings.
1970 — Curt Flood lost his $41-million antitrust suit against baseball.
1974 — Nolan Ryan of the Angels set an American League record by striking out 19 in a 4-2 win over the Boston Red Sox. Ryan, who walked two, bettered the 18 strikeouts set by Bob Feller in 1938 and tied the major league record set by Steve Carlton in 1969 and Tom Seaver in 1970.
1984 — Perhaps one of the ugliest brawl-filled games in major league history took place in Atlanta. Atlanta’s Pascual Perez hit San Diego’s Alan Wiggins in the back with the first pitch of the game. It escalated as the Padres pitchers retaliated by throwing at Perez all four times he came to the plate. The game had two bench-clearing brawls, the second of which included several fans and 19 ejections including both managers and both replacement managers. The Braves beat the Padres 5-3. San Diego manager Dick Williams would be suspended for 10 days and fined $10,000 while Atlanta manager Joe Torre and five players each received three-game suspensions.
1986 — Don Baylor of the Boston Red Sox set an AL record when he was hit by a pitch for the 25th time for the season, breaking the record he had shared with Bill Freehan (1968) and Norm Elberfield (1911). Kansas City’s Bud Black was the pitcher as the Royals completed a doubleheader sweep with a 6-5 victory.
1988 — The Boston Red Sox set an AL record with their 23rd straight victory at home, beating the Detroit Tigers 9-4. Boston surpassed the league mark of 22 set by the 1931 Philadelphia Athletics.
1994 — Major league baseball players went on strike for the sport’s eighth work stoppage since 1972.
1998 — Alex Rodriguez becomes the fourth youngest player to 100 home runs in a 11-5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
2010 — Casey McGehee set a franchise record with his ninth straight hit, going 4 for 4 and leading the Milwaukee Brewers to an 8-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. McGehee had a solo homer, a two-run double, an RBI single and another single.
2015 — Clayton Kershaw tied Sandy Koufax’s franchise record of six straight 200-strikeout seasons while tossing eight scoreless innings, and Los Angeles defeated Washington 3-0. Kershaw struck out the side in the second to equal the mark set by Koufax from 1961-66.
2015 — Hisashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners throws a no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Orioles. Iwakuma becomes the second Japanese pitcher to throw a no-hitter following Hideo Nomo.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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Matthew Stafford was at the Rams’ facility on Monday, but not on the field for his first scheduled practice.
Instead, the 37-year-old quarterback with a back issue was in a shiny metal Airstream-like trailer that sat next to the field and was emblazoned with the Ammortal logo. The chamber offers “absolute state of the art in restoration and rejuvenation,” according to the company’s website.
“It wasn’t anything specifically related to his back that he was doing in there,” coach Sean McVay said.
Hmm…
Stafford’s back, specifically what McVay has described as an aggravated disc, has been the overarching story for a Rams team that will be regarded as a Super Bowl contender if the 17-year pro is physically sound enough to lead them.
A restorative and rejuvenation chamber parked at Rams practice in Woodland Hills. Matthew Stafford spent time in the chamber while his teammates practiced Monday.
(Gary Klein / Los Angeles Times)
From the day the Rams reported for training camp last month, McVay maintained that Stafford would be ready for the Sept. 7 opener against the Houston Texans. And given Stafford’s well-documented toughness and grit, it would not be a complete surprise if he is under center that day at SoFi Stadium.
McVay said from the start that he was not concerned about Stafford’s condition — the Rams, Stafford, team trainers and spine specialist Dr. Robert Watkins had a “week to week” plan in place to manage his workload in the run-up to the opener.
Asked Monday if he was now concerned, McVay moved a bit from his previous answers.
“The fair answer is I’m going to take it a day at a time as well,” McVay said, “because I can’t be 27 days from now [playing] Houston. We have to be able to have agility and flexibility, and that’s not exclusive to Matthew. … I do think it’s important to get some work in, but not at the expense of following the plan that we’ve talked about.”
Veteran Jimmy Garoppolo will continue to take first-team reps in team workouts and during Thursday’s joint practice with the New Orleans Saints in Carson.
Stafford would not have participated in the joint practice, but McVay had hoped he would have emerged from a throwing session on Saturday without any setbacks.
According to McVay, Stafford had looked good while throwing more than 60 passes at the Rams’ Woodland Hills facility hours before the preseason opener against the Dallas Cowboys.
“Had a great workout, felt good, but then came in [Monday] and it doesn’t feel great,” McVay said. “And so, didn’t feel like it was the right decision to be able to push him.”
The Rams will be “flexible and fluid” with Stafford’s situation, McVay said.
“We’re going to be smart,” he said.
Stafford was sidelined the final seven games of the Rams’ lost 2022 season because of a spinal bruise. But McVay has said his current condition was not related to that injury.
Stafford received an epidural injection a few weeks ago.
When asked if surgery had been discussed, McVay said “that hasn’t been a conversation that we’ve had.”
If the Rams were opening the season this week, would Stafford be able to play?
“I don’t know that,” McVay said. “I think he still probably would be able to play just based on how he feels.”
Will Stafford practice Tuesday if he is feeling better?
“I don’t know if we’ve gotten to that point yet,” McVay said. “Sometimes when you set expectations, they’re not met. What’s the first response? There’s frustration, and that’s OK to feel that way.
“But how can we move forward accordingly and most importantly, support a guy that when he gets out here we are going to be really excited about it.”
Etc.
Defensive linemen Kobie Turner and Poona Ford and safety Kam Curl returned to practice after sitting out a few days because of injuries. … Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. (hamstring) and rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson (hamstring) worked on the side with trainers. … Rams signed tight end McCallan Castles to a one-year deal and waived injured tight end Anthony Torres.
In 2020, inside the clang-and-clatter of Neshoba Central High’s powerlifting gym, Jarquez Hunter’s coach laid down a dare: squat 645 pounds on three counts.
With a nod and quick coat of chalk, Hunter went to work. Challenges don’t faze him.
At a Mississippi water company three years prior, Hunter’s co-workers coaxed him into a pickup basketball game. Still in his button-down shirt and cowboy boots, the 5-foot-9 Hunter went airborne. And dunked.
In those same boots, the Rams’ rookie running back completed more delicate tests: He patiently broke and nurtured a horse that he eventually rode across Auburn’s campus.
“Stay true to the thing you’re doing,” Hunter said.
On Saturday at SoFi Stadium, Hunter made his NFL debut in a preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys, Lining up behind quarterback Stetson Bennett, he took a handoff on a third-and-six play and mimicked a sprinter stealing a head start — his shoulders low and knees churning. Hunter knifed through the defense and broke for an 11-yard gain.
“That was a great run,” said Rams coach Sean McVay. “He’s knocking guys back and finishing forward where what might be a four-yard run ends up being an eight-yard or seven-yard run.”
That bruising style helped Hunter rush for 3,371 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns in four seasons at Auburn. The Rams selected Hunter in the fourth round of the 2025 NFL draft, adding him to a running back corps that features starter Kyren Williams and second-year pro Blake Corum.
“He’s definitely laser-focused on what you’re saying,” Rams running backs coach Ron Gould said during training camp.
Or, as McVay illustrated it: “He can stare a hole through you.”
Gould dubbed Hunter’s speed as his “super power,” a gift confirmed by a 4.44-second 40-yard dash. But Hunter’s ability to twist defenders out of position mid-chase is his calling card. Proof? He amassed 278 yards in 23 carries last October against Kentucky.
“Since I was in middle school growing up, I did a lot of squatting,” Hunter said. “I do a lot of leg workouts. I run hills and pull sleds. That’s really how I get the power in my legs.”
Rams linebacker Chris “Pooh” Paul Jr., a fellow rookie, played against Hunter three times at Arkansas before Paul transferred to Mississippi. Every matchup against Hunter’s Tigers, Paul said, was the same headache.
Rams running back Jarquez Hunter is tackled by the Dallas Cowboys defense during a preseason game Saturday at SoFi Stadium.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
“We knew he ran hard,” the Rams linebacker said. “We knew he was hard to bring down. We knew he had speed. Very good in pass [protection]. … Man, he’s very dangerous.”
But that danger vanishes once the pads come off. They’re replaced by the patience of a country boy.
Hunter, who also stashes party tricks like leaping out of a swimming pool, grew up in the rolling greens of central Mississippi. And back home, Hunter’s most loyal running mate doesn’t wear pads. Danger, a chestnut quarter horse with a white blaze down his face and a deep copper coat, was born the same summer Hunter first wore an Auburn jersey.
The colt was born while Hunter was driving home for a short break before fall camp, its spindly legs still wobbly in the pasture.
The patience to break a horse, the stubbornness to work one until it trusts you, the dawn-to-dusk commitment of tending to something that can’t speak back — Hunter said he swears it all bleeds into his game.
“When you’re out there working with animals, you gotta stay true,” Hunter said, “you gotta go with the training. You still gotta work with them.”
That same discipline shows when Hunter rides his ATV up a steep hill, hauls in catfish by hand, or waits patiently for a buck in the woods — and it’s the same grit he’ll lean on as he pushes for a place in the Rams’ running back rotation.
For now, Hunter will line up again Saturday against the Chargers, with a chance to outpace the 41 yards he logged in 11 carries in his debut.
“Pretty decent,” Hunter said, “but it’s things I got to fix.”
Because for Hunter, the fixes are the fun part of challenges — whether it’s mending a missed block, pumping out another squat or winning the trust of a restless colt.
Staff writer Gary Klein contributed to this report.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford watched his team’s 31-21 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday after completing his first extensive passing workout earlier at the Rams’ Woodland Hills training facility.
Stafford, who had not practiced because of a back issue, threw more than 60 passes during the workout, coach Sean McVay said.
“It was awesome,” McVay said. “He looked good. He threw the ball really well, there was no limitations in terms of the types of throws — deep, intermediate, short. … And he felt really good.
“And so looking forward to progressing him back into practice on Monday. But it was a good step in the right direction.”
Stafford, 37, is working through an aggravated disc issue. McVay said he did not know if Stafford felt discomfort during the workout, and that the 17th-year pro would participate only in individual drills on Monday.
Earlier in the week, McVay said Stafford was not scheduled to participate in a scheduled joint practice with the Chargers on Wednesday. That practice has been canceled, McVay said, because of Chargers injuries.
“I think they’re a little bit banged up,” McVay said, adding that he had spoken with Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh. “Bummer that we weren’t able to get that done, but I totally understand. And we’ll figure out a way to get great work against ourselves.”
Receiver Konata Mumpfield made multiple plays. So did running back Jarquez Hunter and other Rams rookies during training camp and a joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys.
A true evaluation about their progress, however, cannot be completed by coach Sean McVay and his staff until the first-year players perform in a live-tackling situation.
The first opportunity for rookies and others to truly demonstrate that they are worthy of regular-season roles comes Saturday when the Rams play the Cowboys in a preseason game at SoFi Stadium.
But the most notable development for the Rams will probably occur hours before kickoff.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford, sidelined during training camp because of an aggravated disc in his back, is scheduled to go through his first significant passing workout at the Rams’ facility in Woodland Hills. McVay said the 17th-year pro would begin practicing next week.
McVay does not play starters or other significant players during preseason games, so veteran backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will not play.
Tight end Terrance Ferguson, a second-round draft pick, probably won’t play because of a hamstring issue that has sidelined him for the last week.
Here are five things to watch Saturday when the Rams face the Cowboys at 4 p.m. PDT (ABC):
From Anthony De Leon: Rashawn Slater, the Chargers’ star left tackle who became the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history last month, sustained a torn patellar tendon in practice and will undergo season-ending surgery, the team announced Thursday.
Slater went down in team drills after going up against edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu. As Slater planted his left foot, he collapsed to the ground and immediately grabbed his leg.
A quiet hush fell over the Chargers’ facility while Slater stayed down for several minutes before trainers and teammates helped him onto a cart. Slater appeared visibly distraught — throwing his helmet, slamming his hand on the cart and burying his face in his hands. Several teammates walked over to console him before he left the field.
Two trainers supported him as he entered the team facility. He was unable to put any weight on his left leg.
But not at SoFi Stadium, where the Rams will play the Dallas Cowboys in a preseason game.
Coach Sean McVay said Thursday that the back issue that has sidelined Stafford since the start of training camp was related to an aggravated disc, and that Stafford recently received an epidural from spine specialist Dr. Robert Watkins.
Stafford will go through a workout at the Rams’ Woodland Hill facility Saturday morning.
From Ira Gorawara: When Julie Vanloo drew her second traveling violation before halftime, the crowd’s disapproval rose in unison.
On the floor, with tempers simmering on the Sparks’ bench, a delay-of-game whistle drew another round of jeers from the Crypto.com Arena crowd.
The calls weren’t the only sources of frustration for the Sparks — the team also was trailing the last-place Connecticut Sun by 10 points.
Still, the flare-up might have been what the Sparks needed to rally to a 102-91 victory over the Sun to earn their eighth win in nine games.
“Since the beginning of the season, I’ve been optimistic about what this team would look like and why I want to be here and why I want to continue to be here,” Dearica Hamby said. “[This team is] one of the fastest teams I’ve been with. … We’re not done yet, we’ve got a lot more to accomplish.”
From Ben Bolch: UCLA’s defense, the biggest unknown on the team a year ago, is facing even more questions.
A slew of players moved on to the NFL. No full-time starters return. Success will depend on several players with promising pedigrees but limited college production becoming playmakers.
As he stepped off a team bus Wednesday afternoon in Costa Mesa amid the warmest day of training camp, the temperature reaching 82 degrees before warmup stretches, Key Lawrence did not appear to feel any sort of heat, literal or figurative. The transfer safety who has made previous college stops at Tennessee, Oklahoma and Mississippi was humming a tune, savoring every moment of this new opportunity.
From Eric Sondheimer: The Little League team from Honolulu has a chance to become a three-time world champion.
Winners of the Little League World Series in 2018 and 2022, the team from Hawaii earned a spot in this year’s World Series on Thursday night with a 4-1 win over Fullerton Golden Hill in San Bernardino. They will travel to Williamsport, Pa., where the World Series begins on Wednesday.
Golden Hill’s only two losses came from Honolulu, including a 1-0 loss to start the tournament. It was the first time in the league’s 69-year history that a team had advanced to the West Region final.
Pitcher Bronson Fermahin took advantage of his team scoring three runs in the first two innings by throwing lots of strikes. He had eight strikeouts through the first four innings and finished with 11 in 5 ⅔ innings before Golden Hill pushed across a run with two outs in the sixth.
1902 — The United States, led by William Larned, beats Britain three matches to two to capture the Davis Cup.
1903 — Britain wins the Davis Cup by beating the United States 4-1.
1936 — At the Berlin Olympics, the United States finishes 1-2-3 in the men’s decathlon. Glenn Morris sets a world record with 7,900 points, followed by Robert Clark and Jack Parker.
1981 — Shiaway St. Pat, driven by Ray Remmen, wins the first Hambletonian Stakes run at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. in four heats.
1982 — Ray Floyd, who shot a record 63 in the opening round, wins the PGA championship by three shots over Lanny Wadkins.
1984 — Carl Lewis sets the Olympic record in the 200 meters with a 19.80 clocking.
1987 — Mack Lobell, driven by John Campbell, wins the Hambletonian in straight heats with a record-smashing performance. Mack Lobell wins the second heat, and the race, by 6¼ lengths over Napoletano in 1:53 3-5, a fifth of a second off the world all-age trotting record set by Prakas in 1985.
1992 — The Dream Team picks up its gold medal and Carl Lewis anchors a world-record 400-meter relay, winning his eighth gold medal in three Olympics. The U.S. basketball team beats Croatia 117-85, with the 32-point margin of victory the smallest of the Games. In the 400, Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell, Dennis Mitchell and Lewis set a world record of 37.40 seconds. Steve Lewis anchors another world-record as the Americans won the 1,600 relay by nearly half the length of a football field. The team of Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Michael Johnson and Lewis ran the 1,600 in 2:55.74.
2006 — Roger Goodell is chosen as the NFL’s next commissioner. Favored for months to get the job, he is unanimously elected by the league’s 32 owners on the fifth ballot.
2010 — Sparks forward Tina Thompson scores 23 points to become the WNBA’s all-time scoring leader in a 92-83 loss to the San Antonio Silver Stars. She surpasses Lisa Leslie’s career total of 6,263 points. Thompson is the last of the original WNBA players.
2012 — Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States become the first three-time gold medalists in Olympic beach volleyball history. The duo beat Jennifer Kessy and April Ross 21-16, 21-16 in the all-American final, extending their Olympic winning streak to 21 matches.
2012 — Brittney Reese wins the long jump, becoming the first U.S. woman to win the Olympic long jump since Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988. Caster Semenya makes her Olympic debut three years after being forced to undergo gender tests, finishing second in her 800 heat.
2015 — Katie Ledecky ends her world swimming championships in spectacular style, lowering her own world record by 3.61 seconds in the 800-meter freestyle for her fifth gold medal. The 18-year-old American completes a sweep of the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles in Kazan, Russia. She was the anchor leg on the victorious 4×200 free relay, too.
2018 — The NCAA Board of Governors and Division I Board of Directors adopt a “series of significant policy and legislative changes” as part of an effort to “fundamentally” change the NCAA’s structure. The NCAA changes eligibility rules, allowing top prospects to hire agents in high school and giving college players more leeway to return after declaring for NBA draft.
2021 — USA women’s basketball team wins it’s record extending 7th consecutive Olympic gold medal with 90-75 win over Japan in Tokyo; guards Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each win their 5th straight gold.
2021 — USA Women’s volleyball defeats Brazil in straight sets to win the gold medal. It’s the first olympic gold medal in USA Women’s volleyball history. The win gives the United States 39 gold medals, breaking a tie with China on the final day of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1903 — A week after pitching his first doubleheader triumph, Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity of the New York Giants scored a double victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers 6-1 and 4-3. In the second game, he stole home.
1915 — Philadelphia’s Gavy Cravath hit four doubles and drove in eight runs in a 14-7 victory over the Reds at Cincinnati.
1920 — Howard Ehmke of the Detroit Tigers pitched the fastest 1-0 game in American League history — 1 hour, 13 minutes, for a victory against the New York Yankees.
1931 — Bob Burke of the Washington Senators pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox.
1954 — The Brooklyn Dodgers pounded the Cincinnati Reds 20-7 at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers scored 13 runs in the eighth inning after two were out.
1973 — Designated hitter Orlando Cepeda hit four doubles as the Boston Red Sox posted a 9-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
1985 — Baseball, after a two-day walkout, resumed playing with 18 games scheduled, including five doubleheaders.
1988 — The first night game scheduled in the 74-year history of Chicago’s Wrigley Field’s was postponed with the Cubs leading the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 after heavy rains started in the bottom of the fourth inning. Philadelphia’s Phil Bradley led off the game with a home run, but all numbers were wiped out when the rain came.
1992 — Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley had his consecutive save record snapped at 40. His consecutive save records — 36 straight to start a season, and 40 straight over two seasons — ended trying to protect a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals. Eckersley gave up a two-out, two-run single to Gregg Jefferies to give the Royals a 3-2 lead. But the Athletics came back to win the game in the ninth, 5-3.
1997 — Randy Johnson struck out 19, matching the major league record for left-handers he had tied earlier this season, as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Chicago White Sox 5-0.
1998 — Paul Molitor stole his 500th base in Minnesota’s 6-3 loss to Baltimore become the fifth player with 3,000 hits and 500 steals. Molitor joined Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Eddie Collins and Lou Brock.
2000 — Darren Dreifort of the Dodgers hit two homers and was the winning pitcher in a 7-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
2001 — Damion Easley went 6-for-6 with a home run and three RBIs as Detroit pounded Texas 19-6.
2014 — Bartolo Colon records the 200th win of his career in the Mets’ 5-4 win over the Phillies.
2016 — Brandon Crawford became the first major league player in 41 years to get seven hits in a game, putting the San Francisco Giants ahead to stay with an RBI single in the 14th inning of an 8-7 victory over the Miami Marlins. Crawford tripled, doubled and had five singles in eight at-bats.
2018 — Milwaukee’s Jesus Aguilar, Travis Shaw and Eric Thames hit consecutive first-inning homers to spoil the debut of San Diego’s Brett Kennedy in the Brewers 8-4 win over the Padres.
2018 — Jacob deGrom struck out 10 over six innings, received rare significant run support and earned his first win in nearly two months as the New York Mets blanked the Cincinnati Reds 8-0. Brandon Nimmo tied a team record with three doubles and drove in three runs as the Mets won for the 22nd time in their last 66 games. DeGrom (6-7) ended a seven-start winless streak, allowing four hits in a 100-pitch outing and lowering his major league-leading ERA to 1.77.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has been sidelined because of a back issue, will work out for the first time Saturday before the Rams play the Dallas Cowboys at SoFi Stadium, coach Sean McVay said Thursday.
Stafford, 37, is dealing with an aggravated disc, and recently received an epidural for the condition, McVay said, confirming what was first reported by NFL Media.
“Part of getting the epidural was part of the plan,” set up by spine specialist Dr. Robert Watkins, McVay said, adding that Saturday’s workout was “on par with the schedule that we always had.”
McVay said Stafford would practice next week, though he will not participate in a joint practice with the Chargers.
“And then you’ll just continue to see his workload increase as long as he’s feeling good,” McVay said. “If this was in-season he would be playing right now.”
Etc.
Edge rusher Jared Verse left the field assisted by trainers after what McVay said was an incident in which he bumped knees with lineman Braden Fiske.
From Kevin Baxter: Only one player in the last 110 years has tried to do what the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani is doing this season, which is to pitch and hit successfully at the big-league level.
Babe Ruth twice won more than 20 games and led the American League in ERA and starts before the Red Sox, then the Yankees, decided pitching was distracting from Ruth’s hitting and put him out to pasture in right field.
Over the next three seasons, Ruth broke the major league record for home runs three times.
The Dodgers and Ohtani insist he’ll remain a two-way player for the time being, but recent performances suggests both the Red Sox and Yankees may have been on to something when they took Ruth off the mound.
Ohtani made his eighth start of the year Wednesday and it was his best as a Dodger, with the right-hander giving up just a tainted run on two hits and striking out a season-high eight in four innings. Perhaps more important, he also slugged his first home run in 10 games in the third inning of a 5-3 matinee loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
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ANGELS
Junior Caminero hit his 29th and 30th homers, Christopher Morel had a go-ahead shot and six Tampa Bay pitchers combined to strike out 16 in the Rays’ 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.
Caminero hit a career-long 447-foot shot with a man on in the first, and had a solo homer in the third. Morel was 0 for 6 with six strikeouts in the series before hitting his solo homer in the seventh.
It was Caminero’s third two-homer game this season and he reached 101 RBIs for his career.
From Kevin Baxter: A woman will umpire a major league game for the first time Saturday when Jen Pawol works the bases during Saturday’s doubleheader between the Atlanta Braves and visiting Miami Marlins at Truist Park.
For Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, that announcement Wednesday brought one response: It’s about time.
“That’s great. I’ll be watching,” he said of Pawol, who will work behind the plate Sunday. “It’s good for the game. It’s fantastic.”
The NHL is the only major U.S. pro sport that hasn’t used female officials. The NBA was the first league to break the gender barrier, with Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner calling games in 1997. MLS followed a year later with Sandra Hunter and Nancy Lay-McCormick refereeing separate games on the same day. The NFL’s first woman official was line judge Shannon Eastin, who made her debut in 2012.
Like Ohtani, Son Heung-min has been the most popular athlete in his home country by a wide margin for close to a decade. Like Ohtani, Son has a pleasant disposition that has endeared him to people from a wide range of backgrounds.
Son was introduced as the latest addition to LAFC at a news conference on Wednesday at BMO Stadium, and he was everything he was made out to be.
He came across as sincere.
He was warm.
He was funny.
“I’m here to win,” Son said. “I will perform and definitely show you some exciting …
“Are we calling it football or soccer?”
None of this means Son will turn LAFC into the Dodgers overnight, of course. By this point, Major League Soccer and its teams understand that profile players aren’t transformative figures as much as they are building blocks. Son will be the newest, and perhaps most solid, block that will be stacked on the foundation established by the club’s first designated player, the now-retired Carlos Vela.
1952 — Bion Shively, 74, drives Sharp Note to victory in the third heat of the Hambletonian Stakes.
1982 — Speed Bowl wins the Hambletonian Stakes in straight heats with 25-year-old Tom Haughton in the sulky, the youngest to win the Hambletonian.
1983 — Norway’s Grete Waitz takes the women’s marathon in the first world track and field championships at Helsinki, Finland.
1992 — Sergei Bubka, the world record-holder and defending Olympic champion, fails to clear a height in the pole vault.
2005 — Justin Gatlin dominates the 100 meters at the track and field championships in Helsinki. The Olympic champion wins in 9.88 seconds, finishing 0.17 seconds ahead of Michael Frater of Jamaica. The margin of victory is the largest in the 10 world championships held since the meet’s inception in 1983.
2012 — Aly Raisman becomes the first U.S. woman to win Olympic gold on floor. She picks up a bronze on balance beam on the final day of gymnastics at the London Olympics and just misses a medal in the all-around.
2016 — Jim Furyk becomes the first golfer to shoot a 58 in PGA Tour history. Three years after Furyk became the sixth player on tour with a 59, he takes it even lower in the Travelers Championship with a 12-under 58 in the final round.
2016 — American swimmer Katie Ledecky sets a new world record with a time of 3:56.46 to win the gold medal in the women’s 400m freestyle at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
2021 — Kevin Durant with 29 points leads USA to his third and the team’s 4th consecutive Olympic men’s basketball gold medal with an 87-82 win over France in Tokyo.
2021 — Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra wins his country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal in Tokyo.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1907 — Walter Johnson won the first of his 417 victories, leading the Washington Senators past the Cleveland Indians 7-2.
1922 — Ken Williams of the St. Louis Browns hit two home runs in the sixth inning of rout over the Washington Senators.
1923 — Cleveland’s Frank Bower went 6-for-6 with a double and five singles as the Indians routed the Washington Senators 22-2.
1956 — The largest crowd in minor league history, 57,000, saw 50-year-old Satchel Paige of Miami beat Columbus in an International League game at the Orange Bowl.
1963 — Jim Hickman of the New York Mets hit for the cycle in a 7-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at the Polo Grounds. Hickman’s cycle came in single-double-triple-homer order.
1985 — The strike by the Major League Baseball Players Association ended with the announcement of a tentative agreement. The season resumed Aug. 8.
1999 — Wade Boggs became the first player to homer for his 3,000th hit, with a two-run shot in Tampa Bay’s 15-10 loss to Cleveland. Boggs already had a pair of RBI singles when he homered off Chris Haney in the sixth inning.
2004 — Greg Maddux became the 22nd pitcher in major league history to reach 300 victories, leading the Chicago Cubs to an 8-4 victory over San Francisco.
2007 — San Francisco’s Barry Bonds hit home run No. 756 to break Hank Aaron’s storied record with one out in the fifth inning, hitting a full-count, 84-mph fastball from Washington’s Mike Bacsik. Noticeably absent were Commissioner Bud Selig and Aaron. The Nationals won 8-6.
2016 — Ichiro Suzuki tripled off the wall for his 3,000th hit in the major leagues, becoming the 30th player to reach the milestone as the Miami Marlins beat the Colorado Rockies 10-7.
2016 — Manny Machado became the second player in major league history to homer in the first, second and third innings, driving in a career-high seven runs in a 10-2 victory over Chicago.
2018 — Bartolo Colon of Texas became the winningest pitcher from Latin America in the Rangers’ 11-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners. After six tries, the 45-year-old right-hander got his 246th career victory and finally broke the tie with Nicaragua’s Dennis Martinez. Colon gave up four runs and eight hits in seven innings and improved his record to 6-10.
2021 — Host nation Japan wins its first ever gold medal in Olympic baseball by defeating the United States 2-0.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
From Jack Harris: It might be a cliché this time of year, how injured players who return after the trade deadline can serve as de facto deadline acquisitions themselves.
Immediately after Muncy went down with a knee injury in early July, the club’s lineup entered a deep midseason slump. Its actual deadline acquisitions, which included only one hitter in outfielder Alex Call, had underwhelmed the fan base.
Thus, when Muncy returned to action Monday night, the Dodgers were desperately hoping the veteran slugger could provide a spark.
Twenty-four hours later, he did it with two thunderous swings.
In the Dodgers’ 12-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, Muncy officially christened his comeback with a four-for-five, four-RBI performance that included a pair of no-doubt home runs off Miles Mikolas — picking up almost exactly where he left off before suffering a July 2 knee injury that he feared would end his season.
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ANGELS
Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer and Jake Mangum had a two-run single during the Tampa Bay Rays’ seven-run fourth inning in a 7-3 victory over the Angels on Tuesday night.
Yandy Díaz scored a run and drove in another during the decisive inning in Tampa Bay’s third win in 13 games.
Ryan Pepiot (7-9) yielded five hits and two earned runs while pitching into the sixth inning for Tampa Bay, breaking his five-start winless streak.
From Ira Gorawara: The Indiana Fever arrived in Los Angeles draped in momentum: Five straight wins, a knack for winning without Caitlin Clark and betting lines tilting their way. Their tear was proof they could keep pace even with their franchise centerpiece in street clothes.
But another storyline might’ve been tucked beneath Indiana’s.
The Sparks had ripped off six wins in their previous seven outings, probably fueled by the rare luxury of having every piece of their roster back for the first time in more than a year. And by night’s end at Crypto.com Arena, they had won seven of eight, the Sparks grinding out a 100-91 victory.
“Tonight was a great step in the right direction,” guard Kelsey Plum said. “That’s an incredible team, and they’re as hot as anyone. … They got everything it takes to make a run for a championship. So for us to come out and have that level of intensity, I was really proud.”
Keenan Allen, who racked up more than 10,000 receiving yards during an 11-season stint with the Chargers before being traded away in a salary-cap move, agreed to a deal with the team Tuesday.
“Obviously, we know how good he’s been throughout his career,” Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz said, “and he’s out there on the market still, and [it was the] chance to bring someone of his caliber back we know can help us win games.”
From Gary Klein: Kyren Williams spent Tuesday morning meeting with his agent and the Rams to work out the final details of a contract extension.
The Rams running back finished the day dashing, darting and diving on the field during a joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys.
“Life is good,” Williams said after the workout. “Life is good.”
It’s certainly richer.
Williams, a fourth-year pro, received a three-year extension. Terms of the deal were not announced but Williams is guaranteed about $23 million, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person requested anonymity because the contract has not been processed.
From Kevin Baxter: LAFC’s signing of South Korean national team captain Son Heung-min appears to be one of those rare acquisitions that checks every box and helps everybody. Not only is it one of the most significant signings in MLS history, but it instantly makes LAFC better while boosting the World Cup hopes of the Korean national team and the profile of Korean soccer in the U.S.
But in few places will the influence of the signing, which is expected to be completed Tuesday, be felt more directly than in Southern California’s Korean community, the largest in the U.S.
“The Korean community has been buzzing ever since rumors of Son Heung-min’s potential move to LAFC began to spread,” said Kyeongjun Kim, a writer with the Korean Daily, the largest Korean-language media outlet in the U.S. “The fact that a player of his caliber is coming to L.A. is monumental event.
From Jad El Reda: Don’t call him a traveler. Chad Baker-Mazara said that his journey through four universities allowed him to land in the place he had been looking for since the beginning of his college basketball adventure.
Baker-Mazara, 25, arrived at USC in May. The veteran is hoping to help lead young players in the locker room and on the court after joining his fifth team since 2020.
He began his journey with at Duquesne in 2020-21, then moved on to San Diego State for the 2021-22 season in search of a better fit on the roster. He fell behind academically in San Diego and was dismissed from the team when he couldn’t catch up on classwork. Baker-Mazara then traveled to the East Coast to play for Northwest Florida State College during the 2022-23 season while getting back on track academically before landing a spot on the Auburn roster during the 2023-25 seasons.
It has been a unique journey, but he is confident that he will write the most important chapter of his basketball career with the Trojans during the upcoming season.
1958 — Glen Davis of Columbus, Ohio, sets a world record in the 400 hurdles with a time of 49.2 in Budapest, Hungary.
1966 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Brian London in the third round to retain his world heavyweight title.
1972 — South African Gary Player wins his second PGA golf championship with a two-stroke victory over Jim Jamieson and Tommy Aaron.
1978 — John Mahaffey beats Tom Watson and Jerry Pate on the second playoff hole to win the PGA Championship.
1984 — American athlete Carl Lewis wins long jump (8.54m), his second of 4 gold medals at Los Angeles Olympics.
1991 — Debbie Doom of the U.S. pitches her second consecutive perfect game in women’s softball at the Pan American Games. Doom threw a perfect game at the Netherlands Antilles in the opener and matches that performance against Nicaragua, winning 8-0.
1992 — Carl Lewis leads a U.S. sweep in the long jump in the Olympics with a mark of 28 feet, 5 1-2 inches on his first attempt. Mike Powell takes the silver and Joe Greene the bronze. Kevin Young demolishes one of track’s oldest records with a time of 46.78 seconds in the 400 hurdles. Bruce Baumgartner becomes the first American wrestler to win medals in three straight Olympics, taking the gold in the 286-pound freestyle division.
1994 — Jeff Gordon wins the Brickyard 400, the first stock car race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
1995 — Canada’s Donovan Bailey wins the 100 meters at World Track and Field Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, marking the first time since 1976 an American fails to win a medal in the event at a major meet.
2001 — Two-time champion Marion Jones is disqualified and has her string of 42 consecutive 100m final victories snapped by Zhanna Pintusevich-Block of Ukraine at the World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, Canada.
2006 — Tiger Woods (30) becomes the youngest player with 50 PGA Tour wins after a 3 stroke victory over Jim Furyk in the Buick Open.
2006 — Floyd Landis is fired by his team and the Tour de France no longer considers him its champion after his second doping sample tested positive for higher-than-allowable levels of testosterone.
2006 — Sherri Steinhauer wins the Women’s British Open for the third time, and the first since it became a major.
2008 — Sammy Villegas, a former University of Toledo basketball player, is charged with point shaving. Villegas is accused of shaving points during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
2008 — Kim Terrell-Kearney wins the first pro championship match featuring two Black bowlers, beating Trisha Reid 216-189 in the U.S. Bowling Congress’ U.S. Women’s Open. Terrell-Kearney collects her second U.S. Women’s Open title and third career major title.
2010 — Tyson Gay upsets the defending world and Olympic champion Usain Bolt in a race between the two fastest runners in history. Gay beats the Jamaican at the DN Galan meet in 9.84 seconds at the same stadium where Bolt last lost a race two years ago. Bolt finishes second in 9.97.
2015 — Ryan Lochte becomes the first man to win the 200-meter individual medley four consecutive times at the world swimming championships. Lochte comes home strong on the freestyle lap and touches first in 1:55.81 in Kazan, Russia.
2017 — I.K. Kim won the Women’s British Open, hanging on with a 1-under 71 for a two-shot victory over Jodi Ewart Shadoff and her first major championship.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1908 — John Lush threw a six-inning, rain-shortened no-hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals, who beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0. It was Lush’s second no-hitter against the Dodgers.
1933 — Pinky Higgins of the Philadelphia Athletics hit for the cycle and drove in five runs in a 12-8 win over the Washington Senators.
1952 — Satchel Paige, 46, became the oldest pitcher in major league history to pitch a complete game or a shutout when he beat Virgil Trucks and the Detroit Tigers 1-0 in 12 innings.
1972 — Hank Aaron hit his 660th and 661st career home runs to break Babe Ruth’s record for most home runs with one club. The 661st came in the 10th inning to give the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 triumph over the Cincinnati Reds.
1981 — As a result of a seven-week strike, major league baseball players approved a split-season format. The New York Yankees, Oakland A’s, Philadelphia Phillies and Dodgers were declared the first-half champions and automatically qualified for the divisional series.
1985 — The Major League Baseball Players’ Association went on strike.
1986 — The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles 13-11 in a record-setting battle of grand slams. Texas’ Toby Harrah hit a grand slam in the second inning before Larry Sheets and Jim Dwyer connected for grand slams in Baltimore’s nine-run fourth.
1988 — Rich Gossage registered his 300th career save, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4.
1999 — Tony Gwynn went 4-for-5, singling in his first at-bat to become the 22nd major leaguer to reach 3,000 hits, as the San Diego Padres beat the Montreal Expos 12-10.
2001 — Boston’s Scott Hatteberg performed the ultimate baseball opposite. Hatteberg hit a grand slam one at-bat after lining into a triple play as the Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 10-7. Hatteberg lined into a triple play in the fourth inning and in the sixth he hit his second career grand slam to move Boston ahead for good.
2002 — At 32, Robb Nen became the youngest player to record 300 saves, as San Francisco beat the Chicago Cubs 11-10. Nen became the 16th member of the 300-save club.
2007 — St. Louis tied a major league record with 10 straight hits in a 10-run fifth inning, with pitcher Braden Looper and Aaron Miles getting two apiece in a 10-5 victory over San Diego.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
On Tuesday, the Rams and the fourth-year pro agreed to terms on a three-year contract extension, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person requested anonymity because the deal has not been signed.
The extension includes about $23 million in guarantees, the person said.
Williams’ extension is the first by the Rams for a running back since they gave Todd Gurley a then-record deal in 2018.
The Rams and Williams’ agent, Drew Rosenhaus, had been negotiating since the end of the 2024 season. General manager Les Snead had said the Rams would “definitely like to engineer a long-term partnership,” with Williams, but progress was slow.
Williams, a 2022 fifth-round draft pick from Notre Dame, is scheduled to earn $5.4 million in the final season of his rookie contract, according to Overthecap.com.
Williams rushed for more than 1,100 yards in each of the last two seasons, and is regarded as an integral part of an offense that features quarterback Matthew Stafford and receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.
Williams said at the start of training camp that he gave no thought to not reporting or not participating in drills. Rosenhaus met with Rams executives at Loyola Marymount on July 23 but no agreement was reached then.
Williams said throughout the offseason and at the start of camp that he was confident a deal with the Rams would get done.
From Kevin Baxter: Brock Stewart slumped in front of a mostly empty locker in the middle of the Dodgers clubhouse Monday afternoon, a stall that used to belong to pitcher Dustin May, as clubhouse attendants rushed over with boxes of brand new size 13 cleats.
A week ago Stewart was pitching for the Minnesota Twins, who wear red cleats. The Dodgers don’t, so Stewart needed a makeover.
“I got blue gloves coming too,” he said.
Getting dressed properly isn’t the only thing players have to worry about when they change teams in the middle of the season. Stewart had a home and family in Minnesota to pack up and move when he learned Thursday that he had been traded from a team with a losing record to one chasing a second straight World Series title.
By late Monday evening, Stewart found himself in the middle of that pennant race when he took the mound in the ninth inning of a tie game. It didn’t end well, with Stewart (2-2) surrendering a run on three hits while getting just two outs in a 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
It was a rude homecoming for the right-hander, who was drafted by the Dodgers in 2014 but waived five years later after pitching 36 times over parts of four seasons. After he remade himself during a six-year sojourn in which dropped down to independent ball, Stewart was brought back to Los Angeles to stabilize an overworked, injury-plagued bullpen that has struggled.
In his first appearance at Dodger Stadium in the home uniform since 2019, he added to those struggles, giving up hits to the first two batters he faced, then falling behind 2-0 to pinch-hitter Yohel Pozo, who flared a single over the infield to drive in the go-ahead run.
For manager Dave Roberts, one bad outing won’t change Stewart’s role.
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ANGELS
Jo Adell hit a two-run homer, Yusei Kikuchi surrendered four hits in six innings and the Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 on Monday night.
The Rays (55-59) struck in the opening inning when Yandy Díaz doubled to right and scored on Junior Caminero’s sacrifice fly to center field. Kikuchi (5-7) escaped without further damage and finished with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Angels pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts.
Yoán Moncada reached on a fielder’s choice for the Angels in the second inning before Adell launched a 428-foot homer to left-center off Adrian Houser (6-3), putting the Angels (55-58) ahead 2-1.
From Anthony De Leon: The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office will not pursue charges against Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman, who was arrested on suspicion of felony weapons possession Friday night, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Dept. records.
Perryman was arrested after deputies allegedly discovered five firearms — including two assault-style weapons — in his vehicle during a traffic stop Friday night, the agency said in a statement. He was released from jail Monday afternoon and his arrest will be listed as a detention on his record.
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh publicly addressed the situation Monday, saying he visited with the veteran linebacker in jail over the weekend.
“He’s working through the legalities along with his representation,” said Harbaugh before Perryman’s release from jail. “Had a chance to see him yesterday, whenever I visited, and he was in good spirits. And love Denzel. He’s always done right. He’s never been in trouble. They’ve got a beautiful family.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said the president plans on creating the task force by executive order on Tuesday, telling The Times that Trump “considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle.”
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles,” Leavitt said. “Sports is one of President Trump’s greatest passions, and his athletic expertise, combined with his unmatched hospitality experience will make these Olympic events the most exciting and memorable in history.”
It is unclear whether the executive order will provide relief as city leaders and the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the privately funded nonprofit organization known as LA28 that is planning the Games, negotiate key issues including security costs.
1936 — At the Berlin Olympics, Jesse Owens wins his third of four gold medals, winning the 200-meter race in an Olympic-record 20.7 seconds.
1954 — The first election for the Boxing Hall of Fame is held. Twenty-four fighters are elected, with the most noteworthy from the modern era Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and Henry Armstrong. Fifteen are selected from the pioneer era including John L. Sullivan, Gentleman Jim Corbett and Jack Johnson.
1967 — The Denver Broncos beat the Detroit Lions, 13-7, in a preseason game, for the first AFL victory over an NFL team.
1984 — American Joan Benoit wins the first Olympic marathon for women in 2:24:52, finishing 400 meters ahead of Norway’s Grete Waitz.
1991 — Sergei Bubka becomes the first to clear 20 feet outdoors in the pole vault, breaking his own world record by a half-inch at the Galan track meet in Malmo, Sweden.
1997 — Michael Johnson wins his third straight 400-meter title at the world championships in Athens, Greece, capturing the gold medal in 44.12 seconds.
2005 — Jason Gore shoots a 12-under 59 in the second round of the Nationwide Tour’s Cox Classic in Omaha, Nebraska.
2006 — Warren Moon becomes the first Black quarterback to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio; joined by Troy Aikman, John Madden, Rayfield Wright, Harry Carson and Reggie White.
2007 — Lorena Ochoa wins the Women’s British Open — the first women’s pro tournament played at venerable St. Andrews — for her first major title.
2012 — Jamaica’s Usain Bolt claims consecutive gold medals in the marquee track and field event at the Summer Games in London. Only about fifth-fastest of the eight runners to the halfway mark, Bolt erases that deficit and overtakes a star-studded field to win the 100-meter dash final in 9.63 seconds, an Olympic record that lets him join Carl Lewis as the only men to win the event twice.
2012 — Britain’s Andy Murray cruises past Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in the Olympic tennis singles final at Wimbledon. Serena and Venus Williams win the doubles title, as Serena becomes tennis’ first double-gold medalist at an Olympics since Venus won singles and doubles at the 2000 Sydney Games. Ben Ainslie earns another gold medal in the Finn class to become the most successful sailor in Olympic history.
2014 — The San Antonio Spurs hire WNBA star Becky Hammon as an assistant coach, making her the first woman to join an NBA coaching staff.
2017 — Justin Gatlin spoils Usain Bolt’s farewell beating him in the 100 meters at the world track championships in London. Bolt gets off to a slow start and Gatlin holds him off at the line in 9.92 seconds. American sprinter Christian Coleman takes silver in 9.94 seconds and Bolt took bronze in 9.95.
2018 — The Springfield Lasers win their first World TeamTennis title edging the Philadelphia Freedoms 19-18. The Lasers were 0-5 in WTT championship finals and winless in three meetings with the Freedoms during the 2018 regular season.
2018 — Georgia Hall of England catches Pornanong Phatlum in a final-round duel at Royal Lytham & St. Annes to win the Women’s British Open for her first major title.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1921 — Pittsburgh radio station KDKA and announcer Harold Arlin provided listeners with the first broadcast of a major league game. The Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5.
1927 — Philadelphia’s Cy Williams hit for the cycle, drove in six runs and scored three times to lead the Phillies to a 9-7 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
1931 — For the second time in his career, Jim Bottomley got six hits as the St. Louis Cardinals beat Pittsburgh 16-2 in the second game of a doubleheader.
1932 — Detroit pitcher Tommy Bridges lost his bid for a perfect game on a bloop single by the 27th Washington batter, pinch-hitter Dave Harris. The Tigers beat the Senators 13-0.
1933 — Sammy West of the St. Louis Browns had four extra-base hits in a 10-9, 12-inning win over the Chicago White Sox.
1942 — Don Kolloway’s two-out steal of home in the fifth inning was the only run as the Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers 1-0.
1969 — Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell became the only player to hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium. Stargell’s shot off of Alan Foster cleared the right-field pavilion and landed 506 feet from home plate.
1973 — Phil Niekro of the Atlanta Braves pitched a 9-0 no-hitter against the San Diego Padres. He walked three and struck out four in recording the first no-hitter by the franchise in Atlanta.
1975 — The first eight batters for Philadelphia Phillies got hits for a major league record, en route to a 13-5 win over the Chicago Cubs.
1984 — Cliff Johnson of the Blue Jays hit his 19th career pinch homer to set a major league record as Toronto beat the Orioles 4-3 at Memorial Stadium.
1999 — Mark McGwire became the 16th member of the 500-home run club, hitting two homers — Nos. 500 and 501 — in the St. Louis Cardinals’ loss to San Diego.
2001 — The Cleveland Indians tied a major league record and became the first team in 76 years to overcome a 12-run deficit to win, defeating the Seattle Mariners 15-14 in 11 innings.
2005 — Albert Pujols became the first player in major league history to hit 30 home runs in each of his first five seasons, helping the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves 11-3.
2006 — Trevor Hoffman set a major league record with his 11th 30-save season and the San Diego Padres defeated the Washington Nationals 6-3.
2007 — Tom Glavine earned his 300th victory in an 8-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The 41-year-old left-hander became the 23rd pitcher with 300 victories and only the fifth lefty to win 300.
2013 — Alex Rodriguez was suspended through 2014 (211 games) and All-Stars Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera were banned 50 games apiece when Major League Baseball disciplined 13 players in a drug case — the most sweeping punishment since the Black Sox scandal nearly a century ago. Ryan Braun’s 65-game suspension last month and previous punishments bring to 18 the total number of players disciplined for their relationship to Biogenesis of America, a closed anti-aging clinic in Florida accused of distributing banned performing-enhancing drugs.
2019 — Jonathon Villar of the Orioles hits for the cycle in a 9-6 loss to the Yankees.
2021 — Team USA is headed to the Olympic Gold Medal Game for the first time in 21 years, beating South Korea, 7 – 2 at the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Teenager Eui-lee Lee holds the U.S. to two runs in five innings, one a mammoth homer by Jamie Westbrook, but five relievers are called on in the 6th when the U.S. scores five times. Jack López drives in two for the U.S. while Hyeseong Kim goes 3 for 3 in a losing cause. Ryder Ryan gets the win in relief of Joe Ryan.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Sean McVay won’t have to worry about Matthew Stafford catching a twice-tipped pass and stumbling over the goal line during a joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys.
That anxiety-inducing event occurred last year when the Rams practiced against the Cowboys.
On Tuesday, the Rams again travel to Oxnard to practice against the Cowboys before Saturday’s preseason game at SoFi Stadium.
But the back issue that sidelined Stafford throughout training camp will keep him off the field.
When the Rams go through a jogthrough on Monday, Stafford will continue to work out on his own, McVay said Sunday after the final public workout at Loyola Marymount.
“He is able to do a little bit more, which is good, and things are progressing well,” McVay said. “But he won’t take part in the jogthrough because he’ll be doing some other stuff during that time.”
McVay said Stafford’s workouts with trainers have included some static throwing exercises, running on a treadmill, light cardio and core work.
“It’s more just functional strength surrounding the area while making sure that you don’t do anything to set yourself back, based on the trajectory that he’s doing,” McVay said. “But we are looking forward to getting him and easing him back to football hopefully in the near future.”
Matthew Stafford will apparently remain an observer for a while.
The Rams star quarterback, who has not practiced during training camp because of a back issue, will “probably not” practice Sunday in the final workout at Loyola Marymount, will not participate in Tuesday’s joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys, and his availability for a joint practice with the Chargers the following week will be determined, coach Sean McVay said.
Stafford, 37, saw back specialist Dr. Steven Watkins again on Saturday, McVay said.
McVay reiterated that Stafford was “week to week.”
“What I don’t want to do is set a timeline,” McVay said. “I know he’s making good progress. He saw Dr. Watkins again. … Everything is in good shape.”
Good shape?
McVay does not play starters in preseason games, so joint practices are regarded by the ninth-year coach as instrumental for evaluating young players and progress by the offense, defense and special teams.
Stafford, entering his 17th season, worked with new receiver Davante Adams during offseason workouts. But he has yet to work on timing with the three-time All-Pro during a full-speed, padded practice.
Veteran Jimmy Garoppolo continues to take first-team reps in Stafford’s place, and Stetson Bennett is directing the second-unit offense as the Rams prepare for their Sept. 7 opener against the Houston Texans at SoFi Stadium.
“Can’t wait to be able to get Matthew back out here leading the way,” McVay said, adding that Stafford felt the same way. “But in the meantime, Stetson and Jimmy are doing a really good job of continuing to get better and using these reps for their benefit.”
Stafford was one of several players who did not practice Saturday.
Rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson (groin) and defensive lineman Kobie Turner (back) sat out. Linebacker Nate Landman (calf) left practice as a precautionary measure, McVay said.
But Stafford’s continued absence from on-field drills continues to be the dominant storyline for a team that will be regarded as a legitimate Super Bowl contender if he is physically sound. And a question mark — at least on offense — if he is not.
After practicing with the Cowboys in Oxnard, the Rams and Cowboys will play Saturday at SoFi Stadium. The Rams play the Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Aug. 16, and they conclude the preseason on Aug. 23 against the Browns in Cleveland.
The Rams then have two weeks to prepare for the Texans.
Etc.
Safety Quentin Lake intercepted another tipped pass. Safety Jaylen McCollough also intercepted a pass. … Tight end Colby Parkinson made a one-handed touchdown catch. … Bennett connected with rookie receiver Konata Mumpfield on several impressive pass plays. “He’s a mature rookie,” McVay said of Mumpfield. “He’s a guy that is wired to be able to separate. … He continues to be able to just answer the bell with the opportunities that he’s gotten.” … Former Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald attended practice.
From Jack Harris: Before trade rumors heated up and dream scenarios were briefly envisioned, before the Dodgers were linked to a string of big names who all wound up anywhere but Los Angeles, the team’s front office foreshadowed what proved to be a rather straightforward, unremarkable trade deadline on Thursday afternoon.
“This group is really talented,” general manager Brandon Gomes said last week. “I would argue it’s better than the team that won the World Series last year.”
“It’s really about our internal guys, and the fact that these are veteran guys that have well-established watermarks,” echoed president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, amid a July slump that fueled deadline speculation about what the team would need.
“I think the fact that we see the work they put in, how much they care, just makes it easier to bet on.”
On Thursday, maintaining faith in their current group is exactly what the Dodgers did.
The team did address its two main needs ahead of MLB’s annual midseason trade deadline. In the bullpen, it reunited with right-handed veteran Brock Stewart in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. In the outfield, it added solid-hitting, defensively serviceable 30-year-old Alex Call in a deal with the Washington Nationals.
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UCLA NEWSLETTER
We have a new newsletter! It’s called UCLA Unlocked, and yes, you guess it, it’s about UCLA athletics, from football to basketball to baseball to you name it, it will be covered here.
Get informed and entertained about everything Bruin sports, from takeaways on the latest big game to recruiting buzz. We’ll also remember some of the greatest athletes, coaches and games that made UCLA sports so special.
The newsletter will be interactive, including polls and questions about UCLA sports old and new. It’ll also cover the school’s tradition-rich Olympic sports, highlighting one each week.
The newsletter will be emailed to you every Monday morning.
From Bill Shaikin: In the slang, “mid” means disappointingly mediocre, forgettable, uninspiring. On TikTok, a classic rant starts: “It’s called the Midwest because everything in it is mid! Skyline Chili? Mid! Your Cincinnati Reds, who haven’t won a World Series since 1990? M-M-M-Mid!!!”
They are three games under .500, four games out in the American League wild-card race, with four teams to pass, hoping to end baseball’s longest playoff drought at 10 years.
The Seattle Mariners, tied with the Texas Rangers for the final wild-card spot, traded for middle-of-the-lineup corner infielders in third baseman Eugenio Suárez and first baseman Josh Naylor. The Rangers acquired Merrill Kelly to supplement Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi atop the starting rotation.
The Angels made two trades, picking up two veteran setup men and an infielder batting .152 for three lightly regarded minor leaguers.
Why lightly bolster a team with a 1.3% chance of making the playoffs, as projected by Baseball Prospectus before Thursday’s trades, when you could start building the 2026 roster in the many areas needing improvement?
“Giving them a chance to play this thing out, relative to what was presented [in trade talks], made a lot of sense,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said.
From Sam Farmer: Trey Lance welcomes any opportunity that comes his way — a vexing four NFL seasons have only made him more eager — so Thursday night felt especially good.
Lance, the onetime third overall pick of the San Francisco 49ers, is battling for the Chargers’ backup quarterback job, and he made a compelling case in the Hall of Fame Game against the NFC darling Detroit Lions.
Although he didn’t put up gaudy numbers — completing 13 of 20 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns — he was as relaxed and at ease in front of the crowd of 18,144 at Tom Benson Stadium, as refreshing as the gentle evening breeze after a day of sprinkling rain.
“I was excited that we got this fourth preseason game,” Lance said after the 34-7 victory. “If I could play four games I’d be fired up about that.”
Here are five observations from the Chargers’ preseason opener.
A global audience of 90 million people tuned in on their televisions one evening in 1973 and watched her whip Bobby Riggs in a tennis challenge billed as “The Battle of the Sexes.”
But King’s resume, which would stretch from one end of Wimbledon’s Center Court to the other and keep going, is missing one thing, and that was bugging her. The omission came up last year in a conversation she was having with the staff of her New York-based consulting, investing and marketing company. (Yes, she still runs a business and a foundation promoting education, leadership and activism.)
In the spring this year, at the age of 81, Billie Jean King went back to school, chasing not a trophy, or a cup, or a medal, but a degree.
1963 — Arthur Ashe becomes the first Black tennis player to be named in the US Davis Cup team.
1982 — American Greg Louganis becomes 1st diver to score 700 (752.67) in 11 dives in winning 3m springboard gold, World Championships in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
1987 — Mike Tyson wins the undisputed heavyweight championship with a 12-round unanimous decision over IBF champion Tony Tucker in Las Vegas.
1992 — Eric Griffin, a two-time world champion at 106 pounds, loses to Rafael Lozano of Spain under the new electronic scoring system at the Olympics. All five judges credit him with more blows than his opponent as did five jury members used as a backup in case the computer failed.
1996 — Michael Johnson wins Olympic gold in the 200 meters in a record 19.32 seconds, becoming the first male Olympian to win the 200 and 400 in a single games. Dan O’Brien wins gold in the decathlon, four years after failing to make the U.S. Olympic team.
2002 — In signing star linebacker Ray Lewis to a 5-year contract extension the Baltimore Ravens give him a $19m signing bonus, then the largest in NFL history.
2004 — Karen Stupples wins her first major title with a record-tying 19-under 269 at the Women’s British Open. Stupples ties the low score in a major, set by Dottie Pepper at the 1999 Nabisco Dinah Shore.
2009 — Rachel Alexandra rolls past the boys again to win the $1.25 million Haskell Ivitational at Monmouth Park, establishing herself as one of the greatest fillies. Ridden by Calvin Borel, she beats Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird by six lengths.
2010 — Stuart Appleby hits golf’s magic number, shooting a 59 to win the Greenbrier Classic. He is the fifth PGA Tour player to reach the milestone.
2010 — Yani Tseng of Taiwan wins the Women’s British Open by one stroke for her third major title and second of the year to go with the Kraft Nabisco.
2010 — Bob and Mike Bryan win their record 62nd career doubles title on the ATP Tour. The twins were tied with Hall of Famers Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia.
2012 — Four teams are kicked out of the women’s badminton doubles at the London Games for trying to lose on purpose. The eight players from China, South Korea and Indonesia are cited for conduct “clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport.”
2021 — Marcel Jacobs becomes the first Italian athlete to win the 100m dash in 9.80 at the Tokyo Olympics.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1906 — Harry McIntire of the Brooklyn Dodgers pitched 10 2-3 innings of no-hit ball before Claude Ritchey of Pittsburgh singled. McIntire weakened in the 13th and lost 1-0 to the Pirates on an unearned run, finishing with a four-hitter.
1937 — Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees hit for the cycle in a 14-5 rout of the St. Louis Browns. It was the second cycle of Gehrig’s career. Gehrig hit a two-run homer in the first inning, doubled in the second, singled in the fourth and tripled in the seventh.
1941 — New York Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez walked 11 St. Louis batters in a 9-0 victory to set a major league record for walks in a shutout.
1962 — Bill Monbouquette of the Boston Red Sox pitched a no-hitter to beat the White Sox 1-0 at Chicago.
1970 — Willie Stargell of Pittsburgh hit three doubles and two home runs to power the Pirates to a 20-10 rout of the Braves in Atlanta.
1972 — Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres drove in 13 runs in a doubleheader with five home runs and two singles. San Diego beat the Atlanta Braves in both games, 9-0 and 11-7.
1977 — Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants hit two home runs, including his 18th career grand slam, a total that still leads the National League.
1978 — Pete Rose went 0-for-4 against Atlanta pitchers Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber to end his 44-game hitting streak as the Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds 16-4.
1986 — Bert Blyleven threw a two-hitter and struck out 15 to become the 10th major league pitcher with 3,000 career strikeouts and Kirby Puckett hit for the cycle to lead the Minnesota Twins to a 10-1 victory over the Oakland A’s. Puckett tripled in the first inning, doubled in the fifth, singled in the sixth homered in the eighth. Puckett finished 4 for 5 with three runs and two RBIs. It was the first cycle to happen at the Metrodome.
1994 — Baltimore’s Cal Ripken became the second major leaguer to play 2,000 straight games, and the Orioles edged Minnesota 1-0.
1998 — Switch-hitter Tony Clark set an AL record by homering from both sides of the plate for the third time this year, powering the Detroit Tigers past Tampa Bay 8-0.
2005 — Rafael Palmeiro was suspended 10 days following a positive test for steroids, less than five months after the Baltimore Orioles first baseman emphatically told Congress: “I have never used steroids. Period.”
2006 — Carlos Guillen hit for the cycle in Detroit’s 10-4 victory over Tampa Bay.
2009 — The Oakland A’s retire Rickey Henderson’s uniform number 24.
2017 — Evan Longoria hits for the cycle, becoming the second player in team history to pull off the feat, as the Rays defeat the Astros, 6-4. It takes a video review to confirm that he slid safely into second base in the 9th for the missing double that completes the quartet of hits.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
The lion’s amber gaze fixes forward on Nate Landman’s left bicep, its mane fanning across the curve of his arm. Above Landman’s wrist, a zebra bends to graze, while a giraffe behind steps through a stand of wind-bent acacia trees.
Together, they form a tattooed sleeve of Zimbabwe — an inked landscape of home carried by the Rams’ newest defensive signal-caller.
“There’s not many Zimbabwe migrants in the United States,” Landman said, “so to represent my country and have this platform to do it is huge.”
Rams linebacker Nate Landman shows tattoos on his left arm of a lion, giraffe and zebra from his native Zimbabwe.
(Ira Gorawara / Los Angeles Times)
At age 4, Landman’s family of six traded the southern tip of Africa for Northern California, chasing wider playing fields and educational opportunities for their children. Twenty-two years later, the red soil and wild coastlines of his first home still ride with him — in the way he stalks, strikes and erupts.
So when tight end Davis Allen cut through a seam and caught a pass during Saturday’s training camp session, Landman tracked him with the patience of a predator. He measured each step, sprang forward and then uncoiled, thumping the ball out of Allen’s grip to send it skidding to the turf.
After witnessing several of those jarring shots, safety Quentin Lake coined the nickname “Peanut Punch Landman,” a nod to Landman’s ability to force fumbles.
“He has just a knack for the ball,” Lake said.
The Atlanta Falcons were the first to detect that hunch, scooping Landman out of Colorado as an undrafted rookie. In each of the last two seasons, he forced three fumbles.
That instinct — and the trust he’s earned — fast-tracked Landman’s role with the Rams. Signed as a free agent in March, Landman wasted little time winning over Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, who stuck a green dot on Landman’s helmet, designating him as a commander of the defense.
“The way that he understands the game, he’s able to talk to everybody on the defense,” Rams inside linebackers coach Greg Williams said. “It was almost a no-brainer when coach Shula came to me and said, ‘I think Nate should have the green dot.’”
And for the Rams, that leadership and knack for creating turnovers came at a bargain. In a defense that doesn’t spend big at linebacker, Landman — who signed a one-year, $1.1-million contract — arrived as a low-cost addition with high potential return.
“He’s a great communicator. He’s got great command. He’s got the ability to elevate people,” coach Sean McVay said, adding, “I just like the way that this guy’s got a great vibe.”
Before Landman became an on-field general for the Rams, he was in teacher mode, offering teammates a primer that had nothing to do with playbooks.
During a team meeting, Landman unfurled a map of Africa, tracing its outline with his finger before shading the small patch of land he calls home — wedged right above South Africa — to give his locker room a visual pin on where his story began.
“A lot of guys don’t know that Africa, the continent, is full of just individual countries,” Landman said. “They think it’s states and stuff. So it’s cool to be able to share that with them — not everybody believes when I say I’m from Africa.”
Amid that crash course, one question kept resurfacing.
Are there lions and deer roaming around?
“A lot of people are fascinated,” Landman said. “It’s such a rare thing, that’s why I’m so proud of it.”
Though it’s been a few years since Landman last stood on Zimbabwean soil, his family ties still tether him there. And as football sent him crisscrossing the United States, his homeland’s hues and emblems have come along for the ride.
The tattoo sleeve climbs into his chest, framing a map of Africa with Zimbabwe shaded deep. He still eats sadza nenyama , the maize-and-meat staple that fed his childhood. And in his parents’ home, light falls on a gallery of African vignettes and keepsakes.
His helmet bears the same allegiance, Zimbabwe’s flag tagged proudly on the back.
“I love wearing that Zimbabwe flag on the back of my helmet,” Landman said, “and I’ll do that as long as I’m in the NFL.”
“Everything is just more comfortable,” Bennett said Thursday after a full-pads practice at Loyola Marymount.
Bennett, 27, played in the 2023 preseason but was out during the regular season for what he later acknowledged as a mental health issue. He returned last season, played in the preseason and was the No. 3 quarterback behind Stafford and Garoppolo.
But the tentativeness of last season appears to be gone. He has connected for touchdowns and big gains with several receivers while avoiding poor decisions and turnovers.
“Confidence, and he’s enjoying it,” coach Sean McVay said when asked what he noticed as the biggest difference in Bennett. “When you watched him play at Georgia, and even some of the preseason games, when he gets into a rhythm and he’s smiling, all these great competitors, there’s an enjoyment for mastering their craft and enjoyment of just being totally immersed in the moment, and then enjoyment of your teammates’ success.”
Bennett credits quarterbacks coach Dave Ragone for his development in the Rams’ system.
“Every day, he’ll challenge me a little bit more,” Bennett said.
Stafford and Garoppolo also have helped with their example and advice, Bennett said.
The instruction and counsel, combined with the increased amount of reps, has translated to more confident play. And more Bennett-initiated communication with Ragone after each series.
“I know a little bit more of what’s going on,” Bennett said. “Whereas last year I was a lot more reactionary, this year I kind of know what I’m looking at, and what could have changed or might have happened if I’d done something different.
“I can have a lot more conversations instead of just listening.”
Bennett said he was “bummed” that Stafford has not been able to practice, but he has been excited and has tried to take advantage of the opportunity for more reps.
Bennett is on track to get plenty of work Tuesday during a joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys in Oxnard. He also is expected to start on Aug. 9 when the Rams play the Cowboys in a preseason game at SoFi Stadium.
“It’s been two or three [years] since I’ve gotten to practice meaningful snaps, so I’m really grateful for it,” Bennett said. “And I try to be confident and ready and present every single day.
“It will be exciting to play other people. I know some dudes on the Cowboys, so that will be fun. It’s always fun to play somebody in a different color jersey.”
Etc.
Starting safety Kam Curl (ankle) is week to week and cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. (hamstring) will be out one to two weeks, McVay said. … Puka Nacua tipped a ball to himself in the end zone for a touchdown pass from Garoppolo. … Safety Kam Kinchens and cornerback Derion Kendrick intercepted passes by Garoppolo. … Owner Stan Kroenke attended practice. … Receiver Davante Adams was given a veteran rest day, McVay said. … The Rams are off Friday.
What was more important, however, was that they didn’t lose their two-way star.
In the Dodgers’ 5-2 defeat to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park, Shohei Ohtani left the mound alongside a trainer in the fourth inning with what the team later said was only cramping — a worrying scene in the moment, quickly alleviated by a seemingly benign injury announcement.
Ohtani remained in the game as a designated hitter, going 0-for-5 on the night.
The rest of the Dodgers’ lineup didn’t do much better, with Freddie Freeman’s two-run home run in the top of the fourth inning representing their only scoring.
It was a half-inning later that Ohtani’s injury scare occurred.
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UCLA NEWSLETTER
We have a new newsletter! It’s called UCLA Unlocked, and yes, you guess it, it’s about UCLA athletics, from football to basketball to baseball to you name it, it will be covered here.
Get informed and entertained about everything Bruin sports, from takeaways on the latest big game to recruiting buzz. We’ll also remember some of the greatest athletes, coaches and games that made UCLA sports so special.
The newsletter will be interactive, including polls and questions about UCLA sports old and new. It’ll also cover the school’s tradition-rich Olympic sports, highlighting one each week.
The newsletter will be emailed to you every Monday morning.
The Angels acquired relievers Andrew Chafin and Luis García from the Washington Nationals in a trade for left-hander Jake Eder and minor league first baseman Sam Brown.
The Angels announced the deal to bolster their bullpen on Wednesday. The team also designated left-hander José Quijada for assignment to make room on its 40-man roster.
The 35-year-old Chafin joins his eighth major league team after going 1-1 with a 2.70 ERA in 26 appearances for Washington this season. Left-handed hitters are batting just .147 against him.
The Angels have one of the majors’ highest bullpen ERAs despite the presence of closer Kenley Jansen, who has 20 saves and a 2.93 ERA in another strong season.
Nathan Eovaldi limited the Angels to a run in seven innings, Adolis García hit a two-run homer in the eighth and the Texas Rangers beat the Angels 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Eovaldi (9-3) helped the Rangers avoid a series sweep and snap the Angels’ three-game winning streak. He allowed six hits and struck out four.
Marcus Semien was three for five with an RBI and two runs. He doubled and opened the scoring on Wyatt Langford’s single in the fourth, and had an RBI single in the sixth. Langford was two for five with a double.
For most players, getting to a second contract is challenging. And careers that extend well beyond that milestone are uncommon in a business that churns through talent.
So when Ahkello Witherspoon began his career in 2017, he could not envision that he would be preparing for his ninth season.
Witherspoon, 30, is the most veteran player in a Rams secondary that remains unchanged in personnel from when the Rams advanced to the NFC divisional round.
Gates, who will be enshrined Saturday in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is the only player to reach that pinnacle without a single snap of college football. He was a basketball star at Kent State, a half-hour up the road from Canton, Ohio, and never seemed to give football a second thought, even though he was a two-sport high school phenom in his hometown of Detroit.
“I never in a million years when he was playing basketball at Kent State thought he would be a professional football player,” said Steve Sefner, the school’s play-by-play announcer when the 6-foot-4 power forward was routinely dominating taller opponents.
“He had an elite first step, point-guard skills, making reads, passing,” recalled Anthony Wilkins, now a basketball assistant coach at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and then Kent State’s co-captain with Gates. “We could put the ball in Tone’s hands and literally run the offense through him.”
From Ben Bolch: It was 68 degrees and overcast, a cool coastal breeze wafting across the practice fields, when UCLA commenced its first off-campus football training camp in nearly a decade.
San Bernardino, this was not.
With 55 newcomers dotting a roster of 105, not to mention eight new assistant coaches, the Bruins’ camp that started in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning was more about togetherness than toughness in the triple-digit temperatures of the Inland Empire.
Every offensive player was matched with a roommate from the defense or special teams. A series of bonding exercises was planned inside and outside the nearby team hotel. Everything the Bruins do over the next 2 ½ weeks will be of the get-to-know-you variety.
“I have a lot of tough guys, but it’s more of the connection,” coach DeShaun Foster said. “There’s a lot of new coaches and players, so I just wanted to find a way to make us be able to connect a little bit more, you know? To be able to eat three meals with each other and just get close.”
From Ryan Kartje: Eight weeks ago, on the first day of USC football’s summer workout program, Trumain Carroll hoped to drive home one particular message.
How you do one thing, he told the team, is how you do everything.
Carroll had just been hired as USC’s new strength and conditioning coach, replacing Bennie Wylie, who was abruptly let go in April. The late start for Carroll left him with only so much time to lay a foundation. But this lesson was especially critical. Not only was it one of his core beliefs as a strength coach, it was also one of the main reasons he was brought to USC, where discipline, especially late in games, had often unraveled.
Carroll knew, that first day, that he needed to make clear how much details mattered. So when the team was lacking effort during warm-ups, he made players start again. And again. Soon enough, before the workout even started, they were out of time.
1932 — France beats the U.S. 3-2 for its sixth consecutive Davis Cup championship.
1934 — Britain, led by Fred Perry and Bunny Austin, defeats the U.S. 4-1 at Wimbledon to win the Davis Cup title.
1942 — Jockey Bill Turnbull wins seven of nine races at Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H.
1973 — Julius Erving, the American Basketball Association’s leading scorer, is traded by the cash-strapped Virginia Squires to the New York Nets for forward George Carter and cash.
1983 — Jan Stephenson beats JoAnne Carner and Patty Sheehan by one stroke to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
1993 — Mike Aulby becomes the third player in PBA history to win a tournament by rolling a 300 game in the title game. Aulby beats David Ozio 300-279 in the Wichita Open.
1994 — Sergei Bubka sets a world pole vault record for the 35th time in his career at a meet in Sestriere, Italy. Bubka soars 20 feet, 1¾ inches, adding a half-inch to his mark set in Tokyo in 1992.
2000 — Dorothy Delasin becomes the LPGA’s youngest winner in 25 years by beating Pat Hurst on the second extra hole to win the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic. The 19-year-old Delasin is the youngest winner on the tour since Amy Alcott took the Orange Blossom Classic at age 19 in 1975.
2005 — Grant Hackett becomes the first swimmer to win four straight world titles in the same event, capturing another 1,500-meter freestyle. The Aussie stretches out his own record for world championship medals to 17.
2007 — All-Star Kevin Garnett is traded from the Minnesota Timberwolves to Boston for five players and two draft picks. The Celtics obtain the former MVP and 10-time All-Star from Minnesota for forwards Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes and Gerald Green, guard Sebastian Telfair and center Theo Ratliff and two first-round draft picks.
2011 — Yani Tseng wins the Women’s British Open for the second straight year, beating Brittany Lang by four strokes and becoming the youngest woman to capture a fifth major title. The 22-year-old top-ranked Taiwanese shot a 3-under 69 to finish at 16-under 272.
2012 — Michael Phelps breaks the Olympic medals record with his 19th, helping the U.S. romp to a 4×200-meter freestyle relay victory at the London Games. With 19 medals spanning three Olympics, Phelps moves one ahead of Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who got her haul in 1956, 1960 and 1964.
2012 — The team of Gabrielle Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Alexandra Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber lives up to all the hype, winning the first U.S. Olympic title in women’s gymnastics since 1996.
2021 — Katie Ledecky wins the women’s 800m gold in Tokyo. This is the third consecutive Olympics she has won the race.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1930 — Lou Gehrig drove in eight runs with a grand slam and two doubles, and the New York Yankees outlasted the Boston Red Sox 14-13.
1932 — Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium opened and Lefty Grove and the Philadelphia A’s beat the Indians 1-0 before 76,979 fans.
1934 — The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Cincinnati Reds 8-6 in 18 innings at Cincinnati as Dizzy Dean and Tony Freitas both went the distance.
1954 — Joe Adcock hit four home runs and a double to lead the Milwaukee Braves to a 15-7 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. Adcock’s 18 total bases set a major league record at the time. Adcock homered in the second inning off Don Newcombe, doubled in the third and homered in the fifth off Erv Palica. He connected off Pete Wojey in the seventh and off Johnny Podres in the ninth. Adcock saw only seven pitches and his double off the left-center field fence just missed going out by inches.
1961 — The All-Star Game ended in a 1-1 tie at Fenway Park because of heavy rain.
1981 — The second baseball strike ended after 42 days.
1990 — Nolan Ryan, 43, won his 300th game, reaching the milestone in his second try, as the Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3.
2002 — Mike Mussina became the second pitcher in major league history to give up six doubles in one inning, during the New York Yankees’ 17-6 loss to Texas. Hall of Famer Lefty Grove allowed that many with Boston in 1934 against Washington.
2003 — John Smoltz broke his own record as the fastest pitcher to record 40 saves by pitching a scoreless ninth in Atlanta’s 7-4 win over Houston. Last year, he got his 40th save on Aug. 8, en route to breaking the NL record with 55.
2007 — The New York Yankees tied a franchise record by hitting eight home runs, including two by Hideki Matsui, in a 16-3 rout of the Chicago White Sox. New York last hit eight homers in a game in a doubleheader opener at the Philadelphia Athletics on June 28, 1939.
2010 — Carlos Gonzalez hit a game-ending home run to complete the cycle, and Colorado rallied to a 6-5 win after blowing a three-run lead in the eighth inning to the Chicago Cubs.
2011 — Ricky Nolasco scattered 12 hits, Emilio Bonifacio homered and Florida handed the Atlanta Braves the 10,000th loss in franchise history. With the 3-1 loss, the Braves become the second big league team with 10,000 losses. The Phillies reached that mark in 2007.
2015 — New York’s Mark Teixeira homered from both sides of the plate for the record 14th time, hitting his 10th grand slam and a two-run homer that led the Yankees past the Chicago White Sox 13-6.
2021 — Seby Zavala becomes the first player in MLB history to record his first three home runs in the same game.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
Both are in the final years of their rookie contracts.
But while the Rams have been in negotiations with Williams’ agent about a possible extension, Lake will most likely have to play out the season before his future with the Rams is determined.
And history is not on his side.
Consider: Since the Rams returned to Los Angeles from St. Louis in 2016, they have not signed a safety they drafted to an extension.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time,” Lake said Tuesday when asked about the situation, “as long as I take care of myself between these white lines everything will take care of itself.”
Lake, a team captain, is scheduled to earn $3.4 million this season, according to Overthecap.com. The 2022 sixth-round draft pick from UCLA has been a versatile and dependable piece of the defense under second-year coordinator Chris Shula.
Last season, Lake played every defensive snap as a safety, nickel/corner and hybrid linebacker.
The only element missing from Lake’s statistical resume are interceptions: He is still looking for his first.
On Tuesday, Lake picked off a ball that tipped off Williams’ hands.
“If you’re hustling to the ball, or if you’re in the right place at the right time, something good will happen eventually,” Lake said, “and that’s exactly what happened there.”
Lake has been “invaluable” to the Rams, coach Sean McVay said.
“I’ve loved everything that he’s about,” McVay said. “And all you see from Quentin Lake is him just continuing to get better, bringing people with him. He is a Ram and I love Q.”
Lake knows that making plays on the ball will help his case. But he is not stressing about it.
“I’m not worried about stats because value — my value — I think comes in other ways,” he said. “Versatility, being in the right position, being able to communicate, having the ability to be the [defensive signal-caller] if need be.
“So I’m not too worried about stats. But I think at this time, it’s now, how can I take calculated risks? How can I find an uncommon ability to make plays on the ball?”
Etc.
McVay started his post-practice news conference with comments about the shooting on Monday at the New York building that houses NFL headquarters. “Thoughts and prayers are with the people that have been affected by the shooting at NFL headquarters,” McVay said. “It’s just such a terrible thing. And again you just hope for the best for any of the people that are injured, and then the people that did lose loved ones, we’re just thinking about them.”…. Quarterback Matthew Stafford, who remains sidelined because of what McVay has described as a back issue, observed practice. McVay reiterated that “there is a plan in place” for when Stafford might practice, but he said he did not want to set a definitive timetable publicly. “This is the smartest plan for him and we’re confident he’ll be ready,” for the Sept. 7 opener against the Houston Texans, McVay said…. Cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. (hamstring) and safety Kam Curl (ankle) did not finish practice…. After a veteran rest day on Monday, receiver Davante Adams participated in the second practice in pads and he made several impressive catches…. Quarterback Stetson Bennett connected with tight end Davis Allen for a touchdown pass…. Inside linebacker Nathan Landman and nose tackle Poona Ford continue to stand out.
“Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better,” Doncic said in the article published Monday.
His altered physique, however, is not what makes Doncic a changed man. His sleek new look is the result of much bigger changes in his lifestyle this offseason.
According to the article, Doncic has been home in Croatia where he gets in two 90-minute workouts a day. The sessions included deadlifts, dumbbell bench presses, lateral bounds, resistance band drills, sprints and hurdles. The workouts wrap up with Doncic on the basketball court shooting jump shots.
And Doncic’s eating habits have changed too. His diet is now gluten-free, low-sugar and high-protein. He also uses an intermittent fasting plan the article says is “designed to limit inflammation and help his body recover better.”
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UCLA NEWSLETTER
We have a new newsletter! It’s called UCLA Unlocked, and yes, you guess it, it’s about UCLA athletics, from football to basketball to baseball to you name it, it will be covered here.
Get informed and entertained about everything Bruin sports, from takeaways on the latest big game to recruiting buzz. We’ll also remember some of the greatest athletes, coaches and games that made UCLA sports so special.
The newsletter will be interactive, including polls and questions about UCLA sports old and new. It’ll also cover the school’s tradition-rich Olympic sports, highlighting one each week.
The newsletter will be emailed to you every Monday morning.
The thrilling opening act, when the second-year Japanese star started the season with a 4-2 record and 0.90 earned-run average in his first seven starts.
A shaky middle stanza, when the 26-year-old right-hander stumbled with a 2-4 mark and 4.43 ERA over his next eight outings from May 8 to June 19.
And lately, what he and the Dodgers hope will be a midseason revival, with Yamamoto rounding back into Cy Young-caliber form again with a 3-1 record and 1.71 ERA over his last six trips to the mound bump.
In a 5-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, Yamamoto delivered another master class for the Dodgers at Great American Ball Park, giving up just one run on four hits while striking out nine over seven superb innings.
“He was fantastic,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It seemed like he had all of his pitches working tonight.”
Kenley Jansen pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 19th save as the Angels won back-to-back games for the first time since defeating Arizona on July 11 and 12.
The 37-year-old Jansen hasn’t allowed an earned run in 16 consecutive appearances, the longest active streak in the American League and the third-longest of his career.
Ryne Sandberg, a Hall of Fame second baseman who became one of baseball’s best all-around players while starring for the Chicago Cubs, has died. He was 65.
Sandberg was surrounded by his family when he died at his home on Monday, according to the team.
Sandberg announced in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. He had chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and then said in August 2024 that he was cancer-free.
But he posted on Instagram on Dec. 10 that his cancer had returned and spread to other organs. He announced this month that he was still fighting, while “looking forward to making the most of every day with my loving family and friends.”
Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said Sandberg “will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in nearly 150 years of this historic franchise.”
From Ryan Kartje: When DJ Wingfield picked USC in the transfer portal last January, it seemed like an ideal one-year arrangement for both parties. The Trojans desperately needed experience on the interior of their already thin offensive line. Wingfield — after two seasons at a junior college, one at New Mexico and another spent at Purdue — was seeking to raise his profile in his final season of eligibility.
USC offered him a clear path to playing time at left guard, as well as a $210,000 payday for his name, image and likeness. He just needed the NCAA to approve a waiver for him to play another season.
Neither Wingfield nor USC figured that would be a problem at the time. But the NCAA denied Wingfield’s initial request for a waiver in late March, then later denied his appeal.
From Ira Gorawara: Before Chris Paul’s voice echoed through the room, his reasons for returning home were staring at him.
His three children, perched quietly next to their mom, Jada Crawley, watched as Paul talked about why he decided to return to the Clippers. Paul’s mother sat in the second row of the news conference with a beaming smile.
Chris Paul was back home.
“It was a no-brainer. The easiest decision in this is sitting right up here,” Paul said, gesturing to his family in the front three rows. “Right here, it’s my family.”
1751 — The first International World Title Prize Fight takes place in Harlston, England. The champion, Jack Slack of England, beats the challenger, M. Petit of France, in 25 minutes.
1934 — Paul Runyan beats Craig Wood on the 38th hole to win the PGA Championship at Park Country Club in Williamsville, N.Y.
1956 — Cathy Cornelius wins a playoff over Barbara McIntyre to win the U.S. Women’s Open.
1957 — At the Polo Grounds in New York, Floyd Patterson TKOs Tommy Jackson at 1:52 of the 10th round to retain the heavyweight title.
1960 — The first American Football League preseason game is played in Buffalo, N.Y. The Boston Patriots, led by quarterback Butch Songin, beat the Bills 28-7 before 16,474 fans at War Memorial Stadium .
1979 — Amy Alcott shoots a 7-under 285 to beat Nancy Lopez in the Peter Jackson Classic, later named The du Maurier Classic. The du Maurier is one of the LPGA Tour’s major championships from 1979-2000.
1986 — The USFL wins and loses in its lawsuit against the NFL. The jury finds the NFL violated antitrust laws, as the USFL claimed, but awards the USFL only $1 in damages.
1989 — Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor becomes the first person to high jump 8 feet, breaking his world record at the Caribbean Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He surpasses his mark of 7-11½.
1990 — Beth Daniel shoots a 66 to overcome a 5-shot deficit and win the LPGA Championship — her first major title in 12 years on the tour. Daniel beats Rosie Jones by one stroke and pockets $150,000, the largest in LPGA Tour history.
1992 — The U.S. 400-meter freestyle relay team wins the gold medal, with Matt Biondi and Tom Jager becoming the first U.S. male swimmers to win golds in three Olympics.
1996 — Michael Johnson sweeps to victory in an Olympic 400-meter record 43.49 seconds, while Carl Lewis leaps into history in Atlanta. Lewis’ long jump of 27 feet, 10¾ inches earns him his ninth gold medal, equaling the American mark held by swimmer Mark Spitz.
2001 — Copa América Final, Estadio El Campín, Bogotá: Defender Iván Córdoba scores winner as home team Columbia edge Mexico, 1-0.
2008 — Disgraced ex-NBA official Tim Donaghy admits he brought shame on his profession as a federal judge sentenced him to 15 months behind bars for a gambling scandal.
2012 — Kimberly Rhode wins the Olympic gold medal in women’s skeet shooting, becoming the first American to take an individual-sport medal in five consecutive Olympics.
2012 — Dana Vollmer of the U.S. sets a world record to win the 100-meter butterfly at the London Olympics. Vollmer hits the wall in 55.98 seconds to shave 0.08 off the mark set by Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden at the 2009 world championships in Rome.
2015 — Russia’s Natalya Ishchenko wins a record 18th career synchronized swimming gold medal at the world championships at Kazan, Russia.
2021 — Sunisa Lee wins the women’s all-around gymnastics gold medal in Tokyo.
THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
1908 — Rube Waddell struck out 16, sending the St. Louis Browns past the Philadelphia A’s 5-4.
1911 — Joe Wood of the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Browns with a 5-0 no-hitter in the first game of a doubleheader. Wood fanned 12 and allowed three baserunners on two walks and a hit batsman.
1915 — Honus Wagner, 41, became the oldest player to hit a grand slam as Pittsburgh beat Brooklyn 8-2. The grand slam was an inside-the-park homer. Wagner remained the record holder until 1985, when Tony Perez hit one the day before his 43rd birthday.
1928 — The Cleveland Indians scored eight runs in the first inning and nine more in the second and went on to beat the New York Yankees 24-6 at Dunn Field. Johnny Hodapp singled twice in the second and sixth innings.
1936 — The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 22-7 in the first game of a doubleheader, then lost the second game 5-4.
1955 — Smoky Burgess of the Cincinnati Reds hit three home runs and drove in nine runs in a 16-5 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates at Crosley Field.
1968 — George Culver of the Cincinnati Reds pitched a 6-1 no-hitter against the Phillies in the second game of a doubleheader at Philadelphia.
1983 — Steve Garvey of the San Diego Padres ended his NL record of 1,207 consecutive games. The streak ended when he dislocated his thumb in a collision with Atlanta pitcher Pascual Perez while trying to score.
2000 — Eddie Taubensee hit a game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth and homered again in the 11th to lead Cincinnati to a 4-3 win over Montreal.
2001 — Craig Monroe homered in his first major league at-bat, and the Texas Rangers beat Tampa Bay 2-0.
2003 — Boston’s Bill Mueller became the first player in major league history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a game and connected for three homers in a 14-7 win at Texas.
2006 — Tomas Perez tied a major league record with four doubles, going 5-for-5 and leading the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to a 19-6 rout of the New York Yankees.
2010 — Anibal Sanchez pitched a one-hitter, leading the Florida Marlins past the San Francisco Giants 5-0. Sanchez retired his first 13 batters and matched a career high with eight strikeouts.
2018 — The Hall of Fame inducts one of the largest classes in its history. Honored are Vladimir Guerrero, Trevor Hoffman, Chipper Jones, Jack Morris, Jim Thome and Alan Trammell.
2022 — Aaron Judge hits two more homers in leading the Yankees to an 11 – 5 win over the Royals. He now has 41 on the season, tying the American League record for most before the end of July held by Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Ken Griffey Jr. Judge will set a new record with another homer tomorrow.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
