East-West Classic honor Negro leagues
This past Saturday, there was a special baseball game at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The 2024 Hall of Fame East-West Classic featured 30 former Black Major League Baseball players honoring the history and legacy of the Negro Leagues, representing the long and deep tradition of the American cultural institution by wearing the jerseys of Negro Leagues teams. More than 5,700 fans came out to watch former All-Star and Hall of Fame players.
The East defeated the West 5-4 in six innings.
Philadelphia Phillies legend Ryan Howard, the 2005 National League Rookie of the Year, 2006 National League MVP, and 2008 World Series champion, was named the Classic’s MVP after hitting a go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth inning to give the East the lead.
“It’s always been a fraternity,” Howard said after the game. “The cool part about it is you have your teammates that you play with coming up in the Minor Leagues, and a lot of the guys you play against at each level in the Minor Leagues, so in a sense, you’re coming up together with them, as well…And just to have this kind of brotherhood and continue to have it is special.”
Curtis Granderson, a 16-year MLB veteran from 2004–19, during which he was a three-time All-Star, hit the first home run of the 2024 game, wearing a Newark Eagles jersey.
“It’s cool,” he said. “Anytime I got a chance to play in these [Negro League throwbacks] throughout the course of a season, I always looked forward to it and loved it, so I’m happy to get a chance to put it back on again today.”
Edwin Jackson, who pitched for more than a dozen MLB teams from 2003–19, registering 1,508 career strikeouts, took the mound to start the game. The home run derby contest preceded the game as Adam Jones, who is most remembered for his years (2008–18) with the Baltimore Orioles in a career that spanned from 2006–21, defeated Prince Fielder.
The son of Cecil Fielder (1985–98), a two-time AL home run leader and 1996 World Series champion with the New York Yankees, Prince Fielder had a notable career. He played in MLB from 2005–16 and was a six-time All-Star.
One player who received a lot of recognition from the crowd was Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., widely considered one of the greatest players in baseball history.
Along with the game, the weekend featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the “Souls of the Game” exhibit. Rowan Ricardo Phillips, an award-winning poet, was one of the consultants who was included in the development of the project, and he was pleased to see the support.
“The fact that people really want to start and think about the roots of the story, the voices, from the beginning, people we don’t often think about—Bud Fowler, Octavius Catto, those types of players—it really excites me,” he said.
“I think what’s really wonderful about the exhibit is, we can rethink the story of baseball that we want to tell to ourselves and to our future selves, instead of thinking, ‘Well, let’s pick this up from 2020 or 2024 or whatever.’”
For more about the East-West Classic, visit MLBbro.com.
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Yankees’ pitching depth is crucial to the team’s winning ways
The Yankees just keep winning.
They began a three-game series Tuesday night on the road versus the Los Angeles Angels with Nestor Cortes’s turn in the rotation holding a 1 1/2 lead over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East division standings. The Yankees were 37-18 and 11-3 in their 14 previous games, a sizzling clip for a club that has only lost three straight games once this season, from April 14-16, over six weeks ago.
The Yankees have been bolstered by their depth of talent of position players and pitchers. They have been one of the best teams in Major League Baseball despite being without their ace Gerrit Cole, the 2023 Cy Young Award winner. Cole has yet to make his 2024 regular season debut as he works his way back from right elbow nerve inflammation and edema. On Saturday, the 33-year-old righty threw two innings against minor league players at the Yankees player development facility in Tampa, Florida. Last season, Cole was arguably the best pitcher in MLB, registering 33 starts, a 15-4 record, 2.63 ERA, 0.981 WHIP and 222 strikeouts. His 209 innings pitched were the second most in Cole’s 11-year career.
In his absence, the Yankees’ pitching staff went into Tuesday with the lowest ERA (2.77) in MLB. The collective five man rotation of Cortes, Marcus Stroman, Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Luis Gil has been capable but surprisingly superlative. As of Tuesday, all but Cortes, at a solid 3.29, had ERAs under 3. Long Island native Stroman, who the Yankees signed to a two-year, $37 million free-agent deal in January, has epitomized the team’s strength and resolve in withstanding Cole’s injury. The 33-year-old Duke University alumnus is scheduled to start tomorrow on the road against the San Francisco Giants boasting a 4-2 record with a 2.76 ERA.
Stroman, who had a combined 44 starts for the Mets in 2019 and 2021, and a member of the Chicago Cubs in 2022 and 2023, giving them 50 starts, went six innings allowing just three hits and no runs last Saturday in his most recent appearance in a 4-1 Yankees victory over the Padres in San Diego.
“The other starters have been incredible,” Stroman said following the win. “We’re all doing this without having the best pitcher in baseball, Cole, who we’re all dying to get back.”
The Yankees end a three-game series against the Angels today and will play the Giants three games tomorrow through Sunday. They are back home in the Bronx for a three-game set beginning Tuesday versus the Minnesota Twins before the World Series favorite Los Angeles Dodgers visit New York for three June 7 through June 9.
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Equestrian standout Hazel Pratts continues to rise in the sport
With her freshman year of high school at a Pennsylvania boarding school completed, 14-year-old Hazel Pratts is looking forward to demonstrating her equestrian skills this summer.
At age 4, the Brooklyn native revealed to her parents a desire to learn how to ride a horse, which proved more than a simple childhood wish. She has since immersed herself in equestrian competitions, winning major events for her age group.
The lessons of riding competitively have been significant to her social and academic development—she ended the school year with a 3.7 GPA. The high achiever transfers her love of being a rising equestrian scholar-athlete to her classmates and teammates.
“I actually really do like watching my friends ride, and cheering them on is my favorite thing,” said Pratts. “Also, recording them—I love getting good videos and talking about them after the horse shows. I really do enjoy winning and (take away) from losing because it’s all about the improvement.”
Pratts explained that she has a visceral connection to the horses she rides and feels their energy and spirit. “Mine is very energetic, very friendly, and very emotional,” she said. “It’s really cool being around so many horses. You can see the different types of emotions and back stories just by looking at them.”
Hazel’s mother, Hasoni Pratts, a member of the New York State Board of Regents, told the AmNews that her daughter has been committed to riding ever since she was first introduced to colts.
“Hazel truly knew what she wanted to do,” said Pratts. “Her father (Michael Pratts) and I thought maybe when she had to clean stalls, that would change her mind, but it didn’t deter her at all. She soaked up every experience of being around stables.”
The young Pratts found it challenging to fulfill her desire to become an accomplished equestrian within the five boroughs, so the family decided that she would attend an equestrian boarding school. There, Pratts was assigned a horse and she said they clicked instantly. The school is also academically demanding, which she appreciates, and the opportunity to ride during the school day is gratifying.
“I couldn’t ask for more,” she said.
Pratts competes year-round. The school arranges for the students to attend shows, to which she and fellow students travel as a team. Pratts said she was fortunate to ride in multiple shows. She also participates in individual competitions, in two divisions. One is equitation, a discipline in which judges focus on how the rider controls the horse and executes movements.
“Showing is the best thing,” Pratts said. “No matter what, riding is amazing, but showing is incredible. I’m very competitive.”
Her immediate goal is to jump higher and then move to a higher level of competition. Her career goal is to become a veterinarian. She doesn’t anticipate riding during college, but will resume afterward.
“I always want to be a part of the equestrian world,” Pratts said.
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Governors Cup soccer tournament takes center stage this weekend
This weekend on Governors Island, roughly half a mile from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan and a quarter mile from Brooklyn, NYC Footy will welcome approximately 1,200 players and 100 teams to compete in its annual co-ed Governors Cup, which began in 2019.
NYC Footy was launched in 2010 to bring better organization to recreational soccer.
“As a player in numerous rec (recreation) leagues prior to starting NYC Footy, I was seeking a more professional experience at the rec level,” NYC Footy CEO and Co-Founder Tarek told the AmNews. “Rec leagues are notorious for being one small step above organized pickup, and it was evident that to experience something more polished and professional, we’d need to create it ourselves. What we didn’t anticipate was just how much our vision for recreational soccer was almost universally shared by the soccer community here in New York City.”
The Governors Cup will feature seven-on-seven soccer teams composed of both men and women, as opposed to the 11-on-11 format of professional games.
Pertew said the unprecedented success of the Governors Cup is the byproduct of bottling the appealing attributes of rec soccer into one jam-packed day.
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“It offers the best elements of physical and mental wellness—friendly competition, camaraderie, social interaction, and outdoor play—and puts it into overdrive for a full day of soccer stimulation,” he said. “It’s become such a can’t-miss event that players will schedule major summer plans, including weddings, around the Governors Cup. Some folks request a delayed start to their internship, others return from a summer overseas.”
The event offers plenty of entertainment for spectators.
“As a soccer-loving spectator, there is probably no better place to be on June 1 or 2 than the Governors Cup,” Pertew said. “Our sponsors have become more numerous and the off-field activities have become more entertaining. We have fun sport-related activities from the likes of BetterPlayer, NYCFC, and Gotham FC, and product activations from Waterloo, Modelo, BodyArmour, and VAE Labs. Plus, this year, we are streaming the Champions League Final in our Beer Garden.”
Emily Li of No Hands FC reflected that “our team’s first year competing at (the) Governors Cup (in 2022) was right after our very first season competing as a team, including our first championship win. We were so excited to keep up the momentum, and the Governors Cup was the perfect opportunity to do so in-between seasons.”For more information about the Governors Cup, visit nycfooty.com or govcup.org.
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