Sports
Veteran’s Day Salute to Pro Athletes Who Served Their Country
On D-Day, 19-year-old Yogi Berra and five Navy mates parked the USS Bayfield two long home runs from Omaha Beach and launched rockets and fired machine guns at the Germans—trying to smooth the way for the Allied invasion.
They stayed there 12 more days with orders to shoot down enemy aircraft.
Ted Williams, whose Boston Red Sox battled Berra’s New York Yankees hundreds of times during the 1940s and 1950s, served as a naval aviator for three years in World War II and gave 15 more months as a fighter pilot—occasionally serving as John Glenn’s wingman—in the Korean War.
Before Williams left for his Korean War assignment, he had dinner with legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice. According to the superb book “The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams” by Adam Lazarus, Williams understood the stakes.
“Then he said—and this is what I can’t get out of my mind,” Rice told fellow New York sportswriter Frank Graham, “(he said) ‘I expect to be killed, of course.’”
Berra and Williams are two of the many examples of remarkable athletes who didn’t limit their greatness to the playing field—and risked their lives to do it. Veterans Day represents a wonderful opportunity to relive their sacrifices for the United States of America.
Ty Cobb, Warren Spahn, Bobby Jones, David Robinson, Hank Greenberg, Chuck Bednarik and Hoyt Wilhelm are among other athletes who saw active duty or worked as intelligence officers.
Bob Feller, who was perhaps the greatest pitcher of his day, enlisted in the Naval Reserve two days after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Serving as a gun captain on the USS Alabama, Feller earned eight battle stars and six campaign ribbons in North Atlantic and Pacific theaters. After missing nearly four full seasons of his prime, Feller was discharged on Aug. 22, 1945, and earned a complete-game win over the World Series-bound Detroit Tigers two days later.
By no means are former Major League Baseball legends the only ones to come to their country’s aid.
After four years as a safety for the Arizona Cardinals, Pat Tillman and his brother, Kevin (an Anaheim Angels pitcher), enlisted in the Army in May 2002 as their response to 9/11. They trained to join the Army Rangers, and their regiment was deployed to Iraq and then Afghanistan as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Tillman was killed April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan by friendly fire during a firefight.
Forty years before, Roger Staubach enjoyed a wondrous athletic career at Navy. In addition to earning the 1963 Heisman Trophy and being featured on the cover of Time magazine (he was pushed off the cover of Life due to John F. Kennedy’s assassination), Staubach excelled for three years on the baseball team (batting .420 as a sophomore) and received two letters on the basketball team.
Upon graduation in 1965, Staubach immediately began to serve his five-year commitment to the Navy, which included one year in Vietnam. He entered the NFL in 1969 as a 27-year-old rookie with the Dallas Cowboys, who had the foresight to spend their 10th-round pick in the 1964 NFL Draft on Staubach. Within three years, Staubach led the Cowboys to the Super Bowl championship. He was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award, which came with a Dodge Charger. Staubach traded it in for a station wagon—the better to transport his three young kids.
Staubach’s Cowboys and Rocky Bleier’s Pittsburgh Steelers met more than once in the Super Bowl—and Bleier’s military journey was more harrowing than Staubach’s. After playing his rookie year in Pittsburgh, Bleier was drafted into the Army. He went to Vietnam and suffered multiple injuries in August 1969. He was shot in the thigh during an ambush. Not long after during that firefight, he saw a grenade bounce off his commanding officer’s back.
“It rolls toward me and I wasn’t but three feet from him as I was sitting there,” Bleier told the American Veterans Center. “I got up to jump and it blew up and I was standing on top of it… I had nerve damage coming up out of my (right) foot, broken bones under my foot. Fortunately I didn’t lose any part of my foot.”
During his lengthy recovery that included several surgeries, Bleier was told he would not play football again. Instead, he played 10 more seasons with the Steelers and won four Super Bowls to go with his Purple Heart and Silver Star.
“Because I became a story and because we were successful, it put Vietnam on the top of the list,” Bleier said. “So all those Vietnam veterans out there who were repressed, who didn’t get the credit or the pat on the back, all of a sudden, here was one of ours that made it. And got through and got recognition for his service, which the rest of us can ride on his coattails or whatever it might be. But it was well-deserved (recognition) that we all should have gotten at that time.”
Sports
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
Oct 1, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson (22) and New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) during game two of the 2024 WNBA Semi-finals at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images LAS VEGAS — Entering her eighth season in the WNBA, Las Vegas Aces superstar A’ja Wilson is poised to build on what was arguably the most dominant individual campaign in league history.
Wilson joined Cynthia Cooper (1997) as the second player in league history to win a unanimous MVP award and joined an exclusive club as the fourth player to win the award three times. She averaged 26.9 points and 11.9 rebounds per game last season and set the all-time single-season mark for points (1,021) and rebounds (451).
Unfortunately for Las Vegas, injuries and fatigue from their two previous championship runs mounted and resulted in the team’s worst regular-season record (27-13) since 2019. The Aces’ three-peat hopes ended with a 76-62 home loss to the New York Liberty to drop their semifinal series 3-1.
It’s that loss on her home floor that served as Wilson’s motivation this offseason.
“Losing sucks, especially on your home court,” Wilson said “It still kind of burns a little bit, but I’ve used that as fuel to help my teammates understand how hard it is to win in this league. Yes, we can celebrate the two championships. They were great. But for us to move forward, we have to understand how hard this league is and value the basketball and the little things. I think that’s what we lacked last season, so we’re going to make sure that we can show up better than we did.”
While the Aces appeared to be on top of the world heading into their potential three-peat campaign in 2024, the reality inside the locker room was that both the internal and external pressure to win another championship had become suffocating. A common theme across media day was the fact that the team feels less pressure entering the 2025 season, a sentiment Wilson shared as the unquestioned leader of the team.
“(Three-peat talks) obviously impacted us, because it’s like, y’all think we don’t want to win? We’re trying as well,” Wilson said.
“I would definitely say it’s refreshing this year. I feel like this is one of my only years where it feels like there’s no weight. There’s a lot of weight to be defending champs. It’s a lot of weight to be trying to win one. We don’t have that. We actually have a clean slate to really dial into getting back to who we are culturally, like, in our system and everything.”
Leading the Aces back to the top of the mountain for a third time in four years is one of a few historically significant achievements Wilson can collect this upcoming season. Wilson could also become the first four-time MVP in league history, though the meaning of that is something she hasn’t quite allowed herself to ponder yet.
“I haven’t given it much thought, but it would be a blessing to have my name in that conversation,” Wilson said. “Every year, I try to be better than I was the year before just to give myself a chance in this league. Because the league is getting better. We’re growing. At this point, you just want to maintain your stamina. You want to maintain your mental, all of that, because the season gets hard. I can’t think too much about that just yet, but I’m definitely going to try to be better than I was last year.”
As Aces coach Becky Hammon put it, fans can expect to see an even better version of Wilson this season.
“What I see is, she went and got better,” Hammon said. “Which is hard to do when you’re already the best, but it speaks to her work ethic, her desire and her mindset this whole offseason. We talked a lot this offseason. She’s a busy lady, but I can tell you what she always does is her workouts. She’s always getting her workouts in. That comes first and foremost, she never gets her priorities jumbled up.”
When Hammon was asked what a player like Wilson would possibly need to improve after last season’s campaign, the coach did not feel like revealing too much.
“There was (something for Wilson to improve), and she did,” Hammon said. “I’m not going to tell you what it was. Actually, there were two things.”
–Will Despart, Field Level Media
Sports
Jacob Wilson joins Aaron Judge in spotlight for Yankees-A's series
May 5, 2025; West Sacramento, California, USA; Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson (5) throws to first for an out against the Seattle Mariners during the seventh inning at Sutter Health Park. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images The top two hitters in the majors square off Friday night when the New York Yankees face the Athletics in the opener of a three-game series in Sacramento, Calif.
It’s no surprise to see Yankees star Aaron Judge off to a superb start after winning American League MVP honors last season. He has a major league-best .400 batting average and entered Thursday’s play tied for the big-league lead with 12 homers and 34 RBIs.
But who had Athletics rookie Jacob Wilson ranking second in the majors at .357 as the season nears the quarter pole? Wilson has played in just 64 career games and quickly has solidified himself as a future All-Star, perhaps even this season.
Sharing the marquee board with Judge seems quite surreal for the 23-year-old shortstop who was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2023 draft.
“It’s a great feeling, for sure,” Wilson said of his name being mentioned with Judge. “Obviously, everybody has seen what he is doing. It’s pretty incredible watching him do his thing on a daily basis. To be up there with him is pretty cool for me.
“I’m excited to play against him this week and see what it looks like in person.”
Wilson had his first career four-hit game during Wednesday’s 6-5 home loss against the Seattle Mariners and has six multi-hit outings in the past eight games. He went 8-for-14 with one game-winning hit in the three-game series against the Mariners and is 16-for-34 (.471) with four walks during the eight-game stretch.
The hot hitting led to Athletics manager Mark Kotsay moving Wilson to the leadoff spot on Wednesday. Kotsay indicated Wilson may be sticking at the top of the lineup.
“I think you’ll see Jacob up there now,” Kotsay said. “Jacob’s earned it. … Jacob has shown enough over the last week. He’s walking and taking pitches, and, obviously, swinging the bat really well.”
Judge arrives in Sacramento in the midst of a four-game funk in which he is 2-for-15.
The two-time MVP just went 1-for-10 in a three-game home series against the San Diego Padres, but the one hit was a homer.
Judge grew up 50 miles south of Sacramento in Linden and starred for Linden High but wasn’t highly sought by major league teams. The then-Oakland Athletics selected him in the 31st round in 2010.
Judge instead went the college route and starred for Fresno State. He was chosen in the first round (32nd overall) by the Yankees in the 2013 draft.
Trent Grisham was one of the heroes of Wednesday’s 4-3, 10-inning win over the Padres. He hit a tying two-run pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning.
Grisham had two homers and five RBIs in the series against the Padres — one of his former teams — and already has 10 long balls in just 89 at-bats. He hit just nine last season in 179 at-bats.
“I’m having fun with the guys, I would say that more than anything,” Grisham said. “The clubhouse is really good in here, led by Cap (Judge). So, I would say the guys have been the most enjoyable part.”
New York is starting right-hander Will Warren (1-2, 5.65 ERA) in Friday’s series opener. Right-hander Osvaldo Bido (2-2, 4.71) will be on the mound for the Athletics.
Warren, 25, struck out a career-high eight in 4 2/3 innings while losing to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday. He gave up five runs (three earned) and seven hits. Warren hasn’t previously faced the Athletics.
Bido, 29, received a no-decision against the Miami Marlins last Saturday when he gave up four runs on three hits over five innings. He is winless (0-1) over his last three starts. Bido hasn’t faced the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Report: Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao coming out of retirement
Aug 21, 2021; Las Vegas, Nevada; Manny Pacquiao (right) fights Yordenis Ugas in a world welterweight championship bout at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao plans to end his retirement and return to the ring on July 19 against Mario Barrios in Las Vegas, ESPN reported Thursday.
Pacquiao, 46, will be fighting for the first time since losing a unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas in 2021.
The fight will be for Barrios’ WBC welterweight championship belt. Barrios turns 30 on May 18.
Pacquiao is an eight-division champion who is slated to be inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame in June. He reportedly will formally announce his return to boxing next week. The report stated that Pacquiao has been cleared to compete by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
In recent years, Pacquiao has been focusing on his political career in the Philippines.
The boxer nicknamed “PacMan” has a 62-8-2 record with 39 knockouts during his career. He won his first major title — the WBC flyweight crown — at age 19 in 1998.
Pacquiao was 54-3-2 prior to turning 33 and 8-5 afterward. One of those losses was to Floyd Mayweather Jr. via unanimous decision in 2015, a bout that reportedly drew nearly $400 million in pay-per-view sales.
Barrios (29-2-1, 18 knockouts) fought to a 12-round, split-decision draw against Abel Ramos last November. This will be his third defense since winning the title by beating Ugas in 2023.
–Field Level Media
A'ja Wilson has no shortage of motivation after Aces' early exit in '24
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