(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Philadelphia Phillies 2, Tampa Bay Rays 1 New York Mets 3, Toronto Blue Jays 2
AMERICAN LEAGUE Boston Red Sox 12, Baltimore Orioles 3 New York Yankees 10, Kansas City Royals 4 Los Angeles Angels 6, Minnesota Twins 2 Cleveland Guardians 5, Chicago White Sox 3
NATIONAL LEAGUE Chicago Cubs 10 at Los Angeles Dodgers 4 Cincinnati Reds 1, Atlanta Braves 0 Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Miami Marlins 2
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE San Francisco 49ers 32, New York Jets 19
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians POSTPONED Minnesota Twins 3, Chicago Cubs 7 Tampa Bay Rays 3, St Louis Cardinals 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE LA Angels, NY Yankees POSTPONED Baltimore Orioles 2, Toronto Blue Jays 5 Boston Red Sox 6, Kansas City Royals 5 Texas Rangers 4, Houston Astros 2 Chicago White Sox 5, Oakland Athletics 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE Milwaukee Brewers 10, Atlanta Braves 0 N.Y. Mets 3, Colorado Rockies 6 San Francisco Giants 5, Washington Nationals 11 Cincinnati Reds 8, Miami Marlins 2 Philadelphia Phillies 2, L.A. Dodgers 2 San Diego Padres 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 0
(NEW YORK) — Italian Jannik Sinner defeated American Taylor Fritz in straight sets in the U.S. Open men’s final on Sunday.
It was the first time Sinner, the world’s No. 1, has won the title, and the first time an Italian man has won the U.S. Open.
Sinner defeated the California native in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. This was the first time either player made it to the finals of the U.S. Open.
Sunday’s win is also Sinner’s second Grand Slam title this year after winning the Australian Open in January.
Sinner’s road to victory had been marred by a doping scandal that resulted in points and prize money deductions rather than a ban. It was disclosed late this summer that Sinner had tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid Clostebol, which he claims he encountered after his fitness trainer treated an injury on Sinner’s physiotherapist, who later worked on the player, leading to the trace amount in a test result.
The revelation all but cast a cloud over a banner year in which he won five singles titles, including the first Grand Slam title of the year.
Sinner told ABC News after the match that he was comfortable on the court despite facing criticism leading into the tournament.
“I was just happy to compete,” Sinner said while holding the championship trophy.
Sinner called the saga a very tough moment for his team but maintained, “They know what, what happened and what I’ve done, which is I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Despite the criticism from some players, Sinner said he could sense the enthusiasm from the packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd.
Sinner found support from fans who flocked to see the final in the most well-attended U.S. Open in history. According to the United States Tennis Association, more than one million people attended the U.S. Open throughout its three-week run.
“They gave me so much energy, especially in moments where I was struggling and also today, this final, you know, playing against American and it was such a fair crowd,” the 23-year-old Italian said.
The audience was also peppered with celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Olympian Noah Lyles, Martha Stewart and Bad Bunny.
For Fritz, Sunday’s tournament came on the heels of an all-American semifinal on Friday, where he beat American Frances Tiafoe. Fritz walked on court to Sunday’s final as the first American man to see a Grand Slam final since Wimbledon 2009, where Andy Roddick competed. Roddick was also the last American man to win the U.S. Open title in 2003.
In his post-match press conference, Fritz reflected on what he described as a “really tough match.”
“I didn’t, definitely didn’t hit the ball as well as I expected to,” Fritz said, adding, “That’s just kind of how it goes when you’re playing, you know, he’s the best player in the world right now.”
The 26-year-old got choked up as he described the pressure leading into Sunday night’s match.
“I feel like the fans, obviously, American fans, [have] been wanting a men’s champion for a long time, and I just, I don’t know, I’m pretty upset with how I played. I feel like, I don’t know, I feel like I almost let a lot of people down,” Fritz said.
Fritz said his body had rested since the five-set match against fellow countryman Tiafoe. “I didn’t feel anywhere near as nervous going into this match as I did in the semis. So I thought emotionally, you know, it’s obviously the U.S. Open final, I want to win it, it’s a really big moment. But I felt like emotionally I was going to be OK,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — More than seven-and-a-half decades after his death, Babe Ruth made history again when a jersey he was wearing during his famous “called shot” home run plate appearance was auctioned off over the weekend for $24.1 million, the highest price ever paid for a piece of sports memorabilia.
The winning bid for the Great Bambino’s No. 3 New York Yankees road jersey came in at nearly double the price paid for what is now the second most expensive sports collectible — a mint condition Topps 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card auctioned in 2022 for $12.6 million, according to Heritage Auctions, which handled the Ruth jersey sale.
“This is essentially the Mona Lisa, it’s a very mythical moment that crosses over not only in baseball history but American history, pop culture history,” Chris Ivy, Heritage Auctions’ director of sports auctions, told ESPN. “We’re still talking about it 100 years later, which is one of the reasons why I think it’s the most significant piece of sports memorabilia in the world.”
The name of the person who won the bidding war for Ruth’s flannel jersey was not disclosed. The price includes a 20% buyer’s premium, Heritage Auction said.
On Oct. 1, 1932, during Game 3 of the World Series at Wrigley Field, Ruth gestured to the centerfield wall before crushing a Carlie Root pitch into the bleachers for a three-run homer, the most famous of the 729 homers he hit during his career. The Yankees won the game 7-5 and went on to win the World Series, sweeping the Cubs the next day.
It was the last World Series Ruth played in.
“To me, it was the funniest, proudest moment I had ever had in baseball,” Ruth acknowledged after the game. “I jogged down toward first base, rounded it, looked back at the Cub bench and suddenly got convulsed with laughter. You should have seen those Cubs. There they were — all out on the top step and yelling their brains out — and then [I] connected and they watched it and then fell back as if they were being machine-gunned.”
The last time the Ruth “called shot” jersey was put on the auction block was in 2005, when it sold for $940,000, but that was before it was authenticated as the jersey the Sulton of Swat was wearing when he hit the epic home run, according to Heritage Auction.
“The most ironclad assurance of authenticity is delivered in photographic format, with industry-leading photo matching authenticators MeiGray supplying three photographs of Ruth in the October 1, 1932, World Series Game Three at Wrigley Field wearing this jersey,” Heritage Auction said in its auction catalog.
The auction house said the letter “Y” in “New York” on the jersey “demonstrated to be in perfect alignment with the buttons and curve of the front placket.”
“Other unique attributes utilized in the matching include a small notch on the left side of the ‘N’ in ‘NEW,’ a bend in the bottom of the ‘E’ and a slight tilt in the middle peak of the ‘W,'” the auction house said.
The authentication sent the jersey’s value skyrocketing. Before the auction, Ivy said the bidding was poised to go as high as $30 million.
Ivy told ESPN that a dozen people on the company’s mailing list were expected to bid $15 million to $20 million for the jersey. He said the auction house’s client list runs the gamut from attorneys up to sports team owners.
“This stuff is a great conversation starter as opposed to, you know, buying more IBM stock, investing in real estate,” Ivy said. “A lot of people feel like they were kinda maxed out on those things.”