Bill Mazeroski, the Hall of Fame second baseman who won eight Gold Glove awards for his steady work in the field and the hearts of countless Pittsburgh Pirates fans for his historic walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, has died at the age of 89. The Pirates announced his death on Saturday. Pirates owner Bob Nutting said Mazeroski, who died Friday, “was one of a kind, a true Pirates legend.” The Pirates retired Mazeroski's No. 9 in 1987. The club had a statue of him erected on Bill Mazeroski Way in 2010.
LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — The U.S. team won its record-breaking 11th gold medal of the Winter Olympics when the trio of Kaila Kuhn, Connor Curran and Chris Lillis took the title in mixed aerials. The 11th gold breaks a record set at the last Olympics on U.S. soil — in Salt Lake City in 2002, an Olympics that has long stood out as a turning point for a Winter-sports program that had struggled for decades. The medal lifted the U.S. to 30 overall for the Olympics. That’s second to Norway, which a day earlier won its 17th gold medal to set a Winter Games record.
TESERO, Italy (AP) — Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo completed his historic gold medal sweep of the men’s cross-country skiing events on Saturday by winning his sixth race and set the record for the most golds by one athlete in a single Winter Olympics. Klaebo’s victory in the 50-kilometer mass start race shattered the nearly 50-year record set by American speed skater Eric Heiden, who won five golds in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
Less than three months removed from its first MLS Cup championship, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami shows no signs of a letdown. The Herons have assembled perhaps the strongest roster in Major League Soccer history heading into a season that begins this weekend and bookends around the biggest event of them all, the World Cup hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. Messi is coming off his second straight MVP award, the first player in MLS history to accomplish that feat. But he’s hardly going it alone in Miami, which pulled off an impressive reload.
LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — The two best bets to win the gold medal in women’s halfpipe skiing at the Winter Olympics were born in the United States. Zoe Atkin competes for Britain and hardly anyone raises a fuss about it. Eileen Gu competes for China and never hears the end of it. Athletes in freeskiing and snowboarding — two lifestyle sports that champion individuality — spend most of their time traveling the globe caring very little about countries or anthems.
MILAN (AP) — The U.S. men's hockey team will play for gold against Canada and it has honored Johnny Gaudreau’s memory along the way. Gaudreau and his brother Matthew died on Aug. 29, 2024, when an SUV hit them as they rode bikes in New Jersey. Team officials say Johnny would have been on this roster. A blue No. 13 jersey hangs in the locker room beside Matthew’s No. 21. Teammates say it keeps them close.
PRAGUE (AP) — The storied hockey career of Jaromir Jagr might be coming to an end. The former NHL great is currently in his 38th professional season, with his hometown Kladno Knights in the Czech league, and strongly indicated fans might not get to see him on the ice any more. “Probably not,” Jagr said in an interview on Instagram. It wasn’t clear if Jagr will play again this season. The 54-year-old winger has played just six games in the league for Kladno this season. His last game was on December 21. Jagr made his debut for Kladno at 16 and returned to the club in 2018 when the Calgary Flames released him. Jagr praised the “great” hockey at the Milan Cortina Games.
LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Team officials say U.S. freeskier Nick Goepper checked out of the hospital with only a knee sprain and a bad shin bruise after a scary fall in the halfpipe finals at the Winter Olympics. The 31-year-old Goepper went flying above the halfpipe and came down on his back before bouncing to the bottom. He stood up and walked gingerly and holding his back. Goepper finished fourth. Gold medalist Alex Ferreira was in awe of the attempt, saying it took real guts for Goepper to try it.
CHONBURI, Thailand (AP) — World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul has birdied her final three holes for a 6-under 66 and a two-stroke lead going into the final round of her home LPGA Thailand tournament. Thitikul made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th to break away from a four-way tie for the lead Saturday, then saw her eagle chip just slide past the hole on 18 before tapping in for a birdie. Thitikul had a 54-hole total of 20-under 196 at the Siam Country Club Old Course.
Just over half the ball/strike challenges were successful on the first day of spring training games as Major League Baseball prepared for the first regular-season use of the automated ball-strike system — the so-called robot umpires. Thirteen of 23 calls were overturned during the five games, MLB said, which came to 56.5%. There were an average of 4.6 challenges per game and 2.6 overturned calls per game. Seven challenges were made of plate umpire Alex MacKay’s calls during Arizona’s 3-2 win against Colorado, and six were successful. The Diamondbacks had four of five decisions reversed and the Rockies were 2 for 2 in challenges.
Finals
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (7)Purdue 93 Indiana 64
Final (18)Saint Louis 88 VCU 75