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Tag: Baseball

Big Ten Baseball Tournament Expands to Eight-Team Field

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Big-Ten-LogoRosemont, Ill. – The conference office announced today that the Big Ten Baseball Tournament will feature an eight-team field for the first time in conference history, beginning with the 2014 event. The 2014 Big Ten Baseball Tournament will be held May 21-25 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., home of the College World Series.

The tournament’s double-elimination format will culminate with a single championship game on Sunday, with the winner earning the tournament title and the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAA Championship. All eight teams will begin play in one of two brackets, with the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 8 seeds appearing in one bracket and the No. 2, No. 3, No. 6 and No. 7 seeds appearing in the other bracket.

The tournament begins with four contests on Wednesday and Thursday and two games slated for Friday. Saturday will feature the winners of each bracket facing the remaining one-loss team from the opposite bracket in the semifinals. As many as four games are scheduled forSaturday, with the opportunity for two if necessary games to be played to determine Sunday’s championship game participants.

The full 2014 Big Ten Tournament bracket is attached as a PDF. Game times and television information will be available at a later date.

The Big Ten Baseball Tournament has been played annually since 1981, with a four-team field through 1999 and a six-team event from 2000-2013. Six different schools have won the Big Ten Baseball Tournament, with Minnesota leading all conference programs with nine titles. Michigan and Ohio State have each won eight conference tournaments, followed by Illinois with four tournament crowns, Indiana with three and Purdue with one.

Opening day of the 2014 Big Ten baseball season is Friday, Feb. 14, with all 11 teams beginning the new campaign. Indiana appears in the top 10 of numerous preseason publications, while six conference standouts have been named preseason All-Americans by various outlets.

Rockies to Retire Helton’s No. 17 Jersey

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Todd Helton Colorado Rockies 17DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies will retire former first baseman Todd Helton’s No. 17 on Aug. 17.

The club announced its promotional schedule Thursday and it includes a three-day weekend honoring Helton, who retired at the end of last season.

Helton will be honored in a ceremony on Aug. 17 before the Rockies play the Cincinnati Reds.

Also, Root Sports announced former Rockies outfielder Ryan Spilborghs will join its Rockies broadcast team this season.

Spilborghs played a key role in the Rockies’ 2007 World Series run and had considered resuming his career with the Rockies on a minor league contract this season before deciding to retire and go into broadcasting. He’ll be a part of the team’s pregame and postgame shows.

Play Ball!: D-Backs Kick Off MLB Spring Training

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baseballSCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — While much of the nation is buried in snow, glazed by ice or just plain shivering in the cold, it’s time to play ball in the desert.

Spring training officially began Thursday when Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers and catchers reported, with their first workout set for Friday.

On the other side of suburban Phoenix, in Glendale, Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers and catchers report on Saturday.

Full-squad workouts for both teams begin next week.

The Diamondbacks and Dodgers get an early start because they will open the MLB season with a two-game series in Sydney, Australia, on March 22-23.

The rest of the teams begin workouts next week at their spring training haunts in Arizona and Florida.

Curt Schilling Announces He Has Cancer

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Curt SchillingBRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Former star pitcher turned television analyst Curt Schilling has announced that he is battling cancer.

Schilling on Wednesday released a statement through his employer, ESPN, saying he plans to “embrace this fight, just like the rest of them, with resolute faith, and head on.”

The statement did not indicate what type of cancer Schilling has, when he was diagnosed or what his prognosis might be.

Schilling, who starred in World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Boston Red Sox, has been in the news recently after the failure of 38 Studios, a video game company he owned in Rhode Island.

Schilling has said he invested and lost as much $50 million in that company.

Schilling played in the major leagues for 20 seasons with five different clubs.

IOC Urged Not to Pay Sports to Attend Olympics

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olympicsSOCHI, Russia (AP) — The IOC has been urged not to pay sports to attend the Olympics during talks on its relations with North American professional leagues.

New Zealand member Barry Maister says “we are on a slippery slope if we start paying people to come to the Olympic Games.” Maister says such payments would be “fundamentally against the Olympic movement.”

The NHL agreed a 16-day pause freeing players for Sochi after long negotiations with the International Ice Hockey Federation.

MLB’s refusal of a midseason break hampers baseball’s attempts to regain Olympic status.

IOC members opened wide-ranging debate Wednesday on future Olympic strategy. They were asked to consider “financial compensation and returns for the stakeholders for their involvement.”

Jean Claude-Killy of France says any proposal to pay Olympic athletes would be “anathema.”

Royals Fans Soak Up Spring Fever as Snow Falls

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kc-royalsKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals ace James Shields says he is open to discussing a contract extension that would keep him in Kansas City past the end of this season, when he is eligible for free agency.

That news should make fans, already flying high over a strong finish a year ago, feel even better as they turned out for the team’s annual FanFest on Friday.

The Royals exercised their $13.5 million option on Shields’ contract shortly after finishing 86-76, their best record since 1989.

Shields told reporters he was open to discussing a new deal but that those talks have not begun. He also said rumors he was seeking a contract similar that of Zack Greinke, who signed a $147 million, six-year contract with the Dodgers, were untrue.

MLB OKs Protective Cap for Pitchers, Fit for Camp

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MLB Pitchers Protective CapsNEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball has approved a protective cap for pitchers to reduce the effects of being hit in the head by line drives.

The new hat will be available for pitchers to test during spring training on a voluntary basis. Major leaguers and minor leaguers won’t be required to wear it in games this year.

The safety plates are sewn into the hat and custom fitted. They weigh an extra six to seven ounces and offer increased protection to the forehead, temples and sides of the head.

Several pitchers have been hit in the head by line drives in the last few years. Brandon McCarthy sustained a brain contusion and skull fracture after being struck, and Doug Fister was hit during the World Series.

The safety hats are made by isoBLOX and were introduced Tuesday.

Nine-Game Diamond Deal Now Available

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Hawks Field Nebraska Huskers Baseball FieldLincoln – Starting today, Monday, Jan. 27, Nebraska baseball fans will again be able to purchase the nine-game Diamond Deal for the 2014 season. Fans can either purchase reserved tickets for nine games in the lower grandstand (sections 110 or 112), in the Homerun Terrace (behind right field) and in the upper grandstand (section 210 or 2012).

Fans are able to choose nine games from any of the Huskers’ 27 home games in 2014. The non-conference season includes games with Kansas State, St. John’s, Northern Colorado, UC Irvine, Creighton, UNLV and UNO. The Huskers open Big Ten play on Friday, April 4, with the Ohio State Buckeyes, before also hosting Northwestern, Penn State and Illinois.

Total price of the package is just $90 for either the grandstand or Homerun Terrace. Outside of season tickets, the Diamond Deal gives fans the opportunity to buy reserved tickets before single-game tickets go on sale Thursday, Feb. 27. For more information on season tickets or the Diamond Deal, visit Huskers.com/Tickets or call 800-8-BIG RED during business hours.

Huskers Open Practice at Hawks Field

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husker baseballLincoln – The Nebraska baseball team opened the 2014 season on Friday, as the team had its first official practice of the season. The team was able to get outside at Hawks Field starting at 2:30 p.m., before later moving to the Alex Gordon Training Complex to hit.

Head Coach Darin Erstad and several players met with the media prior to practice to discuss the 2014 season.

“This is three years in a row we’ve been outside in January,” Erstad said. “Our guys have prepared well and put themselves in a situation and succeed.”

For the first time in a while the Huskers have a nucleus of starting pitchers returning in senior Christian DeLeon, junior Kyle Kubat and junior Aaron Bummer.

“If those three are healthy they’ve earned the right to thrown on the weekend,” Erstad said. “They’ve all worked hard to get better and it’s nice to have those guys available.”

The Huskers will continue to practice over the next three weeks, before playing their opening game of the 2014 season on Friday, Feb. 14, in Tempe, Ariz., against Pacific. The Huskers will play four games in three days at Tempe Diablo Stadium, the Spring Training home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Following Friday’s game with the Tigers, the Huskers are scheduled to play a pair of games on Saturday against 2013 College World Series qualifier Oregon State at Noon and then against Gonzaga at 4 p.m. The Huskers and Zags wrap up the weekend on Sunday at 1 p.m.

After playing 10 straight games on the road to start the year, the Huskers open a 10-game home stand on Tuesday, March 4, when the Kansas State Wildcats come to Lincoln for a 1:35 p.m. game.

Babe Ruth’s 1923 Series Watch Going to NY Auction

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Babe Ruth Watch 1923NEW YORK (AP) — Babe Ruth’s 1923 World Series championship watch, believed lost to history, is coming to a New York City auction.

The pentagonal gold timepiece is expected to fetch at least $750,000 at Heritage Auction’s Feb. 22 sale.

Ruth had the gold timepiece until shortly before his death in 1948, when he gave it to friend Charles Schwefel. Two years later, the watch went to Lewis Fern, Schwefel’s nephew and Ruth’s golf caddy.

In 1988, the watch was sold privately to a sports collector, who’s now selling it.

Chris Ivy, Heritage’s director of sports auctions, says no one knew where the piece had been, since it wasn’t sold publicly.

Ruth had the watch engraved with his name and an inscription to Schwefel. A collectibles expert says that makes it even more valuable.

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