Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza shared a pair of injury updates regarding his team’s starting rotation ahead of Sunday’s series finale against the San Francisco Giants.
Megill, on the IL since mid-June with an elbow sprain, threw a live batting practice session off the Citi Field mound on Sunday morning. According to Mendoza, Megill had two “ups” and threw in the neighborhood of 20 pitches.
Assuming Megill feels fine coming out of this live BP session, the plan is for him to throw another two-inning session, potentially on Thursday.
Megill has started 14 games this season, pitching to a 3.95 ERA over 68.1 innings pitched.
Blackburn turned in another solid rehab outing on Saturday, allowing two earned runs over 5.1 innings with Triple-A Syracuse.
According to Mendoza, the Mets will see how Blackburn feels on Sunday and Monday, and assuming all is well, the righty will then need to a throw a bullpen session, presumably on Wednesday. Then, as Mendoza likes to say, the Mets will likely have a decision to make on the 31-year-old.
Currently on the IL due to a right shoulder impingement, Blackburn has struggled at the major league level this season, pitching to a 7.71 ERA in six appearances (four starts).
The Yankees announced a pair of roster moves on Sunday morning, reinstating starter Luis Gil from the 60-day IL and placing reliever Jonathan Loáisigaon the 15-day IL with right mid back tightness.
Gil, the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year, is set to make his season debut on Sunday after being sidelined up to this point with a right lat strain.
The 27-year-old last pitched Tuesday night for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, allowing one earned run on three hits while striking out seven over 4.1 innings.
Overall, Gil made four rehab outings, allowing nine earned runs over 14.1 innings.
Loáisiga, meanwhile, hasn’t quite looked as effective this season after missing just about all of the 2024 campaign due to an internal brace procedure to repair the UCL in his right elbow.
In 29.2 innings this season, Loáisiga has pitched to a 4.25 ERA, having already allowed a career-high seven home runs.
The spiraling Giants, fresh off a blowout loss, turned to their rookie starting pitcher to help them secure a much-needed series win. On the road. Against one of the best teams in baseball.
With a loss, the team would reach a new low.
Hey, no pressure.
Carson Whisenhunt (W, 5 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) toed the rubber for San Francisco (56-56) against the mighty New York Mets (63-49) on Sunday at Citi Field, and gave the Giants, with the help of an offensive outburst, exactly what they needed on the mound in a 12-4 win.
“I thought it was good,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said of Whisenhunt’s outing postgame. “To be able to go out in the sixth, [against] a lineup like that? I had to go get him, but he only gave up three hits. His fastball he spotted a lot better, which is going to be really important for him. You can feel, sometimes, teams sitting on his changeup just because it’s kind of well-advertised before he goes out there. Same thing as last outing.
“… In a game like this, it’s a big game for us to try and win a series and he was right at the forefront of it.”
Melvin breaks down the Giants' offensive performance and Whisenhunt's strong outing 💪 pic.twitter.com/smuWZeSjdK
Whisenhunt, the Giants’ top pitching prospect, made his MLB debut in San Francisco’s 6-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday, and while his overall line (5 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) was nothing that impressive, fans got their first glimpse at the 24-year-old’s elite 65-grade changeup, which fooled both Mets hitters and Whisenhunt’s teammates behind him on Sunday.
“That changeup is … that thing goes backwards,” second baseman Casey Schmitt told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Laura Britt and Shawn Estes on “Giants Postgame Live.” “That thing is unbelievable. But I’ve seen him throw a lot, played with him in Sacramento. He’s got great stuff and you all saw it today. For him to go out there and do his thing like that out here in New York, it was a special game.”
Whisenhunt surrendered a solo home run to Mets slugger Francisco Lindor in the bottom of the first, and an RBI double — an unearned run due to a Giants error — to Francisco Alvarez in the bottom of the sixth before his departure with one out.
“It was a great atmosphere,” Whisenhunt told reporters postgame. “That’s probably the biggest thing, everybody was screaming, which I enjoy that. Obviously they’ve got a good lineup, but not overthinking or trying to do too much. Just enjoying the moment and trying to help the team win.”
Other than a couple of mistakes, it was a pretty clean day for the rookie, who was greeted with a postgame beer shower in the team’s clubhouse.
“Everybody was screaming, congratulating me and everything, and then the beer shower. So that was fun,” Whisenhunt said when asked about the postgame celebration. “Not too bad, so I’ll take it.
“There was some applesauce and some milk thrown in there, but no mustard or ketchup or anything. Thank the lord.”
When Larry Carrier opened what would become Bristol Motor Speedway in 1961, this image never crossed his mind: an MLB player standing at home plate near the racing surface waiting on a fastball from the mound 60 feet, six inches away.
Baseball? At Bristol?
Why not? The place built for stock car racing also has hosted professional football, college football, concerts, worship services and boxing, among other events.
With the MLB Speedway Classic presented by BuildSubmarines.com, baseball officially joined the ranks Saturday evening, where the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves, two historic National League teams, locked horns for a one-of-a-kind battle at the “Last Great Colosseum.”
The game was a first for MLB in the state of Tennessee, and it attracted a crowd of 85,000-plus, a baseball attendance record that surpassed the mark established more than 70 years prior, when Cleveland Stadium hosted 84,587 on Sept. 12, 1954.
Jeff Hayes was one of that number. A Nashville resident, he brought two friends and two cousins with him to what he said was his first MLB game. Like many — perhaps most — in the crowd, he had never visited Bristol.
“I wanted to see the game but almost as much to see this place,” Hayes said. “I’ve seen it on TV a lot, but you don’t get the full picture until you’re here. An amazing place. I don’t know how they put a full-scale baseball field in here, but it looks great.”
Years of planning for the game, the latest in a series designed to spread MLB’s reach, culminated Saturday, despite rain factoring into the equation. Showers fell several times during the day, and the start of the contest was delayed two hours and 17 minutes by a downpour that started during pregame ceremonies.
The first pitch was finally thrown at 9:41 p.m. ET, but rain intensified, and the game was suspended in the bottom of the first inning with the Reds leading, 1-0. The game resumed Sunday at 1 p.m. ET and is currently underway on FOX.
Even as jerseys were traded for ponchos due to Mother Nature, fans enjoyed plenty of NASCAR/MLB crossover, as did the athletes themselves.
Reds pitcher Andrew Abbott wore a modified version of a Rusty Wallace Miller High Life uniform onto the field in pregame. Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson sported “Talladega Nights”-themed catching gear. Before the first pitch, the players were paraded around the 0.533-mile track in pickup trucks, NASCAR-style. Several NASCAR sponsors, including BuildSubmarines.com, are also MLB sponsors, so the prominent display of its logo seemed doubly appropriate.
Although the crowd seemed to be heavily oriented toward baseball — with Reds and Braves jerseys aplenty across the grandstands — some fans wore apparel representing both sides of the coin, creating a unique blend for two separate pastimes.
Celebrities in attendance included Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, one of the Reds’ all-time greats, and Chipper Jones, who held down third base for the Braves for most of two decades. Bench, 77 years old and a baseball immortal, looked like he still might cut you down stealing second base.
NASCAR drivers joined in on the spectacle. Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch, dressed in Reds gear, and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, in an Atlanta jersey, arrived from Iowa Speedway to participate in opening ceremonies.
A few minutes before the ceremonial first pitches were thrown, heavy rain began falling, bringing the white infield tarp out once more. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain” was played over the PA system, but none of NASCAR’s track-drying equipment was put in play. The grounds crew spent more time on the basepaths than the players.
The baseball field was the result of weeks of toil by dozens of workers. Adjacent to the diamond were the other niceties needed for an MLB game — first-class clubhouse facilities, meeting rooms, training rooms and batting cages.
“My first thought is I can’t believe they did all this for one game,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “To be able to set all this up, get a playing surface ready, the stands up in order to have the proper viewing. It’s pretty incredible.”
The planning took years. The idea first crossed someone’s desk in 2021, and it wasn’t a massive surprise because Bristol has hosted other major events and has one of the world’s biggest seating capacities.
“Major League Baseball had some executives in town visiting some of the Appalachian (collegiate summer league) teams,” Jerry Caldwell, president of Bristol, said. “We let them know we’d love to give them a tour of the race track. They came over, and it occurred to somebody that, hey, you know, we could fit a baseball diamond in here.
“We had batted it around before (so to speak), but we dug it back up. It led to some pretty quick conversations, and a bigger group of people came down to check it out. Then it went to engineers. So, it was years’ worth of conversations and planning. We had to make sure it was really something we could do because we don’t ever want to take our eyes off the ball (so to speak, again) of what we are, a motorsports facility. We can accommodate these other things, but then we have to know that we can get back to what our core business is.”
That “core business” could pick up, thanks to the baseball game. Although rain dampened what should have been a spectacular evening, thousands were exposed to the speedway for the first time. More than half of the tickets sold went to addresses new to the Bristol customer list.
Caldwell said there were some key observers at the speedway Saturday night to watch the game, “with the idea that we might bring some other major events here.” There was a rumor between dugouts that NHL representatives were looking on.
So, what’s next for Bristol? Soccer? Swimming? Springsteen?
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a go-ahead two-run single in the fifth inning, Ketel Marte, Alek Thomas and Corbin Carroll hit home runs, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Athletics 7-2 on Saturday night to end a six-game losing streak.
Zac Gallen (8-12) allowed two runs on nine hits in six innings. Andrew Saalfrank, Kendall Graveman and Kevin Ginkel each pitched a scoreless inning to close it out.
Marte hit his 21st home run of the season - a solo shot off J.T. Ginn (2-3) in the first - to give the Diamondbacks the early lead.
Nick Kurtz had a one-out single in the third off Gallen and Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom had back-to-back two-out doubles to give the Athletics a 2-1 lead.
Thomas and Blaze Alexander had singles leading off the fifth to put runners on the corners. Carroll walked to load the bases for Marte, who tied it 2-2 with a groundout.
Geraldo Perdomo walked to reload the bases and Gurriel drilled a two-run single for a 4-2 lead.
Thomas hit a solo homer off Justin Sterner in the sixth and Adrian Del Castillo had a sacrifice fly in the seventh for a 6-2 advantage. Carroll capped the scoring in the ninth with his 22nd homer.
Ginn allowed four runs on four hits and five walks in four innings. With the loss, the A's three-game win streak ended.
Arizona won for the second time in 11 games.
Gurriel had seven grand slams and a .394 career average with the bases loaded before delivering the go-ahead single.
Gallen had lost his three previous starts and allowed 16 runs in 17 innings before righting the ship against the A's.
The Athletics haven't named a starter for Sunday's rubber game opposite Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (3-7, 5.63 ERA).
SAN DIEGO (AP) Masyn Winn hit a tiebreaking two-run double, and the St. Louis Cardinals stopped San Diego's six-game win streak with an 8-5 victory over the Padres on Saturday night.
St. Louis had lost four in a row. The Cardinals trailed 4-0 before scoring eight unanswered runs.
Pedro Pagés hit a three-run homer for St. Louis, and Iván Herrera had three hits. Michael McGreevy (3-2) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings.
Jackson Merrill hit a solo drive for San Diego, and Freddy Fermin drove in two runs. Ramón Laureano had a run-scoring triple.
Merrill's eighth homer made it 4-0 in the third. But the Cardinals rallied in the fourth. Nolan Gorman singled home Willson Contreras, and Pagés connected against Randy Vásquez for his seventh homer.
Jeremiah Estrada replaced Vásquez (3-5) after Iván Herrera hit a leadoff single in the fifth. With two down and runners on first and second, Winn made it 6-4 with a double to left.
Alec Burleson added an RBI single in the ninth against Yuki Matsui, and Contreras followed with a sacrifice fly.
JoJo Romero got four outs for his first save of the season. Fermin hit an RBI single in the ninth, but Fernando Tatis Jr. flied to right for the final out of the game.
San Diego's Luis Arraez doubled in the first to extend the majors' longest active hitting streak to 15 games.
Pagés’ tying drive traveled 422 feet.
Merrill’s homer was San Diego’s 93rd - second fewest in the NL.
Cardinals right-hander Andre Pallante (6-7, 4.62 ERA) starts on Sunday opposite Padres right-hander Dylan Cease (3-10, 4.79 ERA).
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) White Sox infielder Miguel Vargas was scratched from Saturday night's game at the Los Angeles Angels because of a left oblique strain.
Vargas was replaced at first base by Lenyn Sosa. The White Sox said Vargas is being further evaluated.
Vargas, 25, was acquired from the Dodgers as part of a three-team trade in July 2024. He is batting .229 with 13 homers and 44 RBIs in 106 games.
Prior to the matchup with the Angels, the White Sox placed right-hander Dan Altavilla on the 15-day injured list with a right lat strain. Right-hander Owen White was recalled from Triple-A Charlotte.
The team also announced that first baseman Ryan Noda was claimed off waivers by Baltimore.
The 32-year-old Altavilla is 0-1 with a 2.36 ERA and two saves in 25 games with Chicago this year.
The game between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves began late Saturday night after a two-hour rain delay. But after getting to the bottom of the first inning, more weather hit and the game was postponed to Sunday afternoon.
The scenes on Saturday night were one-of-a-kind, with the massive Bristol Motor Speedway housing nearly 100,000 fans for the NASCAR track’s first-ever baseball game.
With the Braves wrapping up a 4-2 win over the Reds, here’s a look at all the unique aspects to the Speedway Classic:
NASCAR-themed uniforms
Both the Reds and Braves had unique uniforms for the game in Bristol. That included special hats and batting helmets and different number fonts on their jerseys.
Here are the NASCAR-themed uniforms for Bristol:
Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Ke’Bryan Hayes of the Cincinnati Reds reacts after hitting a single during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images
A detail shot of the Speedway Classic patches worn by Austin Riley of the Atlanta Braves during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images
A detail shot of the helmet worn by Drake Baldwin of the Atlanta Braves during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
‘Talladega Nights’ equipment
Some of the players took the opportunity to lean into the NASCAR theme, even more than just the uniforms.
Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson wore a “Talladega Nights” chest protector and face mask, channeling his inner Ricky Bobby from the 2006 Will Ferrell film.
Braves shortstop Nick Allen followed the same theme with his cleats, where he wrote a few classic lines from the movie — calling himself “Nicky Bobby.”
Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Tyler Stephenson of the Cincinnati Reds looks on from the dugout prior to the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
When the game resumed on Sunday, Braves right fielder Eli White quickly put his team back in front with a 3-run home run in the second inning.
With White’s blast out of the field and onto the race track, there was the debut of another new Speedway Classic feature — the home run car. A custom-designed Corvette motored around the half-mile track with a “Home run” flag as White rounded the bases. White added a solo shot in the seventh inning to send the car around again.
The game between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves began late Saturday night after a two-hour rain delay. But after getting to the bottom of the first inning, more weather hit and the game was postponed to Sunday afternoon.
The scenes on Saturday night were one-of-a-kind, with the massive Bristol Motor Speedway housing nearly 100,000 fans for the NASCAR track’s first-ever baseball game.
With the game finally underway, here’s a look at all the unique aspects to the Speedway Classic:
NASCAR-themed uniforms
Both the Reds and Braves had unique uniforms for the game in Bristol. That included special hats and batting helmets and different number fonts on their jerseys.
Here are the NASCAR-themed uniforms for Bristol:
Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Ke’Bryan Hayes of the Cincinnati Reds reacts after hitting a single during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images
A detail shot of the Speedway Classic patches worn by Austin Riley of the Atlanta Braves during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images
A detail shot of the helmet worn by Drake Baldwin of the Atlanta Braves during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
‘Talladega Nights’ equipment
Some of the players took the opportunity to lean into the NASCAR theme, even more than just the uniforms.
Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson wore a “Talladega Nights” chest protector and face mask, channeling his inner Ricky Bobby from the 2006 Will Ferrell film.
Braves shortstop Nick Allen followed the same theme with his cleats, where he wrote a few classic lines from the movie — calling himself “Nicky Bobby.”
Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Tyler Stephenson of the Cincinnati Reds looks on from the dugout prior to the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
When the game resumed on Sunday, Braves right fielder Eli White quickly put his team back in front with a 3-run home run in the second inning.
With White’s blast out of the field and onto the race track, there was the debut of another new Speedway Classic feature — the home run car. A custom-designed Corvette motored around the half-mile track with a “Home run” flag as White rounded the bases. White added a solo shot in the seventh inning to send the car around again.
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The game between the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves began late Saturday night after a two-hour rain delay. But after getting to the bottom of the first inning, more weather hit and the game was postponed to Sunday afternoon.
The scenes on Saturday night were one-of-a-kind, with the massive Bristol Motor Speedway housing nearly 100,000 fans for the NASCAR track’s first-ever baseball game.
With the Braves wrapping up a 4-2 win over the Reds, here’s a look at all the unique aspects to the Speedway Classic:
NASCAR-themed uniforms
Both the Reds and Braves had unique uniforms for the game in Bristol. That included special hats and batting helmets and different number fonts on their jerseys.
Here are the NASCAR-themed uniforms for Bristol:
Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Ke’Bryan Hayes of the Cincinnati Reds reacts after hitting a single during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images
A detail shot of the Speedway Classic patches worn by Austin Riley of the Atlanta Braves during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images
A detail shot of the helmet worn by Drake Baldwin of the Atlanta Braves during the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
‘Talladega Nights’ equipment
Some of the players took the opportunity to lean into the NASCAR theme, even more than just the uniforms.
Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson wore a “Talladega Nights” chest protector and face mask, channeling his inner Ricky Bobby from the 2006 Will Ferrell film.
Braves shortstop Nick Allen followed the same theme with his cleats, where he wrote a few classic lines from the movie — calling himself “Nicky Bobby.”
Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Tyler Stephenson of the Cincinnati Reds looks on from the dugout prior to the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic presented by BulidSubmarines.com between the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in Bristol, Tennessee.
When the game resumed on Sunday, Braves right fielder Eli White quickly put his team back in front with a 3-run home run in the second inning.
With White’s blast out of the field and onto the race track, there was the debut of another new Speedway Classic feature — the home run car. A custom-designed Corvette motored around the half-mile track with a “Home run” flag as White rounded the bases. White added a solo shot in the seventh inning to send the car around again.
Dan Ardell won a College World Series with USC as a sophomore in 1961 before accepting a $37,500 bonus to sign with the Angels, who called him up a couple of months later. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The second in an occasional series of profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing careers.
The expansion Los Angeles Angels were just 5 months old in September 1961 when the team called up three minor leaguers who would come to define the fledgling franchise’s early years.
Jim Fregosi, a teenage shortstop, would go on to make six All-Star teams and win a Gold Glove. Right-hander Dean Chance, who turned 20 that summer, would win Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards and lead the American League in wins, ERA, shutouts and innings pitched. And Buck Rodgers would catch for nine big league seasons before managing at the minor and major league level for the Angels.
But only Dan Ardell, a light-hitting first baseman who was called up with them, would do something that had never been done before on Sept. 20 against the Detroit Tigers. In his first big league plate appearance, Ardell blooped a single to right field, only to see pinch-runner Ken McBride get caught rounding second base to end the game.
“I'm the only one to only get one hit. And the one hit was a walk-off loss,” he said. “Not easy to do.”
There were few witnesses since many in the crowd of 3,116 at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium had left long before the ninth inning. Ardell would appear in six more games, four as a pinch-runner, and make six more plate appearances without a hit, striking out twice, walking once and dropping down a sacrifice bunt to finish with a .250 lifetime batting average.
It wasn’t good enough to get him a plaque in the Hall of Fame but you can still find him listed there, alongside the other 20,964 men who have played in the majors.
“It’s a very low number,” Ardell said, acknowledging the accomplishment. “Very low.”
Yet more than six decades later, Ardell looks back on his month with the Angels with neither delight nor disappointment. He has gone on to live a rich life, one that has included well-paying jobs in banking and asset management, a 41-year marriage that produced four children and six grandchildren, and absolutely no regrets about a baseball career that was so short it’s remembered mostly for a teammate’s base-running blunder.
Jim Fregosi during a game in Anaheim in 1965.
Transcendental Graphics / Getty ImagesDean Chance won a Cy Young Award with the Angels.
Associated PressRich Rollins of the Minnesota Twins swings and misses as Angels catcher Buck Rodgers catches the pitch in a 1962 game. All three players were called up to the Angels in September 1961 along with Dan Ardell, whose career only lasted seven games.
Hy Peskin Archive / Getty Images
“I never had a desire to be a major league ballplayer,” said Ardell, a retired real estate executive who made $1,250 for his big league cameo. “I loved playing baseball, but once I started playing professionally, I was bored. I was disinterested.”
In fact, the bookish Ardell probably never should have been there at all. But after winning the College World Series as a sophomore at USC, he accepted a $37,500 bonus to leave school five semesters short of a degree to sign with the Angels.
Still, he hedged his bets just the same.
“They wanted to give me $35,000 and I said I need $37,500 because that would give me the $500 a semester [tuition] at 'SC that I needed,” Ardell said.
The newly born Angels had just two minor league teams, so Ardell was sent to the Dodgers’ Class D farm club in Artesia, N.M. His manager was Spider Jorgensen, whose big league debut in 1947 had been somewhat overshadowed by teammate Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color line that day. Since Jorgensen’s equipment never made it to the ballpark, he played third base that day using an infielder’s glove he borrowed from Robinson.
The team Jorgensen managed went 48-78 and finished last, 29½ games out of first in the Sophomore League — so bad that Sports Illustrated came to New Mexico to document its mediocrity. Ardell finished that first season with more strikeouts (32) than hits (30) in 125 at-bats, but he was big, left-handed and played first base — three attributes that were enough to get him a trial with an Angels team that entered September 30 games behind the league-leading Yankees.
“I basically played second string at ‘SC,” Ardell said. “So I go from second string to Class D ball — which wasn’t as good as our ‘SC team — to the big leagues all within 60 days. At age 20, it was an incredible roller coaster.”
It was a ride he quickly tired off. He didn’t drink and he was about to get married, so the frat house atmosphere of a professional baseball team wasn’t one he partook of. After three more minor league seasons, he retired at 23.
“I learned a lot about myself,” he said of those three mostly unhappy summers.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t do it. It was that he didn’t want to do it. Being a big league ballplayer may have been some kids’ dream, but it wasn’t his.
“I got no satisfaction out of it. And I was bored,” he said. “It just wasn’t that interesting to me once I had to make my living doing it.
“If you don’t love what you’re doing, if you don’t appreciate and like what you’re doing, it becomes hard work.”
At 84, Ardell has an easy smile and a quick, self-deprecating wit he employs often. He’s still at his playing weight of 190 pounds, but he says he’s lost 2 inches off a frame that once rose to 6-foot-2. And he no longer moves with the speed or grace that allowed him to steal seven bases in his first minor league season.
There is no memorabilia, no remnants of his short-lived career in his hillside home in Laguna Beach’s Bluebird Canyon, about a half-mile from the Pacific Ocean. He gave his gloves away during a garage sale shortly after he quit playing and a grandson took down the few pictures he had hung on the wall.
After retiring with a .252 average and 45 home runs in 389 minor league games, Ardell went back to college, then studied real estate, working for Union Bank and Wells Fargo. He eventually started a real estate asset management company with his twin brother Dave, an equally talented baseball player who played at UCLA, where he was the team captain.
After retiring with a .252 average and 45 home runs in 389 minor league games, Dan Ardell returned to school at USC, then studied real estate, working for Union Bank and Wells Fargo. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
That anyone remembers he played at all is both flattering and befuddling for Ardell, who receives about a dozen autograph requests in the mail each year.
“I mean, how do they even know my address?” he asked.
Still, he answers every letter. Some fans send old photos or baseball cards that are necessarily homemade since Ardell never got a Topps bubblegum card of his own.
“In those days anybody who signed a bonus, Topps would sign,” he said. “So they came to Artesia, where I was playing, and said ‘we want to give you a Topps card. And we’ll pay you five bucks’.
“I said, ‘I think I need 10.’ So I’m the only only major leaguer who never had a Topps card.”
Which isn’t to say Ardell has no mementos from his career. A fastball he didn’t see on a poorly lit field in San José slipped under the bill of his batting helmet and struck him flush in the head one night.
“I woke up the next day. You could see the seam where the baseball hit. I still have a dent,” he said with a chuckle, pointing to a spot in the center of his forehead.
It wasn’t until three decades after he walked away from the game that Ardell came to appreciate what he had accomplished — and only then after marrying Jean Hastings, who would shortly become a nationally recognized baseball academic and writer.
Ardell and Hastings — a Brooklyn native who had always been a baseball fanatic — were living in the same Orange County neighborhood when a mutual friend suggested they go out on a date.
“She had just read ‘Ball Four,’” Ardell said, referencing Jim Bouton’s book about the raunchy, less-seemly side of baseball. “So she said no, baseball players are to look at, they’re not to touch.”
Dan Ardell says he receives about a dozen autograph requests in the mail each year, with some fans sending old photos or homemade baseball cards since Ardell never got a Topps card of his own. "I mean, how do they even know my address?" he said. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
She went on the date anyway, then married Ardell a couple of years later in 1981. Jean, 79, died in 2022 after a short, ferocious battle with leukemia, but in the more than 40 years she spent with Ardell, she slowly rekindled his love for a game he had all but forgotten.
They went to conferences and symposiums, where Jean spoke on the magic and the poetry of baseball. They visited the Hall of Fame, traveled to Arizona for spring training and attended countless Angels games, watching on TV the ones they couldn’t attend in person.
“It was definitely part of her,” grandson Garrett Tyler said.
Jean not only helped Ardell put his baseball career into perspective, she helped put his life in perspective. Shortly after they married, “I decided to have a mission statement,” Ardell said. “And my mission statement was to make a difference in the lives of others.”
“Ten years later,” he added “I changed it to make a positive difference.”
He saw that desire at work in Jean, a political liberal who, in addition to her baseball writing, also worked with a nonprofit called Braver Angels that seeks to bridge the political divide by bringing Democrats and Republicans together. It was a philosophy she lived by marrying Ardell, a lifelong Republican who cast his first presidential vote for Barry Goldwater but later drove a car sporting a “Republicans for Obama” bumper sticker.
Ardell was already working with Opportunity International, a global nonprofit that alleviates generational poverty by microfinancing community projects both in Southern California and abroad. But now the bridge that he and Jean built became apparent through the difference being made — not only in those affected communities, but in his own soul as well.
Tyler said he grew up playing catch with his grandfather, who attended all his Little League games. But it was his grandmother who told him about Ardell’s professional career.
“He was always a little bit reluctant to talk about it. My grandma was the one that kind of opened him up,” said Tyler, 25, who followed his grandparents into baseball, where he works as manager of concessions for the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the double A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I’ve talked to him a lot about that. He told me that he just didn’t have the confidence. He knew that he was good, but I don’t think he really understood it. I don’t know if he necessarily misses it or feels like he missed out. I think he was more appreciative of the journey that it took him on and how he’s evolved into a different love for baseball.”
As he has grown older, Tyler said that’s the part of his grandfather’s journey that has stuck with him; the mission statement part that says it’s not about the destination or the accomplishments, but about the influence you have on those you meet along the way.
In that way, he said, Ardell’s short career is now having an outsized influence.
Tyler mentions a friend who is basically playing for free, stranded below the longest rung of the minor league ladder. But he still puts on a uniform every day.
“He plays for the love of the game and just because it’s all he knows,” Tyler said. “One of the things that Dan asks me that I ask my friend is, ‘do you like what you’re doing?’ And at that point it’s not about your career longevity or how much money you’re making.
“As long as you’re happy playing and you’re making ends meet, then go for it.”
Ardell wasn’t happy playing, so he walked away. Three decades later with the love and support of a wife who saw baseball not as a sport but as a metaphor for life, as a game where the goal is to get home safely, Ardell began to understand the magic, too.
His one month in the majors led him to a career prosperous enough that he could help others, one that still fills his mailbox with letters from fans and one that has given him the wisdom to counsel other 23-year-olds to keep putting on the uniform as long as it fits.
Make a positive difference in the lives of others.
“It was a very inconsequential part of my life that was very consequential to other people,” Ardell said of his one month in the majors.
Making his way back from a right shoulder impingement sustained in late June, Mets right-hander Paul Blackburn was on the mound on Saturday for Triple-A Syracuse in another rehab start.
Blackburn's outing went well and he now has put together a string of strong starts as he hopes to get another crack at either joining New York's rotation or bullpen.
Facing the Buffalo Bisons, the Toronto Blue Jays' Triple-A affiliate, the right-hander went 5.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on six hits and two walks while striking out three. He threw 93 pitches/52 strikes -- the most in a start during this rehab stint -- and has a 2.45 ERA across seven starts for Syracuse which includes his first rehab assignment earlier this season when he was coming back from right knee inflammation.
In 11 rehab starts across all levels of the minors, Blackburn is 4-3 with a 3.08 ERA (1.11 WHIP).
However, his numbers in the majors this year haven't been as pretty.
After returning in June from a 10-month hiatus that included multiple injuries and various setbacks, Blackburn struggled in the swing-man role. In six games (four starts), the 31-year-old went 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA (1.98 WHIP).
With New York's starting rotation healthy and its bullpen fortified, Blackburn's role on the club is unclear. He was traded to the Mets at last season's trade deadline and has appeared in 11 games (nine starts) for New York with little success.
For his career, Blackburn is 22-31 with a 4.97 ERA.
BOSTON — Houston Astros reliever Héctor Neris used a balk to advance a runner to third on Saturday, then had an exchange with Red Sox third base coach Kyle Hudson that led to a dustup between the teams.
Neris surrendered Trevor Story's two-out RBI double in the seventh inning of Houston's 7-3 loss. The right-hander then balked, moving Story to third, before Carlos Narváez bounced to shortstop for the final out.
As Neris made his way off the mound, he had words with Hudson and yelled toward the Red Sox dugout, causing both teams, including bullpens, to come on the field before order was quickly restored.
Asked if he felt the Red Sox were stealing signs, Neris responded: “Maybe. Maybe yes, maybe no."
“But I still wanted to concentrate," the 36-year-old right-hander continued. "In (that) situation, I want to do what I’m feeling in the moment. That is the reason why I moved him to third.”
Neris declined to specify what he said to Hudson that caused the benches to empty.
“Nothing. It’s part of the game,’’ he said with a grin. “Something funny. People come into (the clubhouse) maybe to hear what happened, but nothing serious.”
Astros manager Joe Espada, speaking to the media before Neris, had no insight into what caused the confrontation.
“I’m actually going to ask Neris," he said. "I really don’t know what words were exchanged to be honest with you.”
Asked what caused the benches to clear and if sign-stealing was the issue, Red Sox manager Alex Cora directed the questions to Neris.
Pitching calls in the major leagues are relayed electronically through PitchCom, but a baserunner on second can determine what pitch is coming by looking for a pitcher’s grip. A runner on second also can relay where a catcher is setting up to help a batter with pitch location.
The Astros were disciplined by Major League Baseball after it found the team used electronics to steal signs during their run to the 2017 World Series title and again in the 2018 season.
Cora was the bench coach for Houston in 2017. In the wake of the sign-stealing scandal, he departed Boston in January 2020 in what was called a mutual decision. After serving a one-season suspension handed down by MLB, he was rehired as Red Sox manager in November 2020.
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