There are rumors going around -- literally going around, on the infinite loop of the ticker -- that Magic center Dwight Howard will be traded to Chicago or Dallas or possibly the Lakers. Rumor likewise has it that Knicks' forward Amare Stoudemire could be traded, as well as Blue Jackets' right wing Rick Nash, though sadly not for each other, no matter how up for it Knicks' management would be.
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson remains hospitalized in Florida with a shoulder injury following a freak fall from a stage.
U.S. boxing history reveals that it is a sport that has traditionally been the "bluest" of blue-collar athletic endeavors.
CNN's Soledad O'Brien introduces us to Olympic hopeful Marlen Esparza, a Mexican-American from Houston.
Tonight, Dan Uggla has a chance to become just the third man in the last five seasons to have a 30-game hitting streak. That's a shocking turnaround for a player who was hitting .173 when his streak began back on July 5, and provides a valuable lesson on the nature of batting average on balls in play.
It was 70 years ago, on a mild and misty night in Cleveland, before the largest crowd of the 1941 baseball season -- 67,463 in Municipal Stadium -- that Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak came to an end. The game became, in today's parlance, an "instant classic." It would have been destined for countless airings on many sports channels had only there been footage to air.
So now we sit and wait for Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit. I pray he gets the milestone in timely fashion. No one wants the distraction that comes when a player sits on 2,999 for too many games. We had that with Carl Yastrzemski in Boston back in 1979. We were all doing time on the Yaz Watch and the inimitable Peter Pascarelli, then with the Baltimore News American, said, "This is like waiting for Franco to die.''
It is a record that figured to stand the test of time, like Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak or Jerry Rice's 274 straight games with a reception.
With an RBI infield single Monday night against the Cubs, the Dodgers' Andre Ethier became the first man to collect a hit in 28-straight games since the Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman hit in 30 straight in early 2009 and just the 10th man to assemble a streak of 28 or more games since the turn of the millennium. Impressive as that might be, Ethier is only half way to Joe DiMaggio's record of 56 straight games, a record he can only tie by duplicating the feat he has already achieved, something it seems safe to say isn't going to happen. In the 92 seasons since 1919, which is as far back as Baseball-Reference.com's game logs go, there have been 65 streaks of 28 or more games, not counting Ethier's; 28 of them didn't even make it to 30.
This much we can count on in the 2011 baseball season -- the passing of a few good milestones, the further elevation of a few good men. Sometime in early June, if his past is any kind of prologue, shortstop Derek Jeter will stroke his 3,000th career hit, and become (and this is pretty crazy when you think about it) the first player in the gilded, 100-plus-year history of the Yankees to reach that figure. In September, Jeter's teammate, Mariano Rivera, could save his 43rd game of the season (why not? he had 44 saves in 2009) and pass Trevor Hoffman as the major leagues' all-time saves leader.
Related Galleries for the March 14, 2011 issue
Joe DiMaggio stories in the SI Vault
If you should find yourself visiting New York -- or even if New York is where you live -- there is a place I'd like to recommend that you stop by.
Is there a less prescient lyric in the history of popular music than the one Billy Joel wrote for his 1978 song Zanzibar, in which he sang: "Rose he knows he's such a credit to the game..."?
Just another night in the life of the best player in baseball went something like this, at least as far as last Friday the 13th:
SI.com caught up with Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim after Francesca Schiavone defeated Samantha Stosur in the French Open women's singles final, 6-4, 7-6(2).
It seems to me that every baseball fan's Hall of Fame would be a little bit different. My Hall of Fame is different from anyone else's* -- and so is yours. There are, for our purposes, an infinite number of combinations -- or, anyway, a number close enough to infinity to make the number beyond any of our imaginations -- and there are surely more than enough combinations to give every single person his or her own personal Hall of Fame.
Fill in answers as in a crossword -- except the answers are numbers. For rows or columns with multiple clues, enter answers consecutively. The sum will equal the red total at the end of each row/column.
During these daunting economic days, the sports fan, more than ever, deserves real bang for the buck. In that context, the SI.com Thrill Lists were born. These enumerate the athletes, past and present, who most infallibly have kept us on the edge of our seats; the men and women (and horses) whom we would pay to see.
"They say his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as we are and would understand." -- The Old Man and the Sea
SI.com: Playing with numbersupdated: Mon May 11 2009 16:50:00
I am told that if you want to be a part of today, you have to Twitter. So I am Twittering ? JPosnanski, if you want to follow ? but since I have no idea what I'm am supposed to say, I just posted this: Pete Rose's career hit total is made up of Jackie Robinson's number (42) and Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak (56).
New York's iconic Plaza Hotel will lose a figure nearly as synonymous with it as Eloise when its longest-serving doorman retires Thursday after 46 years on the job.
Microphone in hand, Derek Jeter addressed the 54,610 fans who came to say so long to Yankee Stadium, his words booming around the old ballpark
One of the most tumultuous and controversial Triple Crown seasons in history is finished. Many questions remain about the five weeks just finished and about the years ahead for horse racing. Some of the questions, and some possible answers:
Manny Ramirez lives for his four or five plate appearances every night. The rest of what makes for his major league employment -- the necessity of having to wear a glove in the outfield, the need to run the bases (haste, however, not required), the infrequent intrusions from the media -- simply fill the time until the next occasion he can attack another at-bat the way John Nash might a thorny equation: with equal parts genius and joy.
Fortune: Joe DiMaggio, Inc.updated: Wed Aug 29 2007 02:40:00
In the coming years, it should be much easier for the nation to turn its lonely eyes to Joe DiMaggio, as the Yankee Clipper's name could be plastered on everything from casinos to pizzerias to - you guessed it - steaming hot cups of Joe.
Phil Rizzuto, the Hall of Fame shortstop during the Yankees' dynasty years and beloved by a generation of fans for exclaiming "Holy cow!" as a broadcaster, died Tuesday
Two outfielders. Two milestones. One Vin Scully.
Also in this column: • A-Rod vs. Joe D. • Brewers' ace in the hole • Harang's unlikely season • More news and notes
If Barry Bonds fails to get voted into the All-Star Game, is there any chance Tony La Russa would not put him on the reserve roster? If La Russa snubs Bonds to make a statement, wouldn't that be a hypocritical move on the part of a manager who had Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco play for him all those years? -- Phil, Oyster Bay, N.Y.
If you watched any television last week it was difficult to miss some version of Managers Gone Wild, not in the spring break kind of way, thank goodness, but in the traditional blow-a-gasket, channeling-Billy-Martin vein. Even CNN and ABC News took their gaze off Iraq and Capitol Hill for a moment to wonder what the heck was going on with managers such as Lou Piniella, whose hat kicking and dirt kicking looked a little dated, like a BTO reunion tour; Bobby Cox, who umpires will tell you cries more than Paris Hilton; and minor-league skipper Phillip Wellman, whose commando grenade tossing act bordered on managerial comedic genius, more Robin Williams than Dick Williams.
SI.com: Iron Standard updated: Wed Feb 28 2007 10:20:00
On Sunday evening the scorecard said that Henrik Stenson was the winner of the Accenture Match Play Championship. Perhaps the real victor, though, was a gentleman who passed away in September at the age of 94. When Nick O'Hern eliminated Tiger Woods in the third round at the Gallery's South course, thus halting Woods's streak of PGA Tour wins at seven, Byron Nelson's hallowed record of 11 straight victories in 1945 acquired even more luster. Now it looks downright unassailable, and only one question remains: Is this the greatest individual sports streak of all time?
Derek Jeter's bat isn't all that different than the ones used by Yankees legends Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth. There have been cosmetic changes over the years, but when you get right down to it, it's still a piece of wood.
In your opinion, are index funds the best way to go for someone already in retirement who is trying to be sure he doesn't outlive his money? Or should one buy individual stocks and bonds? - Bill Watson, Columbia, South Carolina
Money Magazine: For Richer or Poorerupdated: Fri Jan 20 2006 10:38:00
A surprising number of high school and college students believe it's at least "somewhat important" to marry someone wealthier than they are: 14% MALE 24% FEMALE
Attention sports fans-- Joe DiMaggio's first major league uniform is going up for sale.
Fortune: Hall of Fameupdated: Mon Mar 07 2005 00:01:00
BEST NEW ARTIST AWARD
CNNMoney: Miller time?updated: Wed Dec 29 2004 09:13:00
This story originally ran on Dec. 1 and has been updated.
Will Bill Miller keep his streak alive?
Jimmy Cannon, the wonderful New York sportswriter, once offered this memorable line about the heavyweight boxing champion known as the Dark Destroyer: "Joe Louis is a credit to his race ... the human race."
Quiz masterupdated: Thu Jul 22 2004 09:26:00
Recently, a colleague at SI.com wrote a column criticizing million-dollar "Jeopardy!" champion Ken Jennings' winning streak.
The Best American Sports Writing of the Century edited by David Halberstam and Glenn Stout Houghton Mifflin, 776 pages
Speaking as FORTUNE's expert on luck, and as the only writer around here who ever wrote a 5,282-word article called ''Luck and Careers'' (November 16, 1981), we would say that George Bush and Joe D...
First, the hard sell: This item has family drama. It has baseball. It has forgery. It has a fistfight. It casually mentions what happened when Joe DiMaggio met Mikhail Gorbachev. (No, they didn't s...
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