Baseball

Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer Travis Swaggerty is asking his fans for prayers ... revealing on Wednesday his wife is dealing with a rare blood disease after she was attacked by a raccoon.

Swaggerty -- the No. 10 overall pick in the 2018 MLB draft -- said his partner, Peyton Swaggerty, was bitten by the rabid animal over a year ago ... and her life has been hell ever since.

In a statement posted on his social media page, the outfielder said Peyton has been "riddled" with "unresolved pain and problems" that have "completely taken her quality of life away from her."

Travis said in his note that she was headed for an appointment at the Mayo Clinic later Wednesday to try to find solutions to the issues.

"I wanted to share this to ask for support and prayers for her," he wrote, "along with reminding everyone to not take anything for granted in this life, especially the little things."

Travis said in a separate tweet that Peyton, despite all of the medical issues, has remained a stellar mom to their baby daughter.

"She fights through everything she’s feeling to be the best mom she can be," Travis said.

Peyton thanked her husband and his fans for their support in a tweet of her own on Wednesday morning ... adding, "We're on our way to the Mayo Clinic right now."

"I'm trusting God and the doctors!"

Sandy Koufax took the mound in Los Angeles for the first time as a Dodgers pitcher in 1958, after the team moved across the country from Brooklyn ... and now the Hall of Famer's historic, game-worn baseball mitt is on the auction block!

Of course, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved following the '57 Major League Baseball season after the organization was unable to strike a deal for a new ballpark with politicians in BK ... relocating to the West Coast

Dodgers Stadium didn't yet exist (it was built quickly and opened in 1962), so the team played four seasons at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, beginning with their first game against the San Francisco Giants on April 18, 1958.

Heading into '58 season, the Dodgers were transitioning Koufax, their young 22-year-old relief pitcher, into a starter. The Hall of Famer flashed some of the incredible abilities that would go on to define his amazing career, appearing in 40 games (26 as a starter), going 11-11 with a 4.48 ERA.

Now, the actual Rawlings mitt worn by the MLB legend for some, if not all, of those appearances according to the auction house is on the auction block at The Memorabilia Network.

The glove was also signed by the 7x All-Star and 4x World Series champion ... a signature that's been preserved over the years. The mitt is also adorned with "32," Sandy's jersey number, in black marker.

Koufax gloves are very rare. In fact, TMN says only a handful (now 7 total) of Koufax game-used gloves have ever sold ... and Memorabilia Network believes this glove, the first in the City of Angels, could be the most valuable ever.

The auction closes the night of June 14th ... and the glove won't go cheap!

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass apologized on Tuesday afternoon ... saying a post he made on his social media page earlier this week was "hurtful to the Pride community."

On Monday, Bass reshared a video to his Instagram Story from the account "dudewithgoodnews" ... which appeared to feature anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

The clip urged people to boycott "Target, Bud Light, and any other corporation that's pushing the things they're pushing" -- in light of their recent LGBTQ promotions.

Bass did not add any further commentary on the vid when sharing it ... though he was dragged by many MLB fans for re-posting it nonetheless.

But, during a short meeting with reporters at Rogers Centre ahead of Tuesday night's Toronto vs. Milwaukee game ... he said he was sorry for it.

"I recognize yesterday I made a post that was hurtful to the Pride community, which includes friends of mine and close family members of mine," said Bass, who has since deleted the Instagram post. "I am truly sorry for that."

"I just spoke with my teammates and shared with them my actions yesterday. I apologized to them, and as of right now I am using the Blue Jays' resources to better educate myself to make better decisions moving forward."

He continued, "The ballpark is for everybody. We include all fans at the ballpark. We want to welcome everybody. That's all I have to say."

The Blue Jays -- who are set to host a Pride night on June 9 -- said in a statement of their own that "individual player sentiments are not representative of the club's beliefs."

"The Blue Jays bring millions of fans together across Canada," the team added, "and are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming experience for all."

Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks made his return to an MLB mound on Monday night -- nearly five months after he was diagnosed with cancer -- and the scene was emotional.

The 34-year-old came into Chicago's game against the Angels in the top of the eighth inning ... and for a full minute, fans at Guaranteed Rate Field gave him a standing ovation. In fact, a stadium-wide "LI-AM" chant broke out, too.

Hendriks soaked it all in as Angels catcher Matt Thaiss purposely took his time getting into the batter's box ... and then he fired a perfect strike once play resumed.

While the pitcher didn't go on to have his best outing -- he gave up three hits, a walk, and two earned runs -- he said afterward he was super grateful to be back.

"It was definitely emotional," Hendriks told reporters. "It was humbling going out there and walking out there and seeing the amount of people wearing my shirts and the amount of people having signs or flags or anything like that."

"It was a very humbling and sobering moment for me," he added.

Hendriks was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in January ... and spent the ensuing months undergoing treatment. In April, docs declared him cancer-free -- and for the past few weeks, he's pitched in the minor leagues to gear up for his White Sox return.

While Day One back on the bump resulted in a loss, Hendriks told media members he'd be available once again on Tuesday if Chicago needed him to throw again.

Phil Spector's daughter wants a judge to bang the gavel ... to prevent tons of his music memorabilia from being sold to the highest bidder ... and now she's suing one of the biggest auction houses over it.

The late music producer's only daughter, Nicole Spector, is suing Julien's Auctions ... claiming the items actually belong to her, so they have no right to sell them.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Nicole says she only recently found out about Julien's "Music Icons" auction, which features 82 items the auction house has been promoting as coming straight from Phil's estate.

Among the items ... a letter from President Nixon, a baseball signed by Mickey Mantle, tickets from a 1966 Beatles concert, a book signed by Yoko Ono and tons of gold records and album cover plaques.

Nicole claims Julien's told her they got the stuff from a woman named Sheryl Coughlan, who told them she got the property from Phil's daughter. Problem is, Nicole says she never gave any of Phil's property to Coughlan or anyone else.

In her suit, Nicole thinks her late father's ex-wife Rachelle may be to blame ... claiming she believes Rachelle misrepresented herself to Coughlan as Nicole when transferring the items.

Nicole claims when Phil divorced Rachelle, the judgment called for Phil to get all of his personal property back aside from a few specific items ... but she claims Rachelle didn't play ball and refused to turn over a bunch of Phil's memorabilia to Nicole a few years later when Phil died.

Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and his pregnant wife will be adding a couple more players to their roster at home ... turns out they're about to have -- of all things -- twins!!!!

The MLB skipper's bae, Allie Baldelli, shared the exciting, and wildly ironic, news on Thursday ... using pics of their dog and their young daughter.

In the images, you can see the couple's toddler holding ultrasound images of the unborn Baldellis around her head.

“BOY TWINS," Allie captioned the pics. "due in september 🤍🙃🤍🙃."

Baldelli currently has his baseball Twins in first place in the American League Central ... but in a matter months, he'll have a whole new set of twins to manage -- and we're sure he's fired up for the task.

Turns out, not every Yankee fan was in a good mood following the Bronx Bombers' thrilling walk-off win on Tuesday ... 'cause several Pinstripes supporters were seen getting into a brawl on a New York sidewalk following the victory -- and it was wild!!

According to a witness who posted video of the skirmish on Twitter ... the altercation happened after the combatants initially began arguing inside Billy's Sports Bar -- a popular watering hole located just feet from Yankee Stadium.

The social media user said despite Anthony Volpe's clutch, 9th-inning sacrifice fly that gave the Yanks a 6-5 win over the Orioles ... the argument escalated into a full-on fight outside of the restaurant.

You can see in the footage, two men clad in Yankees jerseys jumped on top of each other on the sidewalk ... and began wrestling. Not long after, fists started to fly.

Another man jumped into the scene in an apparent attempt to break things up -- which only enraged a woman nearby.

The video shows the woman threw a few punches of her own ... before, thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.

It's unclear if any arrests were made -- we've reached out to authorities, but so far, no word back yet.

Several Yankees fans nearly got a lapful of peanuts, Cracker Jacks and squirrel out at the old ballgame Tuesday night -- and the Pinstripes supporters couldn't have been more mortified by it!!!

The Animal Planet-like scene all went down during New York's tilt against the Baltimore Orioles ... when, somehow, a squirrel broke into Yankee Stadium and took an in-game jaunt around the outfield.

First, it was seen posted up near the Yanks' bullpen ... then it was spotted in the center field grass. But, when it made its way near the stands, that's when all hell broke loose.

Check out video of rodent's run across an outfield wall -- fans were absolutely terrified to be so close to the creature!!

You can see most of the guys in the area had alarmed looks on their faces -- which is not too surprising ... considering New York is, after all, known as a concrete jungle.

Don't worry, no one was bit by the creature -- and as far we know, no squirrels were harmed during the game. Plus, the Yanks seemed to get some good mojo by it all ... going on to beat the O's, 6-5, in a walk-off thriller.

It's a REALLY bad time to be a bird at an MLB ballpark these days ... because for the second time in less than a week, one was killed in the field of play.

The latest fowl situation happened during the second inning of the Guardians' game against the White Sox in Cleveland on Monday night ... when Will Brennan was up at the plate.

You can see in video of his at-bat ... after he cracked a ball to the left side of the infield, the baseball accidentally landed right on top of a bird -- before it skidded into the outfield for a base hit.

Sadly, the bird died from the impact ... and it didn't take long for players around the diamond to realize what had just happened.

Check out the broadcast footage -- all of the guys had stunned looks on their faces ... as a member of Cleveland's grounds crew came out to scoop up the dead bird with a shovel.

Once the infield was cleared of the carcass, the game resumed ... and Cleveland ended up winning, 3-0.

But, Brennan's victory celebration was muted ... 'cause afterward, he took to Twitter to apologize for the play.

"I truly am sorry @peta and bird enthusiasts," the outfielder wrote. "An unfortunate sacrifice."

Unfortunately, this was the second time in five days that a bird lost its life on the field ... you'll recall, Arizona Diamondbacks star Zac Gallen killed one with a warmup pitch in Oakland on May 17.

Glen Kuiper has been fired from his role as Oakland A's broadcaster ... after he used the n-word while on-air earlier this month.

NBC Sports California said in a statement Monday it came to the decision to part ways with the longtime play-by-play man following a weekslong investigation into the incident.

"We thank Glen for his dedication to Bay Area baseball over the years," the network said in announcing the news.

Kuiper had initially been suspended on May 6 for using the racial slur while talking with Dallas Braden just before the A's vs. Royals game on May 5.

During their conversation, Kuiper had been trying to explain to viewers what they did during the leadup to Oakland's contest in Kansas City ... but in an attempt to say they had gone to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, he muttered the n-word instead.

Later in the game, the 60-year-old apologized for it all ... saying he had said something that didn't come out the way he intended.

"I could not be more sorry and horrified by what I said," he added in another apology later in the week. "I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies."

Oakland A's fans won't like this ... but ex-MLB star Adrián González tells TMZ Sports he believes relocating the team to Las Vegas would be "a great move" for the franchise.

The Athletics appear to be on their way out of the Bay Area after partnering this week with Bally's Corporation to build a potential new stadium right on The Strip ... and González said in L.A. he likes the idea of it all.

The former Dodgers first baseman tells us seeing the success of the NHL's Golden Knights, the WNBA's Aces and the NFL's Raiders leads him to believe the MLB would thrive in Sin City as well.

"Vegas is doing really well with sporting teams," he said.

Of course, there's still a chance the A's could remain in Northern California ... the team is reportedly asking for around $400 million of public funding to help build the new Vegas stadium -- but if Nevada lawmakers shut that request down, the franchise could possibly explore options to stay put.

One man that would certainly be thrilled about that is A's legend Dave Stewart, who told us last month he's hoping for "a miracle" to keep the team in Oakland.

Jake Paul is going to have to take a break from boxing soon to do some serious unboxing ... 'cause TMZ Sports has confirmed the fighter just bought a mega-mansion in Puerto Rico -- off of ex-MLB star Yadier Molina!!!

The Problem Child, according to a rep for The Caribbean Realty Group, scored the San Juan-area palace on Wednesday for $15,750,000 ... and it's insane.

The two-story property has eight bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, two 1/2 bathrooms, a fitness center ... and a luxury pool.

It's also got an elevator, a wet bar, a dry bar, a 6-car garage ... and over 12,000 square feet of living space.

No word on why the newly retired Molina gave up the place -- which was built in 2021 -- but Paul landed a great deal on it nonetheless.

The Caribbean Realty Group reports the house was initially listed at $19,995,000 ... before the former Cardinals catcher and Paul worked out the new price this week.

Jake and his brother, Logan, initially moved to Puerto Rico a couple years ago ... after the two brothers claimed the region gave them the ability to train for fights without distractions.

A Dodgers fan was knocked out cold during a wild melee after a game earlier this week ... and the scary scene -- which featured multiple people brawling -- was all captured on video.

The fistfight broke out just minutes after L.A. had lost to the Twins at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night ... after several fans got into a verbal argument.

You can see in the footage, captured on a bystander's cell phone, a couple of men began pushing and shoving each other ... before they started to trade blows.

At one point during the fracas, a guy in a Clayton Kershaw jersey was socked so hard in the face after running toward a man in a blue Dodgers shirt ... he crumpled to the ground.

As his body made its way to the pavement, though ... you can see he hit his head hard -- leaving him completely unconscious.

One witness, Johnathan Lopez, told KTLA that security guards ultimately stepped in to break things up ... and loaded the injured man onto a stretcher. His status remains unclear.

"I honestly don’t know what started it," Lopez said. "You could tell some of them were drunk … and some of them were almost drunk."

A spokesperson for the LAPD, meanwhile, told TMZ Sports on Thursday cops had no information regarding the incident.

The fight is hardly the first at Dodger Stadium ... in fact, just 12 months ago, an L.A. fan and a Giants supporter got into a heated tiff in what appeared to be the same area as Tuesday's skirmish.

Zac Gallen is used to doing a pretty good Randy Johnson impression on the mound ... but on Wednesday, he imitated The Big Unit in a way no pitcher ever wants to -- by killing a bird with a pitch.

The Diamondbacks ace threw the unfortunate toss as he and other Arizona players were warming up before their afternoon game against the A's in Oakland.

You can see in video captured by a camera stationed in the Coliseum's outfield ... as Gallen rocketed what appeared to be a curveball to his catcher -- he inadvertently struck a bird that was flying nearby.

The footage shows the feathered foe immediately crumpled to the grass after being hit -- and according to Bally Sports Arizona, it did not survive.

The BSA broadcast also reported Gallen felt pretty crummy over it all afterward.

Of course, Zac is far from the first Arizona player to kill a bird with a throw ... you'll recall, back in 2001, Johnson destroyed a dove with a fastball in a spring training game.

Like Zac, Randy didn't find much amusement in the moment at all.

Three Sports Illustrated swimsuit models walk onto a baseball field ...

Okay, so there's no joke here ... but that's what actually happened before the Mets game on Tuesday ... with Brooks Nader, Christen Harper and Camille Kostek all throwing out the ceremonial first pitch!!

The trio of beauties all threw right-handed pitches to Mets players Drew Smith, Tylor Megill and Eduardo Escobar before the matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays ... and did so in style with custom Mets jerseys.

Unlike Dr. Fauci, Conor McGregor and 50 Cent, they did pretty well ... and Harper even joked that she was the Mets' next starting pitcher!!

It's been a good week for the ladies -- Nader landed the cover of the 2023 swimsuit edition ... while Kostek, who is dating former NFL star Rob Gronkowski, returned for her sixth issue.

Harper also appeared in the magazine for the third time ... and her fiancé, Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, was hyped.

"So proud 😊 🔥🔥🔥," the NFL star said on her IG post.

Despite Brooks, Christen and Camille gracing the Mets with their presence, the home team lost, 8-5 ... and fans booed Justin Verlander for his struggles.

The Toronto Blue Jays will have to do a little outfield redecorating today ... and it's all 'cause Aaron Judge hit a baseball so hard, it damaged a sign at their stadium!!

The Yankees captain slugged the blast in the top of the eighth inning of NY's tilt with Toronto at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday night ... and the ball traveled so far and with so much velocity, that when it landed, it smashed through a maple leaf ad that had been hung in deep center field.

Check out the footage of the moonshot home run -- you can see when it came down, it took off a corner of the billboard ... leaving fans in the area in disbelief.

According to the MLB's Statcast, the exit velocity on Judge's swing was 113.1 MPH -- and the ball went a total of 448 feet -- making it one of the most powerful dingers that's been hit so far this year.

No word yet on who'll have to pay for the damage -- but if does come out of Judge's pocket ... it's certainly a check he won't mind writing.

The two-run bomb ultimately gave the Pinstripes a 5-3 win ... an extra sweet feeling for the outfielder, given that the Blue Jays had essentially accused him of cheating just a day earlier.

If you missed it, Judge was seen on camera looking off to NY's dugout a couple times during one of his at-bats on Monday ... before hitting a home run. The side-eye caused a ton of chirping from Toronto's locker room.

Judge insisted he was simply looking at his teammate to get them to calm down during his AB -- but the Blue Jays didn't seem to be buying it ... 'cause they were sure upset at the Yanks throughout Tuesday's game.