The Washington Post - 02.11.2019

D2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 , 2019

TELEVISION AND RADIO
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
2 p.m. Nationals World Series parade » MASN, NBC Sports Washington

NBA
7 p.m. Denver at Orlando » NBA TV
8 p.m. Minnesota at Washington » NBC Sports Washington, WFED (1500 AM)
10 p.m. Philadelphia at Portland » NBA TV

NHL
7 p.m. Toronto at Philadelphia » NHL Network

COLLEGE FOOTBALL, SEE PAGE D4
GOLF
1:30 p.m. PGA Tour: Bermuda Championship, third round » Golf Channel
4:30 p.m. PGA Tour Champions: Invesco QQQ Championship, second round »
Golf Channel
8 p.m. PGA Tour: WGC-HSBC Champions, final round » Golf Channel

SOCCER
8 p.m. Spanish La Liga: Valencia at Espanyol » beIN Sports
8:30 a.m. English Premier League: Manchester United at Bournemouth »
NBC Sports Network
10 a.m. Italian Serie A: Napoli at AS Roma » ESPNews
10:30 a.m. German Bundesliga: Bayern Munich at Eintracht Frankfurt » Fox Sports 1
10:30 a.m. German Bundesliga: VfL Wolfsburg at Borussia Dortmund » Fox Sports 2
11 a.m. Spanish La Liga: Barcelona at Levante » beIN Sports
11 a.m. English Premier League: Southampton at Manchester City »
NBC Sports Network
11 a.m. English Premier League: Wolverhampton at Arsenal » CNBC
1:30 p.m. English Premier League: Chelsea at Watford » NBC Sports Network
1:30 p.m. German Bundesliga: Hertha Berlin at FC Union Berlin » Fox Sports 1
1:30 p.m. Spanish La Liga: Atlético Madrid at Sevilla » beIN Sports
4 p.m. Spanish La Liga: Real Betis at Real Madrid » beIN Sports
7 p.m. U-17 FIFA World Cup, Group D: United States vs. Netherlands » Fox Sports 2

TENNIS
6:30 a.m. ATP: Paris Masters, semifinals; WTA: WTA Finals, semifinals »
Tennis Channel
11:30 a.m. ATP: Paris Masters, semifinals » Tennis Channel
3 a.m. (Sun.)WTA: WTA Finals, doubles final » Tennis Channel

AUTO RACING
2 p.m. Formula One: U.S. Grand Prix, practice session 2 » ESPNews
5 p.m. Formula One: U.S. Grand Prix, qualifying » ESPNews
8:30 p.m. NASCAR Xfinity Series: O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 » NBC Sports Network

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
8 p.m. UFC 244 Prelims: Undercard bouts » ESPN 2

RUGBY
5 a.m. World Cup 2019, final: England vs. South Africa » NBC Sports Network

BOXING
10:30 p.m. Top Rank main card, junior lightweights: Miguel Berchelt vs. Jason Sosa »
ESPN
10:30 p.m. PBC Fight Night, super welterweights: Brian Castano vs. Wale Omotoso »
Fox Sports 1

WOMEN’S COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL
8:30 p.m. Penn State at Nebraska » Big Ten Network

BASEBALL

Mets name Beltrán

as their manager

Carlos Beltrán, two years
removed from his playing career
and with no managerial
experience, was picked by the
New York Mets to replace
Mickey Callaway.
The Mets announced the move
Friday.
A nine-time all-star in
20 major league seasons,
Beltrán, 42, played for the Mets
from 2005 to 2011. He spent this
season as an adviser to New York
Yankees General Manager Brian
Cashman.
Beltrán finished with a
.279 average, 435 home runs,
1,587 RBI and 312 stolen bases
for Kansas City, Houston, the
Mets, San Francisco, St. Louis,
the Yankees and Texas....
Former big leaguers Ken
Harrelson and Mike Shannon
are among the eight finalists for
the Ford Frick Award for
excellence in baseball
broadcasting, presented
annually by the Hall of Fame.
Harrelson spent 28 years
calling games for the Chicago
White Sox. Shannon played for
the Cardinals for nine seasons
and broadcast their games for
42 years. The other finalists are
Joe Castiglione, Jacques
Doucet, Tom Hamilton, Pat
Hughes, Ned Martin and
Dewayne Staats. The winner
will be announced Dec. 11 at the
winter meetings.

SOCCER
Sam Kerr, the National
Women’s Soccer League MVP
this season and the circuit’s all-
time scoring leader, is planning
to leave the Chicago Red Stars to
play in Europe.
According to people close to
the situation, the Australian
forward notified the Red Stars of
her intentions Friday.
Kerr, 26, broke her own NWSL
single-season scoring record this
year with 18 goals while guiding
Chicago to second place.
At the World Cup this
summer, Kerr scored five times
in four matches for Australia.
Her departure is a blow to the
NWSL, which, amid the growth
of women’s soccer worldwide
and the rise of salaries overseas,
is fighting to retain top players.
A person with knowledge of
the situation said Kerr is looking
for “a new opportunity and the
next challenge” after seven years
in the United States. She also
wants “to leave a mark in
Europe,” where the women’s
game is picking up speed.
Her notification to the Red
Stars comes the same day NWSL
unveiled a number of financial
upgrades, including a 19 percent
increase in the salary cap and the
introduction of allocation
money, which will enable each of
the nine clubs to offer above-
average contracts while
minimizing the impact on the
salary cap.
— Steven Goff

The Seattle Sounders announced that the Nov. 10 MLS Cup at CenturyLink Field against Toronto FC is sold out with more than 69,000 fans expected. Atlanta United drew 73,019 for last year’s MLS Cup against Portland.

TENNIS Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Rafael Nadal remain on course to face off in the Paris Masters final after winning their quarterfinals in straight sets. Djokovic demolished seventh- seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-1, 6-2. Nadal had a more demanding contest against Jo- Wilfried Tsonga before prevailing, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. In Saturday’s semifinals, Nadal takes on Grigor Dimitrov and Nadal plays Denis Shapovalov. Dimitrov defeated Cristian Garin, 6-2, 7-5, and Shapovalov crushed Gael Monfils, 6-2, 6-2.... In Shenzhen, China, Karolina Pliskova advanced to the semifinals of the WTA Finals for the third straight year, beating Simona Halep, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4. In the semifinals, Pliskova will play top-ranked Ashleigh Barty. Defending champion Elina Svitolina, who made it through the group stage without dropping a set, beat replacement Sofia Kenin, 7-5, 7-6 (12-10), and next plays Belinda Bencic. Kenin was replacing the injured Bianca Andreescu.

MISC. Storm the Court won the $2 million Juvenile by a neck at 45-1 odds on the opening day of the Breeders’ Cup in Arcadia, Calif., scoring the biggest upset in the race’s 35-year history. Nine of the day’s 10 races — led by five Cup races for 2-year- olds — went off safely at Santa Anita, where 36 horses have died since December. Ridden by Flavien Prat, Storm the Court paid $93.80 to win. He ran 1^1 / 16 miles in 1:44.93. The win put the colt trained by Peter Eurton into the conversation as the winter favorite for next year’s Kentucky Derby.... Denny Hamlin is racing for a NASCAR Cup Series championship with a torn labrum in his left shoulder that will require offseason surgery. Hamlin said he has had shoulder issues for quite some time and really doesn’t know what caused them. He said the torn tissue hasn’t affected his driving in the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.... The NCAA denied a waiver request that would have allowed Tennessee transfer Evina Westbrook to play at Connecticut this season. The Huskies hoped the 6-foot guard could continue her athletic career without sitting out a season. Westbrook led the Volunteers in scoring last season, averaging 14.9 points along with 5.3 assists. — From news services and staff reports

DIGEST

BY SCOTT ALLEN

While the World Series champion Washington Nationals made their way home from Houston with the Commissioner’s Trophy on Thursday, several artifacts from the franchise’s first title headed to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. The piece de resistance among the items that will consti- tute Washington’s World Series display case in the “Autumn Glo- ry” exhibit is the ball that Howie Kendrick hit off the right field foul pole for a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning of Game 7. “It’s an incredible piece of sto- rytelling due to the fact that there is yellow paint residue on the ball,” Jon Shestakofsky, the Na- tional Baseball Hall of Fame’s vice president of communica- tions and education, said in a phone interview. “It tells the story of an unforgettable moment in Nationals history in an extra way, which makes it even more special.” Kendrick previously donated the bat he used to hit the 10th-inning grand slam that propelled the Nationals to a Game 5 win over the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.

During the World Series, Shestakofsky and Tim Mead, the Hall of Fame’s president, kept a running list of items from both teams to potentially request for the museum. “We’re thinking about it in terms of finding the most important moments and most important accomplishments,” Shesta- kofsky said. “Our perspective is, 20, 50, 100 years from now, what story lines are going to be the most important to be remem- bered when people want to think back about this moment in baseball history?” Most of the requests were made in the Nationals’ victorious clubhouse after Game 7, but one item, the ball that Juan Soto hit onto the train tracks at Minute Maid Park in Game 1, already had been procured. “There are a few moments that you just know are special,” Shestakofsky said of Soto’s blast, which made him the fourth play- er in World Series history to hit a

home run before his 21st birth- day. “We knew that was a magic moment that would be important to document, so that was one of the rare cases where we made a request before the series ended.” Other items that will be dis- played alongside Kendrick’s and Soto’s historic home run balls include Manager Dave Martinez’s “Finish the Fight” hoodie; the jersey Stephen Strasburg wore in Game 6, during which he became the first pitcher in baseball history to go 5-0 in a single postseason; and the cap Max Scherzer wore in Game 7. The bat that Anthony Rendon used in Games 1, 2 and 3 and the spikes that catcher Kurt Suzuki wore in Games 1 and 2 also will be featured. Suzuki missed the last three games while dealing with a hip flexor strain but played a key role as Washington won the first two games in Houston. “Suzuki was on our list of important participants in the earlier part of the series,” Shesta- kofsky said. “He caught those first two games that were wins and in the second game hit a very important home run. His status with the club as one of its leaders and one of the rocks of that team and the pitching staff became evident through the postseason.”

Perhaps the most surprising item that will be included in the Nationals’ exhibit is Fernando Rodney’s glove. While Rodney walked six batters and allowed a grand slam in three appearances against the Astros, the 42-year- old also became the oldest reliever to appear in the World Series since Joe Niekro in 1987. “The way the game is skewing younger and younger, the thought is this would be an important moment to document,” Shestakofsky said. “It may be a while before we see a pitcher of that age appear on a World Series mound.” Shestakofsky flew back to New York with the artifacts Thursday. Media members had an opportunity to view them in the baggage claim area of the Albany Interna- tional Airport. Sometime around Thanksgiving, they will go on display in Cooperstown. “We’re just incredibly thankful to the Nationals and all these guys for allowing us to collect these artifacts,” Shestakofsky said. “They were all thrilled to be a part of it. Once they’re donated to us, we’ve made a promise to preserve them, and they’re in the collection forever.” [email protected]

Hall of Fame gears up to feature Nats

The most amazing thing I have witnessed in Washington baseball history did not happen Wednesday night, but it underscored everything that did. It was how the Washington Senators’ season ended 50 years ago this fall. With celebrated hitter Ted Williams as a first-time manager, the 1969 Senators closed with a winning record. It was a first for the franchise after it was reincarnated in 1961. It was a first for the city since its original major league franchise, also called the Senators, won 78 games in 1952. With an 86-76 mark, the 1969 Senators finished 23 games behind the Baltimore Orioles, whose 109 wins were the most in franchise history. It was still good for fourth place, not last — legendary baseball writer Charles Dryden had coined the first iteration in 1904, “First in war, first in peace and last in the American League,” which stuck with the Senators. The 1969 Senators were good enough, too, to attract fans, such as my father and me and parents and their kids in the Boys and Girls Club in which I grew up. Almost 1 million people turned out to see the 1969 Senators. Thirteen teams drew more people, but 10 attracted fewer. That was forgotten in the frenzy of the wild-card game, the National League Division Series, the NL Championship Series and the World Series the Nationals won over the past month, scheduled to be celebrated in a parade Saturday. This wasn’t a baseball town, it was said. It was at best a moribund outpost for America’s oldest national pastime.

There was reason for the narrative. In 1968, the Senators finished last in attendance and lived down to Dryden’s slight by losing a major league-worst 96 games. But the lack of attendance was dampened, too, no doubt, by urban rebellion that roiled Washington in the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, just as it erupted in dozens of other cities across the country and frightened off would-be fans. And one season after their breakthrough in 1969, the Senators again regressed to Dryden’s theme. They finished last in the AL East and attracted more fans than only four other AL clubs. The numbers stood without dispute, but alone they didn’t bear the entire story. They missed the fact that so many of us who enthusiastically embraced the 1969 Senators were just as quickly jilted by their loquacious and lousy owner, Bob Short. As Boston Globe baseball writer Ray Fitzgerald wrote of Short at the time, “With Short, baseball is a business first and a sport second.” The 1970 season wasn’t in full throttle before Short let it be known he was willing to trade star slugger and fan favorite Frank Howard — whose longest home runs at RFK Stadium were commemorated by painting the gold seats they struck white — rather than make him any richer at age 33, old back then, than the $97,500 a year Short was paying him. He passed on an opportunity to pick up 20-game winning pitcher Dave Boswell. Then he traded third baseman Ken McMullen, after he batted .272 with 87 RBI in 1969, to California for an ordinary outfielder named Rick Reichardt and a young (i.e. cheap) replacement at third,

Aurelio Rodríguez. On top of it all, Short already was rumbling about moving the team, which he vowed not to do when he bought it, anywhere he could make more money off it despite already charging what were then believed to be the highest ticket prices in the game. That was the beginning of what would become a generation-long disenfranchisement with baseball around here that was absolutely not the fans’ doing. Indeed, that 1969 Senators season made me as much a fan of first baseman Mike Epstein, center fielder Del Unser, light- hitting catcher Paul Casanova (because his name was so cool) and the left side of the infield, McMullen and Eddie Brinkman — who missed several games in 1968 to serve National Guard duty inside RFK Stadium during the post-MLK uprising — as I was of Washington football stars Sonny Jurgensen, Charley Taylor, Larry Brown, Chris Hanburger and Jerry Smith. They made for a decent team with what appeared to be a bright future. Right-hander Dick Bosman managed a 14-5 record and led the AL in ERA (2.19). Reliever Darold Knowles was named an all-star along with Howard, fondly known to us as “Hondo.” Epstein received an MVP vote or two. Unser was a season removed from nearly winning rookie of the year. But seemingly overnight, Short made it vanish. Poof. They were gone. At the end of the 1970 season, Short traded Brinkman, pitchers Joe Coleman and Jim Hannan and the budding Rodríguez to Detroit for, primarily, superstar pitcher Denny McLain. McLain won 31 games with the World Series champion Tigers in 1968. With the Senators — and an apparently bum arm Short

didn’t know of — he lost 22 games. Early into the 1971 season, Short dumped the rest of the promise. He traded Epstein and Knowles to Oakland for three players and, maybe most importantly, cash. Rumor had it that Short made the deal with Detroit because he wanted its owner’s vote to relocate the Senators to Texas, which was clamoring for another baseball team for its booming population. News reports from the time indicated, however, that Oakland owner Charlie Finley needed warming to the possible relocation more than Detroit’s John Fetzer. In the end, only Baltimore and Chicago dissented. Either way, Oakland, with Knowles and one season with Epstein, won three World Series in a row in the early 1970s. Detroit won 91 games in 1971 and lost the ALCS in 1972 with the transplanted left side of the Senators’ infield. And the last Senators game at RFK was played Sept. 30, 1971. Memory tells me I saw the game on WTTG, Channel 5. I definitely remember seeing the end. The few fans who turned out raided the diamond before the game was completed, grabbing bases and turf and whatever other souvenirs they could get their hands on. The game ended in a forfeiture to the visiting Yankees, who were trailing. My fanaticism for baseball? It took off almost 30 years. Wednesday night reminded me of all I lost. [email protected]

Kevin B. Blackistone, ESPN panelist and visiting professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, writes sports commentary for The Washington Post.

Kevin B. Blackistone

ASSOCIATED PRESS Ted Williams, with the Tigers’ Al Kaline, was a first-time manager with the Senators in 1969 but delivered D.C.’s first winner since 1952.

Kendrick’s home run ball is among the many items the museum will display

Nationals’ win reminded us of all we lost in Senators

The Washington Post - 02.11.2019

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