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Vintage Chicago Tribune: 10 key moments from the ‘Summer of Sammy’ Sosa and the race to 62 home runs

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

On this day in 1994, the Major League Baseball season was shut down due to a continuing players’ strike. But soon, fans would have a reason to return to America’s pastime.Twenty-five years ago, baseball’s long-standing, single-season home run record — held by New York Yankees right fielder Roger Maris for his 61 home runs hit in 1961 — was about to be shattered.Chicago fans — who were grieving the death of longtime announcer and “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” crooner Harry Caray — had a front-row (or bleachers) view. Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa was part of the season-long spectacle. Mark McGwire, the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman, smashed 70 home runs to capture the record. Just three years later, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit 73.No player since has threatened Bonds’ total. All three players have been accused of using steroids to enhance their performance. Of them, only McGwire has admitted to using the drugs....

Pig kidney works a record 2 months in donated body, raising hope for animal-human transplants

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

By LAURAN NEERGAARD and SHELBY LUM (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of doctors and nurses silently lined the hospital hallway in tribute: For a history-making two months, a pig’s kidney worked normally inside the brain-dead man on the gurney rolling past them.The dramatic experiment came to an end Wednesday as surgeons at NYU Langone Health removed the pig kidney and returned the donated body of Maurice “Mo” Miller to his family for cremation.It marked the longest a genetically modified pig kidney has ever functioned inside a human, albeit a deceased one. And by pushing the boundaries of research with the dead, the scientists learned critical lessons they’re preparing to share with the Food and Drug Administration -– in hopes of eventually testing pig kidneys in the living.“It’s a combination of excitement and relief,” Dr. Robert Montgomery, the transplant surgeon who led the experiment, told The Associated Press. “...

Tanner Houck throws six scoreless as Red Sox beat Yankees 5-0 in first game of doubleheader

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

It looked for sure like Tanner Houck’s day was done.Clinging to a 1-0 lead with one out and a runner on third in the top of the sixth, Houck walked Anthony Volpe with his 100th pitch of the day. Alex Cora came out, seemingly to take the ball and summon Brennan Bernardino from the bullpen, but instead the Red Sox manager opted to let his starter try and clean up his mess.Houck delivered, and in doing so finished off one of the best starts of his career.Houck was brilliant in Thursday’s 5-0 win over the New York Yankees, throwing six scoreless innings while pitching deep enough for Boston’s bullpen to finish the job. Houck struck out seven and threw a career-high 105 pitches, and though he walked three and allowed four hits, he scattered the baserunners across his outing and never let the Yankees do any damage.The right-hander mostly breezed through his first four innings and didn’t run into real trouble until the fifth, when Oswald Peraza singled and Oswaldo C...

Patriots aren’t underestimating Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa ahead of Week 2

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

FOXBORO — One year later, the Patriots have changed their tune on Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.The Patriots were subdued in their praise of Tagovailoa ahead of Week 1 of the 2022 season. Then the Dolphins QB went out and beat them 20-7 while completing 23-of-33 passes for 270 yards with a touchdown. He missed Miami’s Week 17 loss to the Patriots.“The quarterback’s played very well, and he’s had tremendous production over the last couple of years, led the league in a lot of different categories passing the ball,” head coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday. “So, they’ve got a really efficient guy running the offense.”Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots-Dolphins injury report: Pats defensive back hurt Thursday, could affect Tyreek Hill plan New England Patriots | Why Patriots TE Mike Gesicki can’t share much intel about his ex-Dolphin teammates New England Patriots | Patriots’ of...

Patriots-Dolphins injury report: Pats defensive back hurt Thursday, could affect Tyreek Hill plan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

Patriots defensive back Jonathan Jones was limited at Thursday’s practice due to a new ankle injury.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots aren’t underestimating Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa ahead of Week 2 New England Patriots | Why Patriots TE Mike Gesicki can’t share much intel about his ex-Dolphin teammates New England Patriots | Patriots’ offense gets one piece of good news before Dolphins game New England Patriots | Callahan: Why the Patriots’ JuJu Smith-Schuster question won’t be going away New England Patriots | Patriots proving to be better fit for ex-Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki Jones has been the team’s primary answer for speedy Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill in past matchups. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder can play outside cornerback and over the slot. If Jones can’t play, his likely replacement would be second-year corner Marcus Jones.Otherwi...

Red Sox make priorities clear after firing Chaim Bloom

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

Team president and CEO Sam Kennedy was solemn Thursday afternoon.“We’re aiming for World Series championships. That’s it. That’s the aim. That’s the goal. That’s why we’re here. We’re here to win championships. Our fans deserve World Series championships, as many as we can possibly win,” he said.“That’s what the Boston Red Sox are all about,” Kennedy added.Not this year, though. His team entered the day 73-72, tied with the New York Yankees for last place in the American League East.That’s why almost 70 minutes before the first game of a doubleheader with their fellow cellar-dwellers, the Red Sox fired chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom on Thursday morning. Like his predecessors, Dave Dombrowski and Ben Cherington, Bloom was in and out of Boston in less than four years.In the interim, general manager Brian O’Halloran and the team’s three assistant GMs will captain the ship. The Red Sox have also offered O’Halloran a new position in senior leadership, but at the time of Kennedy...

Howie Carr: Mitt Romney heads into RINO retirement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

Sen. Willard Mitt Romney is retiring from politics due to ill health.The voters got sick of him.Actually I wanted to start this column with the traditional, “And so, farewell, Mitt Romney….”But the reality is, the odds are great that “Pierre Delecto” (for that was indeed his Twitter nom de plume) is not going anywhere, at least not for a while.You know damn well Romney still fantasizes about becoming president. And believe it or not, there are a bunch of political has-beens and never-weres who are searching desperately for a doomed candidate to run for president under the “No Labels” label.Romney and Joe Manchin may end up flipping a coin to see who gets to be the Jill Stein of 2024.But when it comes to bust-out candidates for president, who better than the current senator from Utah and former governor of Massachusetts, who has already failed twice, in 2008 and 2012.Mitt made his announcement with a videotaped message saying that it was “time for a new generation.”Then, in true Mitt...

Jake DeBrusk focusing on season, not negotiations with Bruins

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

Jake DeBrusk’s contract status is unsettled as we approach Bruins’ training camp, but the talented winger did not seem overly concerned.He’s dealt with more uncertain situations in the not-too-distant past.Prior to teeing off at the Bruins’ annual golf tournament that serves as the unofficial kickoff to the new season, DeBrusk seemed unbothered by the current situation. DeBrusk enters the B’s centennial season without an extension beyond this year. Unrestricted free agency and a wide world of possibilities await him.“I’m just getting ready for Game One,” said DeBrusk at the Pine Hills Gold Course. “When it comes to contract talks, it’s one of those tings where you need two sides to tango and whenever that happens, it happens. But it’s not my main focus. Obviously, it’s a big year for our team in general and I know that if I’m doing my part and having success with production, it will help our team. I think it goes hand in ha...

GOP-led Wisconsin Senate votes to fire nonpartisan official targeted by 2020 election skeptics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Republican-controlled Wisconsin Senate voted Thursday to fire the battleground state’s nonpartisan top elections official, prompting a legal challenge from Democrats who say the vote was illegitimate.Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a lawsuit that Senate Republicans don’t have the authority to oust Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe and accused them of attacking the state’s elections.It’s the latest in a whirlwind of deep partisan divisions in Wisconsin, where Republicans who control the Legislature are threatening to impeach a newly elected Supreme Court justice before she’s even heard a case. They’re also floating plans to overhaul the state’s electoral maps before the high court can toss out current boundaries that favor the GOP.The fight over who will lead the elections agency stems from persistent lies about the 2020 election and creates instability ahead of the 2024 presidential ra...

Megyn Kelly welcomes Donald Trump for an interview 8 years after he erupted over her debate question

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:22:57 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — When Donald Trump sat down with Megyn Kelly for a satellite radio interview that aired on Thursday, it was a long way — in time and circumstance — from their most memorable encounter in the summer of 2015.That was when Kelly, then a Fox News star, infuriated the future president at a GOP debate with a question about his treatment of women. He bitterly attacked her after the debate, and his supporters joined in, leaving her worried about threats.Kelly, who later worked at NBC News, is now resurrecting her career as a journalist-commentator, with a podcast that was picked up as a two-hour weekday show on SiriusXM satellite radio. Sirius last week announced it had signed Kelly to a deal that extends through the 2024 election and beyond.Do the bad feelings linger?“All that nonsense between us,” Kelly said this summer, “is under the bridge.”It seemed that way through the mostly friendly, occasionally challenging interview taped this week at Trump’s Bedminster, New J...