Formula One great Moss dies at 90
Stirling Moss, a daring, speed-loving Englishman regarded as the greatest Formula One driver never to win the world championship, has died. He was 90.
Moss died peacefully at his London home following a long illness, his wife Susan said Sunday.
“It was one lap too many,” she said. “He just closed his eyes.”
A national treasure affectionately known as “Mr. Motor Racing,“the balding Moss had a taste for adventure that saw him push cars to their limits across many racing categories and competitions. He was fearless, fiercely competitive and often reckless.
That attitude took a toll on his slight body. His career ended early, at age 31, after a horrific crash left him in a coma for a month in April 1962.
“If you’re not trying to win at all costs,” he said, “what on earth are you doing there?”
By the time he retired, Moss had won 16 of the 66 F1 races he entered and established a reputation as a technically excellent and versatile driver.
Arguably his greatest achievement was victory in the 1955 Mille Miglia — a 1,000-mile road race through Italy — by nearly half an hour over Juan Manuel Fangio, the Argentine great who was Moss’ idol, teammate and rival.
An F1 title didn’t follow, though — a travesty to many in motorsport. Moss finished second in the drivers’ championship four times (1955-58) and third on three occasions.
Baseball: Glenn Beckert, a four-time All-Star second baseman for the Cubs in the 1960s and ’70s, died Sunday. He was 79.
Citing his family, the Cubs said he died of natural causes in Florida.
Playing alongside Hall of Famers Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ferguson Jenkins, Beckert won a Gold Glove in 1968 and made four straight All-Star teams for the Cubs starting in 1969.
Beckert batted .283 in 11 seasons with the Cubs (1965-73) and the Padres (1974-75). He led the National League five times in strikeout-to-at-bat ratio and finished third in batting in 1971 at a career-best .342.
College basketball: Ziaire Williams committed to Stanford, becoming the Cardinal’s highest-ranked recruit since at least 2007.
Williams, a 6-foot-8 senior forward from California, is ranked No. 7 in the ESPN 100. He picked Stanford over Arizona, USC, UNC and UCLA.
Williams is Stanford’s first five-star recruit since Reid Travis committed in the 2014 class.
Golf: Doug Sanders brought a flamboyance to golf fashion ahead of his time, a colorful character known as much for the 20 times he won on the PGA Tour as the majors that got away.
Sanders died Sunday morning in Houston, the PGA Tour confirmed through a text from Sanders’ ex-wife, Scotty. He was 86.
Sanders was still an amateur when he won his first PGA Tour event in 1956 at the Canadian Open in a playoff, and his best year was in 1961 when he won five times and finished third on the PGA Tour money list.
But he is best known for four runner-up finishes in the majors, the most memorable at St. Andrews in the 1970 British Open. He only needed par on the final hole to beat Jack Nicklaus, and Sanders was 3 feet away. He jabbed at the putt and missed it, and Nicklaus beat him the next day in a playoff.