Orange-haired MLB great Staub dies
Rusty Staub, the orange-haired outfielder who became a huge hit with baseball fans in two countries during an All-Star career that spanned 23 major league seasons has died. He was 73.
He died after an illness in a hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla., hours before the start of the baseball season, the New York Mets said in a statement. The team learned of the death from friends of Staub who were with him at the time, a spokesman added.
Affectionately dubbed “Le Grand Orange,” Staub was a sixtime All-Star and the only player in major league history to have at least 500 hits with four teams. He became a huge hit with fans in the U.S. and Canada, most adored in New York and Montreal.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid will need surgery on an orbital fracture of his left eye and he has a concussion.
There was no timetable on how long Embiid would be sidelined. The 76ers are set to play Friday in Atlanta and Sunday in Charlotte.
Sloane Stephens shook off a very slow start to beat Victoria Azarenka 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals at the Miami Open. Stephens’ opponent in Saturday’s final will be sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko, who beat American qualifier Danielle Collins 7-6 (1), 6-3 in the other semifinal.
In a men’s quarterfinal, 16thseeded Pablo Carreno Busta wasted two match points on his serve in the second set before recovering — nearly two hours later — and ousting No. 6 Kevin Anderson 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (6) in a rematch of a U.S. Open semifinal from last year.
Carreno Busta’s semifinal opponent will be No. 4 Alex Zverev ,a 6-4, 6-4 winner over No. 29 Borna Coric.
PGA Tour rookie Sam Ryder played just enough golf to get his name atop the leaderboard in the Houston Open.
Ryder holed an eight-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole to reach eight under par before it was too dark to continue. The opening round was delayed two hours because of overnight rain that dumped more than 2 inches on the Golf Club of Houston.
Lucas Glover and Kevin Tway each shot seven-under 65 in the morning.
Phil Mickelson, who won in Mexico three weeks ago, shot 30 on the front nine and was one off the lead until a double bogey on the 14th hole when it took him two shots to get out of a bunker. He shot 68, along with Jordan Spieth.
Four of the eight countries whose national leagues use FIFAapproved video review do not have a match official among 99 selected for the World Cup. FIFA published a list of 36 referees and 63 assistants who will work the 64 games in Russia, confirming the same referees who were provisionally selected in November.
The World Cup officials represent 46 countries, though not Australia, Belgium, Portugal or South Korea, whose leagues have adopted VAR live trials.
Buffalo Bills Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly is expected to be hospitalized for two weeks as he recovers from another cancer surgery. Dr. Mark Urken says he successfully removed cancer from Kelly’s upper jaw and lymph nodes and reconstructed his upper jaw during an all-day surgery Wednesday.
College baseball history was made as Colton Eastman pitched the fifth no-hitter in Cal State Fullerton baseball history en route to a 3-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Conference opener.