Blue Jays lure Mattingly back as a bench coach
Don Mattingly was expecting to spend a summer at home with his family. A call from the Toronto Blue Jays convinced him to get back into baseball.
Mattingly, who left his job as Miami Marlins manager at the end of last season, is joining Toronto's staff as bench coach to manager John Schneider, the team announced Wednesday.
Mattingly said he'd been contacted by multiple clubs with offers for 2023, but nothing interested him until Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins called to chat.
“Just the first conversation, it felt great, honestly,” Mattingly said on a video call Wednesday. “It piqued my interest right away.”
Mattingly managed against the Blue Jays in 2020 and 2021.
“Knowing the talent and seeing it, I know it's a really good club,” Mattingly said. “You look at the combination of youth and experience, and an offense that can throw runs up. Over the last few years I've seen these guys. They throw runs up in a hurry. I think all the ingredients are there to win.”
The former New York Yankees slugger and sixtime All-Star joins the Blue Jays after seven seasons with the Marlins. Mattingly won NL Manager of the Year honors with Miami in 2020.
Before Miami, Mattingly won three division titles in five seasons as manager of the Dodgers. He also worked as hitting coach and bench coach for the Yankees, and as hitting coach of the Dodgers before his managerial stint in Los Angeles.
• The Seattle Mariners began the process of bolstering their bullpen by signing right-hander Trevor Gott to a one-year contract. Gott appeared in 45 games last season with Milwaukee, going 3-4 with a 4.14 ERA. Gott had 44 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings and held opponents to a .204 batting average.
Alabama-Birmingham hres Dilfer as coach
UAB hired former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer as its next head coach on the eve of his high school team's state championship game, the university's athletic director announced.
Dilfer, 50, won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2000 during a 14year NFL career. He's making a big leap to the college ranks after leading Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tenn., to three state title games in four seasons as head coach.
That includes one scheduled for this morning against Christ Presbyterian Academy, meaning Dilfer would have to hustle back to Chattanooga after his introductory news conference.
• Florida backup quarterback Jalen Kitna, the son of retired NFL quarterback Jon Kitna, was arrested and charged with two counts of distribution of child exploitation material and three counts of possession of child pornography.
Gainesville police said the 19-year-old Kitna shared the images via a social media platform. Kitna was booked in the Alachua County Jail, where he was awaiting a first appearance before a judge this morning.
The Gators suspended Kitna indefinitely about an hour after his arrest.
• Newly named Georgia Tech coach Brent Key announced that offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Chip Long, wide receivers coach Del Alexander and strength and conditioning coach Lewis Caralla will not return.
Ukrainian to auction medals for war effort
One of Ukraine's most decorated Olympians is auctioning his medals — two golds and a bronze — in hopes of raising a six-figure donation to contribute to the war effort in his native land.
“My Olympic medals won't matter if Ukraine can't stand for this fight for freedom and independence,” two-time canoe champion Yuri Cheban told The AP in an email exchange.
Cheban won Olympic gold in the 200 meters in 2012 and 2016 and a bronze in the 500 meters in 2008. SCP Auctions, which is conducting the sale, expects the gold medals to fetch in the neighborhood of $75,000 each, an impressive estimate buoyed by the relative scarcity of available recent medals, and also their meaning.
Pelé, 82, hospitalized
Brazilian soccer great Pelé was hospitalized in Sao Paulo to regulate the medication in his fight against a colon tumor, his daughter said.
Kely Nascimento added that there was “no emergency” concerning her 82-year-old father's health.
Hospital Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo later added in a statement that Edson Arantes do Nascimento, globally known as Pelé, was in stable condition after arriving Tuesday “for a reevaluation of the chemotherapeutic treatment of the tumor.”
The hospital also said the former footballer “has full control of his vital functions” and was not taken to intensive or semi-intensive care units for treatment.
Athlete who flipped bird, lost ride, wins appeal
A federal appeals court reinstated the appeal of a former University of Connecticut women's soccer player who lost her scholarship after she gave the middle finger to a television camera as the Huskies celebrated winning a 2014 conference championship.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City said Noriana Radwan presented sufficient evidence to go to trial on her claim that she was subjected to harsher punishment than male athletes who violated conduct rules.
The ruling overturns part of a 2020 decision by U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden in Connecticut and sends the case back to the federal trial court. The 2nd Circuit judges, however, upheld Bolden's dismissal of Radwan's First Amendment and due process claims.
• Mickey Joseph, Nebraska's interim football coach for nine games after Scott Frost's firing, was arrested on suspicion of strangulation and third-degree domestic assault.
Joseph, 54, was being held at Lancaster Country Jail.