Hall will celebrate Negro Leagues’ ASG

CC Sabathia is getting ready to take the mound again next spring, five years after his retirement, to pitch in a tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game at the Hall of Fame’s Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York.

“My career ended with me ripping my shoulder up and not being able to throw anymore, but I’m rehabbing myself to be able to come back and pitch an inning in this game,” the 43-year-old said Tuesday during a news conference at the winter meetings in Nashville, Tennessee.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Ozzie Smith have agreed to manage or coach at the May 25 Hall of Fame EastWest Classic. It will be played in conjunction with the opening of the Hall’s “Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball” exhibit.

The Negro Leagues East-West All-Star Game began at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in September 1933, two months after MLB’s first All-Star Game at the same ballpark, and was played annually through 1962.

Jerry and Scott Hairston, whose grandfather Sam played for the Cincinnati and Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro American League, are among the players who said they will participate. Others include Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder, David Price, B.J. and Justin Upton, Curtis Granderson, Dontrelle Willis, Adam Jones, Dexter Fowler, LaTroy Hawkins and Edwin Jackson.

„ The Guardians won the MLB draft lottery and will pick first for the first time in franchise history. They had a 2.0% chance to win the lottery.

NBA: The Pacers beat the visiting Celtics 122-112 and the Pelicans downed the host Kings 127-117 on Monday night to advance to the semifinals of the NBA In-Season Tournament. Tuesday’s BucksKnicks and Lakers-Suns quarterfinals ended after this edition went to print.

NHL: Commissioner Gary Bettman said the NHL is moving forward with holding the 2024 draft at The Sphere in Las Vegas.