The pristine emerald grass, the perfectly manicured infield dirt, the crisp chalk lines: a Major League Baseball field is a work of art, and the people who create it are the groundskeepers. It is one of the most skilled and least visible jobs in the sport, demanding expertise in turfgrass science, agronomy, and split-second weather … Read more
Sports agents occupy one of the most misunderstood jobs in the industry. Pop culture, from “Jerry Maguire” to “Ballers,” paints them as fast-talking dealmakers raking in fortunes, and at the very top, that is true. But for most agents, the reality is far more modest and far more variable, because a sports agent’s income is … Read more
They cannot show their faces, they sweat through every game inside a giant foam costume, and most fans never learn their names. But the people inside professional sports mascot suits have one of the most surprising jobs in the business, and some of them earn salaries that would make a lot of fans jealous. So … Read more
Every fall, one player rises above the rest on baseball’s biggest stage. The World Series MVP award, officially the Willie Mays Award since 2017, goes to the player who shines brightest in the Fall Classic, and the list of winners is a roll call of October legends: clutch hitters, dominant aces, and the occasional unlikely … Read more
The fastest pitch in MLB history is Aroldis Chapman’s 105.8 mph fastball thrown on September 24, 2010, while pitching for the Cincinnati Reds against the San Diego Padres. That pitch holds the Guinness World Record and remains the official fastest pitch in baseball history. But Chapman’s record only tells half the story. Statcast (the modern … Read more
Some of these records are recent, set during the timed era from 2015 to 2025 when rapid-fire swings inflated the totals. Others, like Ken Griffey Jr.’s three titles, date back to the Derby’s earlier decades and may never be broken. With the 2026 Derby switching to a new swing-based format, this is a snapshot of … Read more
Since 2016, MLB has used Statcast to track home run distance precisely, and by that official measure, Juan Soto’s 520-foot bomb at Coors Field in 2021 is the longest ever. But the Derby has been crushing baseballs since 1985, and the pre-Statcast era produced legendary estimated blasts, most famously Sammy Sosa’s reported 524-footer, that may … Read more
The all-time single-Derby record belongs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who hit an absurd 91 home runs in 2019, and then lost. That heartbreak is part of what makes the record so memorable. But “most home runs in a Derby” actually has a few different answers depending on whether you mean a single night, a single … Read more
Understanding how it works matters, because the All-Star vote regularly produces drama: ballot-box stuffing by passionate fan bases, surprise snubs of deserving players, and down-to-the-wire finishes for the final starting spots. The 2026 race is already heating up, with Shohei Ohtani and Ernie Clement leading their leagues heading into the decisive phase. The chart below … Read more
Every July, the best players in baseball gather for one night to settle an old argument: which league is better, the American or the National? The All-Star Game has been asking that question since 1933, and across more than nine decades the answer has swung back and forth in long, dramatic streaks. The series is … Read more