Baseball

Jackie Robinson wrote a fiery, handwritten letter to a fan who was pissed off at the Dodgers legend over remarks he made about the Holocaust in early 1969 ... and now, the actual note is for sale for $150k.

Robinson, 50 at the time, addressed the letter to Milton Sacks, a Jewish man who attended Jackie's February 24, 1969 talk at a bank in New Jersey, and Milton wasn't pleased with some of the comments made by the Hall of Famer.

"Being a Jew, I am naturally very sensitive when an attempted genocide which resulted in over 6,000,000 Jews being exterminated in a short period of time is treated very lightly and made to seem insignificant as compared to '140,000,000 Blacks,'" Sacks wrote to Robinson, believing the legendary player downplayed the Holocaust.

Sacks also asked Robinson to provide his source for the statistics on how many Africans died during slavery.

At the time, a local NJ newspaper described Robinson's comments ... "[Jackie] reminded the audience of the mass murders of Jews during World War II, but said that during the slave trading years, an estimated 140 million blacks were killed."

The paper wrote Robinson said ... "That figure was the population of the United States in 1945," adding, "That's something to think about."

Jackie, who clearly didn't agree with the assertion, crafted a handwritten response on "JACKIE ROBINSON" letterhead.

After beginning with a pleasantry, Robinson fired back ... "I was surprised by your sensitivity. How can you say 6,000,000 murdered Jews seemed insignificant regardless of the number of slaves killed."

Jackie continued ... "What difference does a number make one would have been too many and it seems to me you are overly sensitive and it does surprise me. I resent your inference and usually say to 'hell' with individuals who feel as you do about the fact 140,000,000 blacks were killed."

Robinson then invited Sacks to call him on the phone the following week so he could reveal his sources. It's unclear if the conversation ever occurred.

Milton's typed letter to Jackie is also included in the sale.

Robinson, a 6-time All-Star and 1949 NL MVP, is one of the most important figures in the history of American sports. The second baseman broke MLB's color barrier in 1947.

A pursuit of a foul ball nearly turned into a tragedy for one college baseball fan over the weekend ... 'cause video shows as the man was hightailing it for a souvenir, he dropped a little boy on his head.

The scary scene happened on Sunday afternoon during the Campbell vs. N.C. State regional elimination game in Columbia, S.C. ... when in the seventh inning, Wolfpack third baseman LuJames Groover III rocketed a ball into foul territory down the first base line.

Video from the game's broadcast shows the baseball careened through a nearby concourse ... as one man holding a toddler jogged after it.

But, you can see as the guy went down to grab it, he lost his balance ... and collapsed to the ground. As he was falling, the child he was holding smacked his head hard on the pavement.

The kid seemed to be in pain ... and even the game's broadcaster noticed it all go down, letting out an audible, "Oh!" as the two tumbled to the ground.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem the boy was significantly injured.

Tom Sandoval cheating on Ariana Madix is sorta paying off for her and her friends -- the whole 'Scandoval' thing landed her and Scheana Shay on a baseball diamond.

The "Vanderpump Rules" stars were drafted Saturday by the San Diego Padres to throw out their ceremonial first pitch before a game against the Chicago Cubs ... and they were pretty giddy about the gig.

Ariana and Scheana were rocking matching Padres jerseys and brown ball caps at Petco Park, where Scheana said, "This has been a dream of mine."

As for their actual pitches -- not exactly strikes from either of 'em, but they did reach the vicinity of home plate. Much better than several other celebs we've seen on a pitching mound. Definitely not looking at you 50 Cent. 😉

Mind you, neither Scheana or Ariana are San Diego natives, but you get why the Padres recruited them -- 'VPR' is hotter than ever since Tom's affair with Raquel Leviss came to light.

TMZ broke the story ... Ariana and Tom broke up in March after she learned of the months-long affair.

As a result, the 'VPR' reunion is drawing huge ratings for Bravo, Tom's band is selling out venues ... and Ariana is cashing in with brand deals, "Dancing with the Stars" and now baseball.

Before Aaron Judge attempts to swipe bags at Dodger Stadium ... he loaded up shopping bags in Beverly Hills -- spending some of his fat, new contract on Rodeo Drive!!!

The Yankees superstar was spotted out with his wife on the famous strip in L.A. the day before New York kicks off its much-anticipated series with the Dodgers ... and it's clear, he wasn't having any issues breaking out his wallet.

The 31-year-old was seen holding multiple bags from Prada -- and while it's not yet known what exactly was inside of them -- it's safe to say the items didn't come cheap!

Of course, Judge ain't sweating price tags much these days ... the outfielder just inked a 9-year, $360 million agreement with the Yanks this offseason -- so, yeah, throw down that credit card!!

Judge seemed to be relaxed and happy while on his day off ... a great sign for the Yankees -- as the weekend series promises to be an eventful one.

Both L.A. and NY are well over .500 this season ... and many expect the two to be legit World Series contenders by the end of the year.

Anthony Rendon will not face charges over his altercation with an Athletics fan ... cops tell TMZ Sports they've closed their investigation into the Angels star after they say a victim never came forward.

The Oakland Police Department initially launched their probe into Rendon on March 31 -- one day after the L.A. third baseman was seen grabbing an A's fan's shirt on video following a loss at the Coliseum.

In police documents, cops say they investigated Rendon for misdemeanor assault as well as misdemeanor battery ... but on Thursday, they closed the matter.

A spokesperson for the OPD did say, however, the case would be reopened if an alleged victim were to come forward.

Even though Rendon is now in the clear criminally, he was still punished by the MLB over the incident ... the 32-year-old was slapped with a five-game ban and a fine in April.

10x MLB All-Star Steve Garvey -- who won the World Series with the LA Dodgers in 1981 -- is considering throwing his cap in the political ring ... with a run for U.S. Senate in California.

Republican strategist Andy Gharakhani spoke to the L.A. Times, confirming the 74-year-old Dodgers icon is contemplating running for one of the most powerful political positions in the country.

“He is being contacted by leaders up and down the state," Gharakhani said.

"They’re recruiting him to run from both sides, Republican and Democrat, and he’s seriously considering it. We should have a decision made here in the next few weeks.”

Despite never holding elected office, Garvey -- who spent 14 seasons with the Dodgers (and 5 with the San Diego Padres) -- has reportedly been meeting with GOP donors and leaders in California, in preparation for the campaign.

If Garvey were to run, the 1974 NL MVP would reportedly make quality-of-life issues the focus of his campaign ... namely, the cost of living and public safety in CA.

Steve will have his work cut out for him if he ultimately runs ... several high-profile Democrats have reportedly amassed massive campaign war chests.

It's also worth mentioning Republicans haven't won a Senate race in California for decades ... but Garvey reportedly believes a high-profile candidate like himself could buck the trend.

Pittsburgh Pirates minor leaguer Travis Swaggerty is asking his fans for prayers ... revealing on Wednesday his wife is dealing with a rare blood disease after she was attacked by a raccoon.

Swaggerty -- the No. 10 overall pick in the 2018 MLB draft -- said his partner, Peyton Swaggerty, was bitten by the rabid animal over a year ago ... and her life has been hell ever since.

In a statement posted on his social media page, the outfielder said Peyton has been "riddled" with "unresolved pain and problems" that have "completely taken her quality of life away from her."

Travis said in his note that she was headed for an appointment at the Mayo Clinic later Wednesday to try to find solutions to the issues.

"I wanted to share this to ask for support and prayers for her," he wrote, "along with reminding everyone to not take anything for granted in this life, especially the little things."

Travis said in a separate tweet that Peyton, despite all of the medical issues, has remained a stellar mom to their baby daughter.

"She fights through everything she’s feeling to be the best mom she can be," Travis said.

Peyton thanked her husband and his fans for their support in a tweet of her own on Wednesday morning ... adding, "We're on our way to the Mayo Clinic right now."

"I'm trusting God and the doctors!"

Sandy Koufax took the mound in Los Angeles for the first time as a Dodgers pitcher in 1958, after the team moved across the country from Brooklyn ... and now the Hall of Famer's historic, game-worn baseball mitt is on the auction block!

Of course, the Brooklyn Dodgers moved following the '57 Major League Baseball season after the organization was unable to strike a deal for a new ballpark with politicians in BK ... relocating to the West Coast

Dodgers Stadium didn't yet exist (it was built quickly and opened in 1962), so the team played four seasons at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, beginning with their first game against the San Francisco Giants on April 18, 1958.

Heading into '58 season, the Dodgers were transitioning Koufax, their young 22-year-old relief pitcher, into a starter. The Hall of Famer flashed some of the incredible abilities that would go on to define his amazing career, appearing in 40 games (26 as a starter), going 11-11 with a 4.48 ERA.

Now, the actual Rawlings mitt worn by the MLB legend for some, if not all, of those appearances according to the auction house is on the auction block at The Memorabilia Network.

The glove was also signed by the 7x All-Star and 4x World Series champion ... a signature that's been preserved over the years. The mitt is also adorned with "32," Sandy's jersey number, in black marker.

Koufax gloves are very rare. In fact, TMN says only a handful (now 7 total) of Koufax game-used gloves have ever sold ... and Memorabilia Network believes this glove, the first in the City of Angels, could be the most valuable ever.

The auction closes the night of June 14th ... and the glove won't go cheap!

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass apologized on Tuesday afternoon ... saying a post he made on his social media page earlier this week was "hurtful to the Pride community."

On Monday, Bass reshared a video to his Instagram Story from the account "dudewithgoodnews" ... which appeared to feature anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

The clip urged people to boycott "Target, Bud Light, and any other corporation that's pushing the things they're pushing" -- in light of their recent LGBTQ promotions.

Bass did not add any further commentary on the vid when sharing it ... though he was dragged by many MLB fans for re-posting it nonetheless.

But, during a short meeting with reporters at Rogers Centre ahead of Tuesday night's Toronto vs. Milwaukee game ... he said he was sorry for it.

"I recognize yesterday I made a post that was hurtful to the Pride community, which includes friends of mine and close family members of mine," said Bass, who has since deleted the Instagram post. "I am truly sorry for that."

"I just spoke with my teammates and shared with them my actions yesterday. I apologized to them, and as of right now I am using the Blue Jays' resources to better educate myself to make better decisions moving forward."

He continued, "The ballpark is for everybody. We include all fans at the ballpark. We want to welcome everybody. That's all I have to say."

The Blue Jays -- who are set to host a Pride night on June 9 -- said in a statement of their own that "individual player sentiments are not representative of the club's beliefs."

"The Blue Jays bring millions of fans together across Canada," the team added, "and are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming experience for all."

Chicago White Sox closer Liam Hendriks made his return to an MLB mound on Monday night -- nearly five months after he was diagnosed with cancer -- and the scene was emotional.

The 34-year-old came into Chicago's game against the Angels in the top of the eighth inning ... and for a full minute, fans at Guaranteed Rate Field gave him a standing ovation. In fact, a stadium-wide "LI-AM" chant broke out, too.

Hendriks soaked it all in as Angels catcher Matt Thaiss purposely took his time getting into the batter's box ... and then he fired a perfect strike once play resumed.

While the pitcher didn't go on to have his best outing -- he gave up three hits, a walk, and two earned runs -- he said afterward he was super grateful to be back.

"It was definitely emotional," Hendriks told reporters. "It was humbling going out there and walking out there and seeing the amount of people wearing my shirts and the amount of people having signs or flags or anything like that."

"It was a very humbling and sobering moment for me," he added.

Hendriks was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in January ... and spent the ensuing months undergoing treatment. In April, docs declared him cancer-free -- and for the past few weeks, he's pitched in the minor leagues to gear up for his White Sox return.

While Day One back on the bump resulted in a loss, Hendriks told media members he'd be available once again on Tuesday if Chicago needed him to throw again.

Phil Spector's daughter wants a judge to bang the gavel ... to prevent tons of his music memorabilia from being sold to the highest bidder ... and now she's suing one of the biggest auction houses over it.

The late music producer's only daughter, Nicole Spector, is suing Julien's Auctions ... claiming the items actually belong to her, so they have no right to sell them.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Nicole says she only recently found out about Julien's "Music Icons" auction, which features 82 items the auction house has been promoting as coming straight from Phil's estate.

Among the items ... a letter from President Nixon, a baseball signed by Mickey Mantle, tickets from a 1966 Beatles concert, a book signed by Yoko Ono and tons of gold records and album cover plaques.

Nicole claims Julien's told her they got the stuff from a woman named Sheryl Coughlan, who told them she got the property from Phil's daughter. Problem is, Nicole says she never gave any of Phil's property to Coughlan or anyone else.

In her suit, Nicole thinks her late father's ex-wife Rachelle may be to blame ... claiming she believes Rachelle misrepresented herself to Coughlan as Nicole when transferring the items.

Nicole claims when Phil divorced Rachelle, the judgment called for Phil to get all of his personal property back aside from a few specific items ... but she claims Rachelle didn't play ball and refused to turn over a bunch of Phil's memorabilia to Nicole a few years later when Phil died.

Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and his pregnant wife will be adding a couple more players to their roster at home ... turns out they're about to have -- of all things -- twins!!!!

The MLB skipper's bae, Allie Baldelli, shared the exciting, and wildly ironic, news on Thursday ... using pics of their dog and their young daughter.

In the images, you can see the couple's toddler holding ultrasound images of the unborn Baldellis around her head.

“BOY TWINS," Allie captioned the pics. "due in september 🤍🙃🤍🙃."

Baldelli currently has his baseball Twins in first place in the American League Central ... but in a matter months, he'll have a whole new set of twins to manage -- and we're sure he's fired up for the task.

Turns out, not every Yankee fan was in a good mood following the Bronx Bombers' thrilling walk-off win on Tuesday ... 'cause several Pinstripes supporters were seen getting into a brawl on a New York sidewalk following the victory -- and it was wild!!

According to a witness who posted video of the skirmish on Twitter ... the altercation happened after the combatants initially began arguing inside Billy's Sports Bar -- a popular watering hole located just feet from Yankee Stadium.

The social media user said despite Anthony Volpe's clutch, 9th-inning sacrifice fly that gave the Yanks a 6-5 win over the Orioles ... the argument escalated into a full-on fight outside of the restaurant.

You can see in the footage, two men clad in Yankees jerseys jumped on top of each other on the sidewalk ... and began wrestling. Not long after, fists started to fly.

Another man jumped into the scene in an apparent attempt to break things up -- which only enraged a woman nearby.

The video shows the woman threw a few punches of her own ... before, thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.

It's unclear if any arrests were made -- we've reached out to authorities, but so far, no word back yet.

Several Yankees fans nearly got a lapful of peanuts, Cracker Jacks and squirrel out at the old ballgame Tuesday night -- and the Pinstripes supporters couldn't have been more mortified by it!!!

The Animal Planet-like scene all went down during New York's tilt against the Baltimore Orioles ... when, somehow, a squirrel broke into Yankee Stadium and took an in-game jaunt around the outfield.

First, it was seen posted up near the Yanks' bullpen ... then it was spotted in the center field grass. But, when it made its way near the stands, that's when all hell broke loose.

Check out video of rodent's run across an outfield wall -- fans were absolutely terrified to be so close to the creature!!

You can see most of the guys in the area had alarmed looks on their faces -- which is not too surprising ... considering New York is, after all, known as a concrete jungle.

Don't worry, no one was bit by the creature -- and as far we know, no squirrels were harmed during the game. Plus, the Yanks seemed to get some good mojo by it all ... going on to beat the O's, 6-5, in a walk-off thriller.

It's a REALLY bad time to be a bird at an MLB ballpark these days ... because for the second time in less than a week, one was killed in the field of play.

The latest fowl situation happened during the second inning of the Guardians' game against the White Sox in Cleveland on Monday night ... when Will Brennan was up at the plate.

You can see in video of his at-bat ... after he cracked a ball to the left side of the infield, the baseball accidentally landed right on top of a bird -- before it skidded into the outfield for a base hit.

Sadly, the bird died from the impact ... and it didn't take long for players around the diamond to realize what had just happened.

Check out the broadcast footage -- all of the guys had stunned looks on their faces ... as a member of Cleveland's grounds crew came out to scoop up the dead bird with a shovel.

Once the infield was cleared of the carcass, the game resumed ... and Cleveland ended up winning, 3-0.

But, Brennan's victory celebration was muted ... 'cause afterward, he took to Twitter to apologize for the play.

"I truly am sorry @peta and bird enthusiasts," the outfielder wrote. "An unfortunate sacrifice."

Unfortunately, this was the second time in five days that a bird lost its life on the field ... you'll recall, Arizona Diamondbacks star Zac Gallen killed one with a warmup pitch in Oakland on May 17.

Glen Kuiper has been fired from his role as Oakland A's broadcaster ... after he used the n-word while on-air earlier this month.

NBC Sports California said in a statement Monday it came to the decision to part ways with the longtime play-by-play man following a weekslong investigation into the incident.

"We thank Glen for his dedication to Bay Area baseball over the years," the network said in announcing the news.

Kuiper had initially been suspended on May 6 for using the racial slur while talking with Dallas Braden just before the A's vs. Royals game on May 5.

During their conversation, Kuiper had been trying to explain to viewers what they did during the leadup to Oakland's contest in Kansas City ... but in an attempt to say they had gone to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, he muttered the n-word instead.

Later in the game, the 60-year-old apologized for it all ... saying he had said something that didn't come out the way he intended.

"I could not be more sorry and horrified by what I said," he added in another apology later in the week. "I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies."