MLB

Did you know ... World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner and country music superstar Eric Church are from the same small county in North Carolina?

And did you also know that tonight county officials are going to vote on whether they should honor its two heroes with giant signs bragging that Eric and Madison grew up there??

Well, it's all going down in Caldwell County, NC (population: 80,000) in just a few hours.

We know ... the Caldwell County Board of Commissioners are voting to decide if they should go to the N.C. Dept. of Transportation and request the signs.

Each sign would say something like, "Caldwell County ... Home of Madison Bumgarner."

We're told the vote is likely to pass -- everyone in town seems to LOOOVE these guys -- and then it will be up to Dept. of Transportation to make the final decision.

Before he became an international music star, Daddy Yankee was a real-deal baseball prodigy ... until one bullet changed everything.

The reggaeton king was out in NYC last night and told us he had a shot with the Seattle Mariners back in the day ... when he played 3rd base.

But Yankee was shot in the hip during the peak of his baseball career -- and had to abandon his MLB dreams. Fortunately, things worked out and he became a megastar.

Yankee's not bitter about it -- even though the bullet is still lodged in his hip ... which can be a pain in the ass in airports.

Check out the clip.

Ex-NY Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte has found his second calling -- he's a football coach ... even though he says he doesn't know a helluva lot about the sport.

42-year-old Pettitte retired back in 2013 after 18 seasons in the league ... but Andy tells us he's been keeping busy spending time with his wife and their 4 kids.

One of his post-MLB hobbies ... coaching youth football.

Yasiel Puig has landed in Japan ... and the guy's LOVING IT.

The L.A. Dodgers slugger is part of an MLB All-Star team that's taking on the Japanese national team in a 5-game series ... but when he's not on the field, Puig's been taking in as much culture as he can.

"We visited some temples, that was a very spiritual experience," Puig tells TMZ Sports ... "We took the bullet train from Osaka to Tokyo, very cool."

"I have not been shopping yet, but I will go here in Tokyo."

Puig says he's a HUGE fan of sushi -- and has been scarfing up as much raw fish as he can get his hands on ... saying, "I LOVE IT!"

Puig and his MLB All-Star teammates are reportedly getting $100k each for participating in the series.

St. Louis Cardinals rookie Oscar Taveras' blood alcohol level was 5 TIMES the legal limit at the time of his fatal crash last month ... officials in the Dominican Republic say.

The 22-year-old MLB rising star died on October 26th when the car he was driving smashed into a tree. Oscar's 18-year-old girlfriend, who was a passenger in the car, was also killed in the wreck.

Initially, cops said preliminary evidence did not lead them to believe Oscar was intoxicated at the time of the crash ... but toxicology reports showed his blood alcohol was at an extremely high level.

Cops also say he was driving "very, very fast" at the time of the accident.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Jake Peavy is in the process of buying an authentic S.F. cable car to commemorate the big win ... and he's planning to turn it INTO A BAR ... TMZ Sports has learned.

How cool is that!?

We spoke with Jake's brother Luke Peavy, who tells us the whole thing is still a "work in progress" -- but they've already got the plans drawn out.

Here's the deal ... the Peavy family owns a 5,000-acre estate in Alabama called Southern Falls Plantation -- and the goal is to ship the cable car over to the property.

"Once it's in 'Bama, it will be turned into a mobile bar in Southern Falls," Luke tells us.

So, to make this clear ... if you're on the property, THE BAR WILL COME TO YOU!!!!

No word on when the Peavy's plan to have the bar in operation -- but the family is super-charging the process to get it done ASAP.

And here it is ... yet another tribute to #2 ... courtesy of Red Sox superfan Ben Affleck.

Ben was out at a "Project Greenlight" event on Sunset last night when we asked if he's GLAD the NY Yankees superstar finally called it quits this season.

And that's when Ben got mushy -- "I like Derek Jeter a lot. I have a lot of respect for Derek Jeter."

He added, "It's nice that we're not playing against him."

Starlin Castro is gonna have some seriously filthy fun before baseball starts up again -- the Chicago Cubs shortstop just scooped up a new off-road toy, and turned it into a rolling nightclub.

TMZ Sports has learned the 3-time All-Star bought a 2015 Polaris 1000 -- a serious all-terrain vehicle -- which he pimped out with 4 custom 24-inch waterproof speakers.

The Auto Firm in Miami did the tricking out, and owner Alex Vega tells us Starlin shelled out $25K for the customizing, on top of the $20K for the ATV.

Maybe the pimpest addition -- the speakers AND custom wheels light up in different colors! They'll see and hear Starlin coming from blocks away ... when he ships the rave-on-wheels down to his native Dominican Republic.

Derek Jeter fans can literally buy the DIRT he walked on -- because a sports memorabilia company is selling a collage of "dirt capsules" obtained from the 30 ballparks where #2 racked up his 3,465 hits.

We spoke to Brandon Steiner from Steiner Sports, who tells us ... his people went from stadium to stadium collecting the dirt -- which was all authenticated by Major League Baseball.

And the price ... $359.99 per collage.

Jimmy Fallon tried on Madison Bumgarner's underwear on live TV last night ... and it was hilarious.

The World Series hero appeared on "The Tonight Show" -- armed with a gift for the talk show host ... a pair of the "Mad Bum" undies that Jockey started making in Bumgarner's honor.

FYI -- the undies have quickly become collector's items ... since Jockey only made 2,000 pairs to commemorate the pitcher's historic World Series performance.

Fallon was pumped about his new drawers ... and tried 'em on right on the set.

People have to STOP blaming KC Royals 3rd base coach Mike Jirschele for NOT sending Alex Gordon to score in the bottom of the 9th during Game 7 ... so says Royals legend Bret Saberhagen.

The 2-time Cy Young winner was at LAX and explained why Jirschele made the RIGHT CALL by telling Gordon to hold up when the Giants were still trying to track down a line drive shot he smacked to left field.

"For me, I like the call," Saberhagen explained ... saying all it could've taken was one ball in the dirt to change history.

Madison Bumgarner is getting all the credit, but Cedric the Entertainer says the San Francisco Giants had 2 other World Series MVPs -- Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

TMZ Sports spotted the comedian in Calabasas and he admitted he was pulling for the Kansas City Royals ... since the Giants whupped his beloved St. Louis Cardinals.

But Ced is buying into the not-so-widely held theory that Kimye was a good luck charm for San Fran ... considering they got engaged at AT&T Park last year and also attended the Giants' Game 5 victory in SF.

The stats are in from the chaotic World Series madness in San Francisco, according to the SFPD, and it's pretty shocking:

-- 40 total arrests
-- 9 police cars damaged
-- 3 officers injured
-- 2 people shot

We're told 29 of the arrests were for public intoxication.

As for the shootings ... the details are minimal, but we're told they both stemmed from the madness that ensued in S.F. after the Giants beat the Royals.

We're told both people who were shot are alive.

In the cases of the injured officers, we're told all 3 were hospitalized with injuries caused by flying glass bottles.

One officer suffered a "severe laceration" to the hand. Another was struck in the shoulder. And the third officer had an arm-wound.

The SF Fire Dept. also had a busy night -- putting out makeshift bonfires all over the city.

Former major league slugger Jose Canseco blew his middle finger clear off his hand while cleaning his handgun at home in Las Vegas.

Jose's fiancée Leila Knight tells TMZ Sports ... he was sitting at a table in their home cleaning the gun when it went off. She says he didn't know it was loaded -- and the shot ripped through the middle finger on his left hand.

Leila tells us 50-year-old Canseco is in surgery right now as doctors desperately try to save what's left of the finger. She says the bullet tore through the bottom part of the finger and doctors have already said he'll never have full use of it again ... even under the best of circumstances.

Worst case ... it may be amputated.

Officials in the Dominican Republic do NOT believe alcohol was a factor in the crash that killed St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras and his girlfriend ... TMZ Sports has learned.

We spoke with reps at the Metropolitan Police Department in the D.R. who tell us ... Taveras was driving "very, very fast" on a wet road when he lost control and slammed into a huge tree.

Both Taveras and his GF were killed in the crash.

Officials tell us an autopsy is currently being conducted on Oscar -- but we're told there was no immediate evidence at the crash scene to lead officials to believe he was drunk behind the wheel.

Officials tell us the weather may have played a role -- because it had been raining around the time of the accident and the roads were slippery.

We're told ... Taveras is not the first person to have lost control and slammed into that particular tree -- another person died in the same exact spot last year under similar weather conditions.