SPORTS
WEEKEND, JULY 29-30, 2017
1B
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MLB
Cooperstown ready for Raines, Bagwell, Pudge
By JOHN KEKIS
Associated Press
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.
— Tim Raines played in the
major leagues for more than
two decades, and yet one
at-bat still sticks in his mind.
Nervous about making the
Montreal Expos’ roster after
two brief call-ups that didn’t
work out so well (one hit in
20 at-bats), his performance
on Opening Day 1981 in
Pittsburgh erased any doubt.
Raines led off the game with
a walk, stole second on the
fi rst pitch to the next batter
and scored after the errant
2017 Hall of Fame
Inductions
• Sunday, 10:30 a.m.
• Cooperstown, NY
• TV: MLB Network
• Online: BaseballHall.org
throw to second eluded the
outfi elders.
A star was born.
“I think that was the
beginning of the type of
player Tim Raines could
be,” Raines recalled. “It kind
of got me going. I think if I
would have struck out and
not do anything offensively
that game, I’m not sure what
would have happened to my
career. I hadn’t really proven
to anyone what type of player
that I was. It kind of just took
off from there.”
His baseball journey ends
Sunday in Cooperstown,
when the 57-year-old Raines
will be inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame.
Joining him are Jeff Bagwell
and Ivan Rodriguez, along
with former Commissioner
Bud Selig and retired
Kansas City and Atlanta
executive John Schuerholz,
both elected by a veterans
committee.
Raines
received
86
percent of the vote by the
Baseball Writers’ Associ-
ation of America to easily
top the 75 percent threshold
needed. That tally came on
his fi nal year on the ballot,
an oversight that’s diffi cult to
fathom in retrospect.
The switch-hitting Raines
batted .294 and had a .385
on-base percentage in his
23-year career, fi nishing with
2,605 hits, 1,571 runs and
808 stolen bases. The stolen
bases is the fi fth-highest total
See HALL OF FAME/2B
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
In this 2017, fi le photo, Hall of Fame inductees Jeff Bag-
well, left, Tim Raines, center, and Ivan Rodriguez, poses
for a photo during a news conference, in New York.
MLB
Seattle native
Conforto helps
Mets beat Ms’
New York outfi elder hits pair
of home runs in homecoming
By TIM BOOTH
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Michael Conforto
returned to his hometown and hit a pair
of solo home runs, Neil Walker and Curtis
Granderson had two-out
RBI singles in the eighth
inning and the New
York Mets rallied for a
7-5 win over the Seattle
New York
Mariners on Friday night
after wasting a four-run
lead.
Playing his fi rst
professional game at
Safeco Field, Conforto
Seattle
excited the 30 or so
friends and family he
left tickets for with the
fourth
multi-homer
game of his big league career. Conforto,
who grew up in nearby Redmond, homered
leading off the third inning against Ariel
Miranda.
He connected again in the eighth against
lefty reliever Marc Rzepczynski, lining the
7
5
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Matthew Miltenberger, of the Pendleton Swim Association, competes in the boys 13-14 100-meter breast stroke Friday
during the Inland Empire Long Course Championship at the Pendleton Aquatic Center. The swim meet continues through
Sunday at the Pendleton Aquatic Center. Read More on Page 3A
Swimmers descend on Aquatic Center
College Football
Taggart boldly taking on challenge of rebooting Oregon
Oregon
head
coach
Willie
Taggart
speaks
at the
Pac-12
NCAA
college
football
media
day,
Thurs-
day, July
27, 2017,
in the
Holly-
wood
section
of Los
Angeles.
AP Photo/
Mark J. Terrill
First-year coach lays out
plan at Pac-12 media day
By GREG BEACHAM
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Willie Taggart
realizes he only has the keys to
Oregon’s football machine because it
broke down last season.
So while the coach is respectful of
the Ducks’ history and eager for the
opportunity to take charge of a marquee
program, Taggart clearly isn’t afraid
to make any major changes he deems
necessary to compete in the Pac-12.
“Anytime you come into a new
program, changing the culture is
probably the biggest thing and the
hardest thing to do,” Taggart said
Thursday during Pac-12 media days in
Hollywood. “They have been doing it
a certain way for a while, so it’s hard
changing behaviors. But that’s the most
important thing that we’re doing, is
trying to change the culture, change the
behavior to the way that we want it to
be, not necessarily how it was before.”
One particular change will catch
everyone’s eye this fall, although
Taggart doesn’t consider it to be a big
deal: The Ducks — long considered the
most fashion-forward football team in
the land with their splendid Nike gear
— won’t wear a new uniform combina-
tion every week, the coach said.
Another difference seems pretty
hard to fathom: The Ducks redefi ned
up-tempo offensive football over the
past decade, but quarterback Justin
Herbert says you haven’t seen anything
yet.
See OREGON/2B
See MARINERS/2B
Rays, Mariners
swap relievers
Associated Press
SEATTLE — The Tampa Bay Rays
continued to bolster their
bullpen for the pennant
race on Friday, acquiring
reliever Steve Cishek
from the Seattle Mariners
in exchange for versatile
right-hander
Erasmo
Ramirez.
It was a surprising deal
Cishek
between teams that are
competing for the same
thing, a wild card spot
in the American League.
Tampa Bay began the
day with the second wild
card spot in the AL, with
Seattle 3 ½ games behind.
Cishek had appeared in
23 games this season for
Ramirez
Seattle after recovering
from major offseason
hip surgery. Cishek was 1-1 with a 3.15
See TRADE/2B
Sports shorts
Preds lock up Johansen for 8 years
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Nashville
Predators have signed top center Ryan Johansen
to an eight-year, $64 million contract, the largest
deal the franchise has ever handed out.
General manager David Poile announced the
deal Friday.
Poile noted he’s been looking
for a No. 1 center for years and
believes Johansen is poised to
become an elite player in the NHL.
Now the Predators have him under
contract at an average of $8 million
a year through the 2024-25 season,
Johansen
and linemates Filip Forsberg and
Viktor Arvidsson are signed for the next fi ve
years.
The 24-year-old Johansen tied for the lead in
scoring with 61 points over 82 games this season.
He had 13 points in 14 playoff games this spring
before acute compartment syndrome ended his
postseason in the Western Conference fi nal.
“It’s scary. I can’t imagine
going through that. You
wouldn’t wish that on
anyone. When I hit it, I
knew I hit it good. My
heart went in my throat.
You know it could happen
to me, too, if a pitch would
ever get away. When I saw
the replay, I felt so bad.“
— Luke Voit
The St. Louis Cardinals’ fi rst base-
man hit a line drive up the middle
that richocheted off of Arizona
pitcher Robbie Ray’s head in Friday’s
game. Ray never lost consciousness
and was taken to the hospital for
further testing but was released and
will be put into concussion protocol.
Seahawks, Chiefs exchange
backup linebackers
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Kansas City and
Seattle have swapped linebackers, with D.J.
Alexander joining the Seahawks and Kevin
Pierre-Louis being sent to the Chiefs.
The clubs made the trade
Friday on the cusp of training
camp for both teams.
Alexander was a Pro Bowl
selection last season as a special teams player
for the Chiefs and played sparingly on defense.
He had 16 total tackles in the regular season on
defense and made one start.
Pierre-Louis never matched his potential
with the Seahawks. An exceptional athlete,
Pierre-Louis struggled with injuries and
with inconsistent performance when he got
on the fi eld. Pierre-Louis appeared in 34
regular-season games with one start. He had 43
total tackles playing outside linebacker for the
Seahawks.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1751 — The fi rst Inter-
national World Title Prize
Fight takes place in Norfolk,
England. The champion, Jack
Slack of England, beats M.
Petit of France in 25 minutes.
1996 — Record-setting
sprinter Michael Johnson
sweeps to victory in an
Olympic 400-meter record
43.49 seconds while Carl
Lewis leaps into history in
Atlanta.
2003 — Boston’s Bill
Mueller becomes the fi rst
player in major league history
to hit grand slams from both
sides of the plate in a game
and connects for three homers
in a 14-7 win at Texas.
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