Every Monday, journalists from the Sports team answer your questions.
In major league baseball, has a player ever reached the bases five times, performing a carousel plus a walk or being hit by a pitch?
Yes. Looking at Baseball Reference data, I found 40 occurrences. Joe Gordon and Mickey Cochrane even received two walks, in addition to hitting a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game. Most unusual? On June 8, 1940, Harry Craft hit a carousel, received a walk AND was hit by a pitch in the same game!
Professional sport is very demanding for athletes. But why do football matches only take place once a week while hockey matches take place every other day? What about baseball and tennis games every day? I don’t think football players expend more energy than hockey or tennis players in a match. And yet hockey or tennis players recover in one or two days. Are there other criteria than physical condition to explain the pace of matches?
You have to have set foot in a football locker room after a match to understand better. It’s not complicated: about half the players have an ice pack on a shoulder or knee, while the rest of the club is on crutches or lying on the trainer’s table. We’re hardly exaggerating. Hockey is also a contact sport, but it is possible to avoid them (see Scott Gomez at the end of his career with the Canadian), whereas in football, there is contact in almost every game. It’s tiring, and that explains why football players need a week of rest between matches.
Are Jacky Robinson’s (42) and Wayne Gretzky’s (99) numbers the only ones that have been retired by their league?
There’s a third: The NBA retired Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell’s No. 6 in 2022. Russell led the Celtics to 11 championships as a player and coach, in addition to fighting for human rights . Robinson’s number was retired in 1997 and Gretzky’s in 2000.
Who pays for prospects’ travel and lodging when they travel to the city where the NHL draft is taking place: the junior club, their future National League club or the parents?
In the vast majority of cases, player agencies pay for travel costs such as airfare and hotel. There is certainly a limit of places for the immediate entourage, at the discretion of the agency, depending on the status of the player and the number of guests. An agent to whom I asked for clarification on your question told me that he invites players ranked in the first three rounds, and suggests that the others stay at home, to avoid, among other things, the disappointments of seeing the seven rounds go by. without their name being pronounced. There may be small variations in fees, therefore, depending on the agency. The clubs pay nothing.
Joe Burrow recently signed a new $275 million contract, $215 million of which is guaranteed. What does this 215 million guaranteed mean? Is it injury, trade, or even retirement?
The guaranteed portion of NFL contracts is tied to the real possibility that a player, no matter how talented, will be released without further notice. He may be released because the team no longer wants his services, because it must comply with the salary cap or because he is injured. The more popular a player is, the more he will be able to negotiate a large guarantee. In the event of retirement, a player forfeits the amounts owed to him; in the event of an exchange, it is up to his new team to respect the terms of his contract.