NEW YORK — New AL home run king Aaron Judge and St. Louis slugger Paul Goldschmidt won Hank Aaron Awards on Wednesday that reward the most outstanding offensive performers in each league.
Judge and Goldschmidt are both finalists for the Most Valuable Player honors that will be presented next week by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Now a free agent, Judge hit 62 home runs last season with the New York Yankees, topping the American League record of 61 set by Roger Maris in 1961.
Judge also led the majors in slugging percentage (.686), on-base percentage (.425), OPS (1.111) and runs (133), and his 131 RBIs tied Pete Alonso of the Mets for most in the big leagues. Judge batted .311, second in the AL, and was in contention for a Triple Crown until the final days of the season.
Goldschmidt led the NL in slugging percentage (.578) and on-base average (.404) while hitting .317 with 35 home runs and 115 RBIs. The Cardinals first baseman also won the Hank Aaron Award in 2013 with Arizona.
Every team nominates candidates for the Aaron awards. A group of MLB.com writers choose the eight finalists in each league, and fan votes are added to the picks by a panel of Hall of Fame players.
The awards are sanctioned by Major League Baseball and named for the Hall of Fame Braves outfielder.
Louisiana State Police have issued an arrest warrant for former LSU receiver Kyren Lacy, who is accused of causing a fatal crash that killed a 78-year-old man on Dec. 17 and then fleeing the scene without rendering aid or calling authorities.
Louisiana State Police said on Friday that Lacy will be charged with negligent homicide, felony hit-and-run and reckless operation of a vehicle.
Police said they have been in contact with Lacy and his attorney to turn himself in.
According to a news release from state police, Lacy was allegedly driving a 2023 Dodge Charger on Louisiana Highway 20 and “recklessly passed multiple vehicles at a high rate of speed by crossing the centerline and entering the northbound lane while in a designated no-passing zone.”
“As Lacy was illegally passing the other vehicles, the driver of a northbound pickup truck abruptly braked and swerved to the right to avoid a head-on collision with the approaching Dodge,” a Louisiana State Police news release said.
“Traveling behind the pickup was a 2017 Kia Cadenza whose driver swerved left to avoid the oncoming Dodge Charger. As the Kia Cadenza took evasive action to avoid impact with the Dodge, it crossed the centerline and collided head-on with a southbound 2017 Kia Sorento.”
Police alleged that Lacy, 24, drove around the crash scene and fled “without stopping to render aid, call emergency services, or report his involvement in the crash.”
Herman Hall, 78, of Thibodaux, Louisiana, who was a passenger in the Kia Sorrento, later died from injuries suffered in the crash, according to state police.
The drivers of the Cadenza and Sorento also sustained moderate injuries, according to police.
Lacy played two seasons at Louisiana before transferring to LSU in 2022. This past season, he had 58 catches for 866 yards with nine touchdowns and declared for the NFL draft on Dec. 19, two days after the crash.
The legal efforts to unionize college athletes appear to be running out of steam this month as a new Republican-led administration gets set to take over the federal agency in charge of ruling on employment cases.
A players’ advocacy group who filed charges against the NCAA, Pac-12 and USC that would have potentially opened the door for college players to form a union decided Friday to withdraw its complaint. Their case – which was first filed in February 2022 – was one of two battles against the NCAA taken up by the National Labor Relations Board in recent years. Earlier this week, an administrative law judge closed the other case, which was filed by men’s basketball players at Dartmouth.
The National College Players Association, which filed its complaint on behalf of USC athletes, said the recent changes in state law and NCAA rules that are on track to allow schools to directly pay their players starting this summer caused them to reconsider their complaint.
“[T]he NCPA believes that it is best to provide adequate time for the college sports industry to transition into this new era before football and basketball players employee status is ruled upon,” the organization’s founder Ramogi Huma wrote in the motion to withdraw.
The NCAA and its four power conferences agreed to the terms of a legal settlement this summer that will allow schools to spend up to roughly $20.5 million on direct payments to their athletes starting next academic year. The deal is scheduled to be finalized in April.
College sports leaders, including NCAA President Charlie Baker, have remained steadfast in their belief that athletes should not be considered employees of their schools during a period when college sports have moved closer to a professionalized model.
Some industry stakeholders believe that the richest schools in college sports will need to collectively bargain with athletes to put an end to the current onslaught of legal challenges facing the industry. Currently, any collective bargaining would have to happen with a formal union to provide sufficient legal protection. Some members of Congress say they are discussing the possibility of creating a special status for college sports that would allow collective bargaining without employment. However, Congressional aides familiar with ongoing negotiations told ESPN that influential Republican leaders in Congress are firmly against the idea.
The NLRB’s national board previously declined to make a ruling on whether college athletes should be employees in 2015 when a group of football players at Northwestern attempted to unionize. Jennifer Abruzzo, the agency’s leader during the Biden administration, signaled an interest in taking up the athletes’ fight to unionize early in her tenure. Abruzzo is not expected to remain as the NLRB’s general counsel during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Under Abruzzo, the agency’s regional offices pushed both the Dartmouth and USC cases forward in the past year. Dartmouth players got far enough to vote in favor of forming a union in March 2024, but were still in the appeals process when they decided to end their effort last month.
The only remaining legal fight over employee status in college sports is a federal lawsuit known as Johnson v. NCAA. That case claims the association is violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, which does not guarantee the right to unionize but instead would give athletes some basic employee rights such as minimum wage and overtime pay. That case is currently working its way through the legal process in the Third Circuit federal court.
Georgia transfer quarterback Carson Beck has committed to Miami, with Beck posting the news on Instagram.
Beck is expected to visit Miami this weekend, and his commitment comes within 24 hours of his surprise decision to enter the NCAA transfer portal Thursday. After declaring for the 2025 NFL draft on Dec. 28, Beck will instead join Miami for his final season of eligibility.
Beck, a two-year starter for the Bulldogs with a 24-3 career record, will succeed Heisman Trophy finalist Cam Ward and attempt to lead Miami into the College Football Playoff after the Hurricanes came up short in 2024.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound redshirt senior is currently recovering from a season-ending elbow injury, a setback that forced him to reconsider his plans to go pro. Per sources, he’s unlikely to be healthy enough for spring practice at Miami because of the recovery from the injury.
Beck became the No. 2 player in ESPN’s transfer rankings and a significant recruiting win for coach Mario Cristobal and a Hurricanes team that lacked a proven quarterback entering 2025.
Beck underwent surgery on Dec. 23 to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow after injuring it on the final play of the first half in Georgia’s SEC championship victory over Texas on Dec. 7.
Beck will not be able to throw until March, sources told ESPN, and he received feedback that he could be selected anywhere between the first and third round, with much of that uncertainty due to the fact he wouldn’t be able to throw for teams in pre-draft workouts. Based on the feedback and advice he received, Beck changed his mind and entered the portal as a graduate transfer.
After backing up Stetson Bennett during Georgia’s run to back-to-back national titles, Beck threw for 7,426 yards over his two seasons as Georgia’s starter, fifth most among all FBS passers since 2023, with 57 total touchdowns and 23 turnovers.
He led the Bulldogs to nine wins over top-25 opponents and back-to-back appearances in the SEC title game. Beck received second-team All-SEC honors in 2023 and has twice been named a finalist for the Manning Award as one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the country.
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. considered Beck the No. 5 quarterback in his draft rankings. Beck was viewed as a potential first-round pick entering his senior season and will now look to boost his draft stock just as Ward did with a big season in Coral Gables.
Ward, a former Washington State transfer, declared for the 2024 NFL draft last January but changed his mind upon learning he’d be at best a second- or third-round draft pick, opting to join Miami.
After producing 4,313 passing yards and 43 total touchdowns with the Hurricanes and finishing fourth in Heisman Trophy voting, Ward is now a projected top-10 pick and was the No. 1 pick in Jordan Reid’s latest mock draft.
Ward led the Hurricanes to a 9-0 start and a rise to No. 4 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, but November losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse knocked the team out of the ACC title race.
Miami finished No. 13 in the final CFP rankings and closed its season with a 42-41 loss to Iowa State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
Miami had not picked up a quarterback via the transfer portal this offseason to replace Ward and returned only one passer, sophomore Emory Williams, who has playing experience. Williams started two games as a freshman in 2023.
After Beck’s elbow injury, Georgia turned to backup Gunner Stockton to lead the team in the postseason. The redshirt sophomore threw for a combined 305 yards with one touchdown and one interception in Georgia’s overtime victory over Texas and its 23-10 loss to Notre Dame in the CFP quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl, ending the season with 440 total yards.