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PITTSBURGH — Barry Bonds was touched in a way he didn’t expect when the Pittsburgh Pirates called to let him know he was being inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame.

So when the moment arrived on Saturday, Bonds leaned into it.

He donned a gold jacket alongside fellow inductees Jim Leyland and Manny Sanguillen. He posed for pictures in front of the plaque that bears his name in a plaza just inside the left-center field gates at PNC Park.

And Major League Baseball’s home run king insisted he didn’t think about that other Hall of Fame, the one that has proved elusive nearly two decades after Bonds hit the last of his record 762 homers.

“I don’t have to worry about those things no more in my life,” Bonds said. “[I want to] hang around my grandchildren and my children. Those hopes [of making the Hall of Fame], I don’t have them anymore. I hope to breathe tomorrow [and see] if I can make it to 61.”

Bonds, who turned 60 last month, arrived in Pittsburgh in 1986 as a raw 21-year-old and became the catalyst for a franchise turnaround. The Pirates won three straight National League East titles from 1990 to 1992, a period when the outfielder won the first two of his record seven NL MVP awards.

He left for San Francisco before the 1993 season, a homecoming that seemed predestined considering his ties to the Bay Area. Yet Bonds called his seven seasons in Pittsburgh “the greatest stop for me” because it prepared him for what was to come.

“It was fun,” he said. “Those were good times. I can’t thank you guys enough. This is a great honor. It’s a great journey for me.”

Bonds remains in the top 10 in several categories for the Pirates, including home runs (175) and stolen bases (251). His combination of speed and power made him, as Leyland puts it regularly, “the best player I ever managed.”

The Pirates never advanced beyond the NL Championship Series in the early 1990s, famously losing Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS to Atlanta when Sid Bream chugged home with the winning run on Francisco Cabrera’s single to Bonds in left in the bottom of the ninth.

More than 30 years later, that scar still stings a little, though whatever hard feelings Bonds created by leaving for San Francisco — where his father Bobby Bonds and godfather Willie Mays played — have softened. Bonds said he was “shocked” when owner Bob Nutting let him know he was going into a Hall of Fame that includes franchise icons Roberto Clemente, Honus Wagner and Willie Stargell, among others.

That trio is also enshrined in Cooperstown. Bonds is not. He failed to reach the 75% threshold required during his 10 years on the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Hall of Fame ballot, mostly because of steroids allegations that dogged him during his final years with the Giants.

The Contemporary Player Committee also passed on electing Bonds in 2022, though the committee could reconsider Bonds’ status in 2025.

Bond, who serves as a special advisor for the Giants — who retired his No. 25 in 2018 — seems at peace with whatever may or may not come his way. His only hope is that any honors he might receive occur while his mother Patricia is still alive. Patricia Bonds attended Saturday’s ceremony, as did Bonds’ daughters, Shikari and Aisha.

While achieving a specific part of baseball immortality remains elusive, Bonds — who replied “I don’t have to answer that question anymore” when asked why he thinks he’s not in the Baseball Hall of Fame — understands being honored by the Pirates can help educate fans and future players about Black players’ impact on the game.

“Frank Robinson, Joe Morgan, my father, Mays, [Willie] McCovey, all my Black icons are gone,” he said. “That’s it. It’s just me technically and we’ve got Rickey Henderson, we’ve got others. … I just hope my mom is still around if anything else comes along in my life. Big ‘if.'”

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

LAS VEGAS — Left-handers Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox won Major League Baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year awards on Thursday.

Cleveland right-hander Emmanuel Clase won his second AL Reliever of the Year award and St. Louis righty Ryan Helsley won the NL honor.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani joined David Ortiz as the only players to win four straight Outstanding Designated Hitter awards. Ohtani and the New York YankeesAaron Judge won Hank Aaron Awards as the outstanding offensive performers in their leagues.

Major League Baseball made the announcements at its All-MLB Awards Show.

Sale, 35, was 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 177⅔ innings for the NL’s first pitching triple crown since the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in 2011. He earned his eighth All-Star selection and first since 2018.

Sale helped Boston to the 2018 World Series title but made just 56 starts from 2020-23, going 17-18 with a 4.86 ERA, 400 strikeouts and 79 walks over 298⅓ innings. He was acquired by Boston from the White Sox in December 2016 and made nine trips to the injured list with the Red Sox, mostly with shoulder and elbow ailments. He had Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020, and returned to a big league mound on Aug. 14, 2021.

Sale fractured a rib while pitching in batting practice in February 2022 during the management lockout. On July 17, in his second start back, he broke his left pinkie finger when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks. Sale broke his right wrist while riding a bicycle en route to lunch on Aug. 6, ending his season.

Crochet, 25, was 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA over 32 starts for a White Sox team that set a post-1900 record of 121 losses, becoming a first-time All-Star. He struck out 209 and walked 33 in 146 innings.

He had Tommy John surgery on April 5, 2022, and returned to the major leagues on May 18, 2023. Crochet had a 3.55 ERA in 13 relief appearances in 2023, and then joined the rotation this year.

Sale and Crochet were chosen in voting by MLB.com beat writers.

Clase and Helsley were unanimous picks by a panel that included Hall of Famers Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers, along with John Franco and Billy Wagner. The AL award is named after Rivera and the NL honor after Hoffman.

A three-time All-Star, Clase was 4-2 with a 0.61 ERA, 66 strikeouts and 10 walks in 74⅓ innings, holding batters to a .154 average. The 26-year-old converted 47 of 50 save chances, including his last 47.

Voting was based on the regular season. Clase was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in the playoffs, allowing three home runs, one more than his regular-season total.

Helsley, a two-time All-Star, was 7-4 with a 2.04 ERA and 49 saves in 53 chances. He struck out 79 and walked 23 in 66⅓ innings.

Ohtani became the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. A two-way star limited to hitting following elbow surgery, Ohtani batted .310 and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs while stealing 59 bases.

Ortiz won the DH award five years in a row from 2003-07.

The DH award, named after Edgar Martinez, is picked in voting by team beat writers, broadcasters and public relations departments. MLB.com writers determined the finalists for the Aaron awards, and a fan vote was combined with picks from a panel of Hall of Famers and former winners to determine the selections.

Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers and 144 RBIs while hitting .322.

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

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QB Castellanos exits after losing BC starting job

Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos, who lost his starting job earlier this week, will not be returning to the team, he announced Thursday night.

Castellanos, who started 12 games last season and retained the top job under new coach Bill O’Brien, wrote on X that “unfortunately, all good things come to an end, even though it’s sooner than I would like.” He did not mention the transfer portal in his departing message and has not officially entered it. The junior from Waycross, Georgia, started his career at UCF and appeared in five games in 2022.

O’Brien said Tuesday that Grayson James, who replaced Castellanos in last week’s win against Syracuse, will start Saturday when Boston College visits No. 14 SMU. Castellanos “wasn’t real thrilled” with the decision, O’Brien said, adding that the quarterback decided to step away from the team for several days.

Castellanos had 2,248 passing yards and 1,113 rushing yards last season under coach Jeff Hafley, passing for 15 touchdowns and adding 13 on the ground. He had 18 touchdown passes and only five interceptions this season, but his accuracy dipped in recent weeks, and he completed only 2 of 7 passes against Syracuse before being replaced.

In his statement, Castellanos thanked both coaching staffs he played for at Boston College and wrote that he had “some of the best experiences of my life in the Eagles Nest and I will truly cherish these memories forever.”

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Gators’ Lagway ‘ready to play,’ will start vs. LSU

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Gators' Lagway 'ready to play,' will start vs. LSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is “ready to play,” coach Billy Napier said Thursday on his weekly radio show.

Napier removed Lagway from the team’s injury report and penciled him in to start against No. 21 LSU in the Swamp on Saturday.

Lagway practiced every day this week while progressing from a strained left hamstring. The highly touted freshman was carted off the field against Georgia on Nov. 2. Tests revealed a “less significant” injury than initially feared, and now he’s back in time to face the Tigers.

The Gators (4-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) need him. They have to win two of their final three regular-season games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (6-3, 3-2) has struggled mightily against dual-threat QBs, including Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Lagway returns after walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner started in his place against Texas. Warner threw two interceptions and was 12-of-25 passing for 132 yards in a 49-17 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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