BOSTON — Even without Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic on the roster, Team Europe clinched its fourth consecutive Laver Cup victory by going up 14-1 against Team World on Sunday.
Tokyo Olympics singles gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany and Andrey Rublev of Russia gave Team Europe an insurmountable lead by beating Reilly Opelka of the U.S. and Denis Shapovalov of Canada 6-2, 6-7 (4), 10-3 in a match tiebreaker in doubles to open Sunday’s play.
There were still three singles matches remaining, but Team Europe already had eclipsed the 13 points needed to win the Laver Cup. Match victories were worth one point on Friday, two points on Saturday and three points on Sunday.
Team Europe won eight of the first nine matches in the three-day exhibition event, which was postponed in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Team Europe won the first three Laver Cups, too, in 2017, 2018 and 2019, each time with Federer and either Nadal or Djokovic participating.
Zverev and Rublev were joined on Team Europe this time by US Open champion Daniil Medvedev of Russia, French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini of Italy and Casper Ruud of Norway. All six are ranked in the top 10.
DETROIT — Jack Leiter, the son of former major league pitcher Al Leiter, is set to make his major league debut for the Texas Rangers against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
Texas said Tuesday it intended to select the contract of Leiter, 23, from Triple-A Round Rock, where he is 1-1 with a 3.73 ERA in two starts and one relief appearance this season.
Taken second overall in the 2021 amateur draft from Vanderbilt, Leiter has pitched 14⅓ innings this season with 25 strikeouts and three walks. He struck out 10 over six innings against Oklahoma City last Friday, allowing three runs and six hits.
Leiter struggled at Double-A Frisco in his first pro season in 2022, going 3-10 with a 5.54 ERA. He split last season at Frisco and Round Rock, finishing 2-6 with a 5.19 ERA starts with 114 strikeouts and 49 walks in 85 innings.
Left-hander Andrew Heaney had been slated to start in Thursday’s series finale but is being pushed back to Friday’s series opener at Atlanta Braves.
Al Leiter was a two-time All-Star and won 162 games over 19 seasons from 1987 to 2005.
NEW YORK — Whitey Herzog, the gruff and ingenious Hall of Fame manager who guided the St. Louis Cardinals to three pennants and a World Series title in the 1980s and perfected an intricate, nail-biting strategy known as “Whiteyball,” has died. He was 92.
“Whitey spent his last few days surrounded by his family. We have so appreciated all of the prayers and support from friends who knew he was very ill. Although it is hard for us to say goodbye, his peaceful passing was a blessing for him,” his family said in a statement released by the Cardinals.
Herzog had been at Busch Stadium on April 4 for the Cardinals’ home opener.
A crew-cut, pot-bellied tobacco chewer who had no patience for the “buddy-buddy” school of management, Herzog joined the Cardinals in 1980 and helped end the team’s decade-plus pennant drought by adapting it to the artificial surface and distant fences of Busch Memorial Stadium. A typical Cardinals victory under Herzog was a low-scoring, one-run game, sealed in the final innings by a “bullpen by committee,” relievers who might be replaced after a single pitch, or temporarily shifted to the outfield, then brought back to the mound.
The Cardinals had power hitters in George Hendrick and Jack Clark, but they mostly relied on the speed and resourcefulness of switch-hitters Vince Coleman and Willie McGee, the acrobat fielding of shortstop and future Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith and the effective pitching of starters such as John Tudor and Danny Cox and relievers Todd Worrell, Ken Dayley and Jeff Lahti. For the ’82 champions, Herzog didn’t bother rotating relievers, but simply brought in future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter to finish the job.
“[The media] seemed to think there was something wrong with the way we played baseball, with speed and defense and line-drive hitters,” Herzog wrote in his memoir “White Rat: A Life in Baseball,” published in 1987. “They called it ‘Whiteyball’ and said it couldn’t last.”
Under Herzog, the Cards won pennants in 1982, 1985 and 1987, and the World Series in 1982, when they edged the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games. Herzog managed the Kansas City Royals to division titles in 1976-78, but they lost each time in the league championship to the New York Yankees.
“On behalf of the entire St. Louis Cardinals organization, I would like to offer our condolences to the family and many friends of Whitey Herzog,” Cardinals chairman and chief executive officer Bill DeWitt Jr. said in a statement. “Whitey and his teams played a big part in changing the direction of the Cardinals franchise in the early 1980s with an exciting style of play that would become known as “Whitey Ball” throughout baseball. Whitey loved the Cardinals, their fans, and St. Louis. He will be sorely missed.”
The entire Cardinals family is heartbroken to learn of the passing of Hall of Famer and World Series champion manager Whitey Herzog at the age of 92. pic.twitter.com/PLwAM6PV4V
Overall, Herzog was a manager for 18 seasons, compiling a record of 1,281-1,125. He was named Manager of the Year in 1985 and voted into the Hall by the Veterans Committee in 2010, his plaque noting his “stern, yet good-natured style,” and his emphasis on speed, pitching and defense. Just before he formally entered the Hall, the Cardinals retired his uniform number, 24.
“On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Whitey’s family, his friends across the game, and the fans of the Cardinals and the Royals,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
When asked about the secrets of managing, he would reply a sense of humor and a good bullpen.
Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog was born in New Athens, Illinois, a blue-collar community that would shape him long after he left. He excelled in baseball and basketball and was open to skipping the occasional class to take in a Cardinals game. Signed by the New York Yankees, he was a center fielder who discovered that he had competition from a prospect born just weeks before him, Mickey Mantle.
Herzog never played for the Yankees, but he did get to know manager Casey Stengel, another master shuffler of players who became a key influence. The light-haired Herzog was named “The White Rat” because of his resemblance to Yankees pitcher Bob “The White Rat” Kuzava.
As a player, Herzog batted .257 over eight seasons and played several positions. His best year was with the Baltimore Orioles in 1961, when he hit .291. He also played for the Washington Senators, Kansas City Athletics and Detroit Tigers, with whom he ended his playing career, in 1963.
“Baseball has been good to me since I quit trying to play it,” he liked to say.
After working as a scout and coach, Herzog was hired in 1967 by the New York Mets as director of player development, with Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan among the future stars he helped bring along. The Mets liked him well enough to designate him the successor to Gil Hodges, but when the manager died suddenly in 1972, the job went to Yogi Berra. Herzog instead debuted with the Texas Rangers the following season, finishing just 47-91 before being replaced by Billy Martin. He managed the Angels for a few games in 1974 and joined the Royals the following season, his time with Kansas City peaking in 1977 when the team finished 102-60.
Many players spoke warmly of Herzog, but he didn’t hesitate to rid his teams of those he no longer wanted, dumping such Cardinals stars as outfielder Lonnie Smith and starting pitcher Joaquin Andujar. One trade worked out brilliantly: Before the 1982 season, he exchanged .300 hitting shortstop Garry Templeton, whom Herzog had chastised for not hustling, for the San Diego Padres‘ light-hitting Ozzie Smith, now widely regarded as the best defensive shortstop in history. Another deal was less far successful: Gold Glove first baseman Keith Hernandez, with whom Herzog had feuded, to the Mets in the middle of 1983 for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. Hernandez led New York to the World Series title in 1986, while Allen and Ownbey were soon forgotten.
Herzog was just as tough on himself, resigning in the middle of 1990 because he was “embarrassed” by the team’s 33-47 record. He served as a consultant and general manager for the Los Angeles Angels in the early ’90s and briefly considered managing the Boston Red Sox before the 1997 season.
If the ’82 championship was the highlight of his career, his greatest blow was the ’85 series. The Cardinals were up 3 games to 2 against his former team, the Royals, and in Game 6 led 1-0 going into the bottom of the ninth, with Worrell brought in to finish the job.
Jorge Orta led off and grounded an 0-2 pitch between the mound and first base. In one of the most famous blown calls in baseball history, he was ruled safe by umpire Don Denkinger, even though replays showed first baseman Jack Clark’s toss to Worrell was in time. The Cardinals never recovered. Kansas City rallied for two runs to tie the series and crushed the Cards 11-0 in Game 7.
“No, I’m not bitter at Denkinger,” Herzog told the AP years later. “He’s a good guy, he knows he made a mistake, and he’s a human being. It happened at an inopportune time, but I do think they ought to have instant replay in the playoffs and World Series.”
As if testing Herzog’s humor, the Hall inducted him alongside an umpire, Doug Harvey.
“I don’t know why he should get in,” Herzog joked at the time. “Doug kicked me out of more games than any other umpire.”
Herzog is survived by Mary Lou Herzog, his wife of 71 years, children Debra, David and Jim and their spouses, nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
SUNRISE, Fla. — Bill Zito has been promoted by the Florida Panthers, with the team announcing Monday that its general manager will now also serve as the team’s president of hockey operations.
The promotion came with a multiyear contract extension, the terms of which were not revealed by the reigning Eastern Conference champions.
Zito’s arrival four years ago sparked a massive turnaround by the Panthers, who have made the playoffs in all four of his seasons leading the front office — a streak unlike any other in club history — and have won more than half their games in all four of those seasons. In the 26 seasons before Zito, Florida had a total of three seasons when it won more than 50% of its games.
“Obviously on a personal level, I’m thrilled and honored,” Zito said. “And I’m grateful to be able to continue to try to keep building and keep pursuing the goal of making this a destination franchise.”
It’s another example of the Panthers locking up talent for years to come, with one of owner Vincent Viola’s mandates being to assure the fan base that what’s being built in Florida is being built to last for many years.
“From his first day as a Panther, Bill has demonstrated his complete commitment to success both on and off the ice. He has worked steadfastly and tirelessly to establish a new standard of excellence for our franchise,” Viola said. “The future has never looked brighter in South Florida, and we are thrilled that Bill will continue to lead the way.”
Florida has the fifth-best record in the NHL during Zito’s tenure, plus leads the league in comeback wins, overtime wins and shots on goal. The Panthers are tied with Edmonton for second in the NHL in goals over Zito’s four seasons entering Monday; they have 1,073, three fewer than Colorado had.
Also under Zito, a two-time GM of the year finalist, the Panthers won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2022 and went to the Stanley Cup Final last season.
“Under Bill’s leadership we have seen renewed fan excitement, consistent playoff appearances and a sustained culture of success,” Panthers alternate governor Michael Viola said. “Through this extension, we are recommitting to stability and strength at the heart of our organization, and the continued growth of our sport throughout Broward County and South Florida.”
Last week, USA Hockey completed its management staff for the upcoming NHL 4 Nations Face-Off & the 2026 Olympic team, and Zito was named an assistant general manager by GM Bill Guerin.
