Category Archives: baseball

The Border War

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I might not be considered a loyal Missourian—

because I don’t give a hoot on which side of the state line the Royals and the Chiefs play.  If I’m going to drive three hours to get to a game in Kansas City, what’s another ten or fifteen minutes on Interstate 70?  A game is a game wherever it’s played.

I long ago thought the Missouri-Kansas sports rivalry thing was stupid. The pre-war Civil War ended more than 150 years ago and to liken two teams of big guys trying stomp on each other, or two teams of tall guys jamming a ball into a metal circle has any significance to the universe is insane.

The great sports columnist Heywood Hale Broun wrote in the forward to his wonderful book, Tumultuous Merriment;

“The actual importance of the contest is immaterial to both spectators and players once the period of magic has begun.  The level of excitement is subconsciously chosen by those present and after a time exists beyond their control. It is only harmful when, like some lingering germ from a tropical paradise, it darkens the future.  All of us should play as if life and honor depended on it, and all of us should cheer as if it were Lucifer State versus Angel U. in the arena; but at game’s end all of us should recognize that paradise was neither won nor lost. None of us should emulate those middle-aged men who stare glumly into the bottom of a highball glass when they think of a shot that failed to drop in the last second of some long-ago basketball game.”

In other words, the game is what is important and it is important only within the time of the game. Attaching any importance outside that period is a waste of time.

So, then, is all of the anguish about economic advantage of one place over another unimportant within the entirety of an economic area.  And that should be what we are talking about here because the metropolitan cities and counties form their own economic area regardless of rivers and streets. Why there continues to be a counterproductive economic civil war within that area is beyond my understanding.

It’s not a case of whether the teams play on one side of the Missouri River or the other. The river as a boundary is a manmade abstraction as are state lines. The grass is the same color on both sides. Drive down Stateline Road. One side is in Jackson County, Missouri. The other is in Wyandotte County, Kansas.  If you drive north, you’re in Missouri.  Drive south and you’re in Kansas.  The difference is a white line about six inches wide in the pavement..

The Chiefs and the Royals are still going to be “The Kansas City Whatevers” regardless of which side of a manmade line on which they hold their contests.

Get over it.

For years, Missouri and Kansas have waged an economic war, giving tax breaks to snatch this or that business from the other side only to have the other side a few years later offer tax breaks to get the company back.

If one state or the other is economically ahead, it can’t be by very much.

This silliness almost became—and maybe should have become—academic in 1855, the days of the pre-war border war, when pro-slavery Westport resident Mobillion McGee decided the chances of Kansas entering the Union as a slave state would be improved if the Missouri boundary line was shifted to the east a few miles, thereby putting more pro-slavery voters in Kansas. He and newspaper publisher Robet T. Van Horn convinced the legislatures of both states to agree to the scheme.  But a young man they hired to seek congressional approval went to Washington, fell in love, married and left on an extended honeymoon, during which time enthusiasm for the plan cooled and it was never carried out.

Their idea has some validity today, not in redrawing the boundary lines for slavery but in considering territory on both sides of the lines as a single economic entity. Such a move would take, as happened in 1855, legislative approval from both states to form an economic district that would jointly pursue economic development mutually beneficial to the broader area.

Call it the McGee Enterprise Zone in which rivalries would not be recognized and the economic power of two states will be combined for greater development, the value of which would be shared by both.

It won’t be simple to organize such an entity. But doing so could end decades of unproductive rivalry resulting from unnecessary adherence to manmade lines. A battle between Lucifer State and Angel U is okay in the three hours of a game. But the game does not last for more than 150 years and neither should the parochial man-made rivalry between Kansas and Missouri.

Build stadiums wherever negotiations lead them to be built. It’s all still the Kansas City area and in the end we should be glad they don’t move to Nashville.

 

Sports: Mizzou Can’t Stop A&M; Tiger Basketball Faces Toughest Opponent; Royals & Cardinals at the Start of Free Agency; Blues are Blue

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MUFB)—The Missouri Tigers are barely clinging to a top-25 ranking in one of the polls after Saturday’s disheartening loss to third-ranked Texas A&M.  They’ve fallen out of the coaches poll but the AP sportswriters gave Missouri four votes, letting them stay at 25th.

Missouri was able to stay in the game for most of the first half before quarterback Matt Zollers fumbled the ball in the air when he was hit while preparing to pass with one minute left in the half. The ball went straight into the arms of A&M defensive back Dalton Brooks.  Brooks took it to the two=yard line and A&M got a touchdown just before halftime to go up 14-0.

Zollers hand was “banged up” on the play and he was seen on the sideline afterwards flexing it. He later did some throwing on the sidelines and stayed in the game.

Missouri’s offensive line could have been stouter in protecting Zollers in his first collegiate start and in opening running space for Jamal Roberts and Ahmad Haley, both of whom topped 100 yards rushing, but not until well into the second half when Missouri was two or three scores down.

Missouri also was caught flat-footed in the third quarter by a fake punt turned into a touchdown for A&M.

Missouri’s offense missed the versatility of Beau Pribula, out indefinitely with hia ankle injury, who had added a running dimension to his position.. Zollars was 7 of 22 passing for just 77 yards and had negative yards on three rushing attempts.

The loss ended any hopes, although they were slim to begin with, of making the playoffs. The Tigers have lost three of their last four games with Saturday’s loss marking the first time Missouri has lost two in a row since 2022.

The last game of the year on Faurot Field is next Saturday against Mississippi State. They close on the road with games against Oklahoma and Arkansas. They have to win all three plus their bowl game to hit the ten-win mark for an unprecedent third straight year.

(MIZBB)—-The basketball Tigers are 3-0 in their first week on the court, hanging on for a win against Southeast Missouri State and a dominating victory over VMI.

The Tigers let the Southeast Red Hawks stay uncomfortably close because they couldn’t hit a free throw in the 89-84 win. They were just 19 of 31, a concerning figure because they were 10 of 21 in the season opener against Howard.

Mark Mitchell got his first double-double Sunday with 24 points and ten rebounds in the 106-68 win against VMI. The Tigers outscored the Kaydets 56-28 in the second half, showing a significantly tighter defense than they had displayed in their earlier games.

Ant Robinson’s versatility showed in his stat line—20 points (4 of 5 from the arc), four steals and four assists.

Missouri faces its first big-time test tomorrow night against Minnesota. One of those teams will lose its undefeated season.

(XMU)—Former Tiger place kicker Harrison Mevis has landed with one of the top teams in the NFL and hasn’t missed the chance to be around for a while. Mevis was signed to the Los Angeles Rams practice squad last week and was activated for Sunday’s game against the 49ers.  He was six for six in extra points as the Rams won 42-26.

(BASEBALL)—The talent pool for teams looking for a free agent is falling into place.  The Cardinals have a dozen minor league guys who want to play for somebody else. Michael Siani, who spent part of last season in the bigs, has been signed by Atlanta. Roddery Munoz has been claimed off of waiver by the Reds. Miles Mikolas has cut ties with the team by becoming a free agent. Mikolas was 18-4 when he joined the Redbirds after three years in Japan. He was 40-65 in the other six years in St. Louis.

The Royals have signed their first free agent, a guy they drafted in 2016. Outfielder Kameron Misner decided to play ball for the University of Missouri instead of signing with the Royals. He was designated for assignment by the Tampa Bay Rays after hitting .213 in 217 plate appearances. When he hit the ball, he hit it hard—nine doubles and five home runs. He also stole eight bases.  But 69 of the 217 times he stepped into the batter’s box, he struck out.

He made history with his walk-off home run on opening day, the first player ever to make his first homer a walk-off on an opening day. Kansas City gives up a player or cash to be decided later.

They have guaranteed that Salvatore Perez will retire a Royal. He has signed a two-year extension. They have several players eligible for free agency.  Sports Illustrated is reporting that the Tampa Bay Rays are strongly interested in signing Mike Yastrzemski, who joined the Royals in mis-season.

The Royals have lost Randal Grichuk, who has declined a five-million dollar deal to go into free agency. The Royals also have cut Michael Lorenzen loose

The Royals have moved to strengthen their hitting coaching staff by offering a job to Connor Dawson, who at 32 years old already has four years as the Milwaukee Brewers’ hitting coach and time spent as the minor league hitting coordinator for the Seattle Mariners.

(HOCKEY)—The St. Louis Blues got their season off on the wrong skate and find themselves winners of only five of their first sixteen games (5-8-3) and last in their division. They are averaging 2.3 goals per game. They’re giving up almost four goals.

Only the Calgary Flames have fewer wins, at 4-11-1. The Buffalo Sabers also have only five wins. But they have four ties—-5-6-4.

 

 

An Open and Shut Case

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The Associated Press reported earlier this week that Governor Kehoe’s latest pitch to keep the Kansas City Chiefs in Missouri goes back to the original plans for the Truman Sports Complex, as the area that contains Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadiums on the eastern edge of Kansas City.

Kehoe told the AP there’s no talk of building an ultra-expensive completely domed stadium, but there might be another way to enclose the present Arrowhead Stadium.   The leases the Royals and Chiefs have on the Jackson County Sports Complex expire in about five years, a pretty short time in stadium-building scenarios.

His concept has assumed immediate importance with a report by Pete Mundo of KCMO radio that the Chiefs have put out a request for proposals to design a new stadium near the Kansas Speedway. Mundo says the move does not mean the Chiefs have decided to move to the Kansas side. In fact he says his “gut” tells him they’ll stay on our side.

Kansas officials are not commenting and Chiefs owner Clark Hunt says the team is still negotiating with both sides.

But the story raises the stakes in the discussions.

Missouri officials well remember the failure of the legislature in the late 1990s to react favorably to a proposal to put a major automobile race track near Kansas City International Airport.  The Kansas Speedway opened just across the state line in Wyandotte County Kansas and opened in 2001, triggering considerable development in the area.

World Sports Network estimated seven years later that the track already had generated $243 million a year in economic benefits to the area.

The idea of a covering for Arrowhead is not new. The original designs for the complex in the 1960s included a covering for both stadiums.

The rolling roof system would be on tracks that could move a covering over the playing fields for inclement weather.  The stadiums would not be heated or air conditioned under that system but rain and snow would not be a factor.

The idea came from architect Charles U. Deaton, an innovative thinker born in New Mexico who never got a college degree. He became a certified architectural engineer after personal studies of industrial design, structural engineering, and  architecture. He designed board games in addition to structures and held several patents for furniture and interior lighting designs—and for designing board games. He worked in St. Louis for a time before moving to Denver, where practiced until his death in 1996.

The original plans were for a facility much like Busch Stadium II in St. Louis, where both baseball and football games could be played. But Deaton convinced Chiefs GM Jack Steadman the dual stadium concept would be better.

If you want a more detailed description of the philosophy behind his designs, go to the KC Yesterday web page.

Deaton’s idea of the rolling roof was scrapped during the construction process—practicality time, and cost were factors. The Chiefs played their first game in Arrowhead in 1972. The Royals played their first game in their new home on April 10, 1973. Twenty years later it was renamed for Royals’ owner Ewing Kauffman.

Kehoe is not recommending a return to Deaton’s original but now outdated design. He cites more modern stadium architecture that he think would work at far less cost—-and the incredible costs of new stadiums is a huge factor.  Jackson County voters rejected the extension of a local sales tax to finance an $800 million overhaul of Arrowhead and construction of a two-billion dollar ballpark and ballpark village (as it’s called in St. Louis) downtown.

Missouri and Kansas now are in a heated competition for the two teams and legislatures in both states have authorized millions of dollars in one form or another to provide the new facilities.

What Kehoe is suggesting is something similar to what he saw in Frankfurt, Germany when he attended a Chiefs-Dolphis game in 2023 at Frankfurt’s Deutsche Bank Park, a 100-year old soccer stadium that has been overhauled many times and now sports a cable-supported flexible, translucent fabric covering that can be opened or closed.

The Governor plans to meet today with the new Jackson County Executive, Phil LeVota, who also is talking to the Chiefs.  The Chiefs aren’t reacting yet to the Kehoe suggestion but they have said they’d invest $1.l5 billion into the project if they decide to stay on our side of the state line. Another Kansas City (Missouri) election could be held next year.

For what it is worth, the view of the situation from the height of our hill is that this entire decades-long war for economic development in the Kansas City area has gone on too long.  Somebody needs to develop a solution to it.

And we are as qualified as anyone to do that….and we will, on Monday.

(Photo credit: KC Yesterday/Jackson County Historical Society, Stadiowelt, Trip Advisor)

Brent

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Last weekend, Nancy and I drove to St. Joseph for the retirement party of my longtime Missourinet managing editor, Brent Martin.  Brent and I sat about four feet apart in the Missourinet newsroom for fifteen years before the company sent him to Lincoln, Nebraska to breathe new life into the Nebraska News Network.

He built the organization into a respected part of the Nebraska Capitol Press Corps before our parent company decided there just wasn’t enough money in Nebraska to continue support of the NRNs and abruptly shut it down.

We had hired Brent from our affiliate in St. Joseph, KFEQ, a historic station serving northwest Missouri, northeast Kansas, southwest Nebraska, and southeast Iowa.  But we had known Brent since he was a student at Central Missouri State (now the University of Central Missouri) in Warrensburg where he did the news on affiliate KOKO.

Brent wrapped up a 45-year career in broadcast journalism last week, having returned to his St. Joseph roots at KFEQ after the abrupt shutdown in Nebraska.

Brent was on top of a number of major stories in St. Jo and in Jefferson City and in Lincoln. CBS relied on him to cover the 1993 flood and its impact on northwest Missouri’s biggest city.  I trusted him implicitly to maintain the quality of the Missourinet operations when I was out of town.

That included the night 25 years ago when we lost Governor Carnahan.  Nancy and I were in Albuquerque, having just come down from our annual archaeological work in southwest Colorado, and watching the 10 .p.m. news on KOB-TV when the anchor reported that the airplane carrying Missour Governor and senatorial candidate Mel Carnahan was missing. We immediately switched to CNN and got the updated information that the plane had crashed.

I knew that Brent would be in the newsroom along with the other members of our staff and other staffers who would be drawn there by the events, and I knew he would have things well in hand.

And he did.  I told him to send someone to the Capitol and find Lieutenant Govenror Roger Wilson, who would become the new governor at almost any time.  One of the people who had rushed to the newsroom that night was my former assistant news director at KLIK, a Jefferson City Station that no longer exists—Clyde Lear, now the owner of Learfield Communications.

Brent gave Clyde a recorder and sent him to the Capitol to stick to Wilson. When Wilson was sworn in and, understandably under the circumstances, said he didn’t have anything to say, Clyde—ever the journalist—asked him one and got an answer.

Brent told me that as the a time grew closer to our first newscast of the day, at 5:55 a.m., he paused and collected himself after the intensive hours that had passed, and reminded himself that in a few minutes, thousands of Missourians would learn from him that Mel Carnahan was dead.

Throughout that long day, as Nancy and I drove almost 1,000 miles back to Jefferson City, the Missourinet, led by Brent, told Missourians about what things were developing in the wake of the tragedy.

Less than a year later, I was in Nashville for the opening of the national convention of radio and television news directors, due to start on September 12. Just as we were to start our pre-convention board meeting, the first airplane crashed into the first of the World Trade Center towers in Washington.   Again, it was Brent in charge of the Missourinet newsroom, running our coverage of state events that were affected by those two crashes.

Fortunately, I had driven to Nashville so I was not trapped as were several other news directors because all airline flights had been grounded indefinitely. When I got back to the newsroom, our operation hadn’t missed a beat.

I missed him when he went to Nebraska—-more because he was a dear friend more than anything else.  We talked about all kinds of stuff in our years together; politics, government, religion, families, cars—-Brent bled blue and white during the Kansas City Royals seasons and he bled red and yellow during the NFL season.  Our sports director, Bill Pollack, once confided to me, tongue in cheek, that he was always glad to see me back in the newsroom so he could get his sports business done because Brent always wanted to talk about the Royals or the Chiefs or the Tigers.

Being a journalist requires enduring energy for a long number of years. It’s exciting to be on the front row of history, whether it’s in city hall or a state capitol.  Sometimes it is frustrating. Sometimes it is boring. But it is always human and the role of a reporter is vitally necessary to our state and country. Brent spent his fifteen years as Missourinet Managing Editor covering the House while I camped out in the Senate trying to make the complicated process of making laws simple enough to explain to Missourians who need to know what their government does to, with, and for them.

Sometimes, it wasn’t fun at all—the Carnahan crash, the floods, the twin towers attacks.  And executions.  Brent and I covered 34 of them; he covered twelve before going to Nebraska where he became not only a reporter but also a source for other reporters when Nebraska had its first execution by lethal injection in 2018. We felt that the state should not exact its most serious penalty against someone without witnesses from the two statewide media organizations as witnesses.

Brent’s wife and daughter planned the retirement party at the church the family attends in St. Joseph.  One of the gifts he was given was a Chiefs jacket.  And there was a special guest:

Brent is looking forward to time to read and to write poetry and to spoil his two granddaughters. The big retirement gift from his family and friends is a trip to England next year. I gave him a small gift, something a baseball fan might appreciate—an official 1994 World Series baseball. The Royals weren’t in it but a baseball fan such as Brent Martin would appreciate it because nobody was in the World Series that year because of a players strike.

He’ll have plenty of time for Royals games after missing so many because he had to be up early the next morning to tell the people of St. Joseph, and for a few years the people Missouri and Nebraska what was going on around them.

I wrote a little poem in the card we gave him that began something like:

Guilt-free naps

With a cat on the lap

And the Chiefs on the TV….

And it went downhill from there.

I reminded him and Tammi of something Christopher Bond told me after he had retired from the U.S. Senate—that his wife said she married him for better or worse, but not for lunch.

We hope the Martins have better luck at figuring out the lunch thing that we have had. We’re okay with Monday through Wednesday and the weekends. But after eleven years, we still havne’t figured out Thursday and Friday.

I hope my friend Brent is more successful than I have been about lunch.

 

 

Sports (and the cruelties thereof)

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

“There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.”

The truth in that observation by newspaper humor columnist Erma Bombeck many years ago was carried out in our sports venues in the past several days.

In baseball, the World Series ended in laughter for the Dodgers and great pain for the Blue Jays, an underdog team that carried a dream of baseball superiority into the into the final two outs of the seventh game when the Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning, the first such blast World Series history. Scintillating defensive plays forced the game into the eleventh when the Dodgers got the winning run and the silent Toronto crowd realized their hopes for their first championship in 32 years were dead.

In football, the Chiefs played their way out of the playoff picture, for now, falling once more to the Buffalo Bills in Bufalo 28-21, dropping to 5-4. There was a time when Patrick Mahomes was unique and a unique offense generated points by the hands full.  But the game has caught up with them.  Joe Burrows at Cincinnati and Josh Allen at Buffalo also started displaying magic.  Last year it was clear the rest of the league had caught up to the Chiefs in terms of talent and innovation.  Last year’s run to the Super Bowl for the Chiefs was a matter of breaks. This year the breaks aren’t coming but opponents have adapted to the KC style and have gathered talent to be a stronger match for Kansas City. Burrows still is out with a turf tow problem but Allen was the superior quarterback with a better team last Sunday.

The thin line between laughter and pain was no better carried out in sports last weekend than in the NASCAR race at Phoenix Sunday.  Denny Hamlin, desperate to win his first NASCAR Cup championship in his 22-year career, wanting to win it for his dying father, had command of the race with only a couple of laps to go when a flat tire by one of  his competitors for the title, William Byron, that sent his car into the wall and brought out a caution flag.  While several drivers hit the pits for two tires, Hamlin’s crew gave him four—-a decision that put him eighth for the restart, with several cars between him and rival Kyle Larson—-too many to work around in those last two laps.

Larson finished third in the race and won the championship without leading a single lap in the final race, a circumstance that might emphasize the demands for NASCAR to change its playoff system after Joey Logano’s championship last year in which he got into the playoff field on a tecnicalty.

Hamlin, who started on the pole and led 208 of the 319 laps, got back to fifth. “We were 40 seconds from a championship. It’s just unfortunate,” Hamlin said. “…It’s just, gosh, you work so hard. It’s just this sport can drive you absolutely crazy because it’s just that sometimes speed, talent, all that stuff just does not matter.”

Someone who can appreciate Hamlin’s situation is Carl Ewards, who saw his championship hopes vanish in a late-final race collision, and left racing, feeling that he had accomplished all of his personal goals in driving a race car at its maximum level, and realizing he wanted to live a fully life after racing with all of his physical and mental faculties intact.

Hamlin earlier this year signed a two-year contract extension that he says will be his last contract, motivated by some of the same things that Edwards cites—-wanting to leave the sport on his terms.

Ryan Blaney won the race but he wasn’t among the final four that fought for the title in the last race of the year.  Blaney won his championship in 2023.

And finally, this week brought an end to the Andretti family’s hopes that one of them would win another Indianapolis 500.  Marco Andretti, grandson of 1969 winner Mario, announced that he would not be back for a 21st 500 and would retire from racing at age 38 to spend time with his daughter, his outside-racing ventures, and writing a memoir he’ll call “Defending the Dynasty.”

Marco (on the right) with father Michael and grandfather Mario, finished second once and third three times in the 500. Father Michael, in fifteen 500s as a driver was second once, third twice. Mario ran twenty-nine 500s was the runner up twice and crossed the finish line in another race.

In 1992, when Marco was five, the Andrettis were the first family to have four drivers competing in the same racing series.

Jeff, John, Michael and Mario. Michael and Jeff were Mario’s boys. John, who died in 2020, was the son of Mario’s brother, Aldo.

Next years race will be the first 500 since 1954 without an Andretti in it.  The four Andrettis combined for 79 starts in the Indianapolis 500.  They finished in the top ten 32 times, in the top five 16 times, ran second four times and third six times. John also competed in NASCAR for seventeen seasons.

John was the first driver to try to do “the double,” competing at the Indianapolis 500 and then running the 600-mile race at Charlotte that night. He was tenth at Indianapolis and was 36th at Charlotte after dropping out with engine trouble just past the halfway point.

Michael hold the record for the driver leading the most laps (431) in the 500 without ever winning. However, as a team owner, his drivers won six 500s.

(MIZFB)—The football Tigers had the weekend off, an important bye for their new starting quarterback, true freshman Matt Zollars, who finished the Vanderbilt game after the ankle injury to beau Pribula. His backup will be reshirt junior Brett Brown, who came back to Missouri in September.

Zollars showed outstanding composure in finishing the game 14 of 23 for 138 passing yards. One of the passe was for a game-tying touchdown. His last one, as time ran out, was compoete to the six-inch line. It would have sent the game into overtime.

The Tigers are at home against third-ranked Texas A&M Saturday afternoon. They’re now 6-2 with four regular season games and a bowl game left as they try to win ten games in a season for an unprecedented third straight time. They’ll go into the game ranked 17th and 19th in the polls.

(MIZBB)—Missouri’s basketball season opened with a win on the road, 88-67, against Howard University.

Seven-foot Center Shawn Phillips dominated on the inside with a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds—Missouri outrebounded the Bison 47-28.

Freshman Guard Jayden Stone came off the bench for 13. Transfers Luke Norweather and Jevon Porter combined to match Phillips’ totals. Anthony Robinson II had eight points, four assists, and three steals.

The women’s team opened at the Hearnes Center with a 78-71 win over Central Arkansas. Shannon Dowell had 21 points and a dozen rebounds. Jordana Reisman also had a double-double for Missouri with a dozen points and ten rebounds.

(MORE BASEBAL)—The best-fielding shortstops in major league baseball are from Missouri. The Cadinals Masyn Wynn and the Royals Bobby Witt Jr., have been awarded gold gloves, the first of the off-season awards presented.

Wynn is the youngest gold-glove winner in Cardinals history at 23 years and 191 days. That breaks the record of third baseman Ken Reitz, who was 24 years, 96 days in (can it be so long ago?) 1975.  He is the 100th GG winner in Cardinals history. He’s the fourth shortstop to win it (Edgar Reneteria, Ozzie Smith, and Dal Maxwell). He had only three errors in 501 chances this year.

Witt has won two of the gloves. Also winning a Gold Glove teammate and third baseman Maikel Garcia, who joins George Brett as the only Third Basement gold glovers in Royals history.

(FREE AGENTS)—The end of the World Series is the beginning of the free agent and trade season.  Royals outfielder, and former Cardinals outfielder, Randal Grichuk declined a $5 million mutual option yesterday and is in the market for a new team.  The Royals also have exercised their $1.5 million buyout option for pitcher Michael Lorenzen, another mid-season addition who made 26 starts and one relief appearance and posted a 4.64 ERA.

The Cardinals and Mike Mikolas are parting ways. He is the only free agent listed in the first batch out.

(Photo credits: Chiefs vs. Bills—Paramount Plus; Three Andrettis—USA Today; Four Andrettis—RACER; Kyle Larson—Bob Priddy at Indianapolis)

 

Sports: Chiefs Roll; Tough Losses for MU Football; A Glimpse at Basketball; A Speedy Final Four

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—-The Kansas City Chiefs’ offense sputtered in the first half against the Washington Commanders last night but outran them with three touchdowns in the second half. The 28-7 win moves them to 5-3 for the year. Washington drops to 3-5, equaling last year’s loss total when the Commanders made it to the playoffs.

Patrick Mahomes, who had only two interceptions in the first seven games this year threw two picks in the first half against Washington.  Mahomes, who turned 31 on September 17 after breaking Peyton Manning’s record for young quarterbacks, connected for two touchdown passes in the second half.

One of those touchdown passes went to Travis Kelce, giving him 83 TDs to tie Priest Holmes for mot all-purpose touchdowns. Kelce finished with 99 yards receiving. Rashee Rice had nine catches for 93 yards and rushed for twelve more as Mahomes came up one yard short of 300.

Kareem Hunt has the other two touchdowns for Kansas City.

The Chiefs are one game behind Denver in the division standings. They’re at Buffalo next weekend. They’ll play the Broncos two weeks later.

(MIZFB)—The Missouri Tigers have the next weekend off before facing Texas A&M, ranked third in both major polls this week.  When they take the field against the Aggies they will be without Beau Pribula and likely will not have him back for the rest of the regular season. Pribula tore three ligaments in his left ankle when it was dislocated during a tackle in last weekend’s game against Vanderbilt. In most cases, such injuries result in broken bones but not in Pribula’s case.  No surgical repairs are needed.

Recovery from the ligament injury generally comes after six weeks of being in a cast and/or a boot to immobilize the injured area and then rehabilitation sessions.  The Tigers play their last game before that recovery period is over. After being off this week, Missouri has five games left, making his return more likely for a bowl game than for a regular season game.

Before exiting, Pribula had passed for eleven touchdowns and 1,685 yards and had run for five more TDS.

His replacement, true freshman Matt Zollers, has played impressively in the limited time he has had, most of it in the closing minutes of the Vanderbilt loss. He has two weeks to take snaps as the number one quarterback. His performance in the last five games could determine how deeply into December the Tigers will go in the bowl schedule—and whether Coach Drinkwitz will have a difficult decision to make on who will start the bowl game.

Missouri is 19th and 20th after the tough loss to then-number 10 Vanderbilt, one of those games that often hinges on which team gets The Big Play.  Vanderbilt got it with the 80 yard touchdown run by Makhilyn Young that put the Commodores up 10-3 in the third quarter. Mizzou tied the game before Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia got the winning score on a one-yard plunge.

The win moved Vanderbilt up to ninth in one poll and dropped it to 11th in the other.

(MIZ BIG QUESTION)—-With Mizzoui’s third-string quarterback now number one, who slots in as his backup. None of the other four quarterbacks listed on the pre-season roster have ever played a down in college. The two most likely number one backup to the number three quarterback are Tommy Lock, cousin Drew and nephew of Andy, who is 6-feet-3 and from Lee’s Summit, and Brett Brown, a Tennessee native who is 6-1, 185.  Both Lock and Brown are graduate students who got their degrees in August.

(MIZBB)—The game didn’t count but it was hardly the typical pre-season game we often see teams play as exhibition contests.  Missouri’s basketball exhibition against Kansas State had the look and the feel of a regular season game built on the rivalry intensified by Missouri’s defection to the SEC a long time ago.

It had a familiar feel—a full tilt race to get more points at the end that the other team got. The two teams combined for 105 points in the last twenty minutes.

The point total should not have been a surprise. Missouri has three returning starters and seven lettermen back from last year’s team that was ninth nationally in scoring (83.6 ppg).

The tendency in a 100-91 game is to wonder who was playing defense.  In this game, Missouri played enough defense to keep Kansas State down by double figures most of the way and  it looked pretty impressive offensively doing it.  Missouri shot 54.8% from the field, scored 54 points in the paint and got 29 points off of fast breaks. Missouri was also good at the free throw line, going 26 of 34.

The game was the 238th between the Missouri and K-Sate but the first one that doesn’t count in the season standings. Missouri and Kansas State were rivals through the Missouri Valley, Big Six, Big Seven, Big Eight and finally the Big 12. They’ll play another exhibition game against each other in Manhattan next year. (ZOU)

(THE BASEBALL)—a phrase used by Hemingway in The Old Man and the Sea.  By this time next week, the season will be over and players and money will be moving.  Until then, the Royals and the Cardinals are watching prospects in the Arizona Fall League.  Anne Rogers with her Royals Beat newsletter has been keeping tabs on KC’s seven players.

Right-handed pitcher A. J. Causey, impressive in his first season out of the Universitys of Tennessee in High-A has found the AFL more challenging. Four appearances, seven runs in 4.2 innings, but with seven strikeouts.

Righty Dennis Colleran, who moved up three levels to Double A this year, pitching 66.1 innings with a combined 2.85 ERA has three scoreless AFL innings with four K’s and two walks in three games.

L. P. Langevin, a product of Louisiana-Lafayette missed part of the minor league season with a right lat strain has yet to allow a hit in limited action in the AFL, three and three in the strikeout-walk department and one unearned run.

Pitcher Logan Martin, a righty out of the University of Kentucky, started 22 games in High A this year and put up a 3.45 ERA in 91.1 innings. In Arizona he has pitched 5.2 innings, given up four runs with four walks and one strikeout.

Lefty Hunter Owens, a Vanderbilt product, spent this year in Double A, had nineteen starts and three relief appearances in which he gave up 3.8 runs per nine innings. He missed parts of the year with shoulder tenderness but struck out 107 batters in 94.2 innings.  In Arizona he’s had some problems in his two appearances. Six runs, 11 hits, four strikeouts and a walk in 4.1 innings.

Catcher Blake Mitchell, who signed out of Sinton Texas High School had surgery on a broken wrist but got into 49 High-A games. He struggled after coming back from the injury and hit only .209 with one home run.  In Arizona he also has struggled and is hitting .167 but has taken a dozen walks.  Defensively, he’s fine behind the plate.

Shortstop Daniel Vazquez, a 2021 International Free Agent, is making up for missed time in the regular season by hitting .357 in Arizona with five stolen baes and eleven RBIs in eleven games.

Center Fielder Carson Roccaforte has hit .294 in his first nine games of the AFL after posting an .862 OPA in High A. Bottom of Form

(SLUGGER)—Louisville Slugger has announced its finalists for its annual American League Silver Slugger Awards. National League winners will be announced on November 6, with American League winners announced the next day. Managers and coaches cast the ballots for the best hitters at each position.

Two Cardinals are on the National League nominees list, both listed as utility players: Alex Burleson and Brendan Donovan.

The Royals have first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., Catcher Salvador Perez, and utility man Maikel Garcia.

(ROONEY and BUCK)—-There’s a personal angle to a wonderful recognition for a kid who once asked the Missourinet for a job.  And I told our boss, Clyde Lear, we needed to hire him as our first sports director when we got ready to have one.  Somewhere in the company files now at the State Historical Society in Columbia is the pencil-written job application for John Rooney.

John is one of the ten finalists for the highest honor a baseball broadcaster can have—the Ford Frick Award at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

And there’s Joe Buck who has done baseball games on FOX Spors for 26 years. He also called 17 years of Cardinals games and has broadcast a couple-dozen World Series.

That kid has just finished his 39th year broadcasting major league baseball games for the Twins, the White Sox, and now for the Cardinals. He’s also called some games for FOX Sports and in his younger days he was a CBS radio voice for the NCAA Tournament and for other games.

Also on the list is Skip Caray, son Harry, who was going sportscasts on Columbia radio station KFRU when this correspondent was in college.

The winner will be announced December 10 during the winter baseball meetings. Induction will take place in late July when the Hall announces its latest honored players.

One of those who nominated this year’s slate is another familiar name to Missouri sports fans: Bob Costas.  Among those who will make the selection is longtime Royals broadcaster Denny Matthews.

Another sport has a final four—

(NASCAR)—NASCAR has narrowed the number of drivers with a change at the NASCAR Cup to four. The big difference in this sport when compared to stick and ball sports is that the racing field remains full throughout the run-off. As many as forty drivers might be on the track at Phoenix next Sunday when the championship will go to one of those four who is highest in the finishing order.

Actually, eight of the biggest names in NASCAR will decide whose driver will be this year’s NASCAR Cup Champion:

Joe Gibbs Racing

Hendrick Motorsports

Chevrolet

Toyota

Byron

Briscoe

Hamlin

Larson

Three of the four drivers want their first Cup. Kyle Larson won the Cup in 2021. William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin are looking for their first.  Briscoe and Hamlin drive for Gibbs. Larson and Byron run for Hendrick.  Hendrick uses Chevrolet engines. Briscoe and Hamlin drive for Toyota.

Byron raced his way into the final four with a dominating rim on the tight half-mile flat track at Martinsville, starting from the pole and leading 304 of the 500 laps, the last 44 after getting past Ryan Blaney, who had to win to make the final four.

Christopher Bell became the odd man out when Larson claimed the fourth and final slot, seven points ahead of Bell.  But with Hamlin, Byron, and Briscoe guaranteed in the final four by winning the three final cutdown races, Bell,  seven points behind Larson in the regular points standings, was  out of the finale.

(Photo Credits: Mahomes—NFL; Byron—Bob Priddy, Indianapolis 2025; Logo—Louisville Slugger; Zollars—Reddit; Rooney and Buck–St. Louis Cardinals)

 

Sports: Tigers Gut One Out; Chiefs Showing What a Healthy Team Can Do; And a Cinderfella Story in NASCAR)

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor;

(CHIEFS—-We seldom see one NFL team dominate another one as completely as the Kansas City Chiefs overwhelmed the Las Vegas Raiders Sunday. The final score of 31-0 with five minutes left in the third quarter was enough for Coach Andy Reid to pull many of his starters.

By then, Patrick Mahomes had throw for 286 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to the newly-returned Rashee Rice.   He completed passes to nine different receivers.

The Chiefs scored on their first five possessions and racked up 434 total yards. The Raiders ran only thirty plays, the fewest in more than two daces by an NFL team. They had only two first downs by plays and one on a penalty, and totaled only 91 yards of total offense.

The Chiefs had a 21-2 advantage in first downs. They had a 275-51 edge in yards, and that includes six meaningless yards that Jeanty gained on the final run of the half. And the Chiefs became the first team since at least 2000 to start a game with three TD drives of at least 80 yards, allowing them to consume nearly 21 minutes of the first half. At the end of the game, they had controlled the ball for more than 42 minutes.

The shutout was the first by the Chiefs’ defense in ten years.

(MIZFB)—The Missouri Tigers played one of those games where both teams had a chance to put a dagger in the other team’s hopes but neither team could put the other one away.

So they played an overtime. And then they played another one before, at last, Missouri got the first big break, and the winning touchdown on a three-yard run by quarter back Bo Pribula and a second break with a sack of Auburn quarterback Jackson Arnold to end the second overtime and let Missouri walk wearily away with a 23-17 win.  Missouri goes to 6-1 and is now eligible for an early December bowl.  How late in December they will play depends on their next five games. Auburn lost its fourth straight game after three season-opening wins.

For the second straight week, the other guys’ defense stopped Ahmad Hardy from any ground-gobbling runs, holding him to an average of less than three yards a carry although he did power his way to two short-yardage touchdowns.

Things don’t get any easier next week when the Tigers are on the road against Vanderbilt. The Commodores are no longer the conference door mat. They beat then 10th ranked  LSU Saturday to also reach 5-1. It will be another match of ranked teams. Vanderbilt has climbed to 10th in the AP sportswriters poll. Missouri is up two slots to 15th.  In the Coaches poll, Vanderbilt is 12th and Missouri is 14th.

(MIZEAST)—Former Tiger standout guard Sean East has signed with the Utah Jazz after spending a year with the Edmonton Stingers in the Canadian Elite Basketball Leag. He started 25 games, average more than 23 points a game, almost five assists and more than 4 rebounds each game.

East was a Tiger for two years and averaged 17.6 points per game in his second year, 2023-24, a down year for Missouri but a solid year for East, who led the team in scoring and assists and was the team leader from outside the arc. (ZOU)

(BASEBALL)—Until the World Series is over and the big time wheeling and dealing starts, the Arizona Fall League is offering a chance to see into the long-term future.  The Cardinals have nine players considered among their best in the minors: Five are right-handed pitchers: Chen-Wei Lin, Randel Clemente, Darlin Saladin, Tyler Bradt, and D. J. Carpenter. There are two outfielders: Travis Honeyman and Miguel Ugueto. Catcher Graysen Tarlow rounds out the group.

There might be some guys with better shots next spring to come north with the team, but the Fall League is giving the front office a chance to evaluate others with possibilities—

Some observers put Lin near the top of the field although he had a mediocre season at Springfield (AA). He made 15 starts but gave up more than six earned runs a game. He walked 37 batters in 46 innings but had 61 strikeouts. He’s from Taiwan, stands 6-7 and

Another one high on the evaluation list is Darlin Saladin, a starter/reliever this year who split his starts and his relief appearances equally through 26 games with High-A Peoria. 94.2 innings, 4.85 ERA. But they like his live arm.

Travis Honeyman missed all of the 2024 season but came back to hit .284 in 289 at-bats. The Fall League will give him mor at-bats to build on those numbers. He played in both LowA and High A ball last summer.

Then there’s Randel Clemente, right-hander from the Dominican Republic. He’ll be 24 soon who climbed through three levels of the minor leagues before finish the year at Springfield.

(ROYALS)—The AFL will give Royals catcher prospect Blake Mitchell is a non-roster invitee. He suffered broken wrist bone that shortened his minor league season. He missed spring training and had a setback that lasted until July 8. But in 2024 he was the George Brett Hitter of the year for the Royals farm system. He struggled in the batter’s box this year but the team liked his place discipline that saw his chase low and away pitchers only 20 percent of the a time. He walked almost 22 percent of the time although he had a 34% swing and miss percentage.

The Royals also will be watching shortstop prospect Daniel Vazquez who hit .260 for the Quad Cities last summer.

Outfielder Carson Roccaforte was the Frank White Defensive Player of the Year for the Royals. He hit .290 for Double-A Arkansas this year.

Four pitchers are in the fall league for Kansas City.  Left-hander Hunter Owens had some injury problems this year but when hew as healthy he had a 3.80 ERA for Nothwest Arkansas (AA) with 107 Ks in 94 2/3 innings. He’s 6-6.

A.J. Causey throws from the right side, a former University of Tennessee reliever who looked awfully good in High A ball—73 1/3 innings, 75 strikeouts. He had a whiff rate of better than 40%.

Right hander Dennis Colelran already has had Tommy John Surgery. He was a reliever for the first time this year who went 66.1 innings with 72 strikeouts and a 2.,85 ERA in three levels of work this year.

Right hander Dennis Langevin started the season on the injured list and only made 14 apperances but they were impressive enough to get him an invited for baseball in the desert.

And righty Logan Martin, who was a starter in High A Quad cities this year. 78 strikeouts in 91.1 innings. 3.45 ERA.

Now, from fastballs to fast cars:

(NASCAR)—A year ago at this time, Chase Briscoe was with a dying team and uncertain about his future. Today he’s with one of the premier teams in the sport and in two weeks will be one of four drivers running for the NASCAR Cup.

Briscoe’s survival of Talladega and his last-lap pass that brought him the win that puts him in the final four, along with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.  In the usual Talladega Superspeedway last turn scramble for the finish line, Briscoe beat Todd Gilliland to the checkered flag by .145 of a second.

The leaders coming into the green-white-checker two lap shootout began with William Byron and Kyle Larson on the lead row.  Larson ran out of fuel on the final lap after Bubba Wallace had grabbed the lead but Briscoe got to the front and took Gilliland and Ty Gibbs with him to the finish line ahead of Wallace.

The win is his third this year, the fifth of his career.

Next weekend is the last race to set the four-driver final championship field. More than 35 drivers will crowd the small Martinsville track with six drivers fighting for the last two spots in the Championship race at Phoenix in a couple of weeks.

Briscoe drives one of the two cars on the circuit sponsored by Misouri businesses.  Johnny Morris’s Bass Pro Shops sponsors his car.  Anheuser-Busch backs the car driven by Clay Chastain.

(INDIANAPOLIS)—2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power made his first race at Indianapolis since losing his ride with Roger Penske and moving over to Andretti Global for the 2026 IndyCar season.  But his return was in a Mercedes-AMG competing in the Intercontinental GT Challenge, an eight-hour endurance race on the Speedway road course.  He was one of three drivers in the car, joined by fellow Australians Kenny Habul and Chaz Mostert.  It was Power’s first sports car race in 22 years.

“I have been meaning to do, and wanting to do, some GT racing for some time,” Power said ina pre-race interview.”It’s different, and I’ve wanted to feel it and see how I go. This is a good start at a track I know, and if I do a good job and if I like it, I’d like to do some more.”

The race was stopped for two hours by lightning in the area.  Power and his teammates were running fourth at the end but wound up sixth after taking a 30-second time penalty for unauthorized work being done in the pits during the stoppage.

Another IndyCar veteran, Connor Daly, was part of the team that finished fourth

(Photo credits: Missouri vs. Auburn t-shirt: JNJ Apparel Store; Briscoe: Bob Priddy; Power at Indianapolis; Richard S. James, RACER Magazine.)

 

 

Sports:    Chiefs Stumble to Third Loss; Mizzou Faces First Elite Challenge; Missouri State Moves to the Big Time, etc.   

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by Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—It’s being called “a miracle touchdown” in Jacksonville,. Florida today. It’s considered a disaster by many Chiefs fans in Kansas Cityu—and elsewhere. Mistakes and a dozen penalties cost the Kansas City Chiefs their third loss in five games this year last night against the Jacksonsville Jaguara.  The Jags, down by four, benefitted from an out-of-bounds kickoff by Kansas City with less than two minutes left that gave them a short field.  Quarterback Trevor Lawrence turned a potentially fatal stumble after the snap into a touchdown with 23 seconds left to put the Jaguars up 31-28.  The Chiefs got a solid return on the kickoff but were flagged for another penalty—holding in this case—that challenged their ability to get the ball close enough for a field goal attempt to tie.

The game featured two goal line plays, one by each team, that kept the score from being higher.  Lawrence’s attempt to dive over his line for a first-half touchdown was short circuited when the ball was knocked form his hands and recovered by the Chiefs. Later, as the Chiefs were on the verge of a touchdown, when Jacksonville’s Devin Lloyd picked off a potential Patrick Mahomes touchdown pass and took it 99 yards the other way for a score.

The win is Jacksonville’s first over Kansas City since 2009. The loss equals Kansas City’s total for all of last year, including the Super Bowl.

Jacksonville is now 4-1. The Chiefs are 2-3.

The last time Kansas City started 2-3, the Chiefs finished 14-6 with an overtime loss to the Bengals in the AFC championship game.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers head into their most important game of the year next weekend fully rested after a weekend off, their upcoming opponent being Alabama, which ended Vanderbilt’s winning streak last weekend and moved to 8th in both major polls. Missouri will go into the game 14th.

Look for a battle of poised veteran quarterbacks with Alabama led by Ty Simpson, whose composure in the last couple of minutes in the first half of their games has gained attention.  He took the Crimson Tide on an 87-yard march in the last two minutes of the first half to get a halftime tie against the Commodores. It was the fourth time he has led the team to a TD in the last minute of the first half.

One of the things Alabama has to do is limit Ahmad Hardy, the nation’s rushing leader with 730 yards. He also leads the nation with 46 missed tackles, fifteen more than Kewan Lacy of Ole Miss.  His nine touchdowns rank second in the country for running backs.

Missouri is number two in the SEC in scoring—45.2 points per game. On defense, the Tigers lead the nation in total offense—only 203.8 yards per game. They rank third in stopping the ground game (62.4 yards per game and they’re third in allowing only 141.4 yards passing.

Although they’re playing at home for the sixth straight time, they’re listed on the early line as underdogs by a little more than a field goal.

(MIZRECRUITS)—The Tigers recently picked up a couple four-star players recently by picking Arkansas’ pocket.  Linebacker J.J. Busch, who had committed to Arkansas, has flipped to Missouri. Running back Terry Hodges, an Arkansas native, has signed to come north. They will join Hardy and Jamal Roberts, who are eligible to be back next year. (ZOU)

(MOSTATE)—Missouri State left the Football Championship Subdivision for the big-time Football Bowl Subdivision this year and is part of Conference USA .

The NCAA counts 136 schools in that subdivision.  The latest rankings put Missouri State 115th. The Bears are competitive within their conference although things get difficult if not ugly when they try someone far up the ladder—as they did last week against 26th ranked USC.

Southern Cal rolled over the Bears 73-13, racking up 597 yards in total offense while Missouri State could get only 65 yards rushing and 159 yards passing.  The Bears are now 2-3 with a win over Tennessee-Martin, an FCS school, 42-10 and another win over Marshall (ranked 121st in the NCAA FBS rankings) 21-20.  Other than USC, their losses have come 28-10 to SMU, ranked , 42nd and 27-22 to Western Kentucky, ranked 67th.

Ahead are 134th ranked Middle Tennessee, New Mexico State (110), Liberty (117), UTEP (122), Kenesaw State (107) and Louisiana Tech (87).

(BASEBALL)—Wheeling and dealing and free agent courting officially begins when the World Series ends but new management in St. Louis and a disappointing mediocre season in Kansas City has all kinds of speculation and proposed trades being suggested that we’re not going to get into.  When a deal is struck or a trade is made, we’ll talk about it.

Now the hot wheels stuff—

(NASCAR)—Joey Logano, who got into the final rounds of the NASCAR Cup Championship last year on a technicality and then won it despite being far back in the regular points system, is back in the final eight again despite being a calculated tenth in regular season points.

Logano got past Chastain as Chastain sped toward the finish line in reverse.  The two had been tied or separated by only a couple of points as the race on the Charlotte Roval (the road course inside the oval) wound down.  Denny Hamlin got in front of Chastain in the closing series of turns and when Chastain moved to reverse the order, the two collided on the last corner, spinning Chastain backwards.  He got his car in reverse and backed across the finish line a matter of feet before Logano, who had been trailing, got there.

Chastain blamed himself for being in the situation because of bobbles during pit stops. Hamlin indicated he did not know Chastain’s circumstances and was racing for his own position when he incident happened.

So Logano is in and Chastain is out and the best he can finish in this year’s system will be ninth.

We’ll have to wait and see if this incident becomes part of NASCAR’s discussion of changing he way the playoffs are determined or if here will be playoffs in the future or whether the driver with the most points after thirty-six races is crowned champion.

THE WINNER of the race was Shane Van Gisbergen, who has swept all five of NACAR’s road races this year. He will not, however, advance to the eight-driver field racing for the title although he is tied with Denny Hamlin for most victories this year. Van Gisbergen was eliminated after the first three raises of the cut-down series.

Still standing as NASCAR heads to Las Vegas for the first of three races that will reduce the championship field to four for the final race of the year next month in Phoenix are Denny Hamlin—who leads all active drivers with 59 career Cup wins but no championships in his 21-year career—Ryan Blaney, the 2023 champion; Kyle Larson, who won in 2021; William Byron; Christoper Bell; Chase Elliott, the champion in 2020; Chase Briscoe; and Logano who won last year and in 2018 and 2022 before winning his third championship last year.

Among those who missed the cut are two-time champion Kyle Busch (2015, 2019) and Brad Keslowski (2012).

(INDYCAR)—2019 Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud, whose driving career ended with a crash in 2023 that left him with a severe concussion issue, is back in the cockpit—a simulated one.

Pagenaud is the official simulator driver for the new Cadillac Formula 1 team that takes to the track next year.

It’s important work as the team develops the elements necessary for a new race car to be competitive, including cockpit design and ergonomics, simulated aerodynamic influences—even braking systems, power steering, and tire settings. He says his role gives him “a feeling of being useful and bringing in my expertise, something that was missing somehow since my accident.”

Pagenaud was the third French driver to win the 500, the first since Rene Thomas in 1914. Another French driver, Jules Goux, won a legendary race in 1913 during which he and riding mechanic Emil Begin consumed four bottles of champagne (each bottle being about 4/5 of a quart) in the six-hour and 35 minute race. Goux’s set a still-standing record by finishing more than thirteen minutes ahead of the second-place driver.

Gaston Chevrolet won the race in 1920. Although he was born in France, he was an American citizen when he won the race.

Pagenaud’s winning margin was slightly more than two seconds ahead of Alexander Rossi.

(Photo credits: Pagenaud, Logano, Van Gisbergen—Bob Priddy; Cadillac F1—autoracing.com; Missouri State–NCAA)

 

Sports: And Suddenly, it’s Over for Baseball; Tigers and Chiefs Looking Good

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(CHIEFS)—It’s interesting what the Chiefs can do with a little speed in the lineup. The return of Xavier Worthy and his deep threats helped the Chiefs rack up their highest points total in two years in a 37-20 win over the Baltimore Ravens. The Chiefs have evened their record at 2. It also is the first time since week twelve of last year that they have run up 30 points.

Worthy had five catches for 83 yards and he added 38 more on two carries in his first game since his shoulder injury at the start of the year. Patrick Mahomes threw for four touchdowns and became the young4est player ever to throw for 250 touchdowns.

The game was a milestone for Coach Andy Reid who has become the first NFL coach to coach more than 200 regular season games for two franchises. He was 130-93-1 in fourteen seasons in Philadelphia. He’s 145-55 with Kansas City. He also is the only coach to win 100 or more games with two franchises.

The Chiefs have a Monday night game next week with the Jacksonville Jaguars who have opened 3-1.

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers took care of business against the University of Massachusetts in their homecoming game Saturday with a 42-6 win that puts them 5-0 with an off-week ahead to get ready for the Alabama Crimson Tide squad that upset Georgia last weekend.

The win Saturday has moved the Tigers up one slot in the coaches poll, to 18th. The Tigers also moved up one place in the AP poll, to 19th.

Recruiting—

Mizzou has picked up a couple of top-level defensive recruits, one of them a big takeaway from an SEC rival. Micah Nickerson had verbally committed to Mississippi State but less than a week after watching Missouri beat South Carolina, he decided to be a Tiger. He’s a four-star defensive end, 6-5, 215, considered the 43rd defensive end in the nation for the class of 2026.

Adding to the class is Hutchinson Community College DE Demarcus Johnson, the top junior college player in the country. He’s a 6-7 edge rusher.

(MIZBB)—Hard to believe…but basketball season is upon us. The new team already is on the court. The Tigers held their first official team meeting on September 22 and the first official practice was the next day. “Fight plus Focus” was the theme for the first workouts.

Here’s an interesting video of the beginning of the pre-season:

Bing Videos    (ZOU)

(BASEBALL)—For those who struggle to stay alert for the playoffs unless the Royals or the Cardinals are involved, this is it. After 162 games in eight months, the long winter already is settling in and only hope for a warmer future will get us through the cold and gray months ahead.

Our teams were mediocre at best all year long, a disappointment in Kansas City, unsurprising in St. Louis

(CARDINALS)—The season ended with a whimper for the Cardinals who lost six of their last ten games to finish six games under .500.  John Mozeliak is now history and Chaim Bloom will take a shot at rebuilding the team for 2025.

Two big names have indicated they might soften their no-trade stances. Nolan Arenado says he is willing to expand his list of teams for which he’d like to play. And Sonny Gray feels the same way.

Losing Arenado might not be too traumatic. His glove ass still good and he only struck out 49 times in 401 at-bats. But he hit only .237 with a dozen homers and only 52 RBIs.

Gray, however, was the biggest winner on the pitching staff at 14-8 despite his 4.28 ERA and 201 strikeouts. He tied for fourth in the National League in wins (the top NL pitcher had only 17), ranked sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (more than 10), led the league with 5.3 Ks for each walk, and was eighth in innings pitched (180.2)

But we might have seen he last of players such as fan favorite Lars Nootbar (.234 with as many hits as strikeouts—119 each—in 509 at-bats), Jordan Walker III (.215, with only 78 hits and 126 strikeouts), Victor Scott (.216, with 107 Ks in 396 at-bats), and Nolan Gorman, with 136 strikeouts in only 351 at-bats).

Bloom might be looking for more punch for a team with a .245 team BA and 1,321 strikeouts in 5433 at-bats. Only one NL team had a worse batting team batting average–.242. All of that being said, it should be noted the entire NL batting average this year was .247 and the batting champion, Trea Turner of the Phillies, set a new major league record for the lowest highest batting average for the season, .301. Eric Burlison and Brendan Donovan were sixth and eighth with averages of . 290 and .287.  Luis Arraez of the Padres had the most hits—only 181. But was a big year in MLB for home runs with Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies beating Shohei Ohtani 56-55 to win that contest.

Gray finished six games over .500. Michael McGreevy showed great possibilities by going 8-4 in 17 games with a 4.42 ERA.  The team was six games UNDER .500 although those two were ten ABOVE.  Ryan Helsley had 21 saves before leaving. The rest of the bullpen staff combined had that many.  Miles Mikolas surely is gone (8-11, 4.84, gave up 29 homers in 31 games). Andre Pallante (6-15, 5.31) and Matthew Liberatore (8-12, 4.21) didn’t live up to expectations. The Cardinals used 24 pitchers this year who had a combined 4.29 ERA and allowed 179 home runs in 162 games.

(ROYALS)—The Royals won six of their last ten to finish 82-80 but  missed the wild card slot by five games. Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino became the first Royals teammates to hit 30 homers and drive in 100 runs each.

Six American Leagues batted above .300 with Aaron Judge’s .331 topping the list. The Royals’ Maikel Garcia was ninth at .286. Bobby Witt led the major leagues in hits with 186 and in doubles with 47. He was fourth in triples. Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh set several records as he led the league in homers with 62, becoming the seventh player to hit 60 or more, breakking Mickey Mantle’s record for switch hitter homers,  and breaking Salvador Perez’s record of 48 for catchers.

As a team, the Royals hit .247, three points above the league average. The Athletics led the league at .252.

Royals pitchers had a combined ERA of 3.73.  Rookie Noah Cameron was impressive with a 2.99 ERA in 24 starts. The only other Royals rookies to finish their rookie season are Paul Splittorff with a 2.68 in 1971 and Kevin Appier, who finished 1990 at 276.

The Royals look to 2026 with a strong core pitching staff with Cole Ragans looking impressive in his last appearances of the year after coming off the injured list. Seth Lugo is solid, Michael Wacha pitched better than his losing record shows, and then there’s Cameron.

The season didn’t turn out as well as KC fans had hoped, given the playoff appearance last year. But the Royals look to 2026 far less unsettled than the Cardinals do.

Going around—

(NASCAR)—A furious final two laps at the Kansas Speedway finished with Chase

Elliott finding the right holes to go from eighth to victory lane and into a guaranteed position in the final eight drivers eligible for the Cup.

Elliott wove his way through a gaggle of fiercely-competing Toyota drivers to put his Chevrolet in the lead by a victory margin of less than seven-hundredths of a second over Denny Hamlin who seconds before had been in a fierce fight for the lead with Bubba Wallace. Hamlin finished second with Christopher Bell third.  Chase Briscoe, who started form the pole for the ninth time this year, was fourth and Wallace wound up fifth.

Hamlin drove the last segment of the race and held the lead until the last pit stops in which a problem with the jack slowed tire changing and put him sixth for the final run. He had worked his way to third and when Wallace and Bell were battling each other, Hamlin slipped past them into the lead. But as he and Wallace battled, Elliott slipped underneath them, the fifth lead change in the last two laps.

The series moves to the road course inside the Charlotte Motor Speedway next weekend. Shane Van Gisbergen, who fell out of the championship field last week, has eon the last four road course races,

(NASCAR FUTURE)—Here’s a name to watch: Connor Zillisch. He’s just 19 year old and won his ninth race of the year on Saturday at Kansas, still racing with a broken collarbone.

(INDYCAR)—It sometimes takes a while for the winner of any sport’s most important event to fully absorbe the importance of what they have done.  The realization recently came to Alex Palou, the winner of this year’s Indianapolis 500 when he sat in a sculptor Willam Behrend’s studio in Asheville, North Carolina as his face emerged from clay.

Alex Palou, 2025 Indianapolis 500 race winner, during the formal sitting with William Behrends for creating the silver image on the Borg-Warner Trophy at William Behrends Studio on Sept. 18, 2025, in Tryon, N.C.

The clay bust will be used to cast in sterling silver a tiny image of Palou’s face that will be placed on the Borg-Warner trophy that is permanently held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His image will join those of Ray Harroun, who won the first 500 in 1911, Tommy Milton, who became the first driver to win two of the races in 1923, Louie Meyer, who in 1936  became the first to win three of the races—and who started the tradition that Palou followed this year of celebrating the win with a drink of cold milk—and A. J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr., Rick Mears, and Helio Castroneves, the only drivers to win the 500 four times.

Eight winners of the trophy at the Indianapolis start/finish line: Front row (L-R) Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Takuma Sato. Back row: Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter Reay. Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya

“To know that I can come to the (Indianapolis Motor Speedway) Museum in like 40 or 50 years, or wherever that trophy is, and see my face and hopefully remember the memories I’ve created this year, it makes it super special. I know my name and face will be there forever,” he said during the carving session.

For as long as sterling silver and the Borg-Warner Trophy exist, Alex Palou’s face will be part of it and the racing history it preserves.

There’s other stuff going on with IndyCar in the off-season—

The latest Formula One driver to check out an IndyCar is Mick Schumacher, wo will make test runs at the Speedway on October 13.  Schumacher is the son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher, who won five races when Formula One ran the Indianapolis road course in the early 2000s. He’ll test a car owned by Rahal Letterman Lanegan Racing. He has been running in the World Endurance Car circuit the last couple of years.

Although Alex Palou dominated the series this year with eight wins and 13 podium finishes, a record number of drivers finished in the top three places in the seventeen races this year.

IndyCar’s Curt Cavin records that it has been a decade since so many drivers posted podium finishes in the series. This year, 16 of the 27 regular series drivers had at least one change to spay the campaign, including Scott Dixon who had his 145th top-three, extending his record.

Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard, celebrated six times. Kyle Kirkwood was on the podium three times this year, each time on the top step.

David Malukis will move into Will Power’s seat with Penske racing next year. Power has moved on to Andretti Global. He drove for Foyt Racing this year. Foyt has a technical alliance with Penske and it had been assumed that Malukis would move to Penske after Power’s contract expired. Malukis finished second in the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Indycar will be back on March 1st with its traditional season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

(Photo Credits: Scott R. LePage, Indycar; Borg Warner, Trophy; Bob Priddy, Elliott)

SPORTS:  Two FB Wins; MLB season endihg with a whimper; Another Top-Tier BB Recruit, Etc.    

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By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor

(MIZ)—The Missouri Tigers are a come-from-behind team this year, winning games after trailing, and moving incrementally higher in the rankings after starting the year outside the top 25.

Missouri won again with a strong fourth quarter for a 29-20 win over a team that has shown it was clearly overrated in preseason polls that listed the Gamecocks as number eleven.

The Tigers went into the South Carolina game with another of their players being nationally recognized.

Ahmad Hardy was named the Doak Walker Offensive Player of the Week for his 250-yard rushing performance against Louisiana-Lafayette. It was the second week in a row that a Tiger had received national recognition.  Quarterback Beau Pribula was named the Maxwell National Player of the week for his performance in the win against Kansas.

Hardy racked up another 138 yards against South Carolina and now is number two on the national rushing list and leads all running backs in the number of broken tackles a skill he demonstrated in scoring his only touchdown after it appeared he had been bottled up.

South Carolina’s attack showed some holes in the Tigers pass defense but the Gamecock’s running offense did nothing. Less than nothing, actually, finishing with minus=9 rushing yards while getting 302 through the air.

The AP sportswriters poll ranks Missouri 20th this week, six points behind Michigan. Vanderbilt is 18th.  The tigers are 19th in the coaches poll, behind Michigan but one position higher than Vanderbilt.

UMass is next.

(MI|ZHONORS)—Four Tigers earned SEC player of the week honors for the game.  Hardy was named the offensive player of the week. Freshman of the week is Robert Meyer, who shares the honor with Vanderbilt linebacker Jamison Curtis. Meyer missed his firsts kick of the game—an extra point—but he nailed a 40-yard field goal, his longest of the season, to make Missouri’s fourth-quarter lead a two-possession affair.

The Defensive Lineman of the week is Zion Young, who splits the certificate with Oklahoma’s rusher Mason Thomas. Young had three tackles, a sack and two tackles for loss. Keegan Trost, who helped open the holes for Missouri running backs, is the offensive lineman of the week.

(XMIZZ)—-Former Tiger Luther Burden III has arrived big time in the NFL.

It was a breakout game for Burden, had three receptions including a catch-and-run 62-yard flea-flicker play that put the Bears up on the Dallas Cowboys 14-3 in the first quarter. His 29-yard reception late in the first half led to another touchdown and a 24-14 Bears lead at the break. He also gained seven yards on a running play to run his total yardage for the day to 108 yards. (ZOU)

(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs won a generally boring game against a weak New York Giants team 22-9 Sunday night. The win ends a three-game losing streak, including last year’s Super Bowl.  The running game showed some fresh spark; the passing game was adequate. But the kicking game was uncharacteristically a mixed bag as Harrison Butker missed a field goal and a point-after. The Chiefs defense kept the Giants’ offense under control, including interception of two Russell Wilson passes.

The Chief play the Baltimore Ravens next weekend.

(KC RICE) Suspended Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice is back with the team although he won’t play until three more games are in the books and he can’t practice with the team or be on the field. He can be at the training facility, though.

Xavier Worthy had three limited practice sessions before the Giants game but was not activated. Coach Andy Reed told reporters yesterday that Worthy “practiced and did the best he could but it just wasn’t right…We thought it best if he didn’t play.”

(ROYALS)—Kansas City Royals founder Ewing Kauffman was born 109 years ago Sunday, and his team still has a fain hope of making the playoffs as they go into the last week of the regular season.

The Royals got in a 3-0 hole in the second inning and gave up three more in the fifth before rallying back to 5-5 only to see the Blue Jays pick up two runs in the eighth to win 8-5.

The Royals staved off elimination by taking two of the three weekend games against the Toronto Blue Jays.  But that’s more a matter of whistling past the graveyard than thinking they have a chance to extend their season.

The Royals are 78-78 with six games to play. They are six games behind Cleveland and Houston, who have identical 84-72 records coming down the final stretch of the regular season. The Royals only hope is that they win all of their games and Cleveland and Houston lose all of THEIR games for the wild card race to end in a three-way tie.

Sports Illustrated writer Jackson Roberts says the Royals have to beat odds of one in 262,144 to one for that to happen.

The Royals wrap up the season, starting tonight, with six games against the Angels and the Athletics. If they win four of those games they’ll have back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in a deca

(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals have to win all of their remaining games to finish at .500.  They wrap up the year with three games against the Giants and three more against the Cubs.

The Redbirds used their final home game Sunday to say goodbye to President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak, who’s retiring from the team after six more games.  And their calling back to the dugout for Nolan Arenado after he’d taken the field for the first inning has fueled speculation that they wanted the fans to have a chance to say goodbye to him, too.

He still has a couple of years left on his contract and has a no-trade clause that will have to be worked out if, indeed, St. Louis fans have seen him for the last time in a Cardinals uniform.

(EMPTY SEATS)—Three seasons of increasing mediocrity have caught up with the St. Louis Cardinals who had their lowest per-game attendance in thirty years this year.

Their average attendance this year was 27,778, the second year in a row that per-game attendance has fallen below 40,000. Until 2024, the Cardinals had averaged 40,000 people per game for a decade (not including 2020 and 2021, the pandemic years).

The Post-Dispatch reports the five-game rolling average attendance had fallen to less than 20,000 earlier this month for the first time since the present Busch Stadium opened twenty years ago. Ticket sales have dropped by almost one-million (991,084) from 2023.

In total, 628,108 fewer tickets were sold for Cardinals games in 2025 than a year ago. It’s down 991,084 from the 2023 total.

St. Louis has ranked in the top ten in attendance for more than forty years. The last time they were in the bottom half of major league baseball attendance was 1980.

Well, let’s move on to something else…..

(NASCAR)—Ryan Blaney has guaranteed will be among the final eight drivers chasing the NASCAR championship in two more weeks.

His win on the Loudon, New Hampshire mile locks him into the next stage of the playoffs as he chases his second title in three years.

The final results were a boost for Team Penske which had been shut out of victory lane in the first three-race round of the playoffs.  Blaney was chased across the finish line for the last twenty laps by Josh Berry, who drives for a Penske subsidiary—Wood Racing. Penske teammate Joey Logano, who led the most laps in the race finished fourth.

Team has won the last three Cup championships with Logano’s titles in 2022 and last year bracketing Blaney’s title in ’23.

Missourians have a second chance this year to watch a playoff race as the series moves to the Kansas City area next weekend.  The next cutdown of the competing drivers will come the week after the Kansas race when NASCAR runs its last road course of the year, on the Charlotte Roval.

After that only eight drivers will remain.

Heading into the Kansas race, drivers Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric Tyler Reddick, and Bubba Wallace are on the outside looking in.

(Photo Credits: Hardy—Instagram; Burden—Bailey Black, Chicago Bears); Kauffman—KC Royals; Blaney—Bob Priddy)