The Sports Report: Minor league host families are a thing of the past, but memories linger

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From Sarah Valenzuela: Carlos Estévez was 20 when the Rockies organization sent him to Grand Junction, Colo.

This was in 2013 and Estévez, now a fan-favorite Angels closer with 12 saves, at the time was navigating the early years of his pro career. He’d spent the previous two years in the Dominican Summer League, then was sent to Tri-City, formerly a Rockies affiliate, but was there just a few days before being moved to Colorado.

“I just showed up,” Estévez recalled. “I didn’t have a host family, I didn’t have [housing]. But one of my teammates told me ‘they’re looking for someone to stay with them.’ And I was like, ‘well, I think that’s where I’m going.’”

The same day Estévez arrived in Grand Junction, he was introduced to Stephanie and Bruce Hagen, and Josh Hays, their youngest child (they also have a daughter, who at the time was away at college). Estévez spent about a year with the Hagens, but formed such a strong connection with them that when he was set to make his major league debut in 2016 in Denver, a four-hour drive from Grand Junction, he called to make sure they would be there.

“‘Yes, of course we’re coming. When is it?’” Stephanie recalled the conversation. “‘Today? Oh, OK.’ He goes, ‘I’ll have tickets for you.’ ” The Hagens are looking forward to seeing Estévez again this season, when he and the Angels head to Colorado for a series in June.

Forming this kind of connection between a player and fans was, in essence, meant to be the best part of the host family program while providing a home away from home for players who couldn’t afford their own hotel room or apartment.

Minor league players unionized under the Major League Baseball Players Assn. umbrella and ratified their first collective bargaining agreement with team owners in March, which guaranteed housing and increased pay, among other benefits. With that new CBA, host families are no longer permitted.

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NBA PLAYOFFS
Results, schedule
All times Pacific
Conference finals

Western Conference

No. 1 Denver vs. No. 7 Lakers
Game 1: at Denver 132, Lakers 126
Game 2: at Denver 108, Lakers 103
Game 3: Denver 119, at Lakers 108
Game 4: Denver 113, at Lakers 111

Eastern Conference

No. 2 Boston vs. No. 8 Miami
Game 1: Miami 123, at Boston 116
Game 2: Miami 111, at Boston 105
Game 3: at Miami 128, Boston 102
Game 4: Boston 116, at Miami 99
Game 5: at Boston 110, Miami 97
Saturday at Miami, 5:30 p.m., TNT
*Monday at Boston, 5:30 p.m., TNT

*-if necessary

LeBRON JAMES POLL

We asked newsletter readers, do you think LeBron James will retire? After 2,192 votes, the results:

Yes, 13.9%
No, 86.1%

SPARKS

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: When asked how the Sparks were going to prepare for the defending champion Las Vegas Aces, Layshia Clarendon answered with her fists.

The veteran guard held their fists in the air and jabbed.

“Take the fight to them,” Clarendon said.

Short-handed and seemingly overmatched against the championship favorites, the Sparks battled to a 94-85 loss in Crypto.com Arena on Thursday, delivering a ringing early season endorsement of first-year head coach Curt Miller’s rebuild.

Last year, the Sparks (1-1) would have folded in such a lopsided matchup, especially without star Nneka Ogwumike, who missed the game because of a non-COVID illness. Now just two games into Miller’s tenure, the Sparks look like a revitalized franchise.

Against a team that won its season-opener by 41 points, the Sparks landed the first punch. Aces acting head coach Natalie Nakase, who led the bench during the second game of head coach Becky Hammon’s two-game suspension, called a timeout less than three minutes into the game when the Sparks’ swarming defense forced two early turnovers and took a 9-4 lead.

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NHL PLAYOFFS

Results, schedule
All times Pacific
Conference finals

Western Conference

Vegas (P1) vs. Dallas Stars (C2)
Game 1: at Vegas 4, Dallas 3 (OT)
Game 2: at Vegas 3, Dallas 2 (OT)
Game 3: Vegas 4, at Dallas 0
Game 4: at Dallas 3, Vegas 2 (OT)
Saturday at Vegas, 5 p.m., ABC
*Monday at Dallas, 5 p.m., ESPN
*Wed., May 31 at Vegas, 6 p.m., ESPN

Eastern Conference

Carolina (M1) vs. Florida (WC2)
Game 1: Florida 4, at Carolina 3 (4 OT)
Game 2: Florida 2, at Carolina 1 (OT)
Game 3: at Florida 1, Carolina 0
Game 4: at Florida 4, Carolina 3

*-if necessary

NFL

From Sam Farmer: Not only is Dan Snyder on his way out as owner of the Washington Commanders but also he has been canned.

In fact, creators of the “Bye Dan” beer celebrating his departure cannot keep cans of that craft brew in stock.

“We’re up to almost 2,000 individual orders and we’re still getting calls for it every day,” said Chris Burns, owner of Old Ox Brewery of Ashburn, Va., located less than a mile from Commanders headquarters.

“I’ve had people crying on the phone just because they’re so happy that he’s going to be gone.”

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AUTO RACING

From Kevin Baxter: Ray Harroun forever changed the nascent sport of auto racing — and by extension, auto driving — when he steered his mustard-yellow car to the starting line for the first Indianapolis 500. His single-seat racer was revolutionary in virtually every aspect, from the narrow, tapered fuselage to the six-cylinder engine, which is why he won that 1911 race in a rout.

However the most intriguing aspect of the design, the mirror Harroun mounted on the struts of his car, vibrated so violently on the brick racetrack it did him no good at all. So designers returned to the drawing board, modified the rear-view mirror and drivers have been looking back ever since.

For more than a century, motorsport has been a fertile testing ground for automotive technology, with race teams perfecting disc brakes, carbon-fiber construction, push-button ignition and suspension systems — all advances that have made the transition from the racetrack to passenger cars. But in recent years the IndyCar Series, which returns to the iconic brickyard on May 28 for the 107th Indianapolis 500, has stepped up its game, adopting a collection of practices designed to make racing more eco-friendly, among them the use of alternative fuels, sustainable rubber for tires, electric-powered tools, even diesel for the 18-wheelers that haul racecars across the country.

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THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1925 — In Detroit’s 8-1 win over the Chicago White Sox, Ty Cobb becomes the first to collect 1,000 career extra-base hits. He finished his career with 1,139.

1959 — Harvey Haddix of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches 12 perfect innings before losing to the Milwaukee Braves, 1-0 in the 13th on an error, a sacrifice and Joe Adcock’s double.

1963 — French Championships Men’s Tennis: Australian Roy Emerson beats home favorite Pierre Darmon 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

1963 — French Championships Women’s Tennis: Australian Lesley Turner wins the first of 2 French titles; beats England’s Ann Jones 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

1985 — Danny Sullivan misses almost certain disaster and holds off Mario Andretti and the rest of the fastest field in auto racing to win the Indianapolis 500. On the 119th lap, Sullivan spins his racer 360 degrees, narrowly avoiding both the wall and Andretti.

1987 — Boston’s Larry Bird steals an inbounds pass from Detroit’s Isiah Thomas and feeds over his shoulder to a cutting Dennis Johnson for the winning basket as the Celtics pulls out an improbable 108-107 win over Detroit in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

1988 — The Edmonton Oilers, with MVP Wayne Gretzky leading the way, beat the Boston Bruins 6-3 to complete a four-game sweep and win their fourth Stanley Cup in five years.

1991 — Rick Mears passes Michael Andretti with 12 laps to go and wins his fourth Indianapolis 500, by 3.1 seconds. Mears joins A.J. Foyt and Al Unser as the only four-time winners.

1993 — In Major League Baseball, Carlos Martinez famously hits a ball off Jose Canseco’s head for a home run.

1993 — 1st UEFA Champions League Final: Marseille beats Milan 1-0 at Munich.

1994 — Haiti’s Ronald Agenor wins the longest match since the French Open adopted the tiebreaker. Agenor takes the 71st and final game of a second-round match with David Prinosil of Germany. His five-hour, 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-4, 14-12 victory involves the most games in a French Open match since 1973.

1999 — 7th UEFA Champions League Final: Manchester United beats Bayern Munich 2-1 at Barcelona.

2000 — New Jersey finishes the greatest comeback in a conference final when the Devils win the last three games of the series, beating the Flyers 2-1 in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final. Patrik Elias scores his second goal of the game with 2:32 to play for the win.

2004 — Andy Roddick loses at the French Open — to Frenchman Olivier Mutis, who is ranked 125th. With the five-set loss, Roddick joins Andre Agassi and eight other compatriots on the way home, making it the first Grand Slam tournament in more than 30 years without a U.S. man in the third round.

2005 — Americans Andy Roddick, James Blake and Vince Spadea fail to make it through the opening week at the French Open. For the second year in a row — and the second time at a Grand Slam event in more than 30 years — no American man makes it out of the second round.

2008 — Syracuse wins its 10th NCAA men’s lacrosse championship, beating defending champion Johns Hopkins 13-10 behind three goals from Dan Hardy. The crowd of 48,970 at Foxborough, Mass., is the largest to see an NCAA championship outdoors in any sport — the BCS football championship game isn’t an NCAA event.

2012 — Toronto FC ends its MLS record nine-game losing streak to open a season with a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union on a late goal by Danny Koevermans.

2013 — Tony Kanaan ends years of frustration by finally winning the Indianapolis 500. Kanaan drives past Ryan Hunter-Reay on a restart with three laps to go, then coasts across the finish line under yellow when defending race winner Dario Franchitti crashes far back in the field. The Brazilian finished second in 2004 and twice finished third.

2013 — Senior PGA Championship: Kōki Idoki of Japan wins his lone PGA event by 2 strokes from Jay Haas and Kenny Perry.

2019 — Indianapolis 500: 2016 IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud of France finishes just two-tenths of a second ahead of Alexander Rossi for Team Penske’s record-extending 18th victory in the event.

2019 — Senior PGA Championship: Ken Tanigawa wins his first career major title by 1 stroke ahead of Scott McCarron.

—Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally...

The ball bounces off of Jose Canseco’s head for a home run. Watch and listen here.