D-backs Managing General Partner KEN KENDRICK is loaning more than a dozen highly rare baseball cards to be shown in the Baseball HOF Tour, “We Are Baseball,” beginning its second season this weekend in Scottsdale, Ariz. Kendrick, for many years a prominent collector, similarly loaned some of the rarest cards in the industry to the HOF in ’10 for an exhibit entitled “The Ultimate Set” (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
AGENT SWAP: Excel Sports Management has signed Wizards G TREY BURKE for representation on and off the court. Excel agent MIKE GEORGE will represent Burke, who was the No. 9 overall pick in the '13 NBA Draft. Burke had been represented by CAA Sports, but he left that agency last year (Liz Mullen, Staff Writer).
WHAT A LIFE: Team owner JOE GIBBS is one of five new nominees for the NASCAR HOF's class of '18, joining a group of 15 people "who didn't get selected" for the class of '17. The other new nominees are former drivers BOBBY LABONTE, DAVEY ALLISON and RED FARMER and team owner ROGER PENSKE. The voting panel will "meet May 24, with each panelist voting for five nominees." The five with the most votes earn spots in what will be the ninth NASCAR HOF class (ESPN.com, 3/8). Gibbs was enshrined in the Pro Football HOF in '96 (THE DAILY).
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McCarthy's USL minority ownerishp enables him to learn about facility management
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DIFFERENT PITCH: Dodgers P BRANDON MCCARTHY is a minority owner of USL club Phoenix Rising FC, which is among a handful of teams that have "applied" for MLS membership. McCarthy "joined an investment group that bought the team seven months ago." That "enables him to learn about such topics as marketing, facility management and stadium financing, so he can decide whether to get more heavily into the business side of sports after he retires" (L.A. TIMES, 3/9).
MUSIC TO THEIR EARS: Singer SAM HUNT will headline this year's Preakness InfieldFest, the "all-day concert that’s part of the festivities surrounding Baltimore’s Triple Crown horse race." Country duo LOCASH and the Canadian pop-country act HIGH VALLEY are scheduled to perform on a second stage. GOOD CHARLOTTE will also perform (Baltimore SUN, 3/9)....The STEVE MILLER BAND will “play the annual Carb day concert on May 26 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway” (INDYSTAR.com, 3/8).
NAMES: Montreal-based FieldTurf has hired the NFL's lead investigator in the Deflategate scandal, TED WELLS, as the company faces "at least eight fraud lawsuits in federal courts in New Jersey, Minnesota, Texas and California." The lawsuits came after a review of insider company records "found that FieldTurf sold more than 1,000 fields to towns, schools and teams across the U.S. when its executives knew they were falling apart faster than expected" (AP, 3/8)....Cubs President of Baseball Operations THEO EPSTEIN in May will "deliver the Class Day speech" at his alma mater, Yale (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/9)....NFL free agent RAY RICE yesterday spoke to the Ohio State football team about the "importance of good decision making and how one bad night can have consequences on the rest of a person's life" (CLEVELAND.com, 3/8)....ESPN’s JOHN BUCCIGROSS is helping the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s women’s hockey team “buy new jerseys,” donating the $2,500 needed for the cause (TIMESUNION.com, 3/8)....ALEX RODRIGUEZ and JENNIFER LOPEZ reportedly have been “together for at least four months” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/9).
IN MEMORY: The Indianapolis Star’s first Colts beat writer, JOHN BANSCH, who covered the team for “more than a decade,” died yesterday in Indianapolis at the age of 81 (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 3/9)....SAM MCKEE, “known as the voice of the Meadowlands Racetrack for nearly two decades,” died yesterday at the age of 54 (Bergen RECORD, 3/9).
