Sports Perspectives

Max Scherzer's $210 million contract, signed in 2015, now looks like a bargain

Washington's Max Scherzer pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals in April, 2019.<br>Joe Gromelski/Stars and Stripes

Now, 4½ years in, the question is no longer whether the deal was worth it for the Washington Nationals. The question instead: Is Max Scherzer the best free agent signing of all time?

New York Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton, during the 1964 World Series.<br>AP

COLUMN

Jim Bouton opened the lid on the closed, old-boy network of baseball

Jim Bouton isn't a Hall of Famer, but baseball should find a way to pay tribute to him and acknowledge, almost 50 years later, his massive influence on the game.

A wooden sculpture of Babe Ruth at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y.<br>Stars and Stripes

PERSPECTIVE

Babe Ruth's Philadelphia story burnished his incomparable baseball career

Enduring baseball legend Babe Ruth played 171 American League games, spent nearly that many nights seeking earthy pleasures, and attended countless dinners, banquets and memorials in Philadephia.

Host Danica Patrick, Sarah Klein, Tiffany Thomas Lopez, Aly Raisman and recipients of the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage speak onstage at the ESPYs on July 18, 2018, at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. <br>Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images/TNS

Do the ESPYs matter? Nearly 30 years on, it’s what happens off the field that defines their legacy

Since 1993, ESPN has handed out the fan-voted ESPY Awards for excellence in athletic performance. But the ESPYs’ influence lie more in their noncompetitive interludes than the awards proper: Do you remember who won last year’s ESPY for best game?

In an April, 5 2018 file photo, Chicago White Sox manager Rick Renteria talks with members of the media before the start of play against the Detroit Tigers.<br>Armando L. Sanchez, Chicago Tribune/TNS

Joe Renteria learned about work-family balance growing up around baseball; now he applies it to his own Navy career

As Rick Renteria went from major-league player to minor-league coach and manager to major-league coach and manager — now in his third season in charge of the White Sox — family time often also meant baseball time.

PERSPECTIVE

A new rite of passage for NFL draft hopefuls: Scrubbing their social media history

Agents and teams are vetting the social media accounts of top prospects more fervently than ever in the run-up to this month's NFL draft, and two of this class's top prospects have already seen their posting pasts come under fire.

The Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James drives to the basket against the Milwaukee Bucks' Brook Lopez in the second half at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Friday, March 1, 2019. The Bucks won, 121-130.<br>Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times/TNS

COLUMN

As injuries and losses mount, LeBron James and the Lakers have accepted their fate

There was no denial, no hope, no fury, no sadness. The Los Angeles Lakers, beset by injuries and slipping further down the West's standings by the day, have accepted their fate. This is a lottery team, and they know it.