The outfielder combines huge power with modesty and charisma. He could stand to make hundreds of millions if he continues to dominate pitchersPrior to the night of 10 July, Aaron Judge, the New York Yankees’ 6ft 7in, 282lbs rookie right fielder, had already hammered out a reputation as a prodigious young slugger, having blasted 30 home runs, at an average of 416 feet, in the Yankees’ first 89 games. But then came the annual Home Run Derby in Miami, which Judge won by bashing 47 dingers. Those 47 home runs covered a distance of four miles – and caused yet another sizable aftershock in the already impressive, and still growing, Aaron Judge marketing earthquake. Related: Aaron Judge hits Marlins Park...
The American’s triumph ended the run of maiden major winners and has put a different slant on next month’s US PGA Championship when he can secure a career grand slamGolf has its mojo back. It should hardly be disrespectful to those who had claimed the seven majors before the Open Championship that Jordan Spieth’s success has a broader appeal. Every sport benefits, after all, from blue-chip players winning blue‑chip events.Such a theory will be borne out in a matter of weeks as Spieth attempts to become the youngest player in history to claim all four major titles. Among those entitled to savour spine‑tingling events at Royal Birkdale on Sunday was the PGA of America; its US PGA Championship has suddenly been ramped...
Christian Pulisic may well be the future of US soccer but during the Gold Cup semi-final the Sounders striker showed he is integral in the short-termClint Dempsey’s star turn against Costa Rica in the Gold Cup semi-final did more than win his team the game and help the striker match the US goalscoring record — it may have extended his meaningful international career by another season.There was a danger that by the time the Russia World Cup came around, Dempsey would represent the kind of selection headache for Bruce Arena that Landon Donovan became for Jürgen Klinsmann in 2014 — no longer a player a coach could build a team around, and potentially as much of a distraction as an...
The memory of his collapse at the Masters in 2016 was the biggest threat to Jordan Spieth’s Open victory – overcoming it shows how tough a golfer he isThe second shot was the one. It flew left and fell deep in the crowd gathered around the 1st green. From there, Jordan Spieth chipped on and missed a putt from 12 feet for a bogey. So he had dropped a shot before he had even made it off the 1st hole. The atmosphere crackled as the crowd realised that whatever else had happened in the last three days, whatever else would happen in the next four hours, one thing Spieth’s final round would not be was easy. Related: Jordan Spieth’s astonishing 13th-hole...
There was a time when US soccer was a storm of Rowdies and Cosmos, but now United is the name of choice. What’s going on?Once, pro soccer in the United States firmly embraced the country’s sporting culture. Teams that came to prominence in the 1970s in the North American Soccer League (NASL) had names that wouldn’t sound out of place in the NFL: the New York Cosmos and and Tampa Bays perhaps being the most notable. Cheerleaders roamed the sidelines, and even the foundations of the game – such as the offside rule and the draw – were changed to appeal to an audience accustomed to traditional American sports.But over the last 15 years, Major League Soccer has evolved from...