Longtime Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jim Clancy dies at 69
He was 69. Further specifics on his death are not yet known.
Clancy spent 15 years pitching in Major League Baseball, the majority of which were with the Blue Jays. The Chicago-area native was selected in the fourth round of the 1974 draft out of high school, and then he made his debut with Toronto three years later in the team's inaugural season.
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Clancy spent his first 12 seasons in the league with Toronto, and he earned his only All-Star nod during the 1982 campaign. He held a 3.71 ERA and went 16-14 in a league-high 40 starts that season. The Blue Jays went 78-84 and missed the playoffs that year. Clancy and the Blue Jays made the postseason just once during their time together, but they fell in the 1985 ALCS in seven games to the Kansas City Royals.
After his time in Canada, Clancy spent more than two seasons with the Houston Astros and half of his final season with the Atlanta Braves before retiring after the 1991 campaign. In total, he held a 4.23 ERA and a 140-167 record. Clancy is still second in Blue Jays history in starts, innings pitched and complete games.
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Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Inside Olivia Smith's £1m Arsenal transfer: A fee meant to be secret and a ‘lone wolf's' bidding war
Olivia Smith was always going to become women's football's first £1million player this summer – but nobody was meant to know. Confidentiality was the modus operandi when it came to the Canadian forward's move, with Smith's record-breaking £1.1million ($1.34m) transfer from Liverpool to Arsenal becoming official on Thursday. Those in the circle of trust concerning this deal were few: Liverpool's new managing director of women's football Andy O'Boyle drove negotiations from Merseyside, with his Arsenal counterpart Clare Wheatley making decisions at the London end, before bringing in the player's camp for the final negotiations. Not even Smith's former Liverpool team-mate and captain Taylor Hinds, who left the club in June upon the expiry of her contract and has since joined Arsenal, was told about her decision. When Arsenal confirmed her arrival on a four-year contract this morning, the club's press release stated only that Smith moved for an 'undisclosed fee'. The intimacy of the talks is reflective of how the 20-year-old Canada international has long operated since her father, Sean Smith, placed a ball at his then three-year-old daughter's feet in Whitby, a town on the outskirts of Toronto. In the Smith family, loyalty is not a currency; it is a way of life. Privacy is part of the equation. So when Smith's face was plastered across the internet on July 10, with stories reporting that Liverpool had agreed to sell her to Arsenal for a world-record transfer fee, a sense of chaos descended. According to sources, who, like all named in this article, wished to remain anonymous to protect relationships, the burden of privacy was important, given Smith's age and the inflated pressure that can come with such a price tag. Equally, while Liverpool agreed to a bid from Arsenal ahead of the expiry of Smith's contract with them in July 2027, nothing had been signed on the part of the player yet. The next six days were spent taking the necessary steps to hammer out a deal. Smith's ability to adapt and conquer challenges, however, is part of the reason why Arsenal felt comfortable committing £1million ($1.3m) to a player with only one season of Women's Super League football under her belt, along with seven league goals and a 0.34 non-penalty goals per 90 (41st percentile — so 59 per cent of her contemporaries did better). The past three years have seen Smith climb from the semi-professional League 1 Ontario, to Sporting CP in Portugal's top flight (where she scored 13 goals and assisted nine in 18 league appearances), to Liverpool as their record signing at €250,000 (£216,000/$289,000 at current rates) last summer. The WSL's platform meant Smith's scintillating performances with Liverpool, as well as her instinct and prowess in front of goal, caught the eye of many admirers across the English league, wider Europe and back home in North America. But it was the teenager's raw ambition and mental maturity that led to her record move. In Smith, Arsenal saw a young player who possessed an unrivalled mentality and a massive ceiling for development. To be proven in the highest division in two European leagues at 20 is rare, and while other clubs — such as Chelsea, France's Lyon and Manchester City — were interested, Arsenal felt their plans for Smith set them apart. Rather than just telling the forward how good she is, there were active discussions with the north London club on where they felt she could still improve. Head of player development James Honeyman supported Wheatley with these discussions, while 51-time England international Jodie Taylor, Arsenal's football services executive, provided a fellow player's perspective. Initially, Liverpool had no intention to sell. This was their message in January, as interest in Smith began to strengthen after her first five months in the WSL, and once again after they finished seventh in the 12-team league in early May. Internally, club officials knew that, at some point, Smith would leave, but felt that her contract length gave them some time. One of the major selling points to Liverpool's owners at Fenway Sports Group (FSG) when Matt Beard, the women's team's head coach at the time, pushed to sign Smith for a club-record fee, thereby ensuring the club committed nearly all of its summer 2024 budget for the women's operation to one player, was a prospective profitable departure at some point down the road. FSG's operational model turns on the premise of spending only what a team make. With their women's side, Liverpool's commitment to this template has meant transfer activity has paled historically compared to clubs further up the WSL table, sometimes serving as a point of frustration for supporters and staff, including Beard, who cited this lack of investment throughout a near four-year tenure that ended with his firing in February. Last summer, Liverpool ranked in the bottom four among WSL clubs for squad investment, ahead of only Everton, West Ham and newly promoted Crystal Palace. So while the club did not want to sell Smith, a consensus grew that any offer deemed 'silly to pass on', as one source at Liverpool put it, would need to be considered for the future of the women's team. The world-record transfer of U.S. women's national team defender Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave of the American NWSL to Chelsea in January for $1.1million (£909,000 at the time) served as a benchmark. The man tasked with leading any transfer of Smith was O'Boyle, who in April had replaced Russ Fraser as the club's managing director of women's football. O'Boyle is described by multiple people close to the deal as operating as a 'lone wolf', who ensured all contact from interested parties worked exclusively through him and drove a 'steep bidding war'. As mentioned, interest in Smith from around Europe and within the WSL had begun as early as January. Sources say Manchester City made informal contact in February, but the lack of a full-time manager there after Gareth Taylor's sacking the following month made them a non-starter. Multi-club owner Michele Kang's teams Lyon and the NWSL's Washington Spirit were both looking, too. In June, Paris-Saint Germain had a bid rejected by Liverpool, who said it was less than half of what another club had put on the table. Club sources say the highest bid at that point was around £750,000. Despite Chelsea being in the mix before Smith's move to Sporting, the serial WSL champions, according to sources, did not want to be drawn into a bidding war this summer and felt her lack of experience and their current pool of options did not countenance meeting Liverpool's asking price. Thus, their highest offer never went above £650,000 in total. Arsenal had been tracking Smith for years, but their interest was not formalised until the second half of last season. March ended up being an informative month, not only because they kick-started their journey to a Champions League final they would eventually win with a comeback victory over Real Madrid in a two-leg quarter-final, but also because of two games against Liverpool. The first came in the FA Cup quarter-finals, at home at Meadow Park. Liverpool won 1-0, and Smith caused constant issues for defender Katie McCabe. When Liverpool visited again two weeks later, this time at the Emirates Stadium in the league, Arsenal had devised a plan to nullify the Canadian specifically. They won, 4-0. Meanwhile, the studying that has eventually made Smith an Arsenal player continued. Despite the money being demanded by the Merseyside club, Arsenal's pursuit was 'persistent', as one source says, to the point Liverpool and Smith felt a move was inevitable. From an Arsenal perspective, that manifested in a confidence that they would always be the ones to seal a deal with the player. A world-record bid for promising young forwards is not new territory for Arsenal. In January 2023, they made such an offer for Alessia Russo before signing the England striker, then 24, as a free agent when her Manchester United contract expired that summer. Arsenal's recent success, on and off the pitch, allowed them to bid so highly for Smith. Their savvy recruitment elsewhere also played a part. While Russo, Spain international Mariona Caldentey and Hinds are likely to be on considerable wages, completing their signings after the expiration of their contracts with United, Barcelona and Liverpool respectively allows Arsenal to manoeuvre financially with more freedom. Winning the Women's Champions League in May might not have been as influential as some may think in monetary terms. Their prize money brought an initial windfall of €1million (£864,000/$1.2m at current rates), rising to €1.5m in October following performance-based bonuses. But most of that will go towards operational costs, rather than being directly used in recruitment. As with most teams, the transfer budget at Arsenal Women comes from the parent club plus their own resources. While Smith's brief senior career has been a dizzying series of ladder-climbs, leaving Liverpool was not on her cards this summer, according to multiple sources close to the player. Her calibre of play and star power led some within the club, and many outside it, to believe Smith had the potential to become the face of Liverpool women's team, even drawing comparisons with the men's side's Mohamed Salah, who joined from Roma of Italy for a then-club-record £36.9million in 2017 and has gone on to beecome the club's record goalscorer in the Premier League. Smith, who scored Liverpool Women's first-ever goal at Anfield in what was her debut at the club's main stadium in October, got two more there in March in a 3-1 win over Manchester United — the team's first WSL victory at one of the sport's most iconic grounds. Dad Sean, with whom she maintains a close bond, is a lifelong Liverpool fan. She also liked the club's staff, got along well with her team-mates and believed another season on Merseyside could be beneficial for her development. However, the February sacking of Beard, who had been pivotal in securing her signature, and the protracted, still-ongoing process of finding his permanent replacement (Liverpool are currently in talks with former City boss Taylor) left Smith's camp with a sense of uncertainty. The departure of Hinds to Arsenal, as well as vocal interest from clubs who could promise better infrastructure and proven development tracks, became difficult to ignore. Selecting an environment where Smith could get the most out of her personal and professional development as a young player with big dreams was paramount. With Arsenal's pedigree in developing and nurturing talent, as well as the evolution of Russo as a player since her arrival two years ago, the club looked like a compelling landing spot for a player hoping to raise her stock. Winning the Champions League final, and head coach Renee Slegers' history of working in their academy reinforced Arsenal's reputation as a place for growth. The commitment to play all women's home matches next season at the 60,000-capacity Emirates was also a factor for Smith. Off the pitch, Arsenal have also excelled. In their 2023-24 accounts (up to May 2024, but released in March this year), their gate and other matchday revenues rose from £2.6million in 2022-23 to £4.3m, while their overall turnover grew from £10.9m to £15.2m. These figures would not have played a direct role in recruiting Smith, but show the direction Arsenal are heading in. Even with this deal's record outlay, the club do not expect this to be the end of their summer transfer business. Ultimately, decision-makers at Liverpool acknowledged they were not in the position to offer Smith the resources and opportunities that Champions League-competing clubs can. They also believe selling for a fee nearly five times greater than what was paid for her just a year prior could allow them to achieve that status themselves if it's invested smartly. The blueprint is there on the men's side at Liverpool. In January 2018, they sold forward Phillipe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142million. The money received helped pay for defender (and now team captain) Virgil van Dijk in that window and goalkeeper Alisson in the next one, both of whom were crucial to the club's 2018-19 Champions League triumph and 2019-20 and 2024-25 Premier League title wins. The sense of excitement and pride for those who have aided Smith on her journey so far is overwhelming, according to those close to her camp. But that milestone fee is not the source of those feelings; rather, it's the sense of validation and acknowledged-worth for the player's countless sacrifices. Smith will doubtlessly need to adapt to what will be the greatest step up in levels of her career to date, but former colleagues at Liverpool and her new ones at Arsenal harbour few worries she will have any problems doing just that. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Arsenal, Liverpool, Canada, Soccer, NWSL, Women's Soccer, Transfer News 2025 The Athletic Media Company
USA Today
17 minutes ago
- USA Today
Stephanie White comments on Caitlin Clark's downgraded injury status
Before the Indiana Fever's (12-11) 98-77 blowout loss to the New York Liberty (15-6) in Brooklyn, NY on Wednesday night, head coach Stephanie White provided some clarity on the decision to downgrade the injury status of guard Caitlin Clark and whether the franchise cornerstone will be able to participate in this weekend's WNBA All-Star festivities. Clark's status for the matchup against the Liberty began with an optimistic outlook, as she was listed as "questionable" on the team's initial injury report. However, the former Hawkeye was later downgraded to "out" on the Fever's updated injury report before tip-off from the Barclays Center. When asked by reporters in her pregame media availability about Clark's status for both Wednesday night's game and the upcoming All-Star Game in Indianapolis, White said there had not been any discussion about her ability to play in the league's midseason event and revealed that Clark had imaging done before the game that led to the decision to keep the guard out against the Liberty. "No discussion yet about this weekend. There was imaging done, and, you know, obviously ruling her out for tonight, but there hasn't been any discussion beyond tonight," White said. Clark's injury occurred with 39 seconds remaining in Indiana's 85-77 win over Connecticut on Tuesday night from Boston's TD Garden when she delivered a pass to Kelsey Mitchell for an easy layup, but came up in pain and went straight to the bench while reaching for her right groin. During the timeout, she covered her head with a towel and appeared to be holding back tears. With Clark missing the team's lopsided Wednesday night defeat, she will have now missed 11 total regular-season games this season, spanning four separate injury stints. White continued to answer All-Star Game-related questions by stating Clark's management team will figure out whether she'll be able to participate this weekend, but emphasized that the Fever will be providing continuous support for the injured star no matter what. 'For me, it's a big deal for us to have All-Star in Indianapolis, and of course, with Caitlin being a focal point of all of that. As the coach of the Indiana Fever, it's not a bigger deal than our long-term season, but it's also part of the fun. So those are conversations that Caitlin will have with her group. I probably won't be a part of those, but we're going to support her no matter what," White added. 'I think the biggest thing is just try to keep her in good spirits,' White said. 'Had a lot of setbacks with all these little injuries. And, you know, we just had to take it one day at a time. It's frustrating for her, I'm sure. I think for us as a staff and as a team, just try to keep her encouraged and try to keep her to stay the course,' White stated. Clark was scheduled to take part in the WNBA 3-Point Contest on Friday at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis as part of All-Star Weekend. Clark is also one of the team captains for the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. CT on ABC Regarding how she views Clark's ability to play in Fever games beyond the All-Star break, White deferred to the team's training staff for more details, except to say that she considered the "day-to-day" status as good news. 'For me, anything that we're talking about that's still day to day is always good news for me, but that's a layman's viewpoint,' White said. The goal during the brief hiatus for the remaining Fever players not involved in the 2025 All-Star Game will be to rest and regroup in preparation for a strong push towards the playoffs when they resume action next week. The Fever will be tested immediately after the All-Star break, as they return to Brooklyn on July 22 for another matchup against the Liberty at Barclays Center, which will begin at 7 p.m. CT and be nationally broadcast on ESPN. Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes, and opinions. Follow Scout on X: @SpringgateNews.
USA Today
17 minutes ago
- USA Today
49ers defender takes top spot in coaches, exec and scouts 2025 positional rankings
While the San Francisco 49ers made many changes to their roster this offseason, they decided to lock down linebacker Fred Warner for the foreseeable future, giving him a three-year, $63 million extension in May that made him the highest-paid linebacker in the league. Warner is deserving of the extension, and the 49ers aren't the only ones who believe that he's the best in the league at what he does. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler recently released his annual linebacker rankings which is voted on by NFL executives, coaches and scouts, and Warner earned the top spot. "I think Fred has gotten much more productive defeating core blocks and tackling with more physicality," an NFL coordinator said. "He's always been the best in the world in the passing game -- range, instincts, ball production. But he was incredible last year, and then you factor that with the forced takeaways, durability, and all the other rare intangibles, he's the best." The 49ers took Warner in the third round of the 2018 NFL draft out of BYU and since then he's been a starter in the middle of their defense, recording 897 tackles (36 for a loss), 53 passes defensed, 15 forced fumbles, 10 sacks, 10 interceptions and six fumbles recovered. He's also made four Pro Bowls and has earned All-Pro honors four times. The 28-year-old was also ranked first in last year's poll, and interestingly, no voter ranked him lower than second heading into 2025. Behind Warner in the rankings, Baltimore's Roquan Smith, Philadelphia's Zack Baun, Kansas City's Nick Bolton, Washington's Frankie Luvu, Chicago's Tremaine Edmunds, Tampa Bay's Lavonte David, Dallas' DeMarvion Overshown, Denver's Dre Greenlaw (former 49er) and New York's Quincy Williams rounded out the top 10. More 49ers: George Kittle may be in for another huge year thanks to 2 49ers free agent signings
