Mesa’s Youth Sports League is partnering with the Chicago Cubs and hosting a free pitch, hit and run competition on 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Hohokam Stadium, 1235 N. Center St. Boys and girls, ages 7 to 14, can compete in pitching accuracy, hitting distance and quickness on the base. Winners in each division will receive two tickets to the Saturday game against the Cleveland Indians.

That happy rainy day has arrived.

A valuable piece of the region’s economic impact puzzle came through a simple conversation between then Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell, local homebuilder Brad Curtis and a group of businessmen from Chase Bank a number of years ago.

Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hit king best known from the Cincinnati Reds’ “Big Red Machine” days and banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling on baseball including the Reds when he managed them, was scheduled to sign autographs for $70 a pop for a sports memorabilia shop at the Paradise Valley mall on Saturday.

NEW YORK — As a new wave of big names enter the growing field of Web series, leave it to Larry David to keep enthusiasm in check.

I came from a baseball-less family.

I came from a baseball-less family.

When Susie Steckner was a kid, she always looked forward to going to spring training games at Phoenix Municipal Stadium with her father, an ardent San Francisco Giants fan.

From Joel Adamson of Phoenix, to George Zuverink of Tempe — the last player listed in the Baseball Encycolopedia — more than 400 former major league alumni make Arizona their home. This includes the 120 or so who live in the East Valley alone, according to information from the Arizona Major League Alumni Association.

From Joel Adamson of Phoenix, to George Zuverink of Tempe — the last player listed in the Baseball Encycolopedia — more than 400 former major league alumni make Arizona their home. This includes the 120 or so who live in the East Valley alone, according to information from the Arizona Major League Alumni Association.

From Joel Adamson of Phoenix, to George Zuverink of Tempe — the last player listed in the Baseball Encycolopedia — more than 400 former major league alumni make Arizona their home. This includes the 120 or so who live in the East Valley alone, according to information from the Arizona Major League Alumni Association.

Every year for the last 20 years, Jack Heidemann has kept up a tradition of doing something his mind and body tells him he still can do, even if he knows it's not quite on the same level as it used to be.

Jerry Burgess well remembers the time when he served as the batboy for the Houston Colt 45s, a new Major League Baseball expansion team that made Apache Junction its spring training home in a modest ballpark facing the Superstition Mountains a half century ago.

Every year for the last 20 years, Jack Heidemann has kept up a tradition of doing something his mind and body tells him he still can do, even if he knows it’s not quite on the same level as it used to be.