Sports Odds & Ends
Nick Gordon all season long has been a mainstay for the Minnesota Twins as a top utility player. After a couple of seasons up and down from the minors to the majors, the 6-0 Gordon finally stuck with the MLB club after spring training.
He has logged time at several positions this season: 34 games (28 starts) in center field; 47 games (36 starts) in left field; 14 games at shortstop (six starts); two games as DH; and three games as pitcher.
“You want to work hard, play hard, [without] too much focus on the things that I can’t control,” Gordon told the MSR before heading out to infield and batting practice.
The 26-year-old Gordon has recorded 15 multi-hit games, one of 10 Twins hitters this season to reach double figures in this category. Entering last weekend’s series against Texas, Gordon was hitting .365 (19-for-42) with eight doubles, five walks, 10 RBI, and a .407 on base percentage in his last 17 games. He’s also hitting right-handed pitching at over a .370 clip.
“It’s about becoming better,” he said.
Fowles wins Perrot Award
Retiring center Sylvia Fowles became only the second Minnesota Lynx player since Teresa Edwards in 2004 to win the WNBA Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award.
The Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award is presented each season to a player who exemplifies the ideas of sportsmanship, ethical behavior, fair play and integrity on the court. It is named for the late Kim Perrot, who helped lead the Houston Comets to their first two WNBA championships before passing away in August 1999 after a seven-month battle with cancer.
Fowles received 36 out of 56 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters and won her first Perrot Award in her illustrious and just completed 15-year WNBA career.
She concludes her career as the league’s all-time regular season leader in total rebounds (4,006) and field goal percentage (.599); two-time WNBA champion; four-time Defensive Player of the Year; seven-time All-WNBA and seven-time All-Star; four-time Olympic gold medalist; and a member of the top 25 WNBA players of all time.
In her off-court work, Fowles founded the Sylvia Fowles Family Fund in 2010 to help children in need in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Chicago and Miami. She also became a spokesperson for the Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy in honor of her two nephews who are afflicted by epilepsy.
She also donated bikes to kids, stressed fresh food by working with a North Minneapolis community garden, and has been a consistent advocate for youth as well.
“It puts a stamp on that, that I’m doing the things I set out to do,” said Fowles last Friday during a Zoom media call. “To be of service to the community.”
