Boston Red Sox hire first Black woman to coach in MLB history
Bianca Smith will serve as a minor league coach at the club’s player development facility in Fort Myers, Florida.
Athletics & sport
The U.S. is building a bike trail that runs coast-to-coast across 12 states
The Great American Rail-Trail will be almost 6,000km when complete, and will serve 50 million people within 80km of the route.
Formula 1 makes switch to biofuel, will be carbon neutral in 2021
Formula 1 will adopt a 100% sustainable, bio-waste derived fuel and become carbon neutral in 2021.
MLB retrospectively elevates Negro Leagues to major league status
The move grants recognition to some of baseball’s pioneers from 1920 to 1948 and immediately rewrites the game’s record books.
Sarah Fuller becomes first woman to play in a major college football game
Sarah Fuller is the starting goalkeeper for the Vanderbilt women’s soccer team, but last Sunday she took on a different athletic role for the school as she became the first woman to play in a Power 5 Conference college football game.
Marlins hire Kim Ng as MLB’s first female general manager
Ng becomes the highest-ranking woman in baseball operations in the major leagues, and she is believed to be the first female GM for a men’s team in a major professional sport in North America, the Marlins said.
Pride House Tokyo, the first-ever permanent LGBTQ center in Japan, opens in Tokyo
Their opening was an official part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics’ Programme, making it the first “Pride House” officially recognized by the International Olympics Committee.
NBA, WNBA, and MLB games called off as players boycott in response to police shooting of Jacob Blake
All three NBA playoff games scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed, with players around the league choosing to boycott in their strongest statement yet against racial injustice.
The virtual Tour de France will allow female competitors for the first time
The Tour de France was delayed until August 29 due to the pandemic, but a virtual version of the race will begin as scheduled in July. The virtual race will include women for the first time in the event’s history. Organizers also plan to have an in-person large-scale female race by 2022.
European soccer players wear ‘Black Lives Matter’ kits, kneel at start of games
The English Premier League returned Wednesday with Aston Villa taking on Sheffield United and Manchester City playing Arsenal. “Black Lives Matter” stretched from end to end on the back of each player’s jersey, rather than displaying a name.