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GIANTS LINEBACKER ANTONIO PIERCE, NBA GREAT GARY PAYTON GUEST HOST ON BEST DAMN

AMAZING SPORTS STORIES: THE GIRL WHO STRUCK OUT BABE RUTH

The year is 1931 and Jackie Mitchell is a talented lefthanded pitcher. This wouldn't be that much of a story, except for the fact that Mitchell is a 17-year old teenage girl who learned the art of pitching from one of the game's great hurlers.

Mitchell lived in the same neighborhood as Hall of Famer pitcher Dazzy Vance, who took the athletically-blessed teenager under his wing, teaching her the art of pitching. With Mitchell's determination and Vance's pointers, she drew the attention of the eccentric baseball promoter for the AA Chattanooga Lookouts, Joe Engel, who had already earned a reputation around the minor leagues for his off-the-wall ideas and bizarre stunts. One year, Engel had his players parade into the ballpark on elephants for Opening Day. He traded a shortstop for a turkey, roasted it and served it to local sportswriters who had been "giving him the bird." He raffled off houses and automobiles, and had canaries singing in the grandstands.

In 1931, the Great Depression had hurt ticket sales. Engel's solution to increase fan interest was to sign young Jackie Mitchell. In April of that year, the New York Yankees stopped in Chattanooga for an exhibition game on their way back from spring training. The combination of the famed Yankees offense including the legendary Murderer's Row possibly facing a teenage girl pitcher created a buzz in the otherwise sleepy town. It was a huge event with over 4,000 fans turning out, along with scores of newspaper reporters and photographers.

When Mitchell stepped to the mound, the great Yankees hitters smirked. She took a deep breath and prepared to meet the first batter of her baseball career: none other than Babe Ruth. To the shock of everyone, the 17-year old girl southpaw proceeded to strike out the best home run hitter ever. After the third strike, the "Sultan of Swat" threw his bat and stomped back into the Yankees' dugout.

But it didn't get any easier for Mitchell. After Ruth, "The Iron Horse" Lou Gehrig stepped to the plate. But she managed to strike him out too.

Yet her fame was short-lived. Days later, women were banned from signing minor or major league contracts. And by age 23, Jackie retired from baseball, a woman before her time.

Although many of the scenes in AMAZING SPORTS STORIES are dramatic re-enactments, this week's episode contains rare, actual footage of Mitchell striking out Babe Ruth. Emmy-nominated AMAZING SPORTS STORIES airs on Sunday, May 18 at 8 p.m. local.

THE BASEBALL REPORT

Attention Mets, Yankees and Tigers and a warning to the Red Sox — in case you guys didn't get the memo, big money clubs and all their respective star power are supposed to be sweeping through baseball's dregs. But a month into the season, four of the six division leaders — Arizona (NL West), Florida (NL East), Oakland (AL West) and Minnesota (AL Central) are in the bottom third of this year's baseball payrolls. And the lowly Tampa Bay Rays are within a good series of catching Boston.

In this week's installment of THE BASEBALL REPORT, hosts Tom Helmer and Charissa Thompson, along with analysts Mark Gubicza and Ken Rosenthal, try to rub two nickels together and figure out how clubs with payrolls less than the salary of the left side of the Yankees infield are outplaying baseball's big spenders.

Staying on the small payroll teams, Rosenthal takes a deeper look at the Diamondbacks. Since 1900, nine teams have led their division by five or more games at the end of April, and all nine went on to reach the playoffs. Five of the nine reached the World Series. Now we have a tenth. Arizona led the NL West by 5 1/2 games when the calendar turned to May, as the Diamondbacks became only the second team in the group to reach 20 victories in April, joining the Mariners, who started 20-5 in 2001 en route to a 116-win season.

THE BASEBALL REPORT airs Friday, May 16 at 6 p.m. local.

BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD

BDSSP is the network's nightly sports talk show hosted by Chris Rose, alongside NBA expert John Salley and BDSSP reporter Charissa Thompson. Regularly featuring fun interviews with top athletes, coaches, celebrities and entertainers, BDSSP airs weeknights at 9 p.m., 11 p.m., and 12:30 a.m. local.

THIS WEEK ON BEST DAMN:
Wednesday, May 14 — Guest hosts former NBA star Gary Payton and NY Giants LB Antonio Pierce; Browns WR Braylon Edwards, Ironman director Jon Favreau
Thursday, May 15 — BEST DAMN TO 50 BLOWUPS
Friday, May 16 — BDSSP Special Edition: Tribute to Kobe Bryant

Best Damn Quotes:
Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson (on the Patriots): "We're going to be seeing them pretty much every year now in the regular season and the playoffs. We've got to start beating them ... We've got to be able to win some of those games. People started talking about a rivalry between us and the Patriots and I said, ‘It's not a rivalry until we beat them.' "

Comedian Bill Bellamy (on his cousin Shaquille O'Neal): "He's rich and he's my third cousin. If he gave me money, he'd be my first cousin."

UPCOMING: WOMEN'S BOXING

On Thursday, June 12, FSN presents two IFBA women's title fights from the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. Airing at 8 p.m. local (live to the east coast), FSN's BEST DAMN CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT NIGHT PERIOD showcases the best female fighters in the country.

In the co-main event, IFBA World junior featherweight champion Lisa "Bad News" Brown (14-3-3, 4 KOs) defends her title belt against Alicia "Slick" Ashley (14-7-1, 1 KO) in the 10-round main event. Plus, IFBA World flyweight champion Elena "Baby Doll" Reid (19-4-5, 5 KOs) puts her crown on the line versus Anastasia Toktaulova 12-8, 2 KOs) in the 10-round co-feature.

Ron Pitts will call the fight alongside analyst Frank Trigg.

FINAL SCORE

This week, FSN continues its nightly sports highlight show FINAL SCORE. The show is 30 minutes of fast-paced highlights of the day's best moments the sports world has to offer. FINAL SCORE airs nightly at 10:30 p.m. local with repeats airing regularly.