Sports Illustrated Kids

Riley Neubauer is 11 years old and lives in New York City. Here are some of Riley’s favorite things.

Last week, former basketball star Earl Lloyd died at the age of 86. Nicknamed the Big Cat, he scored 4,682 points over his nine-year pro career and is ranked 43rd all-time on the NBA scoring list. But his importance to basketball — and sports — is bigger than what he did on the court.

I went to McKechnie Field, spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton, Florida, this past weekend. Using these five strategies, I got a ball and three autographs. You don’t always get something, but try these tips to increase your odds. (These are good things to keep in mind during the regular season, too!)

Sage Karam, who was a semifinalist for SportsKid of the Year in 2010, is now a development driver on the Chip Ganassi Racing Team. Next month, he will start his second Indianapolis 500. (Last year, when he was only 19, he finished ninth.) He sat down with SI Kids to talk about being a professional racecar driver.

Mix Diskerud, a Norwegian-born midfielder for the New York City Football Club, visited Brooklyn in early May to surprise two youth soccer teams with familiar sounding names: Team Mix 8’s and Team Diskerud 10’s. These teams are part of a club with Norwegian roots called Sporting Club Gjoa that has been playing in Brooklyn since 1911.

Buster Posey, catcher for the San Francisco Giants, is just 28 years old. Not only does he already have three World Series rings, but also he was the MLB Rookie of the Year in 2009 and National League MVP in 2012.  Because of his accomplishments, Posey was named the official ambassador of Topps 2015 Series Two MLB Trading Cards Set. Buster collected baseball cards with his siblings when he was younger, so he was pretty excited to receive this honor. “I think [collecting] is a neat way to learn about baseball and get excited about certain players,” he said. Posey caught Giants rookie pitcher Chris Heston’s no-hitter on June 9against the New York Mets. The following day, Posey visited the Topps office in New York City, and Kid Reporter Riley Neubauer had a chance to ask him some questions. 

Breakaway, Alex Morgan’s autobiography, is the story of how an eight-year-old girl who liked soccer went on to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport. 

Ryan Howard, first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, was at Yankee Stadium today this past week to play the Yankees. Sadly for Howard, the Phillies lost 10-2, but they still won the series 2–1. Howard has been a Phillie ever since he became a major leaguer since in 2004. He was National League Rookie of the Year in 2005  and the NL MVP in 2006. Howard has a reputation for being especially friendly to young fans and eagerly signs autographs. Together with his wife, Krystle, Howard has written three children’s books about a young baseball player. Kid Reporter Riley Neubauer had a chance to speak with Howard in the visitors’ dugout before the game.  

Kid Reporter Riley Neubauer recently attended a Yankees-Phillies game at Yankee Stadium. What was it like to cover a game as a member of the media? Riley takes us behind the scenes.  

Being a fan at a Major League Baseball playoff game is much more intense than being at a regular season game. There are more fans tailgating with elaborate meals before the game, the fans are more dressed up in their team colors, and they are on the edge of their seats the entire game! My dad and I arrived at Kauffman Stadium, home to the Kansas City Royals, an hour before the gates opened for Game 2 of the team’s American League Division Series against the Houston Astros.

Last month, I went to Kansas City, Missouri, to see a Royals playoff game, but I also had another spectacular baseball experience. My dad and I visited the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. It is located at 18th and Vine streets. During the time when the Negro leagues existed, these streets were the center of life for African-Americans in Kansas City. The people who lived near 18th and Vine, considered the historic jazz district, decided that they wanted to preserve the history of this special place and wanted both the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum there. 

Kelliann Keogh is a nine-year-old football player from Cranford, New Jersey, who does not let her diabetes get in her way. She plays halfback and safety for the Cranford Cougars in the Police Athletic League (PAL). On October 19, the Cougars played at MetLife Stadium, which is where the Giants and Jets play. 

What would you do if you were told you could no longer play the sport you love? How would you react? How would you try to stay involved with the game? And how would you deal with learning that someone in your favorite sport is cheating? Those are the questions facing Jeremiah, the hero of the book Soar by Joan Bauer. It’s an amazing novel about a boy who loves baseball but is kept off the field for health reasons. Yet, he perseveres and finds a meaningful way to still participate in the sport.

The playoffs are underway — baseball’s present is pretty exciting! But so is its history. I visited the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, this summer. I met with the manager of the Giamatti Research Center, Matt Rothenberg, and he showed me several unusual and wonderfully wacky artifacts in the archives. Did you know there is a razor blade in the Hall of Fame? How about a boomerang? Here are the most interesting — and strange! — artifacts I saw.

Brooklyn Bat Boy, by Geoff Griffin, is a fabulous historical fiction book about a boy named Bobby Kelly. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, during the 1940s, when America is still segregated.

Rob Megennis started fencing because he wanted to fight with Star Wars light sabers. With eight years of practice, he became a nationally ranked Sabre fencer. He is also one of the youngest drivers to ever compete on the Mazda Road to Indy.

Sports fans—especially boxing and Muhammad Ali fans—will love two current exhibits at the New-York Historical Society!

Kid Reporter Riley Neubauer caught up with former sprinter and Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross, who recently released a young adult book.

The film Winning profiles Nadia Comaneci, Martina Navratilova, Edwin Moses, Jack Nicklaus, and Esther Vergeer.

Kid Reporter Riley Neubauer interviewed Knicks City Dancer Danielle Galipo about balancing two careers: engineering and dancing for an NBA team.

Kid Reporter Riley Neubauer tracked down runner Jenny Simpson to ask about her experiences at the Olympics and what it's like to be a world-class athlete.