Sports Illustrated Kids September/October 2022

ALOHA MEANS GOODBYE August 19, 2022 • Williamsport, Pennsylvania After bidding farewell to a pitch in the third inning, Jaron Lancaster of Honolulu just missed his second home run of the game, launching this triple. Honolulu went on to beat Massapequa, N.Y., 12–0 at the Little League World Series, as Lancaster also pitched three shutout innings. His team went on to win the tournament, outscoring its opponents 60–5 in six games. REMEMBER MOI? August 28, 2022 • Paris, France Kylian Mbappé first made a name for himself with Monaco, leading the team to a Ligue 1 title in 2017. After the season he transferred to Paris-Saint Germain, and he has since led that club to four championships in five years. Mbappé welcomed his old club to town early this season, and while he was his…

GEEZ. WOULD YOU LOOK at that? And now they expect us to care about the MLB playoffs? In case you’ve been living under a rock, the image above came from the James Webb Space Telescope, launched last December and currently orbiting our sun. I’m saying our sun because after looking at the first batch of Webb images released in July, everything about our little solar system suddenly seems quaint. This photo is of SMACS J0723.3–7327, a cluster of galaxies famous for its beauty and easy-to-remember name. See those tiny little orange-and-white swirls that take up just a few millimeters each on this page? They look like galaxies because they are galaxies (or were). Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is 600,000 trillion miles across. I’m not even going to tell you how many…

Levi writes: Hey, Kip! I know most professional sports teams have mascots and I was wondering who your favorite mascots are. Hey Levi, I really shouldn’t reveal a ranking this important on the letters page. I feel like my top five mascots could easily fill up two to four pages in the back of the magazine. In fact, I can’t believe they didn’t pick me for pages 46 and 47. Players with the same name? We may be running out of ideas. Anyway, I gravitate toward the mascots that don’t make any sense or fit the team concept at all: 1. Phillie Phanatic 2. Phoenix Suns Gorilla 3. Stanford Tree 4. Youppi! 5. Western Kentucky Big Red Patrick writes: I think that errors should not be given as often in the MLB. Just the other day I saw…

September 1 Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon turns 27. 9 Real Madrid’s Luka Modrić is 37 years old. 19 Indianapolis Colt Stephon Gilmore celebrates his 32nd birthday. 23 Lynx forward Napheesa Collier celebrates her 26th birthday. 25 Detroit Pistons guard Cade Cunningham turns 21. October 5 Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce turns 33. 7 San Francisco Giants third baseman Evan Longoria is 37 years old. 16 WNBA legend Sue Bird turns 42. Enjoy retirement! 21 Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Zack Greinke is 39. 31 Manchester United and England national team forward Marcus Rashford turns 25.…

ARE YOU INTERESTED in sports journalism? Are you a kid between the ages of 8 and 13? Do you live in the United States or Canada? We’re looking for the next group of SI KIDS Kid Reporters, who will report on sports in their communities. If you’re interested in applying, have an adult email kidreporter@si.com with your name, age, location, three story ideas, a short writing sample, and an explanation of why you want to be a Kid Reporter. We may not be able to reply to all applications. Are YOU our next Kid Reporter? Send your application to kidreporter@si.com. Interviews with Chicago White Sox legend Frank Thomas not guaranteed.…

BIRTHPLACE: BROOKLYN, N.Y. BIRTH DATE: JAN. 19, 2008 SPORT: FENCING Nazir Primus loves the mental aspect of fencing, which he compares to a physical form of chess. And his mind was where it needed to be in July, when he won the Youth 14 saber division at USA Fencing National Championships. Nazir picked up fencing four years ago after his uncle introduced it to him and now trains at New York’s Peter Westbrook Foundation. “Most kids my age would be playing basketball, football, soccer,” Nazir says. “I like how I stand out.”…