.

[the Sports ON Tap @thesportsontap]

The Tampa Bay Rays are going to the American League Championship Series.

One of the pitchers who got them there is the only person who has ever graduated from the Air Force Academy and reached the major leagues.

He turned down professional baseball at 18 to go there.

Start with his father.

Garth Jax was the 296th player taken in the 1986 draft, in the 11th round. At Florida State in his junior year he hurt his kidney and his spleen badly enough that some doctors told him he was finished playing football.

The Dallas Cowboys cut him on September 1, 1986. They signed him back about a week later because somebody else got hurt.

He lasted ten years in the National Football League, mostly on special teams. In 1988 he led the Cowboys in special teams tackles with 24. He finished with the Arizona Cardinals in 1995.

So that is the house Griffin Jax grew up in.

In 2013 he went 7 and 1 with a 1.74 earned run average at Cherry Creek High School in Colorado and was named the state's Gatorade Player of the Year. The Philadelphia Phillies drafted him in the 12th round.

He did not sign. He went to the Air Force Academy instead.

He was not good there at first. A 5.86 earned run average as a freshman and 5.17 as a sophomore. Then as a junior in 2016 he went 9 and 2 with a 2.05 earned run average and 90 strikeouts, and was named co-pitcher of the year in his conference.

The Minnesota Twins took him in the third round, 93rd overall, and gave him $645,000.

Then the rules changed on him.

In April of 2017 the Department of Defense began requiring academy graduates to serve two years of active duty before they could move to reserve status and play professionally.

So Griffin Jax reported to Cape Canaveral, Florida, and worked as an acquisition manager while the rest of his draft class played baseball.

Here is the part that is hard to believe.

He was eventually allowed to pitch. But a person on active duty is not permitted to earn a second income.

So the Air Force paid his salary, and the Minnesota Twins paid for his travel and his equipment.

Two legal departments had to sit down and work out an arrangement so that a man could be a baseball player.

He reached the major leagues on June 8, 2021, in relief, against the New York Yankees.

He is a captain in the Air Force Reserve now. He won a silver medal with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic this year. In August his elbow put him on the injured list for the first time in his career and he came back on September 2.

And tonight, in New York, in the game that finished off the Yankees and sent the Rays to the American League Championship Series, Griffin Jax pitched two innings and struck out four.

Against the same team he debuted against.

Nobody who graduated from the Air Force Academy had ever reached the major leagues.

One has. It took him five years and two legal departments.

[Sip Central @sip_central]

Narrated by Brad Pitt 🔥

[CFB Home @CFBHome]

TEXAS WON AND ALL THESE RECORDS HAVE FALLEN, TRAILED 23-3 AT ONE POINT @ironfbstats

- Biggest comeback in a top-5 vs top-5 game since 1995. The current record is 17, Georgia over Oklahoma in the 2018 Rose Bowl.
- Biggest lead ever blown by an AP #1 since 1995. The current record is 14, by Alabama in the 2017 title game and the 2013 Kick Six.
- Ohio State had gone 137-0 when leading by 17+ going into the 4th, and 21-0 in that spot as AP #1.
- Ohio State had gone 160-1 after leading by 20+. The only loss was 2011 at Nebraska.
- Sarkisian's biggest career comeback was 17, at Mississippi State last year. This would top it.
- Texas's biggest 4th-quarter comeback since 1995 was 21 at Oklahoma State in 2007. Texas is 2-21 when trailing by 17+ going into the 4th.

[Rockstar Games @RockstarGames]

Pre-orders for Grand Theft Auto VI will officially begin on June 25 on digital storefronts and at other select retailers.

Check out the official cover art, also available as downloadable artwork at https://t.co/XPwC8URCQ4

[Ford Martin @Ford_Martin_]

This might be the greatest call I've ever heard to end a motorsports event.

Absolute chills @wbuxtonofficial

[NASCAR @NASCAR]

One of one. Forever Rowdy.

[Richard Petty @therichardpetty]

The Petty Family is absolutely heartbroken. This is truly unbelievable. Our hearts and prayers go out to Samantha, Brexton, Lennix, and the entire Busch family.

[Opinions on NASCAR (William Richard) @nascar_opinion]

Gotta feel for RC. 💔

[🏁Kolby🏁 @SpeedFreak24_47]

I just know for a fact Dale embraced him with open arms though. Those two are probably gonna share some crazy stories.

[Son of a son of a Jeff @mr4time]

I’m sitting here crying over a driver I actively rooted against for nearly 20 years. I don’t mean to be crass, but this is such bullshit. His kids were robbed of their dad. His wife was robbed of her husband. Kurt was robbed of his brother. His parents were robbed of their son.

[luke @elliottfilms]

need a silent lap 8 and 18 this weekend in all three series

[Dale Earnhardt Jr. @DaleJr]

Kyle and I had a really challenging existence for many years. But we luckily took the time to figure out our differences and that was something he instigated with a conversation in his bus around how we each managed our racing teams. I was super eager for us to get on better terms. But it was he who made the effort for that to be possible. We did some media together also to laugh through some of the things we put each other through many years ago. Most recently we had even been discussing him running my Late Model at Wilkesboro this summer. He seemed extremely happy and we had planned to meet up next Thursday to get his seat to the shop. He laughed over the idea of his fans and JRM fans having to cheer in unison during that race.

Kyle was one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. No one can deny that. But he was also a father, a husband, brother, son, and a friend to many. My heart is broken for the Busch family. I will never be able to make sense of this loss but I am thankful that we had found a way to become friends.

[Racing Territory @RacingTerritory]

June 4, 2023. Kyle Busch celebrates his final NASCAR Cup Series win.

[SportsCenter @SportsCenter]

"His legacy is a titan of the NASCAR world and of the auto racing world in general."

@MartySmithESPN on Kyle Busch's life and legacy.

[Ricky Stenhouse Jr. @StenhouseJr]

There aren’t really words for today. I’ve raced against Kyle for a long time, and anyone who’s lined up next to him knows exactly what made him special, he gave you everything he had, every single lap, and he made all of us better for it.

But more than the wins and the records, I keep thinking about Samantha, Brexton, and Lennix, and the entire Busch family right now. That’s where my heart is.

Rest easy, Rowdy. The sport won’t be the same without you.

[ESPN @espn]

Breaking: NASCAR icon Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, has died at the age of 41, the racing series announced Thursday.

[Aedan McHugh @AedanMcHugh]

“Because you never know when the last one is” hits wildly different now…

RIP to a legend and prayers for the whole Busch family. Just unbelievably sad

[NASCAR Pics That Goes Hard @HardNASCARPics]

💔🙏