Five unsolved sports mysteries we want Pablo Torre to find out

Pablo Torre has helped fill a void in sports journalism. At a time when several media outlets have reduced their investigative reporting, Torre is doing compelling and informative work with his podcast, Pablo Torre Finds Out. His episodes on the Bill Belichick-Jordan Hudson relationship and the Kawhi Leonard-Los Angeles Clippers salary-cap circumvention allegations have vaulted him into the spotlight.

This left us wondering: what else could Pablo Torre find out? Here are some suggestions:

5. Where is the Joe Paterno statue?

Like the Ark of the Covenant, the Joe Paterno statue is being held in an undisclosed location. Its whereabouts continue to be a secret even to some in government. The 7-foot, 900-pound bronze statue of the late Penn State football coach was installed at Beaver Stadium in 2001, but was removed in 2012 after the Freeh Report suggested that Paterno and other former Penn State officials covered up allegations of child sexual abuse against Jerry Sandusky. In 2022, a state congressman made an unsuccessful attempt to compel the university to disclose the location of the state. Rumors continue to circulate. Penn State could quash all this, but the university doesn’t appear to be motivated to say anything.

4. Who is the Minnesota Vikings player Lizzo sang about?

In September 2019, Lizzo had the No.1 single in America. Truth Hurts, a song about healing after a breakup, was nominated for three Grammys and earned Lizzo an award for Best Pop Solo Performance. It’s also famous because it references an unknown NFL player. (“New man on the Minnesota Vikings.”) To this day, the identity of this gridiron lothario remains a mystery. One of the early prime suspects was Stefon Diggs, who has repeatedly denied it. Here’s what we know so far. According to BET, Lizzo said: “This Minnesota Viking was in my DMs. And we were chatting, we were texting, we went on a date.” She added that the man is from Detroit. Will we ever know the truth? Inquiring minds want to know.

3. Where is the Kirk Gibson home run ball?

Kirk Gibson’s game-winning home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series is one of the most iconic moments in sports history. Gibson hobbling around the bases while pumping his fists is a storybook ending forever replayed on every postseason broadcast since. What’s even more shocking: The ball that went into the right-field stands has never been recovered. Nobody knows what happened to it. According to a Dodgers team historian, “Everything else is accounted for, as far as the bat and the jersey and things like that. The ball just kind of disappeared.” Today, it might be worth half a million dollars, if not more. But even if you could find it, how would you verify its authenticity? That’s the tricky part.

2.  Was Baron Davis abducted by aliens?

Baron Davis has been in the movie business as an actor and producer, so perhaps this was a script idea for a Hollywood story. In 2013, the former NBA All-Star went on The Champs, a podcast hosted by comedians Neal Brennan and Moshe Kasher, and claimed that he was abducted by aliens while driving from Las Vegas to L.A. During the interview, he said that he “saw a bright light and was suddenly being poked and prodded by these ‘crazy looking people.'” He eventually wound up at an In-N-Out Burger. Ok. This begs so many follow-up questions. According to the L.A. Times, Davis stated that he was being honest and planned to write a book about the experience. The truth is out there.

1. What is the latest with Steve Bartman?

The Holy Grail of sit-down sports interviews might be with the most infamous baseball fan of all time. It has been 22 years since the Steve Bartman foul ball incident in the Chicago Cubs’ NLCS Game 6 loss to the Florida Marlins. As bad as it was for Bartman, it would have been so much worse today with the existence of social media. Amazingly, Bartman has never spoken publicly about what happened—what his life was like afterwards, and what it’s like now. After the Cubs (finally) won it all in 2016, Bartman received a World Series ring and issued a statement: “I am relieved and hopeful that the saga of the 2003 foul ball incident surrounding my family and me is finally over.”