Today is MLB pitcher and Huntsville, Ala. native Craig Kimbrel's 27th birthday

Our local schools are wrapping up another academic year this week and so closes another year of high school sports.

Hillcrest High School and Sparta Academy both had decent sports years, and I look for them to be even better next year in their respective sports.

As any elementary school student knows, summer vacation flies by, so it won’t be long before the official start of fall football practice.

The Alabama Independent School Association hasn’t released its fall football schedule yet, but Hillcrest’s first regular season game is scheduled for Aug. 28. Sparta will likely either kick off their season on that night or some time around that date.

Alabama will begin their season on Sept. 5 when they play Wisconsin in Arlington, Texas. Auburn will also begin its season on Sept. 5 when they’ll play Louisville in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.

The New Orleans Saints will kick off their regular season schedule on Sept. 13 when they visit the Arizona Cardinals. The Atlanta Falcons will get going on the following day, Sept. 14, when they play the Eagles in Atlanta.

With all of that in mind, we’ve got about 92 days (a little over 13 weeks) until the start of high school season, 98 days until the start of college football and 106 days until the pros kick off.

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In the meantime, while we’re waiting on football to begin, take the time to head out to Evergreen Municipal Park and watch some of our local youth teams play. Most of the younger kids are drawing close to the ends of their seasons, and All-Stars will be announced soon. However, there’s still plenty of local Babe Ruth action left to watch, so take the time to check it out.

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Today, May 28, marks the 64th anniversary of Willie Mays’s first Major League home run. It was on this day in 1951 that Mays, batting for the New York Giants against the Boston Braves, got his first hit in the Major Leagues - a home run. Born near Birmingham, the "Say Hey Kid" went on to be named National League Rookie of the Year and hit 660 homers in a legendary Hall of Fame career.

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Coincidentally, in regards to 1951 and the N.Y. Giants, I saw in Friday’s “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” cartoon that New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson hit the game-winning home run known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in 1951. The weird part is that, to this day, Thomson’s home run ball has yet to be found. Given the value of other famous home run balls, there’s no telling how much Thomson’s home run ball would be worth today.

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Today (Thursday) also happens to be the 27th birthday of Major League Baseball pitcher, Craig Kimbrel, who was born on May 28, 1988 in Huntsville. Kimbrel went on to star at Lee High School in Huntsville and at Wallace State Community College. In 2008, after two years at Wallace State, Kimbrel was drafted by the Atlanta Braves. He went on to pitch for the Braves from 2010 to 2014, and he currently pitches for the San Diego Padres.