Race for the Pennant is a weekly sports show that focused on Major League Baseball and premiered on Home Box Office (HBO) in 1978. It was hosted by Len Berman, Tim McCarver, Barry Tompkins, Bob Gibson, Maury Wills and others.

Joseph Elliott Girardi (born October 14, 1964) is a former Major League Baseball catcher and current manager of the New York Yankees. During a 15-year playing career, he played from 1989–2003 for the Chicago Cubs, the Colorado Rockies, the New York Yankees, and St. Louis Cardinals. He also previously managed the Florida Marlins in 2006, where he was named National League Manager of the Year.

Girardi, was born in Peoria, Illinois, and is a native of East Peoria, Illinois, he attended East Peoria's Neil Armstrong grade school, and Peoria's Sacred Heart/Father Sweeney where he was coached in basketball by his father. He then attended Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute in Peoria, Illinois, where he played quarterback for the football team (coached by Tommy Kahn) and catcher for the baseball team (coached by David Lang). He went on to play baseball at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering. He was the first freshman to be elected president of a fraternity (Alpha Tau Omega) at Northwestern.^{[citation needed]}