Musk says it's not ok to 'loot a charity' as he takes the stand in OpenAI trial

By Deepa Seetharaman and Kenrick Cai

OAKLAND, California, April 28 (Reuters) - Elon Musk took the stand on Tuesday at a high-stakes trial over the future ofOpenAI, casting his lawsuit as a defense of the institution of charitable giving.

Musk, the world's richest person, is suing OpenAI, its co-founder and Chief Executive Sam Altman and its President Greg Brockman, saying they ‌betrayed him and the public by abandoning the ChatGPT maker's mission to be a benevolent steward of AI for humanity, and transforming the nonprofit into a profit-seeking juggernaut.

“If we make it okay ‌to loot a charity, the entire foundation of charitable giving in America will be destroyed. That’s my concern,” Musk said in initial remarks, going on to describe his own life history.

Musk, in a black suit and black tie, appeared calm, sometimes looking at ​and addressing the jury.

Bill Savitt, a lawyer for OpenAI and Altman, said it was Musk who saw dollar signs as he helped finance OpenAI's early growth and pushed it to become a for-profit business, one he might eventually lead as CEO.

Savitt said Musk wanted "the keys to the kingdom," and sued only after he failed and then in 2023 started his own AI business, xAI.

"What he cares about is Elon Musk being on top," Savitt said in his opening statement. “We are here because Mr Musk didn’t get his way at OpenAI."

OpenAI's lawyer also framed OpenAI's March 2019 creation of a for-profit entity as critical to letting it buy computing power and pay top scientists to ‌stay competitive with Google's DeepMind AI lab.

Musk's lawyer Steven Molo told jurors in ⁠his opening statement it was the OpenAI defendants who wanted riches for themselves, as OpenAI began drawing investors includingMicrosoft.

"The defendants in the case stole a charity, and we're asking you to hold them accountable," Molo said during his opening statement. "It wasn't a vehicle for people to get rich."

Musk, theTeslaand SpaceX founder, is seeking $150 ⁠billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft, one of its largest investors, with proceeds going to OpenAI’s charitable arm.

He also wants OpenAI to revert to a nonprofit, with Altman and Brockman removed as officers and Altman removed from its board. Musk's claims include breach of charitable trust and unjust enrichment.

JUDGE ADMONISHES MUSK OVER SOCIAL MEDIA USE

Before jurors were seated, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers admonished Musk after OpenAI lawyers complained about his posts on X on Monday, in which he ​assailed ​Altman as “Scam Altman” and accused him of stealing a charity.

Rogers said she was loath to issue a gag order, but ​urged Musk to "try to control your propensity to use social media to make things ‌work outside the courtroom … Perhaps you’ve never done that before."

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Musk agreed to minimize his social media activity, as did Altman. Both are expected to testify at trial, as is Microsoft chief Satya Nadella.

The trial could offer a window into some of the egos and personalities that shaped OpenAI as it evolved from a nonprofit research lab in Brockman’s apartment to a company worth more than $850 billion.

It also risks complicating OpenAI's plans for a potential initial public offering by casting doubt on its leadership, and could intensify Americans' fears about AI technology more broadly.

OpenAI was co-founded by Musk and Altman in 2015 with a goal of developing AI to benefit humanity and fend off rivals such as Google.

LAWYERS DISPUTE IMPORTANCE OF AI SAFETY TO MUSK

Molo said "Elon became more worried" as the technology advanced, and collaborated with Altman to "develop AI safely" after a meeting with U.S. ‌President Barack Obama in 2015 did not address AI's risks. Recruiting top AI scientists like Ilya Sutskever was part of ​that process, Molo said.

Savitt countered that AI safety wasn't a priority for Musk, and that Musk denigrated OpenAI employees who focused on ​it. "Jackasses is what he called them," Savitt said.

Musk has said he provided about $38 million to OpenAI ​for its original mission, only to see OpenAI create a for-profit entity 13 months after he left its board.

Molo said a major turning point for Musk came when Microsoft ‌invested $10 billion in OpenAI in January 2023. "It violated every commitment (the defendants) made, not ​just to Elon, but to the world," he said.

Russell ​Cohen, a lawyer for Microsoft, said that company didn't do anything wrong.

“Microsoft has been a responsible partner every step of the way,” Cohen said in his opening statement.

OPENAI RECENTLY OVERHAULED STRUCTURE AGAIN

OpenAI also faces growing competition from rivals including Anthropic, and is spending billions on computational resources. A potential IPO could value the company at $1 trillion, Reuters has reported.

Musk's xAI trails far behind OpenAI in ​usage. He has folded that business into SpaceX, whose own potential IPO this ‌year could be the largest ever.

Last fall, OpenAI overhauled its structure again to become a public benefit corporation, in which the nonprofit and other investors including Microsoft hold stakes. The ​nonprofit holds a 26% stake, plus warrants if OpenAI hits certain valuation targets.

A public benefit corporation could make OpenAI more investor-friendly while retaining its charitable origins.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman and ​Kenrick Cai in Oakland, California; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Nick Zieminski and Chris Reese, Noeleen Walder and Peter Henderson)

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May 01, 2026

Musk says it's not ok to 'loot a charity' as he takes the stand in OpenAI trial

By Deepa Seetharaman and Kenrick Cai OAKLAND, California, April 28 (Reuters) - Elon Musk took the stand on Tuesday at a high-stak...

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Analysis: US blockade is squeezing Iran's all-important oil industry

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Even as Iran squeezes world energy supplies with itschokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, its own oil industry is increasingly being threatened by an American blockade.

Pictures of the Week Global Photo Gallery

With no way to export the oil it is pumping out and diminishing room to store it at home,Iranmay be forced to dramatically reduce or cease production from some of its wells, perhaps beginning in as little as two weeks, experts say.

The situation likely isn’t as dire as U.S. President Donald Trump recently described, colorfully suggesting pipelines could start exploding within days. But once shut down, production from the aging wells may not be restarted so easily, if at all, undermining Iran’s future oil output. Iran appears to have begun dialing back production already, analysts say, to avert outright shutdowns.

The pressure is building as the U.S. Treasury Departmentratchets up sanctionson Iranian oil shipments already at sea. The U.S. military has seized at least two tankers off Asia believed to be carrying Iranian oil.

With its oil trade constrained, Iran is seeingless hard currencyflow back into aneconomy mauled by weeks of war, months of unrest and decades of international sanctions. But with fewer tankers shipping Iranian oil, the effects ofthe Strait of Hormuz shutdownare only being magnified, leading to shortages of jet fuel andrising gasolinepricesaround the world.

Iran's leaders “are really resisting” shutting down oil wells because of how painful that would be long-term, said Miad Maleki, a former sanctions expert at the U.S. Treasury who is now a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“They’ve been under sanctions, they’ve been isolated for 47 years now. Those oil wells are not maintained well. Their machinery is not maintained well," Maleki said. Once shut off, he added, the wells won't easily "snap back after a few months.”

The squeeze on Iran intensifies

Iran had been pumping over 3 million barrels of crude oil a day before the war, with a little more than half going toward its domestic market. But since the American blockade began on April 13, ships have been filled with oil and unable to get out.

“It looks like there’s been a significant slowdown in production,” said Antoine Halff, the co-founder and chief analyst at Kayrros, an environmental intelligence company that tracks emissions and energy supply chains. He pointed to signs that storage is not filling as fast as usual at Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf.

Iran is likely storing some of its oil in tankers positioned around Kharg Island, Halff noted.

Kpler, a firm monitoring commodities markets, said it believes Iran has enough capacity left to store about two weeks worth of oil production, even after reducing output.

“While the immediate revenue impact is limited, operational constraints are now forcing production cuts and setting up a delayed but significant financial squeeze,” wrote Homayoun Falakshahi, an analyst at Kpler.

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Wood Mackenzie, another oil analysis firm, estimates Iran will run out of storage capacity in about three weeks.

“If the blockade persists, cuts become inevitable,” wrote Alexandre Araman of Wood Mackenzie. Shutdowns of more than a month “risk long-term damage” to Iran’s oil reservoirs, he wrote, adding that recovering older fields “remains uncertain.”

Iran’s oil industry long a shaky lifeline

From the moment it first struck oil in 1908, Iran’s oil industry has been entangled in the region’s politics. A move to nationalize Iran’s oil fields and wrest control from the British sparked the CIA-backed 1953 coup that cemented Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi’s rule. That also lit a long fuse to Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the shah. During the revolution, oil workers went on strike and brought production down from 6 million barrels a day to around 1.5 million.

Iran’s oil industry never recovered and faced decades of international sanctions, during which its infrastructure aged and faltered.

In his first term, Trump exerted a “maximum pressure” campaign, hiking sanctions to severely cut Iran’s oil exports. Forced to store oil in tankers at sea, the Iranian government lost tens of billions of dollars in revenues. Still, the pressure failed to push Tehran into reaching a nuclear deal with the U.S.

Now Iran faces a combination of hiked sanctions and the blockade. Trump on Tuesday claimed that Iran was “in a ‘State of Collapse.’”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent piled on, writing on X, “Iran’s creaking oil industry is starting to shut in production thanks to the U.S. BLOCKADE. Pumping will soon collapse. GASOLINE SHORTAGES IN IRAN NEXT!”

There have been no immediate signs of any gasoline shortages in Iran. However, Iran does seem to be acknowledging some of the pain indirectly.

A segment on state TV, which is run by hard-liners, included journalists discussing the possibility of an oil storage crisis. One noted that if empty tankers get blocked from returning to Iran, “we won’t be able to export.” Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad on Monday praised oil terminal staff for their “continuous perseverance."

Maleki, the analyst from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that if the blockade continues and production slows further or halts, oil workers could potentially lose their jobs — which could cause new unrest.

“In 1979 when the oil industry was disrupted, in the 1980s war with Iraq ... you can go and look at to see how effective they were in really pressuring the regime,” he said. “It’s really going to affect some of the most strategic provinces in Iran and the most strategic industry.”

EDITOR’S NOTE —Jon Gambrell, news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press, has reported from each of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Iran and other locations across the Mideast and the wider world since joining AP in 2006.

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Analysis: US blockade is squeezing Iran's all-important oil industry

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Even as Iran squeezes world energy supplies with itschokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, its own oil i...

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US to issue passports bearing Trump's image

By Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it would produce a limited number of ‌commemorative passports bearing a portrait of Donald Trump, the latest ‌example of the administration attaching the president's likeness or name to official property.

The passports ​will be released as part of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in July, State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement, which did not mention that the passports would ‌contain Trump's image.

Renderings provided by ⁠the State Department showed Trump's portrait displayed on a page inside the passport, opposite an image of the ⁠signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

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"These passports will feature customized artwork and enhanced imagery while maintaining the same security features that make ​the U.S. ​passport the most secure documents in ​the world," Pigott said.

A State ‌Department official said the special edition passports will only be available at the Washington Passport Agency, so those applying for a passport by mail would not receive one. There would be no extra fee charged, the official said.

The U.S. Mint has also announced plans for a ‌commemorative gold coin featuring Trump's image to ​mark the anniversary of the country's founding, ​and the Treasury Department ​has said paper currency will bear Trump's signature, the ‌first time a sitting president has ​signed U.S. money.

Since ​he returned to office early last year, Trump's administration has also affixed his name to prominent Washington buildings, a planned class ​of Navy warships, a ‌visa program for wealthy foreigners, a government-run prescription drug website, ​and federal savings accounts for children.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing ​by Daniel Wallis and Hugh Lawson)

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US to issue passports bearing Trump's image

By Simon Lewis WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it would produce a limited number of ‌c...

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Sabalenka avoids Madrid Open virus scare and Osaka upset in her title defense

MADRID (AP) — Tennis players are facing an unknown opponent at the Madrid Open.

APTOPIX Spain Tennis Madrid Open

A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and a few others, causing some concern.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she's trying to avoid illness by sticking to a simple diet of chicken breast, rice and salad.

The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame.

Sabalenka knocked on wood and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos (laughing). I stick to the same food, same meal that I’ve been having since the very beginning of the tournament.”

Sabalenka said she was spending as little time as possible on site at the Caja Magica tennis complex.

"I try not to stay for too long," she said. “Extra vitamin C, I guess, extra IM8, and I’m good to go, hopefully."

Gauffvomited on the courton her way to a victory over Sorana Cirstea on Sunday. Cilic couldn't play his match against João Fonseca on Friday.

“Unfortunately, I got food poisoning,” Cilic said. “After trying to recover all night my body is unfortunately exhausted and not at the proper level to get into the battle.”

Sabalenka rallies

Sabalenka rebounded from a set and a break down against Osaka in their fourth round contest.

She prevailed against No. 15 Osaka 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to reach the quarterfinals and stay on track to defend her title.

“Oh my God, that was an incredible level,” Sabalenka said. “She played incredible tennis. I feel like I just got lucky in a couple of shots in the third set, that’s why it went that fast. I’m happy she brought that fight, I had to fight through to level up my game.”

Sabalenka won her 15th straight match and advanced to her 17th consecutive quarterfinal. She hasn't lost before that round since February 2025 in Dubai. The Belarusian said her team kept pushing her to “keep fighting, keep going.”

“I'm really happy that I didn't give up and I was pushing until the very last point,” Sabalenka said.

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Longest tiebreaker since 2024

Sabalenka will next face American Hailey Baptiste, who defeated Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-7 (14), 6-3 after losing the second set in the longest tour-level regular tiebreaker since 2024, according to the WTA.

Baptiste broke the racket on her leg in frustration after the loss in a set in which she wasted six match points, including five during the tiebreaker.

The 32nd-ranked American was able to rebound and clinch the victory in 2 hours, 42 minutes.

Rybakina's line-calling frustration

World No. 2 Elena Rybakina said she has no trust in the electronic line-calling system in Madrid. She complained to the chair umpire after her opponent, Zheng Qinwen, was awarded an ace in the second set. Rybakina said the mark on the court was out. The umpire refused to inspect the mark and backed the system. Rybakina eventually won in three sets on Sunday.

“Well with this thing, I won’t trust it at all,” Rybakina said. “Because there was no mark even close to what the TV showed."

She felt it was a similar situation to what happened to men's player Alexander Zverev last year in Madrid, where he ended up grabbing his cell phone and taking a photo of a mark of an alleged wrong call. Zverev was warned for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“You can’t not see it,” Rybakina said. "It’s kind of a stolen point. I understand it was her serve and she was serving really well, but it’s really frustrating.”

Jódar only Spaniard left

Daniel Mérida lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-2 and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina lost to defending champion Casper Ruud 6-3, 6-1 on Monday, leaving 19-year-old Rafael Jódar as the only Spaniard left in the tournament.

Jódar, one of the promising stars on tour, needed three sets to get past Fonseca, another teen sensation.

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, Spain's current top player, withdrew from the home tournament because of a right wrist injury.

Unusual rally

There was an unusually long rally in the Rudd vs. Davidovich Fokina match when the Spaniard resorted to 15 straight lob shots to the back of the court.

The high returns in the 32-shot rally kept Rudd from attacking until one shot came up a little short and allowed him to power a forehand and take the point.

In the match between Francisco Cerundolo and Luciano Darderi, Cerundolo won a point after reaching over the net to get to a high return that spun back into Darderi's side of the court. Cerundolo won the match 6-2, 6-3.

AP tennis:https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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April 30, 2026

Sabalenka avoids Madrid Open virus scare and Osaka upset in her title defense

MADRID (AP) — Tennis players are facing an unknown opponent at the Madrid Open. APTOPIX Spain Tennis Madrid Open A stomach v...

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Tracy Sturdivant, the Ms. Foundation's next leader, wants to expand the feminist funder's coalition

NEW YORK (AP) — It is rare, the Ms. Foundation's next leader acknowledged, for a Black woman to take the helm of a major nonprofit from another Black woman. It is even rarer, she noted, for that organization to be financially healthy.

Philanthropy Ms Foundation

And yet that is the position Tracy Sturdivant will enter when shesucceeds Teresa Youngeras the president and CEO of the first national philanthropy run by and for women. The Ms. Foundation introduced Sturdivant on Tuesday at its annual New York City gala, where feminists such as#MeToo founder Tarana Burkewere honored.

The foundation is “not in crisis,” but “ready for what’s to come” with Sturdivant in charge, Younger said in a statement shared ahead of the announcement. The foundation built a $100 million-plus endowment andexplicitly centered women and girls of colorduring her tenure.

With that strong footing Sturdivant sees an opportunity to expand the coalition of people who see gender justice as their charge, too. Asmany funders disinvest from Black-led nonprofits, she is committed to “unapologetically” supporting marginalized groups while simultaneously inviting others to join the fight for economic equality and bodily autonomy.

“We need all hands on deck to make sure that we're supporting women in the midst of what I call this perfect form of instability that they're experiencing,” Sturdivant told The Associated Press in an interview.

The Detroit native comes to the foundation from The League, the nonprofit she founded to inspire civic engagement through culture. She credits past Ms. Foundation president Marie Wilson — whohelped start “Take Our Daughters to Work” dayto boost adolescent girls' self esteem — with showing her the power of large-scale narrative change campaigns. They worked together on the White House Project, a nonprofit that aimed to advance women's leadership across all sectors.

Narrative change has become a more necessary part of the foundation's work, she said, as conservative movements nationwide seek toprohibit funding for diversity, equity and inclusion. Sturdivant sees the Ms. Foundation, a legacy institution that she said has weathered “many cultural shifts” since its 1973 founding, as poised to engage this next generation of feminists through more modern storytelling.

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She pointed to Blair Imani, a historian and creator honored at Tuesday's gala, as an example of the new voices she wants to elevate. Imani's viral web series “Smarter in Seconds” offers a progressive education on issues of race and gender in short-form videos.

“They are leading the culture and being able to take some of our cues from them, I think, is gonna be really helpful," Sturdivant said.

She's also considering ways to increase grantmaking around equal pay, family leave and childcare — issues she championed as the co-founder of the Make it Work Campaign, a three-year initiative to improve women's economic lives in the United States.

Men’s earnings are rising faster than women’s, and the gender wage gap has widened for two years in a row, according to theU.S. Census Bureau. A recent AP-NORC poll found that most working women in the U.S.believe they are disadvantagedwhen it comes to earning competitive wages — though the country is deeply divided over how to confront those disparities, with many men holding a different view.

“We're really talking about what does it mean for folks to be able to lead a life where they are not just surviving but thriving, they feel safe and they're secure," Sturdivant said. “That's going to be the work of the foundation under my tenure.”

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visithttps://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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April 30, 2026

Tracy Sturdivant, the Ms. Foundation's next leader, wants to expand the feminist funder's coalition

NEW YORK (AP) — It is rare, the Ms. Foundation's next leader acknowledged, for a Black woman to take the helm of a major nonprofit ...

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Jalen Brunson breaks free as Knicks take away Hawks' oxygen

NEW YORK — Through four games of their opening-round series with the New York Knicks, the Atlanta Hawks had succeeded in making life difficult for Jalen Brunson. A team-wide effort helmed by on-ball menaces Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker had helped limit the All-NBA point guard to just 43% shooting inside the 3-point arc, with 14 turnovers mitigating his 21 assists.

The struggle to pop Brunson loose led the Knicks toreorient their offense in Game 4, running possessions through Karl-Anthony Towns and prominently featuring OG Anunoby — an approach that worked, but one necessitated by Atlanta selling out on Brunson.

“He can beat you so many ways,” Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said before Game 5. “You know, we'll keep putting different guys on him, changing matchups, trying to do anything you can to just make it hard on him [...] It's not easy.”

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On Tuesday, Brunson offered a reminder of exactly why that is.

Snyder opened Game 5 by juggling Atlanta’s defensive assignments, cross-matching Daniels onto Towns to try to interrupt the flow he found as a high-post hub in Game 4. That slid Alexander-Walker over to Brunson, and while the newly minted Most Improved Player did his level best — and while Daniels still saw his fair share of time in the matchup — Brunson proceeded to shake loose and put together his most composed, decisive, explosive and overwhelming performance of the series.

"Played well. Made shots,” Alexander-Walker said of Brunson’s play on Tuesday. “Gotta be better in his pick-and-roll coverage. Had a few lanes where he was able to get in the paint, get a half a step. Guys like him, that's all that they need."

The Hawks gave Brunson a half-step, and he took a mile, scoring a game-high 39 points on 15-for-23 shooting with 8 assists and just 1 turnover in 35 minutes of work — “a big game from a big-time player,” as Knicks head coach Mike Brown described it after the game — in an emphatic126-97 win, a near-wire-to-wire victory in which the Hawks’ last lead came when a Daniels tip-in made it … 4-2, with 10:39 to go in the first quarter.

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Jalen Brunson breaks free as Knicks take away Hawks' oxygen

NEW YORK — Through four games of their opening-round series with the New York Knicks, the Atlanta Hawks had succeeded in making life di...

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Travis Bazzana, surrounded by friends, family and MLB mentors, begins his MLB journey with Guardians debut

CLEVELAND — Todd and Tara Boedigheimer are Oregon State alumni and longtime supporters of the highly successful Beavers baseball program.

The Boedigheimers’ bond with their alma mater was strengthened tenfold in 2011, when their 3-year-old son, Drew, needed an emergency heart transplant. After Drew’s procedure at Chicago Children’s Memorial Hospital — the Boedigheimers live in Arizona but needed to travel to find the necessary care for their son — the staff wanted to do something special for a family who had been through so much.

“He makes it through a couple rough weeks, and when he was finally on the other side of everything, they said they’d really like to do something cool for him,” Tara recalled. “‘Is there anybody special he follows on the Cubs or the White Sox?’ I was like, ‘Actually, there is.’”

That special somebody was Cubs rookie infielder Darwin Barney, who had starred for the Beavers during their run to back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007, the first two titles in program history. When Barney learned of Drew’s story, he made a point to connect with the family, building the foundation of a friendship that would change the Boedigheimers’ life forever.

“Darwin came to the hospital to see him, and then we became tight with Darwin,” Tara said. “He was sort of our entrance to [then Oregon State head coach] Pat Casey, the inner-workings of Oregon State. Before, we were just fans.”

A decade later, in the fall of 2021, the Boedigheimers were in Corvallis on their annual visit to check out the Beavers baseball team during fall practices, having grown close with the program’s leadership and players in the years since their initial encounter with Barney. Barney — at this point an assistant coach with the Beavers, with his playing days behind him — wanted Drew to meet someone, a freshman infielder from Sydney named Travis Bazzana.

“Darwin goes, ‘Drew, you're gonna wanna get to know Travis,’” Todd recalled. “‘Because Travis is going to play in the big leagues for a very long time.’”

On Tuesday, the Boedigheimers were at Progressive Field as part of a large contingent of family and friends who traveled from near and far to be in attendance forBazzana’s major-league debut with the Cleveland Guardians. The 23-year-old batted seventh and started at second base against the Tampa Bay Rays, marking the first chapter in a journey that Barney foresaw before Bazzana had played his first collegiate game.

During his three years in Corvallis, Bazzana blossomed into one of the best players in college baseball, rewriting the school record books along the way. His stock soared among scouting circles, as it had for many Oregon State stars before him en route to selection in the MLB draft, including new Guardians teammate Steven Kwan. After a monster junior year in 2024, Bazzana was selected No. 1 overall by Cleveland, adding to Oregon State’s illustrious reputation as a pipeline to the pros. But even more importantly — and more personally — it marked a massive development for baseball Down Under, as Bazzana had single-handedly redefined what was considered possible for young ballplayers in Australia.

"I had thought about it and dreamt about it as long as I can remember — like 5, 6 years old,” Bazzana said pregame of his big-league dreams while growing up in Hornsby, a northern Sydney suburb. He played many sports growing up, including the more popular bat-and-ball game of cricket, but baseball always had his heart.

“I remember in the computer room when I was maybe 6 to 8 [years old], like having a tab of mlb.com and just watching the daily highlights,” he recalled. “It was just something I had always thought about.”

As he entered his teen years, Bazzana was undersized relative to his peers, instilling some doubt that he could keep up with his competition. But it didn’t take long for his special talent to catch up and for his burgeoning work ethic to put him on an unprecedented path to the majors.

"Once I kind of grew and started really getting into some quality training routines and striving for more and understanding goal-setting,” he said. “… I'd say about 15 was when I was like, ‘I can go and do what I want and what I set my mind to.’ And I was pretty confident in that.”

At that point, Bazzana’s name began to circulate in Australian baseball circles. He made his professional debut in the Australian Baseball League as a 16-year-oldon Dec. 13, 2018, serving as a late-game defensive replacement for the Sydney Blue Sox. That next year, he headed stateside withNxtGenBaseball, an organization started by former major-league reliever Ryan Rowland-Smith to help Australian ballplayers get more exposure from scouts and college coaches in the U.S. Bazzana’s performance at these showcases helped put him on Oregon State’s radar, setting the stage for what turned out to be a record-breaking career in Corvallis.

That’s also when Bazzana met another Australian baseball luminary, former closer Grant Balfour, who appeared in 534 career games across a dozen major-league seasons.

“He was the kind of kid, you could see the talent,” Balfour said. “I remember the year when Ryan brought them — he was one of the younger ones in the group — but you could see, wow, this kid’s got something. His mentality, his work ethic. … You put those things together, and the talent that he is …

“He's very confident in his abilities, and he works hard for that, and I love that. The drive and passion that he has, he could do anything. The sky's the limit for him — he doesn't put a ceiling on himself.”

In addition to the crowd of family members who made the trek across the globe to be at the ballpark on Tuesday, Balfour was another native Australian who made sure to be at Bazzana’s debut. His trip was a bit more convenient from his home in Florida.

“When I knew he was coming, I jumped on a flight at 5 a.m.,” Balfour said during batting practice. “I'm excited to see a bunch of Aussies up in the suite.”

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That bunch of Aussies included Bazzana’s parents, Jenny and Gary, Travis’ older brothers, Hayden and Mitchell, and several aunts and uncles. Gary and Todd Boedigheimer became close friends during Travis’ time at Oregon State, with the Boedigheimers hosting the Bazzanas at their home in Scottsdale on several occasions during the Beavers’annual tripto begin their college season in nearby Surprise.

“[Gary called,] and he’s like, ‘We’d be honored if you guys would be there for his debut,’” Todd said. “So we hustled.”

The Boedigheimers joined the Bazzanas, Balfour, and several other close friends and former coaches who journeyed to Cleveland to see Travis become a major leaguer.

“It's special,” Bazzana said postgame of the scene of his loved ones in the second-level suite behind home plate. “We got coaches, mentors, people I idolized when I was growing up, family, people that have supported me as kind of second families, being in the U.S. without family. It was a great group of people here.”

The game itself —a frustrating 1-0 defeat for the Guardians— was a letdown of sorts, though it wasn’t without some debut drama. After striking out in his first plate appearance, flying out to center field in his second and drawing a walk in his third, Bazzana strolled to the plate in the bottom of the ninth as the winning run with a runner on second and two outs — a storybook scenario for the rookie.

"I live for those situations,” he said postgame. “And I feel like I've had a lot of success in eighth, ninth inning, tie ballgames, one-run ballgames coming up big. And I feel like I was really honing in my focus and felt good."

But after reliever Cole Sulser threw two straight balls to begin Bazzana’s at-bat, Rays manager Kevin Cash decided to intentionally walk the top prospect rather than giving him a chance to do damage on something in the zone.

“I didn't expect it,” Bazzana said. “The umpire was like, ‘Hey, Travis, you can head to first.’ And I was like, ‘Wait, what?’ And he said it again. It didn't really scream that it was going to be that scenario in that situation. But I get it.”

Sulser then struck out pinch-hitter George Valera, sealing the 1-0 victory for Tampa Bay and a fourth straight loss for Cleveland. Bazzana’s first career hit will have to wait until Wednesday’s series finale, when the Guardians are slated to take on All-Star right-hander Drew Rasmussen — another former Oregon State star, with Bazzananow the eighth to appear in the majors in 2026.

"Great institution,” Rasmussen said of his alma mater with a smirk when asked about seeing another Beaver make it to the majors. The 30-year-old Rasmussen entered pro ball three years before Bazanna arrived on campus but said he heard only good things during the rookie’s ascent.

“He was the first overall draft pick. That doesn't happen by accident,” he said. “And I know the work ethic's off the charts, and obviously the talent is as well.

“What they always talk about is his character — a really high-character individual, an awesome human being — which is always great to hear. I think when you're talking about representation of the place you care about so much, I think that's probably the most important.”

In Corvallis, Bazzana is the next in a rich lineage of Beavers-turned-big leaguers. Back home in Sydney, his arrival in the majors means so much more.

“Trav, doing what he’s done and being selected as high as he was gives a lot of motivation for other people,” Balfour said. “He tries to motivate a lot of Aussies to follow suit.”

Said Bazzana: “Hopefully there's some baseballers and maybe some non-baseballers that look to me as someone that they kind of look up to. And hopefully, the next baseball players out of Australia can really use this as motivation and as a vision for themselves.

"If you believe and you work toward something with full, wholehearted commitment, you can get pretty cool places.”

For Bazzana, Tuesday was just the beginning of a big-league career he has been diligently and wholeheartedly working toward for years.

“I always look forward to the next thing. But I'm not thinking about that — I'm present right now,” he said. “And it's crazy. It's one of those moments where you look back and think back to the kid version of yourself dreaming of it.

“It’s special.”

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April 29, 2026

Travis Bazzana, surrounded by friends, family and MLB mentors, begins his MLB journey with Guardians debut

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