LITTLE ROCK — BASEBALL Rockies hire Weiss
Walt Weiss has been hired to replace Jim Tracy as manager of the Colorado Rockies. The team made the announcement late Wednesday night after owner Dick Monfort and top officials deliberated at the general managers’ meetings - held at a hotel Monfort owns. Weiss, the 1988 AL Rookie of the Year, and Arizona coach Matt Williams were thought to be the favorites to replace Tracy, who quit Oct. 7 following a last-place finish in the NL West. Rockies bench coach Tom Runnells and first baseman Jason Giambi also interviewed.
Mark McGwire was hired Wednesday as hitting coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he’ll work with All-Star sluggers Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. McGwire spent the past three seasons in the same job with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he starred during parts of his 16-year major-league career.During McGwire’s tenure, the Cardinals led the National League in batting average (.269) and on-base percentage (.337), ranked second in runs (2,263) and fourth in slugging percentage (.416). The job is a homecoming for McGwire, who is from the Los Angeles suburb of Pomona and lives in Orange County. He played college baseball at Southern California and was a member of Oakland’s 1989 World Series champion team.
Former Detroit Tigers slugger Delmon Young pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated harassment for shouting an anti-Semitic slur and tackling a man to the ground outside a New York City hotel last spring. The 27-year-old outfielder, who became a free agent after the World Series, was ordered to complete 10 days of community service and enroll in a program at the Museum of Tolerance New York as part of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office restorative justice program.
BOXING
Hall of Famer Basilio dead
Carmen Basilio, a genial onion farmer’s son with a malevolent left hook who wrested the world middleweight boxing crown from Sugar Ray Robinson in 1957, has died. He was 85. Edward Brophy, executive director of the Boxing Hall of Fame in upstate New York, said Basilio died early Wednesday morning in a Rochester hospital where he was being treated for pneumonia.
Basilio lived in the Rochester suburb of Irondequoit and was among the first class of hall of fame inductees in 1990, a group that included Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis and Jake LaMotta. His career ended in 1961 with a 56-16-7 record that included 27 knockouts.
CYCLING
Tour winner hospitalized
Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins was recovering in a hospital Wednesday after being hit by a car while riding his bike in northern England. Team Sky said Wiggins will be kept in the hospital overnight for observation, but that “the injuries he sustained are not thought to be serious and he is expected to make a full and speedy recovery.” Britain’s Press Association said Wiggins, who also won Olympic gold in the London Games this summer, sustained broken ribs as well as cuts and bruises in the accident in Wrightington, a village in the northern county of Lancashire. The car reportedly pulled out in front of him from a gas station.
BASKETBALL
Cavs’ rookie suffers injury
Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Tyler Zeller’s first NBA road trip has been ended by injury. Zeller is returning to Cleveland for further evaluation after sustaining a concussion and broken cheekbone after being elbowed in the face by Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan on Monday night. Zeller was hit under the left eye by Jordan with 5:39 left in the fourth quarter of Cleveland’s 108-101 victory. X-rays taken after the game were negative, but a CT scan performed in San Francisco revealed a non-displaced fracture of his left orbital cheekbone.
TENNIS
Djokovic holds off Murray
In what is shaping up to be the new top rivalry in tennis, Novak Djokovic held off Andy Murray on Wednesday at the ATP finals. The top-ranked Serb got the big break when he needed it late in the third set and beat Murray 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 at the O2 Arena. Despite the victory, Djokovic still hasn’t advanced to the semifinals at the season-endingtournament for the top eight players in the world. Tomas Berdych beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in the late Group B match, keeping all four players alive in the tournament. Djokovic will face Berdych on Friday, and Murray will take on Tsonga.
BASEBALL BBWAA announces finalists for baseball awards
NEW YORK - Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera is one of five finalists for the AL MVP award in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
The Detroit third baseman is joined by Texas’ Adrian Beltre and Josh Hamilton, the New York Yankees’ Robinson Cano and Los Angeles Angels rookie Mike Trout, who also is one of three nominees for AL Rookie of the Year.
For the first time Wednesday, the BBWAA announced finalists for its awards. The winners will be revealed next week live on the MLB Network, beginning Monday with the two rookies of the year and concluding Thursday with the MVPs.
Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun has a chance for a repeat as NL MVP. He’s pitted against San Diego’s Chase Headley, Pittsburgh’s Andrew McCutchen, St. Louis’ Yadier Molina and San Francisco’s Buster Posey.
Mets knuckleballer R.A. Dickey is among the three finalists for the NL Cy Young Award. Washington’s Gio Gonzalez and 2011 winner Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers are also competing.
Detroit’s reigning AL MVP and Cy Young winner Justin Verlander has another shot for top pitcher in the AL. Tampa Bay’s David Price and the Angels’ Jered Weaver are the other two finalists. The winner in each league will be picked Wednesday.
Trout is competing with two foreign-born stars, Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes of the Athletics and Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish of the Rangers, for Rookie of the Year in the AL.
Washington’s Bryce Harper, Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier and Arizona’s Wade Miley are the nominees in the NL.
Of the six finalists for Manager of the Year, only White Sox rookie skipper Robin Ventura is not a previous winner. He was nominated along with Bob Melvin (2007) and Buck Showalter (1994, 2004) in the AL.
In the NL, the Reds’ Dusty Baker (1993, 1997, 2000), the World Series champion Giants’ Bruce Bochy (1996) and Washington’s Davey Johnson (1997) got the nod.
The two top managers will be announced Tuesday.
Sports, Pages 26 on 11/08/2012