Tuesday Sports in Brief

Wed, Jan 27, 2021
By The Associated Press

MLB

NEW YORK (AP) - The baseball Hall of Fame won't have any new players in the class of 2021 after voters decided no one had the merits - on-the-field or off - for enshrinement in Cooperstown on this year's ballot.

Curt Schilling, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were the closest in voting by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America released Tuesday, and the trio will have one more chance at election next year. It's the first time the BBWAA didn't choose anyone since 2013.

Schilling, a right-handed ace who won three World Series titles, finished 16 votes short of the 75% threshold necessary for enshrinement. He got 71.1% percent this time after coming up 20 votes shy at 70% last year. Bonds received 61.8% and Clemens 61.6%.

Schilling's on-field accomplishments face little dispute, but he has ostracized himself in retirement by directing hateful remarks toward Muslims, transgender people, journalists and others.

He later wrote on Facebook that he has asked the Hall of Fame to remove his name from next year's ballot. Hall of Fame Board Chairman Janes Forbes Clark said in a statement that the board "will consider the request at our next meeting."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- The Philadelphia Phillies and two-time All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto agreed on a $115.5 million, five-year contract, two people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press.

Both people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday because Realmuto's deal was pending a successful physical.

Realmuto gets $20 million next season, of which $10 million is deferred, with $5 million each payable in 2026 and 2027. He gets $23,875,000 in each of the final four years.

NFL

GREEN BAY, Wisc. (AP) - All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers says he doesn't think there's any reason he wouldn't be back with the Green Bay Packers next season.

But he added that his future isn't necessarily in his control.

Rodgers on Tuesday was clarifying remarks he made Sunday after the Packers' 31-26 NFC championship game loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rodgers said after the game "there's a lot of guys' futures that are uncertain, myself included."

WASHINGTON (AP) - Washington promoted Jennifer King to assistant running backs coach Tuesday, making her the first Black female assistant position coach in the NFL.

She is the second woman in league history to be an assistant position coach after Tampa Bay's assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust. King spent the 2020 season as a full-year coaching intern under Ron Rivera and worked with running backs coach Randy Jordan.

Rivera said King came to Washington eager for the opportunity and is deserving of the promotion.

GOLF

Davis Love III is going back to where he was born for a job he knows as well as anyone.

The PGA Tour has selected Love to be U.S. captain for the Presidents Cup in 2022 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Trevor Immelman of South Africa previously was selected to be the International team captain.

It will be the third time Love has been captain of a U.S. team in the last 10 years. He was captain when Europe rallied from a 10-6 deficit to beat the Americans in the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah, and he was Ryder Cup captain for a rare U.S. victory four years later at Hazeltine.

RUNNING

BOSTON (AP) - The 125th edition of the Boston Marathon will be held Oct. 11 if road races are allowed to take place under Massachusetts' COVID-19 restrictions, race officials said Tuesday.

The Boston Athletic Association said it has "cautious optimism" the event will take place. Last year's Boston Marathon was postponed from April to September and ultimately canceled two months later, the first time since 1897 that the world's oldest and most prestigious annual 26.2-mile race was not run.

Plans for this year's race are pending approval from the eight cities and towns that are part of the marathon route.

SOCCER

LONDON (AP) - Chelsea hired Thomas Tuchel as manager on Tuesday on an 18-month contract to replace the fired Frank Lampard.

Tuchel, a 47-year-old German, is back in work a month after losing his job at Paris Saint-Germain following a power struggle with the club. In his 2 1/2 years in Paris, he led the team to back-to-back French league titles and the Champions League final last season.

His first match in charge will be against Wolverhampton on Wednesday.

ZURICH (AP) - FIFA set a new target Tuesday of finalizing North American host cities for the 2026 World Cup - if the coronavirus pandemic allows.

The 23 candidate cities likely need to be cut to 16. FIFA said it could confirm them at the end of the the year.

The pre-pandemic schedule called for cities hosting the first 48-team World Cup - likely 10 in the United States and three each in Canada and Mexico - to be picked early this year. The new deadline will depend on FIFA officials being able to take inspection trips to 17 cities in the United States and three each in Canada and Mexico.

SWIMMING

The U.S. Olympic swimming trials will be split into two meets, a striking change designed to provide safer conditions on the pool deck in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

USA Swimming announced Tuesday that a Wave I meet of lower-ranked swimmers qualifying for the trials will be held on June 4-7.

The top finishers will advance to the main Wave II meet on June 13-20 - the already scheduled dates for the trials - to determine who represents the U.S at the Tokyo Games.

YACHTING

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - U.S. challenger American Magic returned its racing yacht Patriot to the water Wednesday just 10 days after a dramatic capsize threatened to ends its involvement in the America's Cup in New Zealand.

Patriot was slowly lowered into the water at the team's Auckland base and was expected to sail later in the day to begin systems checks - the first step to a full return to racing.

On its relaunch, Patriot had a new emblem over the area of the bow which had been holed - crossed band aids bearing the Italian, British and New Zealand flags and the message: "thankyou."

OBITUARY

NEW YORK (AP) - Harthorne Wingo, a fan favorite and reserve on the New York Knicks' 1973 NBA championship team, has died. He was 73.

He died Jan. 20 in a New York City hospital, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told The Associated Press. The cause was not immediately available.

The 6-foot-6 forward spent four seasons with the Knicks from 1972-76, averaging 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds. He also played overseas.

BOSTON (AP) - Ron Johnson, who worked 25 seasons as a minor league manager, most recently for the Triple-A Norfolk Tides in the Baltimore Orioles system, died on Tuesday. He was 64.

Johnson appeared in 22 major league games with the Kansas City Royals and Montreal Expos from 1982-84, mostly as a first baseman, batting .261 in 53 career plate appearances. He went on to manage in the Royals, Red Sox and Orioles systems.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Bob Fisher, the world's preeminent yachting journalist and one of the top America's Cup historians who also was a champion sailor, has died. He was 85.

Fisher died of cancer Monday at his home in Lymington, England, daughter Alice Davies confirmed in an email to The Associated Press.

Davies said that shortly after INEOS Team UK clinched a spot in the America's Cup challenger final on Saturday in New Zealand, Sir Ben Ainslie called Fisher's wife, Dee, to say he was dedicating a thrilling victory over Italy's Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team to Fisher.

PRAGUE (AP) - Jozef Venglos, a Slovak coach who was the first manager born outside Britain and Ireland to take charge of a top-tier club in England, has died. He was 84.

Slovakia's soccer association said Venglos died Tuesday surrounded by his family. No details about the cause of death were given.

Venglos was a respected, experienced coach when he arrived in Birmingham in 1990 to take charge of Aston Villa in the first division for what was the toughest job of his illustrious career.

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