BASEBALL
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) - Greg Maddux and Tony La Russa will not have logos on their Hall of Fame plaques.
The decision was announced by the Hall, which said Joe Torre’s plaque will have the logo of the New York Yankees.
Plaques for Tom Glavine and Bobby Cox will have Atlanta Braves logos, and Frank Thomas’ will have the logo of the Chicago White Sox.
The six will be inducted during ceremonies on July 27. The managers were elected last month by the Hall’s expansion-era committee and the players were chosen this month by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Of the 300 previous Hall members, 86 have caps with logos and 42 don’t have caps.
PRO FOOTBALL
BEREA, Ohio (AP) - Mike Pettine knows he might not have been Cleveland’s first choice or even the Browns’ second pick.
All that matters to the son of a high school coaching legend is that he’s the one they selected.
After nearly a month of twists, turns and talk, the Browns found their man.
Buffalo’s defensive coordinator, who didn’t seem to be on Cleveland’s radar when the team began a coaching search last month, signed a five-year contract and was named the Browns’ seventh full-time coach since 1999. Pettine replaces Rob Chudzinski, fired on Dec. 29 after just one season.
The Browns interviewed 10 candidates before deciding on the 47-year-old Pettine, who has built a solid reputation with a no-nonsense approach with his players.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Jason Licht welcomes the challenge of turning the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into a championship contender, and the team’s new general manager doesn’t believe it’ll take long to do it.
Without making any bold predictions or offering a specific timetable for success, Licht said the Bucs already have a solid foundation in place and that he’s confident he and incoming coach Lovie Smith will form a “partnership” that will help the struggling franchise end its cycle of losing.
The Bucs have missed the playoff the past six seasons. They haven’t won a postseason game since the 2002 Super Bowl run that produced the club’s only NFL title.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - For the third straight offseason, Adrian Peterson will be recovering from surgery.
The Minnesota Vikings said their star running back had an operation to repair his adductor muscle, which is part of the groin. The team said Peterson was expected to be fully recovered in about six weeks, giving him plenty of time to heal before offseason workouts get going.
Peterson rushed for 1,266 yards in 14 games, missing two in December due to a sprained right foot. The groin problem was lingering long before that, though, sapping him of some of his explosiveness. He acknowledged after a loss at Seattle Nov. 17 that the injury was bothering him “a lot.”
GOLF
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The best score belonged to Stewart Cink. The best round belonged to Pat Perez. Tiger Woods didn’t come close to claiming either in the Farmers Insurance Open, where the seven-time champion failed to break par in the opening round for first time in his career.
Cink ran off three straight birdies late in his round on the easier North Course at Torrey Pines for an 8-under 64. That gave him a one-shot lead over Gary Woodland, who also was on the North, which is more than 600 yards shorter.
Perez was on the South Course, host of the 2008 U.S. Open. He had a 67, the best score on the South by two shots, and even more astounding is that he played bogey-free.
The South played nearly four shots harder than the North.
Woods, making his 2014 debut, failed to birdie any of the par 5s and had to settle for a 72.
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) - Lydia Ko took a share of the lead in her first start as an LPGA Tour member, matching Meena Lee with a 5-under 68 in the season-opening Bahamas LPGA Classic.
The 16-year-old Ko turned pro late last year. She won the Canadian Women’s Open the last two years as an amateur and closed last season with a victory in a non-tour event in Taiwan in her second pro start.
Third-ranked Stacy Lewis, paired with Ko, was a stroke back at 69 along with Jessica Korda, Brittany Lang, Mirim Lee, Austin Ernst, Danah Bordner, Amelia Lewis, P.K. Kongkraphan and Candie Kung. Michelle Wie shot 72.
DOHA, Qatar (AP) - Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello birdied four of his last five holes for a 7-under 65 and a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Qatar Masters.
Cabrera-Bello had a 13-under 131 total. South Africa’s George Coetzee was second after a 69. John Daly was 8 under after a 69.
PRO BASKETBALL
NEW YORK (AP) - Kobe Bryant called for younger players in the All-Star game, and the fans listened. They still want Bryant, too.
Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, Paul George and Kyrie Irving were voted NBA All-Stars, putting four first-time starters in the Feb. 16 game in New Orleans.
Bryant was elected by fans to his 16th All-Star game, second-most in NBA history, but this one is shaping up as a kids’ game as the four first-time starters are all 25 or younger.
Curry, perhaps the biggest snub last season, will join Bryant in the Western Conference backcourt. Love passed Dwight Howard in the final days of voting and will start in the frontcourt along with Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and the Clippers’ Blake Griffin.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The Shock hired Fred Williams as head coach, bringing in the former Atlanta Dream coach to turn around Tulsa’s fortunes.
Williams replaces Gary Klo’ppenburg, who was dismissed after compiling a 20-47 record the past two years. Nolan Richardson was the Shock’s first coach after the team moved from Detroit to Tulsa.
Last year, the Dream were 17-17 in the regular season and reached the WNBA Finals before falling to the Minnesota Lynx.
Williams is 58-55 as head coach and 5-6 in the postseason.
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