Update on the latest sports
APBASEBALL-SPINK AWARD RENAMED
Spink’s name stripped from Hall of Fame award over racism
NEW YORK (AP) — The Baseball Writers’ Association of America has voted to remove the name of J.G. Taylor Spink, former publisher of The Sporting News, from the award given annually by baseball’s Hall of Fame for meritorious contributions to baseball writing.
The BBWAA said Friday that 325 of 334 voters, 97%, had voted to remove the name following research into racism by Spink. The award voted on annually by BBWAA members will now be known as the BBWAA Career Excellence Award.
Spink was publisher of The Sporting News from 1914 until he died in 1962.
The change follows the October decision to remove the name of former baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis from the annual Most Valuable Player Award plaque.
NBA-ALL-STAR GAME
NBA planning All-Star Game
UNDATED (AP) — The NBA told its teams on Thursday night that it expects to finalize plans in the coming week to have an All-Star Game in Atlanta.
The game and skills competitions will be held on March 7, according to the league’s memo to teams. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press. It remains unclear when players would have to report to Atlanta and how testing will work there, or if fans will be part of the game.
The first-half schedule ends March 4, with the second half set to begin on March 11. The league said it expects to agree to terms with the National Basketball Players Association on testing protocols that will apply to all players during the break, how testing will work for the All-Star event, and when players will have to report back to their home markets to begin preparations for the second-half schedule.
The NBA said daily testing will continue during the break and the league expects that another condition will be that players won’t be allowed to travel internationally. If a player leaves his home market during the midseason break, the NBA is expected to mandate that he stay in private accommodations. All players will likely have to be back in their home markets within two days of their teams resuming play.
TENNIS-AUSTRALIAN OPEN-TUNEUP TOURNAMENTS
Williams withdraws from semifinals in Australian Open tuneup
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Serena Williams has withdrawn from a semifinal match against top-ranked Ash Barty in an Australian Open tuneup event. Williams beat Danielle Collins 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 in the quarterfinals and later said she was looking forward to a test against the current No. 1. She later pulled out citing a right shoulder injury to give Barty a walkover into the Yarra River Classic final.
Germany edged defending champion Serbia for a place in the ATP Cup semifinals with Alexander Zverev recovering from a singles loss to top-ranked Novak Djokovic (NOH’-vak JOH’-kuh-vich) to beat him in the deciding doubles.
The Australian Open starts Monday.
BOBSLED WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Humphries, Jones hold lead at bobsled world championship
ALTENBERG, Germany (AP) — Kaillie Humphries and Lolo Jones of the United States are the leaders at the midway point of the women’s bobsled world championship.
Humphries drove to the fastest time in each of the two runs. She and Jones finished with a combined time of 1 minute, 52.94 seconds. That puts them 0.34 seconds ahead of the German sled driven by Kim Kalicki and pushed by Ann-Christin Strack. The German sled driven by Laura Nolte and pushed by Deborah Levi is third and the U.S. team of Elana Meyers Taylor and Sylvia Hoffman is fourth.
The final two runs are Saturday.
