Baseball
Little League International announced mandatory criminal background checks for its volunteer coaches, new eligibility requirements for players and a host of new rules on Wednesday intended to increase the pace of play.
Under the rules changes that take effect this year, local leagues will have the option to force batters to keep one foot in the batter’s box during regular-season games and allow intentional walks by announcing the decision to the umpire rather than throwing four balls. Umpires will also be able to eject a player and manager determined to be stealing signs.
Leagues will now be required to conduct nationwide background checks of sex offender registry data and other criminal records for its coaches and others involved with running teams.
Little League also changed its eligibility rules nearly two years after a residency scandal cost Chicago-based Jackie Robinson West its national title. The rules remove a school report card as proof of residence, replacing it with a school enrollment form and documents from each of three residency categories.
Golf
SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods will start the new year at a familiar place – Torrey Pines, where he has won eight times as a pro.
The Farmers Insurance Open announced Wednesday that Woods has committed to playing Jan. 26-29. It will be his first official PGA Tour event since he tied for 10th in the Wyndham Championship in August 2015.
Woods missed all of 2016 recovering from two back surgeries, returning last month at the Hero World Challenge. He finished 15th in a 17-man field in the Bahamas.
NFL
NEW YORK – The NFL’s finance and stadium committees will meet in New York next Wednesday to discuss the potential relocation of the Chargers from San Diego to Los Angeles.
Chargers Chairman Dean Spanos has indicated he will move the team into the $2.6 billion stadium being built by Rams owner Stan Kroenke and scheduled to open for the start of the 2019 season. Spanos has until Jan. 15 to exercise his option to do so, which would give Los Angeles two franchises next season.
Oakland owner Mark Davis is planning a move to Las Vegas, where $750 million in taxpayer money has been committed for a $1.9 billion facility that would open in 2019 or 2020.
HOUSTON – Rookie Connor Cook will start for the Oakland Raiders in their wild-card game against the Houston Texans on Saturday.
Cook will become the first quarterback in NFL history to make his first start in a playoff game.
Cook was thrust into action Sunday during Oakland’s 24-6 loss at Denver after Matt McGloin injured his shoulder. McGloin was starting after Derek Carr broke his leg a week earlier.
NHL
BOSTON – Hockey hall of famer Milt Schmidt has died at the age of 98, Bruins team spokesman Matt Chmura said Wednesday. Schmidt, the NHL MVP in 1951, was the league’s oldest living former player.
Schmidt led Boston to two Stanley Cup championships as the center of the famed “Kraut Line.” He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force two months after the Pearl Harbor attack and returned to the NHL to win its MVP award and two more titles as the Bruins general manager.
No other details were immediately available about Schmidt’s death.
Schmidt is the only Bruin in franchise history to serve as on-ice captain, coach and general manager.
Skiing
SAALBACH, Austria – The Austrian ski federation said Cornelia Huetter will miss the rest of the Alpine skiing season after tearing her ACL and damaging the meniscus in her right knee during a training crash Wednesday.
The Austrian, who has one World Cup win and 10 podiums, had her best result this season by finishing runner-up to Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia in a downhill in Val d’Isere, France, last month.
Huetter became the third prominent member of the Austrian women’s ski team after Eva-Maria Brem and Carmen Thalmann to be ruled out of the Feb. 6-19 world championships.
Associated Press
