Auto Racing
Petty fires crew chief Parrott for his failed drug test
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Richard Petty Motorsports fired Todd Parrott for violating NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy.
Parrott was crew chief for the No. 43 car driven by Aric Almirola for the last year. NASCAR suspended him indefinitely last week for failing a random drug test.
Car chief Greg Ebert was elevated to interim crew chief, beginning with this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway.
College Athletics
Miami football loses 9 and basketball 3 scholarships
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Miami’s football team will lose a total of nine scholarships, and the men’s basketball team will lose three as part of the penalties the school was handed Tuesday by the NCAA as the Nevin Shapiro scandal presumably drew to a close.
Both of those scholarship losses will be stretched out over three years. But for the first time since 2010, the football team will be permitted to appear in a postseason game.
The school also will serve three years of probation. Former men’s basketball coach Frank Haith, now at Missouri, will sit out the first five games of his team’s upcoming season as punishment for his involvement with the former booster, and three former Miami football and basketball assistant coaches were handed two-year show-cause bans.
MLB
Hirschbeck earns his 2nd crew at the World Series
BOSTON – John Hirschbeck will umpire his fourth World Series and will be crew chief for the matchup between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Hirschbeck will be behind the plate for Wednesday night’s opener at Fenway Park, with Mark Wegner at first, Dana DeMuth at second, Paul Emmel at third, Bill Miller in left and Jim Joyce in right. Hirschbeck also worked the Series in 1995 and 2006 and was crew chief in 2010.
DeMuth will be working his fourth Series and Joyce his third but first since 2001. This will be the second Series for Miller and the first for Emmel and Wegner.
Umpires will continue to wear “WB” patches honoring umpire Wally Bell, who died unexpectedly Oct. 14. Bell umped the 2006 World Series and this year’s All-Star game.
Price is right for Reds as Baker’s replacement
CINCINNATI – The Reds stayed in-house for their next manager, giving pitching coach Bryan Price a three-year deal Tuesday to take the team deep into the playoffs.
The job carries enormous expectations for the 51-year-old Price, who has been one of the most successful pitching coaches in the majors but never has managed at any level. He and Triple-A manager Jim Riggleman were two in-house candidates considered for the job.
Dusty Baker led the Reds to three 90-win seasons and three playoff appearances in the last four years, but Cincinnati got knocked out in the first round of the postseason each time. The Reds fired Baker with a year left on his two-year contract after a final-week fade.
Soccer
El Salvador has 3 additional players nicked for fixing
ZURICH – FIFA imposed worldwide bans on three more El Salvador national team players in a match-fixing case, bringing the total to 19.
The players were not identified. FIFA said one player was banned five years by the El Salvador soccer association this month. Another player was suspended one year and the third for six months.
FIFA announced 16 global sanctions, including 14 lifetime bans, last week.
The case involves international matches, including El Salvador’s 5-0 loss to Mexico at the 2011 Gold Cup and a 2-1 loss in an exhibition against the United States in 2010. Under-20 national team matches also were involved.
El Salvador authorities shut down the senior national team during their investigation.
Associated Press
