Rob Picciolo dies — longtime A’s infielder
Rob Picciolo, a former A’s infielder who later coached with the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels, died of a heart attack Monday. He was 64.
Picciolo played mainly shortstop for Oakland from 1977 until he was traded to Milwaukee in May 1982. After spending 1½ seasons with the Brewers and one with the California Angels, Picciolo returned to Oakland for his final big-league season in 1985.
Known for his defense, Picciolo hit .236 in his career with the A’s, two points higher than his overall career average.
Picciolo later spent 20 years in the Padres’ organization. He was a minor-league manager and spent nearly 16 seasons on the big-league coaching staff under three managers. He was on the Angels’ staff from 2010 through ’13.
Carmen “Carm” Cozza, who coached Yale to 10 Ivy League football titles over 32 years as well as the famed 29-29 tie with Harvard, died Thursday. He was 87.
Cozza coached the Bulldogs from 1965 to 1996 and was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002. He retired as the winningest coach in Ivy League history, with a career record of 179119-5, including an undefeated 1968 season that ended in a tie with Harvard.
Harvard scored 16 points in the final minute for the tie. The headline in the Harvard Crimson student newspaper read, “Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29.
ELSEWHERE Serena Williams won’t defend title
Defending champion Serena Williams withdrew from the Australian Open, which begins Jan. 15, saying she is not ready to return to tournament tennis. Williams was pregnant with her first child when she won last year’s tournament at Melbourne Park, the 23rd Grand Slam singles title of her career.
Williams played in an exhibition tournament last weekend in Abu Dhabi and indicated after her loss to French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko that she might not travel to Melbourne.
Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic advanced Switzerland into the Hopman Cup final with straight-set singles victories over their American opponents in Perth, Australia. Federer beat Jack Sock 7-6 (5), 7-5 before Bencic defeated CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (6), 6-4 to give Switzerland a winning 2-0 edge and first place in Group B. Switzerland will play the Group A winner in Saturday’s final at Perth Arena.
Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, 30, has been given a five-month suspension for doping. He said a sample he provided in July at the Swedish Open tested positive for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide, which can mask other substances. Bellucci said it was the result of a contaminated vitamin supplement.
Golf: Coming off his best year, Australia’s Marc Leishman got off to an ideal start in 2018 with eight birdies and a 6-under-par 67 for a one-shot lead in the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Hawaii. Americans Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler were in fourth, two shots behind in the first PGA Tour event of the year. Skiing: Marcel Hirscher won a slalom in Zagreb, Croatia, to match Italian Alberto Tomba’s tally of 50 men’s World Cup wins. The six-time overall champion from Austria became only the fourth male skier to reach that mark, joining Hermann Maier (54) and Ingemar Stenmark (86).
Baseball: The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired left-handed reliever Scott Alexander from the Kansas City Royals in a three-team trade. The Chicago White Sox got relievers Luis Avilan and Joakim Soria and cash. The Dodgers also obtained minor-league infielder Jake Peter and the Royals added two minor-leaguers in the deal.
Soccer: U.S. women’s nationalteam player Tobin Heath had ankle surgery and is out for up to 12 weeks.
Mohamed Salah was named African Player of the Year, a reward for success on all fronts in 2017 for the Egyptian forward after he inspired his country to a long-awaited World Cup spot and had a superb start to his career at Liverpool.