A’s Beane named MLB Executive of the Year
A’s executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane was voted the inaugural Major League Baseball Executive of the Year.
Tampa Bay general manager Erik Neander and Milwaukee general manager David Stearns tied for second, MLB said Monday at the annual GM meetings, without announcing the totals. Each team had one vote, which had to be submitted by the end of the regular season.
Beane, 56, has headed baseball operations for the A’s since after the 1997 season, first as general manager, and in his current role since after the 2015 season.
Oakland had the fourthbest record in the major leagues this year at 97-65 and lost to the New York Yankees in the AL wildcard game. The A’s had the 28th-highest payroll as of Aug. 31 at $77.8 million, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox ($71.3 million) and Tampa Bay ($70.5 million).
Gymnastics
USOC TO DECERTIFY USA GYMNASTICS >> The U.S. Olympic Committee is moving to revoke USA Gymnastics’ status as the governing body for the sport at the Olympic level, meting out the nuclear option to an organization that has botched its own reorganization in the wake of a sex-abuse scandal involving former team doctor Larry Nassar.
In an open letter to the gymnastics community Monday, USOC CEO Sarah Hirshland said “you deserve better,” and that the challenges facing USA Gymnastics are more than it is capable of overcoming as currently constructed.
The organization, even with a newly constituted board of directors, made repeated mistakes after the revelations Nassar molested Olympians while working as a volunteer.
Those included the botched hiring of a program coordinator and an interim CEO to replace Kerry Perry, who lasted barely nine months on the job after replacing Steve Penny.
By decertifying USA Gymnastics, the USOC is taking major action against an organization that couldn’t grasp its own rebuilding. But the move also leaves a void that cannot be easily filled. In addition to supporting elite and Olympic athletes, USA Gymnastics serves more than 150,000 athletes in 3,000 clubs around the country. There is no other organization standing by to fill that need.
Tennis
DJOKOVIC BACK AT NO. 1 >> Novak Djokovic returned to No. 1 after a two-year absence and is assured of becoming the first man in the history of the ATP rankings to finish a season at the top spot after being outside the top 20 during that season. That’s because the man he overtook, Rafael Nadal, is done for 2018. Nadal withdrew from the ATP Finals on Monday, citing an abdominal injury, and announced he was having arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle.
Djokovic will be the ATP’s year-ending No. 1 for the fifth time, pulling even with Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors for the second most since the computer rankings began in 1973. Pete Sampras holds the record of six. John Isner replaces Nadal in the ATP Finals field.
College football
FORMER 49ER TAYLOR HONORED >> Former 49ers receiver John Taylor from Delaware State and Hugh Douglas from Central State are among the seven new inductees to the Black College Football Hall of Fame. Joining Taylor and Douglas in the 10th class are Emerson Boozer of Maryland Eastern Shore, Rich “Tombstone” Jackson from Southern, Frank Lewis from Grambling State, Timmy Newsome from Winston-Salem State and Arnett “Ace” Mumford.