Beltran retires at 40 after winning first World Series title

Carlos Beltran is retiring at age 40 after winning his first World Series title in his 20th major league season.

The outfielder made the announcement Monday, 12 days after the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7 of the World Series.

Beltran is a nine-time All-Star who won the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year award and three Gold Gloves.

His production dropped dramatically this year. He hit .295 with 29 homers and 93 RBI for the New York Yankees and Texas in 2016. He then batted .231 with 14 homers and 51 RBI for Houston.

He finishes with a .279 average, 435 homers, 1,587 RBI and 312 stolen bases. He also has played for Kansas City, the New York Mets, San Francisco and St. Louis.

INDIANS’ ANTONETTI NAMED EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR » Indians president Chris Antonetti has been named The Sporting News 2017 MLB Executive of the Year in a vote by general managers and other major-league executives.

Antonetti received the award as voted on by 44 MLB executives on the night of Nov. 13 during the start of the annual GM meetings in Orlando, Fla.

The Indians led the American League with 102 victories in 2017 and set an AL record by winning 22 straight games. They followed up their 2016 World Series appearance by making the playoffs in 2017. They were eliminated by the Yankees in five games of the ALDS.

Antonetti won in a landslide. He received 18 votes. Brian Cashman of the Yankees, Jeff Luhnow of the Astros and Mike Rizzo of the Nationals finished in a tie for second with four votes each.

NFL

BURFICT AVOIDS SUSPENSION » Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict won’t be suspended for the contact with an official that got him ejected from a 24-20 loss at Tennessee.

A league spokesman said Monday that Burfict faces a fine only. He pushed an official’s arm out of the way on the sideline in the second quarter after quarterback Marcus Mariota ran out of bounds. Two plays earlier, Burfict drew an unnecessary roughness penalty for hitting Mariota out of bounds.

It was the second game in a row that the Bengals (3-6) had a star player ejected before halftime. Receiver A.J. Green was kicked out of a loss at Jacksonville after grabbing cornerback Jalen Ramsey around the neck, tackling him and punching him.

The outburst by Green was out of character. He apologized after the game. Green was fined $42,541 by the NFL but wasn’t suspended. Ramsey also was ejected from the game but wasn’t suspended or fined.

The Bengals play at Denver (3-6) on Sunday, completing a stretch of three straight road games.

KAEPERNICK NAMED GQ’S CITIZEN OF THE YEAR » Free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been named GQ’s magazine’s “Citizen of the Year” for his activism.

Kaepernick began kneeling instead of stand during the national anthem last season to protest racial inequality and police brutality. The demonstration sparked an ongoing wave of NFL protests by players during the anthem that have been repeatedly denounced by President Donald Trump. Kaepernick parted ways with the 49ers in March and hasn’t been signed by another team.

Kaepernick says on Twitter he’s “honored” by the recognition.

Soccer

ITALY FAILS TO QUALIFY FOR WORLD CUP » Fourtime champion Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in six decades after losing its playoff to Sweden, 1-0, on aggregate.

They played to a goalless draw in the second leg at San Siro on Monday. Sweden advanced to its first World Cup since 2006.

This will be only the second World Cup missed by Italy. The first was in 1958.

The last major competitions Italy failed to qualify for were the 1984 and 1992 European Championships.