Giants manager Bruce Bochy to retire after this season

Bruce announced Monday this will be his last season managing the San Francisco Giants, his 25th as a big league manager.

He told the team before Monday’s spring training workout at Scottsdale Stadium.

Bochy, who turns 64 on April 16, had offseason hip replacement surgery that has him moving more swiftly. He came to San Francisco from the San Diego Padres before the 2007 season, in time to watch Barry Bonds break Hank Aaron’s career home run record that August.

Bochy begins his 13th season with the Giants. He led the club to World Series titles in 2010, ’12 and ’14.

Every other manager with three or more titles has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Bochy has faced daily questions about his future, and wanted to address his plans now and avoid distractions later in the season. He intends to stay in baseball in another role that has yet to be determined.

He spent his first 12 seasons as a manager with the Padres from 1995-2006, guiding San Diego to the NL pennant in 1998.

RICKETTS APOLOGIZES FOR DISTRACTION OF FATHER’S EMAILS >> Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts apologized to the team’s players and coaching staff at spring training on Monday for any distraction caused by offensive racist emails written by his father.

“The emails that were in there were unacceptable and had no place. My father has no direct role or economic interest in the team. That doesn’t represent what this organization is,” Tom Ricketts said after addressing the team. “I also said: ‘Look, I’m sorry for the distraction this may have created the last couple days. We need to focus on baseball. We need to get back to our winning ways. We need to get off to a fast start.’ The last thing the organization needs is more off-the-field distractions.”’

Joe Ricketts’ emails were published by Splinter News and included Islamophobic comments, such as “Islam is a cult and not a religion.” Other emails discussed conspiracies about former President Barack Obama’s birthplace and education.

Tom Ricketts said he was surprised by the emails because “our family was never raised that way. I’ve never heard my father say anything that was even remotely racist. It just isn’t our family values.”

Joe Ricketts, who founded TD Ameritrade, apologized. Tom Ricketts said in statement that his father’s emails don’t reflect the values of the Cubs.

The Cubs and the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced Tom Ricketts had met with leaders of several Muslim groups in what the team said was a step to take “genuine, meaningful and visible steps toward combating Islamophobia, bigotry and racism.”

College basketball

MICHIGAN STATE’S WARD EXPECTED TO BE OUT FOR WEEKS >> Michigan State forward Nick Ward had surgery on his broken left hand and is expected to be out of for at least a few weeks.

Ward said he was injured when his hand made contact with an opponent’s elbow in a 62-44 win over Ohio State on Sunday.

Ward is the team’s second-leading scorer at 15.1 points per game and third-leading rebounder at 6.7 per game. The 6-foot-9 junior returned to school after putting his name in the NBA draft last year.

Shooting guard Joshua Langford, the team’s third-leading scorer, had season-ending surgery on his left foot this month.

The 10th-ranked Spartans (21-5, 12-3 Big Ten) host Rutgers on Wednesday and play at No. 7 Michigan on Sunday, starting the week sharing first place in the Big Ten with the Wolverines.

Sophomore Xavier Tillman, who averages 7.3 points and 8.9 rebounds, will likely start in Ward’s place in the post.