Player salaries out of control for the 2013 MLB season

NEW YORK | Alex Rodriguez will make more this year than all the Houston Astros combined — a lot more.

Steroids fallout: No BB Hall for Bonds, Clemens, Sosa

NEW YORK | No one was elected to the Hall of Fame this year. When voters closed the doors to Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa, they also shut out everybody else.

Drop the puck: NHL, players settle labor dispute

NEW YORK | They walked into a Manhattan hotel, knowing they were running out of time to save their season.

Major League Baseball loses its 'Moses" at age 95

NEW YORK | Marvin Miller, a labor economist, never played a day of organized baseball. He preferred tennis. Yet he transformed the national pastime as surely as Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, television and night games.

Miguel Cabrera, Buster Posey win MVP awards

NEW YORK | Miguel Cabrera has a Most Valuable Player award to go with his Triple Crown. And Buster Posey has an MVP prize to put alongside his second World Series ring.

Giants defeat Tigers in 10; sweep World Series

DETROIT | Marco Scutaro singled home the tiebreaking run in the 10th inning, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 on Sunday night to complete a four-game sweep and win their second World Series title in three years.

Sports stars sell memories, beat tax increase

NEW YORK | Rather than leave a 56-year-old uniform hanging in a closet at his Idaho home, Don Larsen decided it should be used for education.

Reds to host Angels in 1st interleague opener

NEW YORK | One of baseball's traditional home openers will have an innovative twist next season.

NHL players to challenge lockout in 2 provinces

NEW YORK | As hockey prepared for its first work stoppage since the 2004-05 season was wiped out, the NHL Players Association planned to challenge a lockout before labor boards in Quebec and Alberta.

Spending drops 11 pct in MLB draft

NEW YORK | Spending by teams in baseball's amateur draft dropped by 11 percent in the first year of restrictions imposed by the new labor contract.

Giant blowout: NL routs AL 8-0 in All-Star game

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Melky Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval sent the National League to a big early lead. Matt Cain and the rest of an imposing pitching staff finished off a Giant blowout in the All-Star game.

Interleague rivalry games to be reduced in 2013

KANSAS CITY, Mo. | The number of games between interleague rivals such as the Cubs and White Sox, Yankees and Mets, and Dodgers and Angels will be reduced under Major League Baseball's new schedule format for 2013.

Already in first place, Pirates waiting for top prospects

KANSAS CITY, Mo. | When Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon walk into locker rooms after minor league games, they tinker with the TV.

High MLB draft picks sign for $1,000 apiece

NEW YORK | At 5-foot-11, Kyle Kraus didn't expect to be a high pick in the Major League Baseball draft after going 7-6 with a 2.03 ERA as a senior at the University of Portland.

Five-time champion Moose Skowron dead at 81

Moose Skowron, a five-time World Series champion and one of only two players to hit three home runs in Game 7s, died Friday of congestive heart failure at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. He was 81.

Giants ace Tim Lincecum heads 142 in arbitration

NEW YORK | San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum headed 142 players filing for arbitration on Friday and is set to ask for a record salary when figures are exchanged this week.

Barry Larkin elected to baseball Hall of Fame

NEW YORK | Barry Larkin was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame on Monday with plenty of room to spare.

New MLB deal includes extra replay

NEW YORK | Baseball's new labor contract includes more video replay, the chance for a longer All-Star break and a small, but likely welcome perk for players: the chance to get a private room instead of a roommate during spring training.

AP source: Braun has positive drug test, appealing

NEW YORK | National League MVP Ryan Braun has tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance, a case still under appeal to an arbitrator under Major League Baseball's drug program, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

Pujols, Angels reach $254 million, 10-year deal

DALLAS | Albert Pujols could have been a wealthy Cardinal for life, planning for the day his statue would be erected outside Busch Stadium next to those of Stan Musial, Bob Gibson and the other St. Louis greats.

Buehrle wins Gold Glove for third-straight year

NEW YORK |Make it a three peat for White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle.

Pujols, Jackson, Wilson under special scrutiny

ST. LOUIS | For Albert Pujols, Edwin Jackson and C.J. Wilson, the future is now.

Napoli's homer lifts Rangers to 4-0 lead

ARLINGTON, Texas | Mike Napoli took a mighty swing, tossed his bat aside and trotted around the bases. Fireworks exploded in the air, and Texas Rangers fans cheered wildly.

Craig's pinch single gives Cardinals 3-2 lead

ST. LOUIS | Pinch-hitter Allen Craig singled in the go-ahead run off reliever Alexi Ogando in the sixth on a sinking line drive that dropped just in front of right fielder Nelson Cruz, and the St. Louis Cardinals led the Texas Rangers 3-2 after six innings Wednesday night in a chilly World S…

C.J. Wilson, the coolest person at the World Series

ST. LOUIS | The coolest person at the World Series is C.J. Wilson.

Tigers send Yankees packing

NEW YORK | Don Kelly and Delmon Young hit first-inning home runs, Doug Fister and the Detroit bullpen held on and the Tigers edged the New York Yankees 3-2 Thursday night to win the deciding Game 5 of the AL playoff series.

Fielder homer propels NL to consecutive All-Star wins

PHOENIX | Pitching, speed and a little bit of power. The National League is back on top in the All-Star game, using the same formula that worked during its dominating run in the 1970s and '80s.

Percentage of black baseball players drops again

NEW YORK | The percentage of black players in the major leagues dropped again on opening day this year even as the sport again received a top overall grade for racial diversity.

Velarde says Bonds' trainer gave him injections

SAN FRANCISCO | As prosecutors moved closer to finishing their case against Barry Bonds, former major league infielder Randy Velarde described meeting the slugger's personal trainer outside spring training ballparks for injections of human growth hormone.

Bonds' friend: I saw trainer holding syringe

SAN FRANCISCO | Barry Bonds looked at the witness stand with a blank expression as a childhood friend and former business partner described how baseball's biggest star walked into the master bedroom at his spring training home along with trainer Greg Anderson, who had a syringe with a needle.

Bonds goes on trial Monday for 2003 testimony

When Barry Bonds walked into the federal courthouse in San Francisco on Dec. 4, 2003, his career total stood at 658 home runs, baseball had yet to institute drug testing with penalties and the Giants were nearly a half-century removed from their last World Series title.

Cliff Lee forgoes an extra $30 million

NEW YORK | At some point, it seems, Cliff Lee figured it wasn't about the money anymore.

After the World Series ends, free agency begins

NEW YORK | Baseball's offseason market got busy even faster than usual Tuesday, with teams forced to make quick decisions on contract options as they prepare offers to a relatively weak free-agent class headed by Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford.

Cain gives Giants 9-0 win, 2-0 World Series lead

SAN FRANCISCO | Matt Cain shut down the Texas Rangers with the type of suffocating pitching that put the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.

Pedro Martinez rejects offers to return to majors

NEW YORK | Pedro Martinez's phone has been ringing during the last two weeks.

A-Rod hits home run No. 600

NEW YORK | Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to hit 600 home runs Wednesday, reaching the milestone after a 12-game drought — and exactly three years to the day after his 500th homer — with a drive off Toronto's Shaun Marcum in the first inning at Yankee Stadium.

Yankees PA man Bob Sheppard dies

NEW YORK | The New York Yankees say longtime public address announcer Bob Sheppard has died. He was believed to be 99.

U.S. soccer team scatters, pondering what might have been

IRENE, South Africa | They started scattering Sunday to the United States and Europe, never to come together as a group again.

Team USA's World Cup run thwarted by Ghana

RUSTENBURG, South Africa | Life on the edge came to an exhausting and crushing end for the United States against a familiar foe.

Big expectations as U.S. meets Ghana in World Cup

RUSTENBURG, South Africa | For other countries, a second-round World Cup match is a big step. For the United States, today's game against Ghana is so much more.

Donovan injury-time tally helps U.S. advance at World Cup

PRETORIA, South Africa | Over and over, everything seemed to go against them.

Second-half comeback keeps US alive in World Cup

JOHANNESBURG | Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley scored in a furious second-half comeback, giving the United States a 2-2 tie against Slovenia on Friday that kept alive the Americans' chances of advancing in the World Cup.

Cubs tickets at Wrigley Field cost most

NEW YORK | The Chicago Cubs have the highest-priced tickets for regular seats in the major leagues, overtaking the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

APNewsBreak: McGwire says telling family toughest

NEW YORK | Mark McGwire's voice repeatedly cracked with emotion during a telephone interview with The Associated Press as he recounted telling his wife, parents and son that he had used steroids.

APNewsBreak: McGwire admits using steroids

NEW YORK |Mark McGwire finally came clean, admitting he used steroids when he broke baseball's home run record in 1998.

Dawson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

NEW YORK | Andre Dawson got up at 6 a.m. and went to the gym. Before going back home, he took a detour from his usual routine on the day Hall of Fame voting is announced.

Andre Dawson elected to Hall of Fame

NEW YORK | Andre Dawson has been elected to the Hall of Fame, while Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar fell just short of earning baseball's highest honor.

T.F. South's Granderson could be heading to Yankees

INDIANAPOLIS | A person familiar with the negotiations says the Yankees, Tigers and Diamondbacks are nearing agreement on a three-team trade that would send star center fielder Curtis Granderson, a T.F. South grad, from Detroit to New York.

Clemens takes lumps on Capitol Hill: 'You're 1 of my heroes. But it's hard to believe'

WASHINGTON | Roger Clemens stuck out his famous right arm, the one that earned 354 major league wins, seven Cy Young Awards, $160 million, and pointed in the direction of his accuser.