NEW YORK (AP) — Used to leading off, Ichiro Suzuki got antsy when he had to wait. Considered a no-doubt pick for baseball’s Hall of Fame and possibly the second unanimous selection, he waited by the phone for the expected call Tuesday. Fifteen minutes passed without a ring. “I actually started getting kind of nervous,” he said through a translator. “I was actually relieved when I first got the call.” Suzuki became the first Japanese player chosen for the Hall, falling one vote shy of unanimous when he was elected along with CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. Quite the journey for a 27-year-old who left the Pacific League’s Orix BlueWave in November 2000 to sign with Seattle as the first Japanese position player in Major League Baseball. “I don’t think anybody in this whole world thought that I would be a Hall of Famer,” he said. “As a baseball player, this is definitely the top of the top.” Suzuki received 393 of 394 votes (99.7%) from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Sabathia was on 342 ballots (86.8%) and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 votes more than the 296 needed for the required 75%.
QUINCY, Mass. (AP) — Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers is scheduled to go on trial Wednesday for allegedly shoving his girlfriend’s head into a wall and repeatedly choking her after she received a phone call while they were in bed together. Peppers, 29, faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and possession of a Class B substance believed to be cocaine, court documents show. He will appear in court in Quincy, Massachusetts. Police in Braintree, Massachusetts, said they were called to a home for an altercation between two people in October. Peppers allegedly pushed the woman to the ground, shoved her head into a wall, and allegedly choked her six times, according to court documents. Police said she refused to go to a hospital and was treated at the home for her injuries.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeBron James’ first triple-double after turning 40 was impressive enough. The fact that he did it one day after flying from Los Angeles to Atlanta and back just so he could cheer on his beloved Ohio State Buckeyes at the College Football Playoff championship game? That’s the type of sporting feat only the greats would even try to pull off. James showed neither jet lag nor fatigue while racking up 21 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 111-88 victory over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night. He spent Monday night 2,200 miles away in a luxury box at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, trading high-fives with old friends and family while watching the Buckeyes’ title-clinching victory over Notre Dame.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Ben Shelton’s Australian Open quarterfinal foe, Lorenzo Sonego, produced the shot of the tournament — diving to his left for a volley with so much spin that the ball bounced on one side of the net, then floated back over to the other — but it was the American who ended up with the victory Wednesday. The left-handed Shelton did some entertaining of his own, including earning cheers by doing a couple of push-ups after tumbling in the concluding tiebreaker, and he reached his second Grand Slam semifinal at age 22 by beating the unseeded Sonego 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (4). “I’m relieved,” said Shelton, who will meet No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy on Friday for a spot in the final. “Shout out Lorenzo Sonego because that was some ridiculous tennis.” Sinner, the defending champion at Melbourne Park, completely overwhelmed the last Australian in the men’s bracket, No. 8 Alex de Minaur, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 at night.
TUESDAY SCORES
NCAA MEN TOP 25
No. 3 Iowa State 108, UCF 83
No. 4 Alabama 103, Vanderbilt 87
No. 6 Tennessee 68, No. 14 Mississippi State 56
No. 10 Marquette 76, Seton Hall 59
Ohio State 73, No. 11 Purdue 70
No. 15 Oregon 82, Washington 71
UCLA 85, No. 18 Wisconsin 83
No. 19 UConn 80, Butler 78
Texas 61, No. 22 Missouri 53
Arizona State 65, No. 23 West Virginia 57
No. 25 Louisville 98, SMU 73