In Brief

baseball

Palmeiro, Gonzalez on Hall ballot for first time

Suspected steroid users Rafael Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez are on baseball's Hall of Fame ballot for the first time and join Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar, both having fallen just short in last year's vote.

Former Most Valuable Players Jeff Bagwell and Larry Walker and former Rookies of the Year Benito Santiago and Raul Mondesi will also be on the 33-man ballot, the Baseball Writers' Association of America said Monday.

Palmeiro is 12th on the career list with 569 home runs and had 3,020 hits, joining Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray as the only players in the 500-3,000 club.

Palmeiro wagged his finger at Congress in 2005 while denying he used steroids, then tested positive a few months later and was suspended for 10 days.

Also: The Colorado Rockies have scheduled a news conference for today amid MLB.com and Denver Post reports that the team has agreed to a seven-year extension with All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and is close to re-signing free-agent left-handed pitcher Jorge De La Rosa to a three-year deal.

Tulowitzki hit .315 with 27 homers and 95 RBIs this year. De La Rosa went 8-7 with a 4.22 ERA in an injury-plagued 2010.

San Francisco infielder Juan Uribe is closing in on a three-year deal to leave the Giants for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Pitcher Javier Vazquez and Florida have reached a preliminary agreement on a $7 million, one-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations said.

Gil McDougald, an All-Star infielder who helped the New York Yankees win five World Series championships during the 1950s, has died of prostate cancer. He was 82.

Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller is improving after being hospitalized with pneumonia.

Feller, 92, was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic last week.

soccer

U.S. women face stiff challenge in World Cup

The United States wound up with what could be the toughest group at next summer's Women's World Cup, drawing North Korea, Colombia and Sweden in Group C.

Sweden is No. 4 in the latest world rankings, and North Korea is sixth.

The United States is the world's top-ranked team and defending Olympic champion and has lost only two games since the 2007 World Cup.

Also: FIFA was hit by further corruption allegations three days before the vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts, as three senior officials were accused by European media of having received secret payments.

miscellaneous

Hockey world gathers to say farewell to Burns

Pat Burns, who coached the New Jersey Devils to the 2003 Stanley Cup title, was remembered for his booming voice, big heart and the ability to draw the most out of his players.

Players, coaches and executives from across hockey gathered for his funeral in Montreal, where a flame near the altar flickered above a miniature Stanley Cup. Burns died of cancer this month at 58.

Also: Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari's mother, Donna, died Sunday in Charlotte, N.C., after a long battle with cancer. She was 74.

Cadillac will be the title sponsor of the World Golf Championships at Doral through at least 2016.

General Motors and the PGA Tour announced the deal Monday, advancing the automaker's progress out of bankruptcy protection.