BRIEFLY : Beck, Named Player of the Year, to Sign With A’s

Rodney Beck, who will sign a contract to play professional baseball with the Oakland A’s on Sunday, was named City 4-A Player of the Year by the Los Angeles Board of Athletics, a panel of sportswriters who covered high school sports this season.

Beck compiled a 13-1 record with an 1.50 earned-run average to pitch Grant to the City championship. Selected in the 13th round of the June free-agent draft, Beck has delayed the signing so that he can play in Saturday’s Daily News Bernie Milligan All-Star game. The 6-2, 185-pound right-hander will leave for Medford, Ore., on Monday to play in the Class-A Northwest League.

Joining Beck on the All-City 4-A team are Grant teammates Sean Pettway, a catcher who batted .453, and outfielder Jason Peterson, who batted .400.

Ten other players from Valley-area schools made the 16-man team. Granada Hills, which lost to Grant in the City championship game Thursday, placed catcher Bob Allen (.468), shortstop Greg Fowble (.327) and pitcher Sean Casey (7-3) on the team.

The other seniors on the team are infielders Frank Zavala of San Fernando (.449), Peter Washington (.423) of North Hollywood and utility man Jordan Cook of Birmingham, who batted .472 and compiled a 6-3 record as a pitcher.

Underclassmen on the team are Luis Porres, a sophomore outfielder at Polytechnic who batted .456, sophomore infielder Joel Wolfe of Chatsworth (.391), junior infielder Ernie Perez of Birmingham (.491) and junior catcher Mike Urman of Canoga Park (.475).

Outfielder Chico Garcia (.434) and pitcher Armando Gomez (13-1) of Venice shared City 3-A Player of the Year honors.

Bradshaw Turns Down Offer to Coach at Royal

Dean Bradshaw, assistant basketball coach at Simi Valley High, turned down an offer to coach the Royal High basketball team Wednesday.

Bradshaw declined because Royal refused to allow him to name his own assistant coach.

“They met every need I gave them except the assistant coach one,” Bradshaw said Wednesday. “They couldn’t guarantee that the assistant would get a full-time teaching job. You can’t run a program by yourself. You have to have a trusted assistant.”

Bradshaw had chosen an assistant but declined to reveal his name.

Bob Fischer, an assistant principal at Royal, expressed disappointment at Bradshaw’s decision and said the school would choose one of three other coaches on their recruiting list: Gene Hatton, former Royal girls basketball coach; Joe Malkinson, last season’s sophomore boys coach, and Steve Johnson, sophomore boys coach at Simi Valley. The announcement is expected today.