Giants Decide Their Woman Announcer Will Not Return

Sherry Davis, the first woman public address announcer in major league baseball, will not be asked to return next season after seven years with the San Francisco Giants.

Davis said she was told in November she might not be asked back, but hoped the team would change its mind.

But with the move to a new stadium next season, the team wanted a change.

“We know what Sherry can do,” said Tom McDonald, senior vice president in the team’s marketing department. “We listened to her for 81 games a year. We wanted someone with a richer voice quality, a more dynamic presence.”

He said the team would name Davis’ replacement next week.

“As we move into Pacific Bell Park, we were getting significant feedback from our fan base that they were dissatisfied with the announcing.”

Davis won an open audition at Candlestick Park is 1993, but was not invited to the latest round of tryouts.

“I don’t know what to say, really,” she told the San Francisco Examiner. “I mean, they held auditions without even telling me. I’d been working year to year, just like the players. They kept me kind of in the dark about the whole thing.”

Boxing

A retired boxer says he was offered $30,000, the biggest purse of his career, to throw a fight to Roberto Duran when the legendary fighter was years past his prime.

Sanderline Williams said associates of Duran made the offer in a restaurant near Cleveland in the early 1990s, the Miami Herald reported in Friday’s editions. The fight never took place.

Williams, a former super-middleweight who fought for U.S. and North American titles, was once Duran’s sparring partner.

Williams said he was told Duran had no knowledge of the proposed fix. He refused to identify the men who asked him to throw the fight.

“They just said, ‘Don’t win,’ ” said Williams, 41. “They knew I had somewhat of a name, and they thought it would be good business if Roberto beat me.”

Williams made his allegation in the wake of a Herald report in October that cited more than 30 fixed or fraudulent fights since 1988.

Duran, through his Miami attorney, Tony Gonzalez, said he had no recollection of a proposed fight with Williams.

“I know nothing about this, and I don’t even know who this guy is,” Duran said.

Williams’ former manager, John Giachetti, said his fighter was offered $30,000 to fight Duran in the early 1990s, but the bout fell through. Giachetti said Duran’s former promoter, Mike Acri, proposed the fight but never asked Williams to throw it.

Hockey

Keith Tkachuk’s $8.3-million contract for next season has blocked a trade that would have sent Carolina’s Keith Primeau to Phoenix.

The proposed trade would have sent Primeau and defenseman Dave Karpa, now with Carolina’s top minor league team in Cincinnati, and two undisclosed draft picks to Phoenix for Tkachuk.

Peter Karmanos, owner of the Hurricanes, said Tkachuk’s contract made a deal unrealistic. The three-time all-star, who has two 50-goal seasons, is making $4.3 million this year but his salary jumps to $8.3 million next year.

“Keith Tkachuk has a stupid contract,” Karmanos told the Raleigh News & Observer.

Primeau, a restricted free agent since July 1, would have accepted a four-year, $16.9-million deal to join the Coyotes, said Don Reynolds, one of his agents.

Forward Gino Odjick of the New York Islanders was suspended by the NHL, pending a hearing, for actions against defenseman Darius Kasparaitis during Thursday night’s game at Pittsburgh.

Odjick received a major penalty and game misconduct at 11:28 of the third period in a game the Penguins won, 9-3.

As a result of the suspension, Odjick will sit out Sunday’s game against Philadelphia. No date has been set for the hearing.

The Tampa Bay Lightning suspended right wing Stephane Richer without pay after he failed to report to the Detroit Vipers of the International Hockey League. He was assigned to the Vipers on Thursday, two days after he left the Lightning and requested a trade.

The United States rallied for a 1-1 tie against Canada in a Pool A game at the World Junior Championships.

Jeff Taffe of Minnesota scored with seven minutes left on assists by Brett Nowak of Harvard and Ron Hainsey of Massachusetts Lowell.

The U.S., which includes 10 National Hockey League draftees, fell behind when Erik Chouinard scored for Canada early in the second period.

The tie gave Canada second place in the group and it will play Switzerland in today’s quarterfinals. The United States plays Sweden, which beat Kazakhstan, 13-1.

Daniel Sedin, who is headed for the Vancouver Canucks with his twin brother, Henrik, next fall, had four goals and an assist. Henrik had four assists.

Sweden finished as runner-up in Pool B behind defending champion Russia. The Russians defeated Switzerland, 7-1, and will play Finland in the quarterfinals.

In the other quarterfinal game, the Czech Republic, which won Pool A with a 4-2 victory over Finland, plays Kazakhstan.

Miscellany

Paul Tergat of Kenya won his fourth St. Silvester road race Friday, beating a field of about 12,000 in the 75th annual year-end event at Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The 30-year-old Tergat equaled the four-victory record shared by only three other runners since the 9.3-mile race was first run in 1925: Gaston Roelants of Belgium (1964, 1965, 1967 and 1968); Colombia’s Victor Mora (1972, 1973, 1975 and 1981); and Ecuador’s Rolando Vera (1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989). Tergat won the race in 1995, 1996 and 1998.

Lydia Cheromei of Kenya ran to an easy victory in the women’s event, beating a field of about 1,000 runners.

The Long Beach Plaza Pioneers, a Pony League all-star baseball team, will represent Southern California next July in the national championships. The Pioneers went 6-0 in a recent tournament to qualify for the nationals.

Muhammad Ali opened the New York Stock Exchange for the final trading session of the 1900s with an admonition.

“If it goes up, then you will have been blessed by my presence,” he told traders. “If it goes down, I had nothing to do with it.”

Ali was the third sports figure to open trading as part of the Exchange’s Bridging the Millennium program, honoring achievers of the 20th century. Hank Aaron and Joe Namath previously opened trading.