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After coming painfully short in the voting a year ago, former Roberto Alomar got the news he wanted to hear Wednesday. The former Toronto Blue Jays star infielder is headed to Cooperstown. Alomar and Bert Blyleven were selected for induction into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. "It's been a happy day for me, for my family, for Puerto Rico and hopefully for the city of Toronto," Alomar said at a news conference at the Rogers Centre. Alomar, a 12-time all-star who helped lead the Blue Jays to World Series titles in 1992 and 1993,...

NEW YORK -- Andre Dawson is this year's sole electee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, it was announced on Wednesday. Dawson, an outfielder, made it on his ninth try. Robby Alomar, Barry Larkin and Bert Blyleven didn't make the cut. The right-handed pitcher Blyleven was shut out on his 13th. Alomar, a second baseman, was among 13 players on the ballot for the first time. Larkin, a shortstop, was also a first-timer. Dawson will be inducted on July 25 in Cooperstown, N.Y., along with manager Whitey Herzog and umpire Doug Harvey, who were elected in December by a...

Baseball great Roberto Alomar has full-blown AIDS but insisted on having unprotected sex, his ex-girlfriend charged Tuesday in a bombshell lawsuit. The shocking claim was leveled by Ilya Dall, 31, who said she lived with the ex-Met for three years and watched in horror as his health worsened. In papers filed in state and federal court, Dall said Alomar finally got tested in January 2006 while suffering from a cough, fatigue and shingles. "The test results of him being HIV-positive was given to him and the plaintiff on or about Feb.6, 2006," the $15 million negligence suit says. Nine days...

All-Star second baseman Roberto Alomar announced his retirement Saturday. The 37-year-old Alomar, who inked a contract with Tampa Bay in January, had been sidelined the past week with a back problem before returning to the Devil Rays' lineup Friday night. Alomar leaves the game as a career .300 hitter with 210 homers, 1,134 RBI and 474 stolen bases over 17 seasons with San Diego, Toronto, Baltimore, Cleveland, Arizona, the Chicago White Sox (news) and the New York Mets (news). He was a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner and was an All-Star 12 times, including 11 straight years from 1991-2001. He...

A man sits in the sparsely furnished reception hall of the Iraqi embassy in Pretoria, nervously fingering a string of prayer beads. The pain on his face is profound. In an office on the floor above, the ambassador of the besieged nation, Zuhair Mohammed Ahmed Al-Omar, is a picture of serenity. He displays no sign of the anxiety and sorrow gnawing at the soul of his countryman sitting below. Al-Omar, a distinguished-looking gentleman, is sucking on a cigar and his face lights up as we walk through the door - hardly what we expect. But then Al-Omar is nothing like...