New York — Five-time AL batting champion Wade Boggs, eight-time All-Star Darryl Strawberry and two-time NL batting champion Willie McGee are among 12 players who will appear on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time.
Ryne Sandberg, Bruce Sutter, Jim Rice, Andre Dawson and Rich Gossage head the returning players on the ballots, which will be mailed this week to eligible voters in the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Also among the newcomers announced Monday are three-time All-Star outfielder Chili Davis, 1993 AL Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell, three-time All-Star reliever Jeff Montgomery and four-time All-Star pitcher Mark Langston.
Pete Rose, once again, will not be on the ballot because he is on baseball's permanently ineligible list, the result of a 1989 agreement that followed an investigation of his gambling. Rose, who earlier this year admitted he bet on baseball while managing in the 1980s, must gain reinstatement within the next year to appear on the 2006 ballot, the final year he would be eligible.
While Rose applied for reinstatement in 1997, baseball commissioner Bud Selig has not ruled and will not give a timetable for a decision.
Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley were elected to the Hall last year, while Sandberg was 71 votes short of the required 75 percent needed for election.
Deals finalized as talks resume
New York -- Damian Miller's $8.75 million, three-year contract was finalized by Milwaukee, and Doug Mirabelli became the first of Boston's 16 free agents to re-sign, agreeing to a $3 million, two-year deal Monday.
As the free-agent market resumed following the Thanksgiving break, Gary Bennett was the third catcher to sign, agreeing to a $750,000, one-year contract with the soon-to-be Washington Nationals. And the New York Yankees neared agreement on a contract with backup catcher John Flaherty.
Left-handed pitcher Dennys Reyes agreed to a $550,000, one-year contract with San Diego, who last week reached an agreement with right-hander Rudy Seanez for the same amount.
While the top and middle of the market await the Dec. 7 deadline for teams to offer arbitration to their players who became free agents, lower-profile players are signing.
Blue Jays agree to buy SkyDome
Toronto -- The Blue Jays agreed to buy SkyDome, the team's ballpark, for about $21.2 million.
The 50,000-seat stadium, which opened in 1989, cost about $375 million to construct and was mostly funded by taxpayers. The Blue Jays will acquire the ballpark from Sportsco International LP, a Chicago-based group of investors who bought SkyDome out of bankruptcy court in 1999 for about $74 million.
The sale, which was announced Monday, is expected to close in December. The team plans to replace the artificial turf with FieldTurf and install a new JumboTron scoreboard.
Bradley faces conduct charges
Copley, Ohio -- Los Angeles outfielder Milton Bradley was charged with disorderly conduct after interfering with a traffic stop near Akron.
Police say Bradley, who was driving a car ahead of a woman stopped for weaving on a highway Thursday, pulled over on an exit ramp and walked on the side of the highway until he reached the traffic stop.
"He started screaming to the officer something to the effect of, 'Why are you stopping my friend?'" Copley Township Police Chief Michael Mier said Monday. "The officer had to tell him several times to return to his vehicle and he refused to do so."
Bradley was charged with the fourth-degree misdemeanor.
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