Jays’ Beeston Appointed Baseball’s No. 2 Man

Toronto Blue Jays President Paul Beeston said he will leave the team and become president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball, filling a role that has been vacant since 1993.

The 52-year-old Beeston, who help mold the franchise from an expansion team in 1977 to two-time World Series champions in the early 1990s, now will be called upon to oversee the day-to-day operations of Major League Baseball. He will begin Aug. 1.

Beeston could bring stability to baseball’s front office, which has been operating under Acting Commissioner Bud Selig since Fay Vincent was forced to resign in 1992. Beeston’s immediate predecessor, deputy commissioner Steve Greenberg, resigned in April 1993.

“I look forward to embracing the new challenge and try to give something back to the game that has been so good to me,” Beeston said.

With the hiring of Beeston as baseball’s No. 2 official, some teams have increased their pressure on Bud Selig to accept a full term as commissioner.

“All I’ll say is I haven’t changed my mind since Sept. 9, 1992,” said Selig, who doesn’t want the job.

Whiten denies raping woman

New York Yankees outfielder Mark Whiten denied raping a woman at the team’s hotel in Milwaukee and contended the sex was consensual, police said.

Police have recommended a charge of second-degree sexual assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Whiten, 30, was arrested Monday, the final day of the Yankees’ four-game series with the Brewers. He was released on $10,000 bond while authorities review the case.

Whiten initially told investigators he didn’t have sex with the 31-year-old woman, then acknowledged he did.

The woman said she and a Yankees player went to the Pfister Hotel, where the team was staying. She said he forced her to have sexual intercourse in his room early Saturday, the police report said. Investigators determined the player was Whiten, who surrendered to police on Monday.

Last week, the outfielder missed two games to go to Clearwater, Fla., to join his wife, Sheri, when she delivered the couple’s second child, a boy.

Ventura to rejoin White Sox

The potential Murderers Row the Chicago White Sox envisioned when Albert Belle signed as a free agent in November - Frank Thomas, Albert Belle and Robin Ventura - will soon be a reality.

Ventura, sidelined since March 21 with a fractured ankle, returns from his minor-league rehabilitation assignment on Thursday before the opening of a series with the Texas Rangers at Comiskey Park.

Naehring out for rest of season

Oft-injured Red Sox third baseman Tim Naehring will have surgery on his right elbow and miss the rest of the season.

Team doctor Arthur Pappas said before Tuesday night’s game against Oakland that Naehring’s joint capsule has a hole in it. He said he will not know until after surgery is completed later this week if Naehring also has damaged his muscle, nerve or ligament.