Newsmakers

Announced Japanese baseball commissioner Ryozo Kato announced his resignation at an owners’ meeting in Tokyo. Kato, a former Japanese ambassador to the U.S., came under criticism in June when it was revealed the league had secretly switched to a livelier baseball for the 2013 season, resulting in a sharp increase in home runs.

Pleaded An associate of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to an accessory charge in the case in which Hernandez is charged with murder. Ernest Wallace appeared in Bristol Superior Court in Fall River, Mass. He was indicted last month on a charge of being an accessory to murder after the fact. He will continue to be held on $500,000 bail until a bail hearing on Thursday.

Approved BYU says the NCAA approved a waiver that will allow Notre Dame transfer safety Chris Badger to play football immediately. Badger, a Provo, Utah, native, enrolled at Notre Dame out of high school, but went on a two-year Mormon mission and put off college. He redshirted at Notre Dame last year then decided to transfer to BYU to be near his ill mother. BYU plays Notre Dame on Nov. 23.

Sidelined Wimbledon champion Andy Murray will have surgery on his back and miss the rest of the season. The third-ranked Murray will miss the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London on Nov. 4-11, along with the Masters events in Shanghai and Paris in October.

Backpedaled During a trip to London, sprinter Usain Bolt, who just three weeks ago announced he would stop racing after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, said he is “definitely reconsidering.” The Jamaican says he is looking to extend his career by a year after the 2016 Olympics, meaning he could retire after the 2017 world championships.

Claimed Embattled UCI president Pat McQuaid remains defiant, claiming he has support from “all five continents” as he seeks re-election next week, adding that he is “very assured” he will win another four-year term as head of cycling’s governing body. McQuaid is waging a bitter campaign battle with British cycling official Brian Cookson. Expected Seven-time All-Star third baseman David Wright is expected to return to the Mets’ lineup tonight in Philadelphia after missing seven weeks with a strained right hamstring.

Ruled Authorities in Atlanta say the death of Ronald Lee Homer Jr., a man who fell over a railing at Turner Field after a rain delay in an Aug. 12 game between Atlanta and Philadelphia, has been ruled a suicide.