Sports briefs 6/18/05

Baseball

• Reds starter Paul Wilson had surgery on his right shoulder Friday and will miss the rest of the season.

Doctors repaired partial tears in Wilson's labrum and rotator cuff. The right-hander also had surgery to repair a torn labrum in 1996, and missed the entire 1999 season after elbow surgery.

Wilson was placed on the disabled list May 25 after going 1-5 with a 7.77 ERA. He was Cincinnati's opening day starter after winning a career-high 11 games for the Reds in 2004.

* Debris from the plane crash that killed Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente was pulled from a memorabilia auction after his family threatened a lawsuit.

Seaford, N.Y.-based Lelands.com announced Friday it was pulling two items - a light metal piece of the airplane and a gray steel propeller - from the collection of four dozen Clemente mementos.

Clemente died Dec. 31, 1972, when the DC-7 he was on crashed after takeoff from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The plane was headed to Nicaragua with supplies for earthquake victims.

Clemente's family two weeks ago said it was considering legal action to stop the auction house from selling the airplane parts. Roberto Clemente Jr. said in a statement then that the family "will not tolerate anyone trying to benefit from my father's passing." Advertisement Lelands.com plans to return the light metal piece, measuring 19 inches by 14 inches at its largest point, to the collector who consigned the item into the auction. The propeller will be donated to the Puerto Rico Sports Museum.

* Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly was suspended 10 days by Major League Baseball on Friday for having pine tar on his glove during a game against the Washington Nationals.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia and Nationals manager Frank Robinson were suspended for one game apiece and fined an undisclosed amount. The two managers screamed at each other after Robinson had umpires inspect Donnelly's glove for a foreign substance in the top of the seventh inning during the Nationals' 6-3 victory Tuesday.

Basketball

* Significant progress was reported Friday in NBA labor talks after the sides met for more than 11 hours.

Commissioner David Stern, union director Billy Hunter and several owners and players met at a Manhattan hotel, the first substantive talks in weeks on a new labor agreement to replace the seven-year deal expiring June 30.

"We made significant progress today and tonight," deputy commissioner Russ Granik said. "We will convene again in small groups over the course of the weekend and will reconvene the larger group on Tuesday morning."

The talks began late Friday morning and lasted past 10 p.m. EDT. Neither side released details of what was discussed.

Football

* Ricky Williams will apply for reinstatement with the Miami Dolphins toward the end of next month.

The star running back's agent, Leigh Steinberg, said Friday that Williams would file the application on July 23 or shortly thereafter. Steinberg considers that date the one-year anniversary of Williams' retirement.

Williams, who has acknowledged that he tested positive for marijuana a third time last July, has to stay retired for a year to avoid a full season's suspension under the league's drug policy. He is still subject to a four-game ban.

Williams, who turned 28 last month, rushed for 1,853 yards in 2003, his first year in Miami after being traded from New Orleans, then ran for 1,372 the next season.

Horse racing

* Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo has a bone chip in his left front ankle and is likely sidelined for the rest of the year, trainer John Shirreffs said Friday. The 3-year-old colt will have surgery at Hollywood Park next week.

"The prognosis is excellent," Shirreffs told The Associated Press.

He said he hopes that Giacomo can return to racing by year's end or early in 2006, when he would race as a 4-year-old.

-- From wire reports