BASEBALL

YANKEES FINALIZE $3.75M, ONE-YEAR DEAL WITH HAWKINS

The Yankees finalized a $3.75 million, one-year contract with LaTroy Hawkins yesterday, strengthening their weak middle relief with the veteran right-hander.

Hawkins, who turned 35 last Friday, was 2–5 with a 3.42 ERA last season for the Colorado Rockies. He made $3.25 million and Colorado declined a $3.75 million option, choosing to pay a $250,000 buyout.

New York’s middle relievers struggled last season, with Kyle Farnsworth and Luis Vizcaino pitching inconsistently for long stretches. The Yankees converting Joba Chamberlain, a starter in the minors, into a reliever for the final two months of the season. Chamberlain became Mariano Rivera’s primary setup man, but New York plans on including Chamberlain in its starting rotation next year.

CONGRESSMAN BALKS AT HAVING PLAYERS TESTIFY IN HEARINGS

A member of a congressional panel investigating performance-enhancing drugs in baseball believes there’s little to be gained by having players testify at next month’s hearings.

“If we went back to every player, we would have to do research every morning, noon and night,” Rep. Christopher Shays told the Associated Press yesterday. “There’s no way in my judgment we’re going to be able to focus on the past. Only a real court can do that.”

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled a Jan. 15 hearing featuring former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, author of the recent report linking more than 80 baseball players, including seven MVPs and 31 All-Stars, to steroids and other performance enhancers. Commissioner Bud Selig and union leader Donald Fehr are to attend.

BASKETBALL

ASSISTANT JIM BOYLAN NAMED INTERIM COACH FOR BULLS

Jim Boylan was promoted yesterday to interim head coach of the Chicago Bulls, who fired Scott Skiles on Monday after the team’s disappointing start.

Boylan was in his fourth season as an assistant under Skiles and has 14 years experience in the NBA but none as a head coach at the pro level.

“Jim has paid his dues as an assistant coach and has his own ideas on the way he wants us to play,” Bulls general manager John Paxson said in a statement.

HOCKEY

MSG SETTLES LAWSUIT WITH EX-RANGERS CHEERLEADER

Avoiding the potential of a second embarrassing sexual harassment trial, Madison Square Garden settled a lawsuit with a former Rangers cheerleader who had accused executives of making unwanted advances.

MSG and Courtney Prince, who was fired in January 2004, announced a settlement Wednesday of Prince’s federal lawsuit. Identical statements released by the arena and by Prince, 29, said the matter had been resolved “with no admission of wrongdoing on the part of any party.” Both sides declined further comment.

After refusing a settlement deal with former Knicks team executive Anucha Browne Sanders when she accused coach Isiah Thomas and MSG of sexual harassment, the team and the Garden endured an embarrassing trial that exposed the club’s tawdry side, from its dysfunctional clubhouse to its star player’s sexual exploits with a team intern.

Prince, the former captain of the Rangers’ cheerleading squad, said in her 2004 lawsuit that she was fired by the Garden after warning cheerleaders that at least one member of management was a sexual predator.

TENNIS

EVONNE GOOLAGONG GETS NO. 1 RANKING, 30 YEARS LATE

Evonne Goolagong finally made it to no. 1, although the honor was 30 years late in coming.

The Australian tennis star was told by the WTA Tour that she should have been top-ranked for a two-week period in 1976. That was a stretch in which she was in the middle of winning six tournaments, including the Australian Open and the season-ending Virginia Slims Championship.

But when some tournament records were transferred to a computer in 1976, all of Goolagong’s points were not entered and she never received the top ranking, the WTA said. The WTA has amended its records, making Goolagong the 16th no. 1 player since the introduction of tour computer rankings in 1975.