Fisk pleads guilty to DUI

HALL OF FAME catcher Carlton Fisk pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge, 2 months after police found him asleep in his pickup truck in a suburban Chicago cornfield.

Fisk, 64, was sentenced to 1 year of court supervision and must pay $1,250 in court costs. He also must undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and counseling.

Fisk's attorney, Stephen White, said in Will County court that Fisk wanted to accept responsibility for what he did.

"He stepped up to the plate," White said.

New Lenox, Ill., police found Fisk unconscious in the truck on Oct. 22 and said there was an open bottle of vodka on the floor. New Lenox is about 35 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.

Fisk became part of an unforgettable baseball moment while playing for the Boston Red Sox when he belted a 12th-inning home run that won Game 6 of the 1975 World Series. He played 11 seasons with the Red Sox and 13 with the Chicago White Sox.

In other baseball news:

* Free-agent slugger Hideki Matsui retired at 38, saying he is no longer able to perform at the level that made him a star in two countries. The 2009 World Series MVP with the New York Yankees and a three-time Central League MVP with the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants struggled in a brief stint with the Tampa Bay Rays last season and recently made up his mind to call it a career after 20 years - the first 10 in Japan.

Nicknamed Godzilla, Matsui was already perhaps the most popular player of his generation in Japan when he signed a 3-year, $21 million contract with the Yankees. In his career with New York, Matsui made two All-Star teams and hit .292 with 140 doubles and 597 RBI. He played in his first 518 major league games after playing in 1,250 straight games in Japan. Overall, Matsui batted .282 with 175 homers and 760 RBI for the Yankees, Angels, Athletics and Rays. In Japan he had a .304 career average with 332 homers and 889 RBI in 1,268 games.

Olympian Jilleanne Rookard won the women's 3,000 meters and Emery Lehman took the men's 5,000 on the opening day of the U.S. Long Track National Championships in Kearns, Utah.

* Wild Oats XI won line honors in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race for the sixth time, breaking its own record time. The boat left Sydney on Wednesday and finished in 1 day, 18 hours, 23 minutes, 12 seconds. Another super maxi, Ragamuffin Loyal, which won last year's race as Investec Loyal, was nearly 60 miles behind.

* The United States routed Germany, 8-0, at the world junior ice hockey tournament in Ufa, Russia, behind a goal and two assists each from Alex Galchenyuk and Riley Barber. This was the first Group B game for the Americans, who are tied for first place with Canada. The U.S. team plays Russia on Friday. Also, Switzerland beat Latvia, 7-2, in Group A.