Baseball

The New York Mets, unable to make a trade for a shortstop, agreed to a $425,000, one-year contract with free agent Luis Rivera.

Rivera batted .208 with one home run and seven runs batted in in 62 games for the Boston Red Sox last season and made $1,075,000. His season was shortened because of two stints on the disabled list because of a strained lower left rib cage and an injured right hamstring.

College Basketball

A college basketball doubleheader honoring former UCLA coach John Wooden and scheduled for Dec. 4 at the 18,300-seat Anaheim Arena will include UCLA, Kansas, Kentucky and Massachusetts.

Randy Ryan of Santa Margarita, an official of Group W Broadcasting of New York, said that his organization would run the event and said the matchups would be UCLA against Kentucky and Kansas against Massachusetts.

Ryan said the John R. Wooden Classic, which Group W hopes will be an annual event, would be telecast on a major network to be announced soon.

Sailing

The European yacht Intrum Justitia and the Japanese-New Zealand entry Yamaha were locked in a tight duel on the third leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race as Dennis Conner’s Winston dropped to sixth.

Intrum Justitia and Yamaha were reported 640 nautical miles from the finish as they raced across the Tasman Sea toward Auckland, New Zealand.