$59.48 Million Awarded in Collusion Judgment

A total of $59.48 million was awarded to the early victims of baseball owners’ conspiracy against free agents, including a top judgment of more than $2 million to Jack Clark.

The decision, which covered only lost salary and interest for the 1986 and 1987 seasons, was issued by arbitrator Thomas Roberts to the Major League Baseball Players Assn. on Monday. Details of the decision were disclosed Tuesday.

Seven players were awarded $1 million or more. Clark was awarded $800,000 each for the 1986 and 1987 seasons, and interest through Dec. 31, 1990, increased his award by more than $512,555.63.

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The agent for Atlanta Brave outfielder and Atlanta Falcon cornerback Deion Sanders said he believes his client will play football next season despite what Sanders told a magazine writer.

“I’m not planning on playing football next season,” Sport Magazine quotes Sanders in an interview that took place on Feb. 4. Sanders’ agent, Eugene Parker, however, said from his Fort Wayne, Ind., home that “if I had to guess, I think he will play.”

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Jeff Reardon and the New York Yankees agreed to a minor-league contract that could earn him as much as $1 million if he makes the major league roster. . . . Infielder Pat Kelly won his arbitration case against the Yankees and will be paid $810,000 this season. . . . Infielder John Valentin and the Boston Red Sox agreed on a one-year contract. . . . St. Louis Cardinal third baseman Todd Zeile, who earned $1.025 million last season, will play for $2.7 million after losing his arbitration bid for $3.25 million.

Auto Racing

NASCAR spokesman Chip Williams backed off his claim that driver error caused the crash that killed Neil Bonnett, but said an inspection found nothing wrong with the car.

Bobby Hillin Jr., a veteran of 10 Daytona 500s, led qualifying in the third and final round of time trials for Sunday’s race with a fast lap of 188.281 m.p.h.

Beecher Orr, father of Rodney Orr, the driver killed in a practice accident Monday at Daytona, and car owner John Page have decided to race Orr’s Goody’s Dash series car in the Florida 200 Friday at Daytona International Speedway with Robert Huffman as the driver.

Tennis

Jacco Eltingh upset top-seeded Pete Sampras, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, in the first round of the U.S. Indoor tournament at Philadelphia.

College Basketball

The Atlantic 10 has upheld Temple University’s one-game suspension of Coach John Chaney and will not punish him further for his outburst Sunday against Massachusetts Coach John Calipari.

Chaney’s suspension is for tonight’s game at St. Bonaventure.

Miscellany

San Francisco State, which was found by the NCAA Committee on Infractions to have allowed 27 ineligible athletes participate in sports, was placed on probation for three years. . . . Two days after collapsing in an amateur boxing tournament at St. Paul, Minn., Donell Lindsey of St. Paul died after being taken off a life-support system. He was 28. . . Leroy (Spike) Gibson, a former Harlem Globetrotter and the first black elected official in South Miami, Fla., died of cancer. He was 57. . . . Ch. Chidley Willum the Conqueror, a Norwich terrier, won the Best-in-Show judging in the closing session of the 188th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at New York.