AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES : IRS Approves Royals’ Plan

The Internal Revenue Service approved a complicated plan to help keep the Royals in Kansas City. If the IRS had not approved the plan, the Royals probably would have stayed in the late Ewing Kauffman’s estate and been sold to the highest bidder.

But now, assuming major league owners also agree, the club becomes the property of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts. A board of directors will have six years to find a buyer committed to keeping it in Kauffman’s hometown.

Under the plan, the Ewing M. Kauffman Trust will make a charitable gift of the stock of the Kansas City Royals Corp. and $50 million in cash to the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Affiliated Trusts. The $50 million, along with $40 million to be raised locally, will fund expected losses for the six years.

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ABC will televise this summer’s All-Star game, on July 11 from The Ballpark in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers. . . . The Pittsburgh Pirates put catcher Don Slaught on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right hamstring.