BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES : Brian Jordan Will Stick With Baseball

St. Louis outfielder Brian Jordan agreed to a three-year contract with the Cardinals that prohibits the former NFL safety from playing pro football.

Jordan, a Pro Bowl alternate in 1992 with the Atlanta Falcons, had been entertaining an offer from the Oakland Raiders. His contract with the Cardinals was set to expire at the end of the 1995 season.

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Despite the lack of a collective bargaining agreement, baseball players promised Friday to play the World Series this year.

Players had been demanding credit for service time during the strike in exchange for a commitment to finish the season. But owners balked, preferring to decide the matter when a new labor deal is finalized.

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Kevin McClatchy, such a longshot to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates that he was given only two weeks to make a bid, said he has the cash and will present a formal offer to the team’s owners on Monday. McClatchy, a Sacramento newspaper heir with no previous ties to Pittsburgh, will make his $85-million-plus pitch Monday morning to the Pirates’ investment bankers. The Pirates’ 10 owners, who only a week ago seemed ready to sell the 109-year-old team out of town, then will take up the proposal. . . . Faced with the possibility of losing the Seattle Mariners, King County leaders scrambled to fashion a contingency plan should a ballot measure to build a new stadium fail. The proposal to build a $325-million stadium led by a scant 310 votes Friday after a partial count of absentee ballots. The final tally of this week’s election wasn’t expected until Monday. . . . A legislative committee recommended a five-county financing plan for a new Milwaukee Brewers stadium, expanding the area in which taxpayers would contribute to the project. The measure would add Racine County to Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties in a special taxing district.

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Montreal outfielder Tony Tarasco, who was suspended for charging the mound and starting a bench-clearing incident last month, had his three-game suspension reduced by one game. However, National League President Leonard Coleman held the third game in abeyance pending Tarasco’s on-field conduct. . . . The Florida Marlins may have lost second baseman Quilvio Veras for the rest of the season because of a pulled hamstring. Veras leads the majors with 56 stolen bases.