BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES : New Stadium Planned for Detroit

The Detroit Tigers and Mayor Dennis Archer agreed Friday on plans for a new $235-million downtown stadium.

Archer and Tiger owner Mike Ilitch predicted the new stadium would spur redevelopment of Detroit’s blighted downtown, much as new stadiums have figured in the rebirth of downtown Cleveland and Baltimore.

But Archer said that unlike other recent stadium projects, Detroit’s would be built without a tax increase or money from the city’s general fund. Ilitch will finance the bulk of the project’s cost, with a state grant and city development bonds providing the rest.

The stadium deal also would require Ilitch to kick in $2 million for demolition or maintenance of the aging Tiger Stadium. He has maintained it would be too costly to renovate the 1912 structure to modern standards.

*

The Tigers, as expected, said they won’t renew the contract of General Manager Joe Klein and are reassigning Assistant GM Gary Vitto. Randy Smith, former general manager of the San Diego Padres, has been widely reported to be Klein’s replacement.

*

Former major league pitcher Jim Beattie was introduced as the Montreal Expos’ new general manager and said he was eager to meet the challenge.

Beattie, 41, an executive with the Seattle Mariners, pitched for nine years in the majors with the New York Yankees and the Mariners.

He is the Expos’ fourth GM in the past five seasons. Predecessors David Dombrowski and Dan Duquette both defected to other organizations, and Kevin Malone quit this month because he wasn’t happy operating under the team’s tight payroll budget.

*

Hideo Nomo, resting in Japan after his rookie season with the Dodgers, held a nationally televised news conference Friday to say he will be going back the United States for another try.

“I’ve fulfilled a big dream, and now I’d like to continue,” the pitcher said. “I want to get up on the major league mound again.”

*

The Arizona Diamondbacks announced the hiring of former Baltimore Oriole general manager Roland Hemond, 66, as the team’s senior executive vice president of baseball operations. The Diamondbacks join the major leagues for the 1998 season.

*

Joe Torre, who was fired as the St. Louis Cardinals’ manager in June, is high on the list of candidates to replace New York Yankee Manager Buck Showalter, who announced Thursday he would not return. Torre has managed 14 seasons and won a division title in 1982 with Atlanta.