Grissom, Braves Agree to Four-Year Deal

Atlanta center fielder Marquis Grissom, who caught the final out as the Braves won their first World Series title, agreed Saturday to a four-year contract with the team.

Grissom, 28, was acquired in a trade with Montreal on April 6 and had a one-year contract with the Braves worth $4.9 million. Terms of the new deal weren’t immediately available.

With the Braves during the regular season, Grissom had a .258 average with 12 home runs, 42 runs batted in and 29 stolen bases. In six seasons with the Expos, Grissom had a .279 batting average with 54 home runs, 276 RBIs and 266 stolen bases.

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The agent for former New York Yankee manager Buck Showalter will arrive in Phoenix today, according to a report in the Arizona Republic, and a contract naming Showalter the first manager of the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks could be completed by Thursday. . . . Don Zimmer, who announced his retirement last season after 47 years in baseball, reportedly has changed his mind and will return in 1996 as a bench coach for the Yankees. . . . Florida Marlin pitcher Pat Rapp underwent surgery to repair a herniated disk in his lower back. The right-hander, who finished the season with nine consecutive victories for a 14-7 record and 3.44 ERA, should be ready to pitch by the start of spring training.

Tennis

Steffi Graf rolled over unseeded Zina Garrison Jackson, 6-3, 6-1, to reach the finals of the $800,000 Advanta Championships at Philadelphia. Graf, who never faced a break point in her 55-minute victory, will meet Lori McNeil, who upset defending champion Anke Huber, 6-4, 6-7 (7-1), 7-6 (12-10), in 2 hours 47 minutes.

Carl Uwe-Steeb and Daniel Vacek, both unseeded, meet in today’s final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Vacek, of the Czech Republic, upset top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 7-6 (10-8), 3-6, 7-6 (7-5). Uwe-Steeb of Germany beat two-time Kremlin Cup winner Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. . . . Thomas Enqvist routed Richey Reneberg, 6-2, 6-1, and became the first Swede in four years to reach final of the Stockholm Open. Enqvist, a Stockholm native seeded second and ranked eighth in the world, will play Arnaud Boetsch.

Golf

Fred Couples and Davis Love III headed toward a record fourth consecutive title after extending their lead to 10 strokes after three rounds of the World Cup of Golf at Shenzhen, China. Love had six birdies on the Jack Nicklaus-designed ITPC at Mission Hills for a four-under 68. Couples added a 70 to give the United States a three-day total of 25-under-par 407.

Jim Colbert shot a one-under-par 71 to take a six-stroke lead into the final round of the Senior Tour Championship at Myrtle Beach, S.C. Colbert, who tied for last a year ago, could become the first wire-to-wire leader to win the $1.5-million tournament. . . . Liselotte Neumann shot a 71 for a seven-under-par 212 and maintained a one-stroke lead over Jane Geddes heading into the final round of the Women’s Australian Open at Melbourne. . . . Betsy King was formally inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame in front of more than 400 people at Reading, Pa.

Hockey

The Las Vegas Thunder scored two short-handed goals in 21 seconds in the second period and never looked back in handing the Ice Dogs a 5-1 defeat in front of an announced crowd of 5,169 at the Sports Arena.

Miscellany

The UCLA women’s soccer team lost to the Washington, 2-1, in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Mari Meinhart scored at 1:59 for the host Bruins, but the Huskies countered with goals by Erin Poachman and Carolyn Jenkins. UCLA, making its first NCAA tournament appearance, finished the year 14-4-2.

Mika Hakkinen, who sustained serious head injuries in a high-speed crash in the opening qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix , began sitting up and talking after being unconscious for almost 24 hours. A statement issued by an Adelaide hospital said Hakkinen probably will be released from the hospital’s intensive care unit within 24 hours.

Winds clocked at 55 m.p.h. forced organizers to cancel the opening of the World Cup ski season at Tignes, France. The event was stopped after 17 skiers had completed the course in the women’s giant slalom, the first race of the season. The forecast for today, when a men’s giant slalom is to be run, was for much of the same. Organizers said the race would not be made up later in the schedule.

Playing together for the first time since 1992, fourth-seeded Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno defeated Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva, 12-4 and 14-8, to win the FIVB women’s beach volleyball event in Carolina, Puerto Rico.

Cuba cannot afford to send all 275 of its Olympic athletes and officials to Georgia next year for pre-Olympic training because of the cost of room and board, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The Caribbean nation could decide instead to send between 25 and 40 boxers, weightlifters and track and field athletes, the newspaper reported.