Gillick Returns as General Manager With the Orioles

Pat Gillick returned to baseball full time Monday as general manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

Gillick was general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays from their initial season in 1977 through 1994, helping to produce World Series champions in 1992 and 1993. He was promoted to executive vice president in September 1994 but served only in an advisory capacity and was, for all practical purposes, retired.

Gillick, 58, signed a three-year deal after several weeks of on-and-off negotiations with owner Peter Angelos.

Gillick replaces Roland Hemond, who resigned last month and now is working with the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks.

Gillick, voted major league baseball’s executive of the year in 1985 and 1993, will be reunited with Manager Davey Johnson, hired Oct. 30. They played together as minor leaguers in the Orioles’ organization in 1963.

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The Angels signed right-handed pitcher Scott Sanderson to a minor league contract. Sanderson, 39, was 1-3 with a 4.12 earned-run average in seven starts for the Angels last season before being put on the disabled list because of a herniated disk. He underwent back surgery Aug. 4. . . . The Colorado Rockies agreed to terms with all-star third baseman Vinny Castilla on a two-year contract. . . . Pitcher Sid Fernandez and the Philadelphia Phillies agreed to a one-year contract for $250,000 and the chance to earn $1.4 million.

Boxing

Promoter Don King’s legal troubles remain a stumbling block to a planned Dec. 16 match between Mike Tyson and Buster Mathis Jr.

Representatives of Donald Trump were negotiating with New Jersey gaming authorities, but there was no resolution.

King and his Don King Productions were banned from doing business with New Jersey casinos last year because of a wire-fraud indictment against King. His recent trial ended in a mistrial but the ban continues.

Trump said last week he was seeking to hold the Tyson-Mathis fight in the Convention Hall.

Miscellany

A retired bus driver won $128,000 in compensatory damages against the Philadelphia Phillies for having been knocked down by the team’s mascot.

Carl Seidel, 72, said he suffered a permanent back injury in the 1991 incident with the Philadelphia Phanatic, a person dressed as an animated shag rug.

The Phanatic is a fixture at Veterans Stadium and makes charity appearances for the baseball club. A hallmark of his style is a vigorous, playful interaction with fans.

Seidel said that during a charity carnival, the Phanatic hugged him despite his protest and knocked him down.

A Common Pleas Court jury found the Phanatic had not assaulted Seidel, but that he had negligently caused him injury.

An amateur Italian soccer player has been banned until 2000 for repeatedly kicking a referee who showed him the red card.

Giovanni Pecoraro, who played for Real Calvello in southern Italy, was banned after being sent off in the second half of a match against Pietrapertosa Nov. 19. Real Calvello lost 2-1.

World champion Italy beat Brazil, 15-9, 10-15, 16-14, 15-8, and remained undefeated after seven games in the 12-nation men’s volleyball World Cup tournament at Sendai, Japan.

Japan was 6-1. The United States, the Netherlands, Brazil and Cuba were 5-3.

The United States, led by Bryan Ivie’s five points, beat China, 15-7, 15-4, 15-6. Cuba, Japan, the Netherlands and Egypt were also victorious.

The top teams in the World Cup earn three of 12 berths for next year’s Olympics. The United States is guaranteed a berth as the host country.

Names in the News

Former heavyweight boxing champion James (Bonecrusher) Smith will be the chairman of the newly appointed North Carolina Boxing Commission. . . . Frank Hammond, considered the first full-time professional tennis umpire, died in New York City of Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 66. . . . Italian Giancarlo Baghetti, who won the 1961 French Grand Prix in his Formula One driving debut in a Ferrari, died in a Milan hospital of cancer. He was 60.