Cardinals Sign Free Agents Benes, Gant

One day after Anheuser-Busch announced it was selling the franchise for $150 million, the St. Louis Cardinals filled glaring needs for a front line starting pitcher and a power hitter Saturday, signing free agents Andy Benes and Ron Gant.

Benes, 28, signed a two-year, $8.1-million deal with a club option for 1998 that, if exercised, would make the pact worth $11.5 million for three years.

Terms of Gant’s five-year contract weren’t immediately available.

“You have to stop the other club to win and you have to score to win and with Andy and Ron we have both of these elements,” Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said. “Andy is a reliable pitcher in the prime of his career and Ron is an outstanding player and run producer who brings with him a leadership quality of championship caliber.”

The 6-foot-6, 240-pound Benes was a combined 11-9 with a 4.76 earned-run average and 171 strikeouts with San Diego and Seattle last season. He was traded to the Mariners at the end of July and helped them to the American League championship series, going 7-2 in 12 starts.

Benes will join his brother, Alan Benes, 23, who is considered the Cardinals’ best young pitcher. Their other brother, Adam Benes, 22, pitches for the team’s New Jersey Class-A affiliate.

Gant, 30, batted .276 with 29 home runs, 88 runs batted in and 23 stolen bases last season with the Cincinnati Reds.

Gant is one of only three players in baseball history to record consecutive seasons with 30 homers and 30 stolen bases. He did it in 1990 and 1991 for the Braves.

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The Minnesota Twins and free-agent third baseman Dave Hollins agreed to a one-year contract worth $750,000. He can earn another $750,000 in performance bonuses. . . . The Baltimore Orioles signed infielder Billy Ripken to a minor league contract, returning him to the club for which he played five seasons beside his brother, shortstop Cal Ripken.

Speedskating

Kevin Overland broke teammate Sylvain Bouchard’s one-day-old world record in the 1,000 meters in the Canadian long-track speedskating championships at Calgary.

Overland, 21, won in 1 minute 12.19 seconds, bettering the mark of 1:12.27 set Friday by Bouchard. Bouchard finished third Saturday in 1:13.06, .74 seconds back of runnerup Kevin Scott.

Americans Christine Witty and Casey FitzRandolph swept the 500- and 1,000-meter races for the second day in a row at the U.S. Sprint Speedskating Championships at Milwaukee.

Witty took the women’s 500 in 40.60 seconds and the 1,000 in 1:20.74. Her time in the 500 was nearly a second faster than second-place Becky Sundstrom of Glen Ellyn, Ill. and she beat Sundstrom by more than two seconds in the 1,000.

FitzRandolph skated personal bests in the 500 (36.76) and the 1,000 (1:14.52).

Miscellany

Memorabilia promoter Michael Bertolini was sentenced to 14 months in prison in Federal District Court in New York after pleading guilty to a tax fraud conspiracy stemming from a 1989 autograph show he helped produce in Atlantic City, N.J.

Bertolini admitted that he paid nearly $250,000 in cash to a lineup of baseball legends, including Hall of Fame centerfielder Duke Snider, at a 1989 autograph show in Atlantic City. Snider and Willie McCovey have pleaded guilty to tax-fraud charges for not reporting tens of thousands of dollars each in fees they collected at Atlantic City and similar shows. Snider was sentenced to two years’ probation. McCovey will be sentenced next month.

Regilio Tuur of the Netherlands retained his World Boxing Organization junior lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Giorgio Campanella of Italy at Amsterdam. It was Tuur’s fourth successful defense of his title. . . . Attorneys for former Nebraska running back Scott Baldwin have reached a $325,000 settlement with attorneys for a woman who accused him of beating her during an incident in Lincoln, Neb., in 1992. Mariano Zabaleta, 17, the No. 1 player in the ITF Junior World Rankings, defeated Peter Wessels of Germany, 6-2, 6-4, in the semifinals of the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships and will face another German, Tommy Haas in today’s final.