Sampras and Becker Win, but Muster Is Forced Out

Pete Sampras and Boris Becker won in straight sets and Thomas Muster withdrew because of a hip injury at the Stuttgart ATP in Germany.

Andre Agassi played his first tennis match since losing to Michael Chang at the U.S. Open semifinals and squandered five match points before struggling past Spain’s Alberto Berasategui, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

Sampras won his 18th consecutive match, coasting past qualifier Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, 6-3, 6-4, in the second round, and Becker ousted Britain’s hard-serving Greg Rusedski, 6-4, 6-4.

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Top-seeded Anke Huber defeated German compatriot Barbara Rittner, 6-3, 6-4, to reach the second round of the Luxembourg Seat Open. Sixth-seeded Judith Wiesner lost her second-round match to Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, 6-4, 6-2.

Baseball

Bob Grim, the last American League rookie to win 20 games, had a fatal heart attack after throwing snowballs with neighborhood children in Shawnee, Kan. He was 66. Grim was 20-6 in only 199 innings for the 1954 New York Yankees, winning the AL rookie-of-the-year award. The right-hander spent five seasons with New York. He finished the 1958 season with Kansas City and played three more seasons with the Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals.

The National League is irked that Cincinnati Red owner Marge Schott hasn’t approved her team’s 1997 budget yet. National League President Leonard Coleman told Schott to approve a 1997 budget for her team, or he will do it for her, the Dayton Daily News reported.

Schott, phoned at her home for a response, said: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Red managing executive John Allen--the league’s designee to run the Reds after Schott was forced out of the team’s daily operation in June--has come up with a budget, but Schott has refused to approve it. Red General Manager Jim Bowden has not been able to formulate plans for the makeup of next year’s team because he has no budget.

Colorado Rocky outfielder Larry Walker had surgery in Denver to repair a separated right shoulder suffered during a family fishing trip in Canada over the weekend, the team said.

Oklahoma State Coach Gary Ward resigned after 19 years because of a back injury. Ward, 56, was 953-313 at Oklahoma State.

Jurisprudence

Sports agent Leigh Steinberg, whose blood-alcohol level was .20 following a minor traffic accident Sept. 7, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor drunk-driving charges in Newport Beach. A pretrial hearing was set for for Nov. 14.

Seattle Seahawk fullback Reggie Brown was arrested for investigation of fourth-degree assault after a fight with his girlfriend at their apartment in Redmond, Wash. Officers went to the apartment after Brown’s 19-year-old girlfriend called them Saturday night, police said.

The girlfriend said Brown had grabbed her wrist when she tried to call 911, and pushed her against a wall, a police report said. Officers saw no bruises or evidence of injury.

Former Pittsburgh Steeler guard Terry Long declined comment as he left a Pittsburgh courtroom after being acquitted of harassment charges and related motor vehicle violations. The charges stemmed from a confrontation with a city police officer who stopped Long’s car, which did not have a license plate, in downtown Pittsburgh on Feb. 2. Police said he smelled of alcohol and refused to take a breath test, so they arrested him.

Names in the News

Julio Cesar Chavez, pointing to a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya, will fight journeyman Mickey Ward in a tuneup Dec. 6 in Reno. Chavez, 98-2-1 with 80 knockouts, is expected to fight once more after the Ward fight before meeting De La Hoya in the rematch, tentatively set for April. . . . Rebecca Lobo and Sheryl Swoopes became the first members of the Women’s National Basketball Assn. after signing undisclosed contracts. The league, scheduled to begin play in June 1997, consists of teams in eight yet-to-be determined NBA cities.

Miscellany

Yokohama, Japan, added its name to the list of cities bidding to stage the 2008 Summer Olympics. . . . The NCAA put Texas Southern on probation for five years for academic and ethics violations, primarily in its track and field and cross-country programs.