Tie Goes to Two Winning Managers, Oates and Torre

Johnny Oates of the Texas Rangers and Joe Torre of the New York Yankees were voted co-winners of the American League Manager of the Year award on Thursday. In the 14 years the award has existed, this is the first tie. Oates and Torre each received 89 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.

“The only guy happier than me is Joe Torre, and that’s because he won the World Series,” said Oates, who led the Rangers to their first postseason appearance.

Torre, who guided the Yankees to their first World Series title since 1978, said, “It’s probably the happiest time of my life.”

Meanwhile, Frank Torre, 64, who underwent a heart transplant the day before the Yankees won the World Series, was released from a New York hospital Thursday.

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The New York Mets rewarded outfielder Lance Johnson with a $10-million, two-year contract extension through 1999. Johnson was already under contract for next season. . . . Dodger pitcher Hideo Nomo, pitching for a team of major league all-stars against a Japanese team, got a huge welcome from 55,000 fans in the Koshien ballpark in Nishinomiya, Japan, near his hometown of Osaka. The United States won, 11-8, to improve to 4-1-1.

Golf

U.S. Open winner Steve Jones, who had a run of six birdies in a row on the front nine, and Bob Gilder shot nine-under-pars 64 to share the first-round lead in the $1.2-million Kapalua International in Hawaii. Fred Couples shot an eight-under 63 on a shorter course. . . . Hale Irwin shot a 67 to take the lead after the first round of the Senior Tournament Championship at Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Soccer

The United States’ World Cup qualifying game against Guatemala next month will be moved from Guatemala City to Honduras, FIFA said. The game, scheduled for Dec. 21, originally was scheduled for Mateo Flores Stadium, where 84 fans were killed in a stampede last month. FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has imposed an indefinite ban on games at Mateo Flores.

The Costa Rica-Guatemala game, originally scheduled for Oct. 16 but postponed because of the stampede, was rescheduled for Nov. 24 at San Diego. Trinidad and Tobago’s game at Guatemala, originally scheduled for Oct. 25, was rescheduled for Dec. 8 in Los Angeles.

Jurisprudence

Former Yankee pitcher Steve Howe was sentenced to three years’ probation and 150 hours of community service after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor weapons-possession charge. Howe, 38, had been charged with a felony upon his arrest on June 24 at Kennedy Airport while trying to board a plane. . . . A rape charge filed against Purdue tight end Jon Blackman in July has been dismissed by a county prosecutor in Lafayette, Ind., and his suspension from the team was lifted. . . . Missouri defensive back Shad Criss was suspended for the remainder of the season, two days after being arrested for harassing and assaulting a 20-year-old woman.