Ex-Angel Curtis Joins Indians

Chad Curtis, an outfielder who has averaged 32 stolen bases in five seasons, agreed Wednesday to an $850,000, one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians.

With incentives and a club option for the 1998 season, Curtis could make as much as $3.45 million for two years.

Curtis, whose major league career started in 1992 with the Angels, played 104 games for the Detroit Tigers last season before he was traded to the Dodgers. He hit a combined .252 with 18 stolen bases, then refused a minor league assignment after the season and elected to become a free agent.

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Left-hander Greg Swindell and the Minnesota Twins agreed on a minor league contract that could pay the former all-star as much as $1 million if he makes the team and pitches regularly.

Swindell, 31, started the 1996 season with the Houston Astros but was released June 3 and signed with the Indians.

Under the deal, Swindell would get a $500,000, one-year contract if he’s added to the Twins’ major league roster and the chance to make an additional $500,000 in performance bonuses.

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The Angels agreed to one-year contracts with pitchers Greg Gohr and Todd Van Poppel. Gohr split the season with Detroit and the Angels and was 5-9 overall with a 7.24 earned-run average. Van Poppel was 3-9 with a 9.06 ERA with Oakland and Detroit last season. . . . Right-hander Doug Brocail, 29, acquired by Detroit in a 10-player trade with Houston, agreed to a one-year contract with the Tigers for $425,000 guaranteed. . . . The Baltimore Orioles signed outfielder Jerome Walton and catcher Lenny Webster, both 31, to minor league contracts. . . . Atlanta Brave second baseman Mark Lemke decided to remain with the NL champions, accepting the team’s arbitration offer. . . . Baseball officials have told the Seattle Mariners they must first get approval from the sport’s leadership before starting negotiations with potential buyers.

Track and Field

Michael Johnson, who capped an unprecedented double gold-medal performance at the Atlanta Olympics with a world record in the 200 meters after winning the 400, was selected sportsman of the year by the U.S. Olympic Committee for the second year in a row and third time in four years. He was the overwhelming choice, with 80 first-place votes and 929 points. Swimmer Jeff Rouse was second, with one first-place vote and 519 points.

College Basketball

The day after it fired men’s Coach Roger Reid, Brigham Young said assistant Lynn Archibald is leaving the team because he has prostate cancer. Archibald, 50, is in his third season at BYU and was considered a possible successor to Reid, who was fired after a 1-6 start. Archibald will remain with the school as director of basketball operations.

Hockey

The Czech Republic overcame a 3-0 deficit with a pair of goals by Robert Lang and one by Jiri Dopita with 11 minutes to play to tie Sweden, 3-3, in the Izvestia Cup hockey tournament at Moscow.

Boxing

The Feb. 7 rematch between Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall for the vacant World Boxing Council heavyweight championship will go ahead as planned, according to Dino Duva, promoter of the fight. Some doubts had been expressed in the wake of McCall’s arrest Monday at Nashville on charges of vandalism, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Miscellany

A Korac Cup basketball game between Aris Salonica of Greece and Besiktas Istanbul of Turkey that was called off after 18 minutes last week when rival players brawled will be replayed Jan. 7 without spectators, FIBA, the sport’s international governing body, ruled. FIBA suspended Istanbul’s Gary Alexander, a former NBA player, and Salonica’s Dinos Aggelides, who started the fight.

Ray Tellier, 45, was given a new five-year contract to stay on as Columbia football coach after taking the Lions to their first eight-win season since 1945. Columbia, 8-2 this season, is 24-54-2 since Tellier, 45, took over.

Taylor Dent of Newport Beach advanced to the quarterfinals of the boys’ 16-and-under division at the Rolex Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in Miami. Dent, who is unseeded, defeated No. 6 Kirill Ivanov-Smolenski of Russia, 6-2, 6-4.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates advanced to the final of the Asian Cup soccer tournament at Abu Dhabi.