Blue Jays Send Olerud, $5 Million to Mets, Get a Person in Return

In a deal that set a baseball record for cash changing hands, the Toronto Blue Jays traded John Olerud to the Mets for Robert Person and gave New York $5 million to pay most of the first baseman’s salary.

The Mets will have to come up with only $1.5 million in salary for Olerud, who is eligible for free agency after next season. After leading the American League with a .363 average in 1993, Olerud dropped to .297, .291 and .274 in the last three seasons.

Person, a 27-year-old right-hander who throws 95 mph, was 4-5 with a 4.52 earned-run average in 13 starts and 14 relief appearances last season.

The teams settled on the Olerud-Person exchange Tuesday, then spent three days reaching an agreement on the cash. Toronto originally offered to pay $3 million but eventually topped the previous record of $4,875,000, set Oct. 28 when Detroit sent Ruben Sierra to Cincinnati and agreed to pay all but $625,000 of his $5 million salary next season.

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The owners of the Seattle Mariners reversed course and said they wouldn’t sell the team if city and county officials quickly agree to their conditions.

U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton secured the promise after several meetings with team officials, who had announced the decision to sell last Saturday because they were frustrated with delays in a $384-million project to build a new ballpark by opening day of the 1999 season.

The Mariners claim they lose about $20 million a season playing in the Kingdome.

Said Mariner chief executive officer John Ellis, “The reason we are willing to consider the senator’s request is that the commitments we gave him, if implemented, will put the ballpark project back on a positive track toward a 1999 opening.”

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Outfielder Darrin Jackson, 33, who played the last two seasons in Japan, has signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants. . . . Mark Lemke, who accepted the Atlanta Braves’ salary arbitration offer earlier in the week, agreed to a $2-million, one-year contract, a raise of $500,000. Lemke, 31, started 132 games at second base last season and hit .255 with five homers and 37 RBIs. . . . Greg Colbrunn, the Florida Marlins’ first baseman the last two seasons, became a free agent when the team failed to offer a 1997 contract. Colbrunn, 27, hit .266 with 16 home runs and 69 RBIs in 1996.

Tennis

German tax investigators raided Boris Becker’s home and took away several files, according to a German newspaper. The Bavarian finance ministry said it could neither confirm nor deny the report in Bild.

The documents seized from the tennis star’s Munich home reportedly concerned 1990-93, when Becker was living in Monaco to avoid high German taxes. Becker was reported on vacation in Florida.

Tom Gullikson was reappointed captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team, which will play the first round in Brazil on Feb. 7-9. Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Todd Martin and newcomer Alex O’Brien were picked for first-round matches.

In later rounds, Gullikson can be expected to use Pete Sampras, No. 1 in the world, and Michael Chang to supplement the U.S. team.

Winter Sports

Defending World Cup downhill skiing champion Luc Alphand of France scored his first victory of the season as he edged Atle Skaardal of Norway by .15 seconds at Val Gardena, Italy.

The powerful Austrian team had its worst showing. The best Austrian finish was seventh place.

Alphand, gliding through new snow and patches of fog, completed the shortened Saslong course in 1 minute 53.10 seconds.

Kristian Ghedina of Italy was third.

Matt Chojnacki of Aurora, Colo., took home the gold medal after the men’s aerials final was washed out and results from Thursday’s semifinals became final in a World Cup freestyle skiing competition at Piancavallo, Italy.

Sebastien Foucras of France was awarded the silver medal and Mariano Ferrario of Winston Salem, N.C., got the bronze.

Golf

Helped by his 11 handicap, actor Sean Connery recorded seven birdies in combining with Hale Irwin for an 11-under-par 61 and a two-shot lead after the first round of the Lexus Challenge at La Quinta.

Former Miami Dolphin coach Don Shula and Jim Colbert shot 63 on the Citrus course. The teams of actor Joe Pesci and Dave Stockton, actor Robert Wuhl and Chi Chi Rodriguez, and baseball player Ken Griffey Jr. and John Brodie had 64s.

Miscellany

The Czech Republic, defending world champion but a disappointment at the World Cup, got its first victory in three tries in the Izvestia Cup hockey tournament at Moscow by beating Canada, 3-1.

Cycling star Lance Armstrong hopes to ride competitively in 1997 after tests showed there’s no cancer in his body.

Doctors told Armstrong that he will probably not need more chemotherapy or surgery. Armstrong is the 1993 world road-race champion, a two-time Tour de France stage winner and a two-time Tour DuPont titlist.

In October, Armstrong had a cancerous testicle removed and was undergoing chemotherapy to fight the disease that had spread to his stomach and lungs. He also underwent surgery to remove two small brain lesions.

Mike Cito, 17, a former Albuquerque high school football player who allegedly wore a razor-sharp helmet buckle that slashed opposing players, was charged Friday with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.