Red Sox Make Eckersley Feel Young

Seeing his name on a Boston Red Sox uniform made Dennis Eckersley feel like a much younger man, he said Tuesday. That’s understandable. The last time he wore one, he was one.

“I feel like I’m not 43, I’m 33,” he said after signing a $1.5-million, one-year deal that probably will allow him to finish his career in the city where it first flourished. “I can’t even remember when I won 20 games [in 1978]. I’m like, ‘Who was that guy?’ That was a lifetime ago.’ ”

Eckersley, 43, saved 36 games last season for the St. Louis Cardinals and made $1.75 million. He said he turned down deals worth twice as much as he accepted from Boston.

Although he said several times that he expected this to be his final year, Eckersley did not commit to retiring after the season.

In an unusual provision, he can make up to $600,000 in bonuses if Boston trades him. He would receive the full amount if the Red Sox dealt him before opening day.

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Third baseman Wade Boggs agreed to a $750,000, one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, saying he’s as intent on helping the new American League team be an immediate success as he is on achieving a personal milestone.

Boggs, 39, will start his 17th season needing 200 hits to reach 3,000. He overcame a slow start to hit .292 in 103 games for the New York Yankees in 1997.

Boggs made $2 million last year but his contract with the Devil Rays calls for a base salary of $500,000 in 1998 with a club option for 1999 at $750,000 and a $250,000 buyout price.

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The Chicago Cubs apparently solidified their middle infield by signing shortstop Jeff Blauser to a $6.4-million, two-year contract.

Blauser, 32, has spent his 11-year major league career with the Atlanta Braves. After injury-plagued seasons in 1995 and ‘96, he rebounded last year, reaching career highs in batting, .308, and home runs, 17.

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The Texas Rangers signed outfielder Roberto Kelly, a free agent, to a $3.8-million, two-year contract. Kelly, 33, is joining his eighth team since 1992. . . . The Detroit Tigers signed outfielder Luis Gonzalez to a two-year contract. Gonzalez, 30, spent last season with the Houston Astros. . . . The Toronto Blue Jays re-signed pitcher Paul Quantrill to a two-year contract and pitcher Bill Risley to a one-year deal. . . . Pitcher Jon Lieber and the Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to a $3.5-million, two-year contract, avoiding a possible salary arbitration hearing.

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The players’ association threatened to file a grievance over baseball’s decision to disallow Andy Benes’ $30-million, five-year agreement with the Cardinals.

Baseball’s Player Relations Committee told a Cardinal official it had determined that Benes reached the agreement with the team after Sunday’s deadline.

St. Louis asked the PRC to reconsider but if that doesn’t happen the Cardinals’ only option would be an appeal to the ruling executive council.

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The Philadelphia Phillies fired General Manager Lee Thomas and replaced him, on an interim basis, with Thomas’ assistant, Ed Wade. . . . Two months after he was fired as manager of the Chicago White Sox, Terry Bevington was hired as manager of the triple-A Syracuse SkyChiefs, Toronto’s top farm team. . . . The Yankees fired Kota Ishijima, their official Japanese interpreter for pitcher Hideki Irabu.

Miscellany

Jermon Jackson, a reserve tailback for Ohio State, was arrested on marijuana and traffic charges, police in Columbus, Ohio, said.

Jackson was arrested about 2:20 a.m. Tuesday. He was charged with misdemeanor drug abuse, driving after license suspension and having no operator’s license.

Jackson was red-shirted this season because of an injury.

Lawyers for the estate of Washington Redskin owner Jack Kent Cooke want his widow to provide details about a young acquaintance police once found riding on the hood of her speeding Jaguar.

The request for documents in Warrenton, Va., is part of the battle over Cooke’s estimated $825-million estate.

High school principals in a South Texas 5A district have decided to end a controversial policy that prohibited football and volleyball players from shaking hands with opponents after games in Mission, Texas.

A proposed women’s professional soccer league will not begin next spring, leaving Cal State Fullerton without a tenant to generate revenue to complete stadium improvements.

CART announced that it has signed a three-year title sponsorship agreement with Federal Express for its car racing series.

Necrology

Marshall Davis Miles, 92, who met heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis as a young fighter and became his manager and lifelong friend, has died in Buffalo, N.Y., after a long illness.

Keith Piper, whose Denison University teams ran the single-wing offense 40 years after it went out of fashion, died of heart failure in Granville, Ohio.

He was 76.