Baseball

Mark McGwire, who shattered the most revered record in sports with 70 home runs, was picked as the Associated Press male athlete of the year, beating out his home run rival, the Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa, who finished with 66 homers.

McGwire won the award with 332 points. Sosa was second with 177 in the annual voting by AP member newspapers and broadcast outlets.

Running back Terrell Davis of the Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos was third with 63 points, Michael Jordan of the NBA champion Chicago Bulls was fourth with 54, followed by Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway (50) and then NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon (42).

Former Angel outfielder Gregg Jefferies, a free agent, has agreed to a two-year contract worth about $5 million with the Tigers. Former Dodger outfielder Karim Garcia was acquired by Detroit from the Arizona Diamondbacks for outfielder Luis Gonzalez and cash.

Jefferies batted .294 with eight homers and 48 runs batted in for the Philadelphia Phillies last season, then batted .347 with one homer and 10 RBIs in 72 at-bats with the Angels after being traded to Anaheim.

Garcia, 22, played in 113 games with the Diamondbacks last season, batting .222 with nine homers and 43 RBIs.

The Diamondbacks had taken Garcia from the Dodgers in the first round of the 1997 expansion draft.

The Cleveland Indians re-signed pitcher Steve Karsay to a one-year contact for the 1999 season, avoiding salary arbitration.

First baseman Mark Johnson, released by the Angels last week, agreed to a one-year contract with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Central League.

Pro Basketball

Free-agent center Vlade Divac, who played for the Charlotte Hornets last season, signed with Yugoslav champion Red Star, but he can return to the NBA in January if the lockout ends.

“Vlade did not do this for money,” said Mark Fleischer, Divac’s agent, who declined to divulge terms of Divac’s contract. “He was going to be in Yugoslavia anyway, and he does not want Red Star to finish last in its division.”

Winter Sports

Kristina Koznick of the United States clinched her first World Cup victory of the season, winning a night slalom at Semmering, Austria.

Koznick, whose previous season best had been second place in a Dec. 20 slalom at Veysonnaz, Switzerland, twisted her way around the 58 gates down the Hirschenkogel course in a two-run combined time of 1 minute 40.49 seconds.

Petr Mika scored two power-play goals and added an assist to lead the Czech Republic to a 6-3 victory over the United States at the world junior hockey championship at Brandon, Manitoba.

Catherine Raney, who won the 3,000- and 5,000-meter races, and Tim Hoffmann won overall titles in the U.S. Allround Speedskating Championships at West Allis, Wis.

Olympics

Officials from the 2002 Winter Games organizing committee will not be in attendance when a U.S. Olympic Committee panel probing bribery allegations holds its first meeting today in Washington.

But the Salt Lake Organizing Committee will be closely monitoring the special commission, which will examine the methods used by some Salt Lake bid committee officials to obtain the games.

“The USOC must respond quickly and credibly to the allegations and issues,” USOC President Bill Hybl said in a statement Monday.

Obituary

Tom Novikoff, a junior college All-American tailback at Los Angeles City College in 1949 and 1950, died Dec. 25 of emphysema at a rest home in Los Angeles. Novikoff, 70, also played at Oregon. Survivors include one brother and five sisters.

Services will be held Wednesday at the Russian Molkan cemetery in the City of Commerce.