Orioles First in Luxury Tax List

The highest-spending teams in baseball found out Friday how much they owed the major leagues. And the Baltimore Orioles learned that their awful season last year was also an expensive one.

The Orioles, who, in luxury tax figuring, had the highest payroll in the major leagues and finished with a losing record, were handed a tax bill of $3,138,621.

The money must be paid to the commissioner’s office by Jan. 31.

The luxury tax was adopted as part of the settlement after the 1994-95 strike and was designed to discourage spending by high-revenue teams. For the teams with the five highest payrolls, the tax is assessed at a 35% rate on the amount above the midpoint between teams Nos. 5 and 6.

Baltimore, which finished 79-83 and 35 games behind the first-place New York Yankees in the American League East, had a final payroll of $79,468,674 for luxury tax purposes, according to figures received by teams Friday.

Second was Boston, which will pay $2,184,734 after winning the AL wild-card spot with a 92-70 record, 22 games behind the Yankees, who were third at $684,390.

Atlanta, which advanced to the National League championship series for the seventh consecutive time, has the fourth-highest tax at $495,625, followed by the Dodgers, who will pay $49,593.

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Pitcher Bill Swift, 37, signed a minor league contract with Seattle and will compete for a spot in the Mariners’ rotation in spring training. . . . Toronto Blue Jay pitcher Paul Quantrill said he broke his right leg Tuesday while driving a snowmobile, not while tobogganing, as he initially had said.

Tennis

Top-seeded and local favorite Patrick Rafter lost to Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-4, in the second round of the $325,000 Australian Men’s Hardcourt Championships at Adelaide. . . . Patty Schnyder of Switzerland defeated top-seeded Mary Pierce of France, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, in the final of the Australian Women’s Hardcourt Championships at Gold Coast. . . . Top-seeded and defending champion Dominique Van Roost of Belgium advanced to the final of the ASB Bank Classic with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over Barbara Schett at Auckland, New Zealand.

Sweden used its superior doubles prowess to defeat Switzerland and advance to its first final in the $900,000 Hopman Cup team event at Perth, Australia. Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman paired with Asa Carlsson to outlast Ivo Heuberger and Martina Hingis, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the deciding mixed doubles match. . . . Top-seeded Tim Henman advanced to the semifinals of the $1-million Qatar Open at Doha after defeating American Jeff Tarango, 6-4, 6-7 (15-13), 6-4.

Miscellany

Sabine Egger edged Austrian teammate Ingrid Salvenmoser by one-hundredth of a second in the slalom and won her first World Cup title at Berchtesgaden, Germany. It was also the first time since 1995 that an Austrian woman has won a slalom.

Vinny Pazienza, a former five-time world champion, stopped Undra White at 2:55 of the ninth round in a non-title super-middleweight bout at Ledyard, Conn.

Former Ohio State track star Chris Nelloms was found guilty at Dayton, Ohio, of repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl. He faces a life sentence. The girl accused Nelloms of sexually assaulting her in homes in Dayton and Lexington, Ky., from 1995 to 1997.

A Duke freshman football player has been arrested in the armed robbery of a man in a wheelchair, police in Kinston, N.C., said. Gregory Wade, 18, a linebacker who redshirted last season, was apprehended Thursday night, shortly after the victim and his female caretaker were robbed of cash and jewelry.