Watson Settles Case With Baltimore Fan

New York Yankee pitcher Allen Watson and the 16-year-old Baltimore Oriole fan he is accused of throwing baseballs at reached an out-of-court settlement Thursday, minutes before a trial on assault charges was to start.

Charles Robbins of Arlington, Va., claimed Watson threw two balls at his 16-year-old daughter, Cheryl, because Watson objected to a sign she was holding. Neither ball struck the teen during batting practice at Camden Yards on Sept. 28.

The father and daughter also had filed a civil suit against the Yankees.

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Chicago White Sox second baseman Ray Durham, who leads the AL in triples and runs scored, left Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles because of a jammed heel. . . . Paul O’Neill is expected to return to the New York Yankees’ lineup today after being pulled from a game earlier this week because of blurred vision.

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Brooks Lawrence, who pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds and worked in the Reds’ front office, died at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Ohio, on Thursday. He was 75.