U.S. Women Soccer Veterans Ready to Sign a New Contract
The U.S. women soccer stars who won last summer’s World Cup are expected to sign a contract today with the national federation, ending their one-month dispute over money.
The deal will be signed this morning, a source in the U.S. Soccer Federation told the Associated Press.
The players, among them Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain, will begin training Tuesday for an exhibition against Norway on Feb. 6 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. It will be the first game for new Coach April Heinrichs.
Each World Cup player was paid $3,150 a month during the World Cup run, although U.S. Soccer spent about $2.5 million in preparing the team for the tournament. At the end of the hugely successful tournament last July, the contracts expired.
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Cameroon rebounded from a tie in its opening game and beat Ivory Coast, 3-0, in the first round of the African Nations Cup at Accra, Ghana.
Baseball
Pete Rose’s lawyers finally presented their evidence to baseball in their attempt to change his banned-for-life status.
Rose’s lawyers, Roger Makley and S. Gary Spicer, met Thursday in Dayton, Ohio, with Bob DuPuy, the top lawyer of Commissioner Bud Selig, and attacked the conclusions of the Dowd report, assembled in 1989 by baseball’s chief investigator in the Rose case.
Selig has said repeatedly that he has seen no evidence that would make him alter the lifetime ban, and the officials said Friday there appeared little chance the commissioner’s stance would change.
Juan Gonzalez could be on the verge of becoming the highest-paid player in baseball, topping the contract Derek Jeter hasn’t even signed yet. Detroit appears set to offer Gonzalez a record-breaking contract, possibly $140 million over eight years.
Jeter and the New York Yankees have been talking about a $118.5-million, seven-year contract.
Pitcher Brian Anderson signed an $11-million, three-year contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. . . . Yankee reliever Ramiro Mendoza agreed to a $1.4-million, one-year contract, the midpoint of his arbitration request and the team’s offer. . . . The Baltimore Orioles rounded out their starting rotation by signing free agent right-hander Pat Rapp to a one-year contract. . . . The Atlanta Braves avoided arbitration with center fielder Andruw Jones, signing him to a $3.7-million contract. The Braves also signed outfielder Bobby Bonilla to a minor league contract. . . . Pitcher John Wasdin avoided salary arbitration with the Boston Red Sox, agreeing to a $1.6-million, two-year contract. . . . Danny Tartabull, who hasn’t played since 1997, agreed to a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres that will pay him $250,000 if he makes the big league club. . . . Relief pitcher Mark Wohlers agreed to a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds.
Colorado right-hander Pedro Astacio pleaded guilty to an assault charge but will avoid jail if he stays out of trouble for two years . . . Former manager Dick Williams was arrested Jan. 17 on an indecent exposure charge while attending the World Series of Fantasy Baseball camp in Fort Myers, Fla. At a hearing the next day, Williams pleaded no contest and was released, according to court records.
Miscellany
A state court in Bavaria, Germany, rejected a suit by families of the 11 Israeli athletes who died at the 1972 Munich Olympics, saying the statute of limitations had expired. . . . Under fire for allowing Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey to compete, the organizers of the Karlsruhe indoor meet in Germany dropped out of a track and field organization threatening to expel them over the controversy. . . . Aeriwentha “Mae” Faggs Starr, who won an Olympic gold medal as a member of the U.S. women’s 400-meter relay team in 1952, died of cancer. She was 67. . . . Greg Ray was given the pole for today’s Delphi Indy 200 at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., when qualifying for the first event of the Indy Racing League season was canceled because of steady rain. . . . Tricia Byrnes of the United States and Thomas Johansson of Sweden won the halfpipe events in an FIS World Cup snowboarding event at Tandadalen, Sweden. . . . Joe Pannunzio, an assistant football coach at Auburn, was hired as head coach at Murray State.
The Los Angeles city attorney’s office was pressing for jail time for Fontana High football player Anthony Robinson as punishment for his involvement in a postgame attack on an opposing team Nov. 19, the Robinson family said. Assistant City Atty. Richard Schmidt would not verify the claim. . . . The U.S. Off-Road Championship series will hold its final event of the year tonight at Edison Field. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. and racing starts at 7. . . . The Entertainment Industry Foundation will stage a half-marathon and 5K run-walk Sunday morning at Staples Center to benefit CaP Cure, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for prostate cancer. Details: (310) 393-6344.
