Baseball Owners OK Sales

In an unprecedented move, baseball owners unanimously approved the takeover of the Montreal Expos by the commissioner’s office and the sale of the Florida Marlins to Montreal’s current owner.

Tuesday’s votes came three days before teams begin spring training and created management shifts. Montreal Manager Jeff Torborg resigned and became Florida’s manager, and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, who was major league baseball’s vice president of on-field discipline, was appointed Montreal’s manager.

Larry Beinfest, who had been the Expos’ interim general manager, resigned to become Florida’s general manager and was replaced by Omar Minaya, who had been senior assistant general manager of the New York Mets.

Tony Tavares, who resigned last month as Angel president, was appointed Montreal’s president by Commissioner Bud Selig.

“From this day forward, in terms of the decisions they make, they are on their own,” Selig said about the Montreal people in a conference call.

Selig made no assurances that the Expos, who joined the National League in 1969, would survive beyond the 2002 season. He promised the Expos would be run independently and that their top young players, such as Vladimir Guerrero, wouldn’t be traded.

The only previous time a major league team was owned by a league or the commissioner’s office was briefly between the 1942 and 1943 seasons, according to research by the Hall of Fame and the Elias Sport Bureau.

The National League took over the Philadelphia Phillies on Feb. 9 from Gerald Nugent, who fell behind in his rent at Shibe Park, and sold the team on March 15 to William D. Cox, who later was banned for life by then-commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis for gambling on Phillies’ games.

Current Marlin owner John Henry heads a group that received approval Jan. 16 to buy the Boston Red Sox for $660 million from the Jean R. Yawkey Trust.

Jeffrey Loria is buying the Marlins from Henry for $158.5 million and selling the Expos for $120 million to Baseball Expos LP, a Delaware limited partnership owned by the other 29 teams. The commissioner’s office is lending him the difference between the prices.

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Paul Abbott and the Seattle Mariners agreed to a one-year contract worth $3,425,000.... Designated hitter David Ortiz signed a $950,000, one-year contract with the Minnesota Twins.... Reliever Tim Crabtree, 32, signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers and was invited to spring training as a nonroster player. He was 0-5 with a 6.56 earned-run average with the Texas Rangers last season.

Pro Football

Maryland Coach Ralph Friedgen has decided to stay with the Terrapins instead of pursuing Tampa Bay’s vacant coaching position. Friedgen spoke Monday to the Buccaneers, who fired Tony Dungy on Jan. 14.

The $545-million sale of the Atlanta Falcons to Arthur Blank, co-founder and retired chairman of The Home Depot, was completed.... PSINet Inc. has filed a request in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York to take its name, displayed in a neon purple logo, off the Baltimore Ravens’ stadium. The Internet company and the Ravens have agreed to terminate a 20-year, $105-million contract that gave PSINet naming rights to the stadium.... Jacksonville signed offensive tackle Chris Ziemann, who had been with the New York Giants the last two seasons.... Fullback Joey Goodspeed, out of football last year, signed a one-year contract with San Diego. Goodspeed first signed with Pittsburgh in 2000 out of Notre Dame.

Tennis

Australian Open semifinalist Jiri Novak defeated Italian qualifier Stefano Galvani, 6-2, 7-5, in the first round of the Copenhagen Open.... Three-time champion Marc Rosset of Switzerland defeated Thierry Ascione of France, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (1), in the first round of the Open 13 at Marseille, France.... Anna Kournikova defeated Marlene Weingarter, 6-2, 6-1, in the Diamond Games at Antwerp, Belgium, setting up a second-round match with Venus Williams. American Meilen Tu defeated Russia’s Elena Bovina, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

Soccer

The U.S. men’s national team, winner of the recent CONCACAF Gold Cup, plays three-time world champion Italy today in Stadio Cibali at Catania, Sicily. The match is one of 15 games today featuring 20 of the 32 World Cup teams.

U.S. women’s national team Coach April Heinrichs selected world champions Lorrie Fair, Brandi Chastain, Shannon MacMillan, Julie Foudy, Cindy Parlow, Kristine Lilly, Joy Fawcett, Kate Sobrero, Tiffeny Milbrett and Danielle Fotopoulos to a squad of 20 that will take part in the 12-nation Algarve Cup in Portugal in March.

The U.S. will play Sweden, England and Norway in the first round.

Major League Soccer announced that its seventh championship game, MLS Cup 2002, will be played Oct. 20 in CMGI Field at Foxboro, Mass.

Jurisprudence

A Superior Court judge in Santa Ana on Monday ordered Dennis Rodman to stand trial in September in a $10-million civil lawsuit filed last year by Playboy model Tina New, who charges that the former NBA star drugged and raped her in 1999.