Matt Holliday signs seven-year contract with St. Louis

Matt Holliday is staying with the St. Louis Cardinals, agreeing Tuesday to a seven-year, $120-million contract that is baseball’s richest deal of the off-season.

The Cardinals announced Tuesday they had agreed with Holliday on a multiyear contract subject to a physical. The team said a formal announcement was likely by Thursday.

The outfielder’s agreement includes $119 million guaranteed over seven seasons plus a $17-million vesting option for 2017 with a $1-million buyout, a person familiar with the deal told the Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t reveal the length of the contract or financial details.

St. Louis acquired Holliday from Oakland in July and he helped lead the Cardinals to their first National League Central Division title since 2006.

Randy Johnson of the San Francisco Giants is retiring after 22 major league seasons.

The Big Unit, an overpowering left-hander who in June became the 24th pitcher in history to win 300 games, made the expected announcement on a conference call.

A five-time Cy Young Award winner, the 46-year-old Johnson accomplished just about everything in his remarkable career that a player hopes for in baseball. He owns a World Series ring and co-MVP honors, and was a 10-time All-Star. He threw two no-hitters, including a perfect game.

The 6-foot-10 Johnson finishes with a record of 303-166 and 4,875 strikeouts in 4,135 1/3 innings for Montreal, Seattle, Houston, Arizona, the New York Yankees and San Francisco. His strikeouts are the most by a left-hander and second to Nolan Ryan’s 5,714.

Troy Glaus and the Atlanta Braves finalized a one-year, $1.75-million contract. Glaus, a third baseman, will play first for the Braves. . . . Catcher Kelly Shoppach and the Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a two-year, $5.5-million contract. . . . Infielder Juan Uribe is staying with the Giants, agreeing to a one-year, $3.25-million contract.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Florida State decision upheld

The NCAA has upheld its decision to vacate up to 14 victories from former football coach Bobby Bowden as part of Florida State’s penalty in an academic cheating scandal.

Bowden is No. 2 in major college football history with 389 coaching victories. He retired after Florida State’s 33-21 Gator Bowl victory over West Virginia on Friday.

The NCAA could take wins away in as many as 10 Florida State sports programs, including possibly stripping the track program of one of three straight NCAA championships won between 2006 and 2008.

The NCAA Infractions Appeals Committee said the cooperative efforts of the university in the academic cheating scandal involving 61 Florida State athletes failed to outweigh the aggravating factors in the case.

USC’s game at Oregon State next season has been moved from Oct. 23 to Nov. 20 for television considerations, the school announced.

The change could help the Trojans, who were scheduled to play 11 consecutive games before an open date. The revision gives USC a bye after its seventh game, an Oct. 16 home game against California.

-- Gary Klein Ohio State defensive end Thaddeus Gibson and Oklahoma cornerback Dominique Franks will forgo their senior seasons to make themselves available for the NFL draft.

Former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville is expected to meet with Texas Tech officials about the school’s vacant coaching position.

ETC.

Blackmun is new chief of USOC

Scott Blackmun will be the new chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee, the Chicago Tribune reported, with the USOC board choosing him over Chuck Wielgus, the chief executive of USA Swimming.

USOC Chairman Larry Probst will introduce Blackmun, 52, to the staff today in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Blackmun, an attorney, served the USOC in a variety of positions from 1999 through 2002. He was acting chief executive from November 2000 through October 2001.

-- Phillip Hersh David Brandon, the chairman and chief executive of Domino’s Pizza, was chosen as the athletic director at Michigan. Brandon, 57, played football for the Wolverines.

Former NBA star Jayson Williams was charged with drunk driving after his sport utility vehicle veered off an exit ramp in Manhattan and struck a tree early Tuesday, New York police said, the latest legal woe for the troubled ex-player.

Williams, who is awaiting retrial on a manslaughter case in New Jersey, suffered a minor bone fracture in his neck and cuts to his face in the crash, authorities said. He was in the passenger seat when officers arrived, and he told them someone else had been driving, according to police. But witnesses told police they saw him in the driver’s seat, and officers said no one else was in the car.

Team USA ended Canada’s five-game title streak, defeating the favored Canadians, 6-5, in overtime in the gold medal game of the world junior hockey championships at Saskatoon, Canada.

Former Alpine star Daron Rahlves took an important step toward making the U.S. Olympic team by finishing runner-up in a World Cup ski cross race won by Germany’s Simon Stickl in Oberndorf, Austria.