Mo Vaughn Asks for $6.1 Million in Arbitration

On the day that baseball owners dread--the one when players and teams exchange salary arbitration figures--the American League’s most valuable player, Mo Vaughn, asked for $6.1 million Friday and the Boston Red Sox offered $4.2 million.

Chicago Cub outfielder Sammy Sosa and Kansas City pitcher Kevin Appier sought more than $5 million, and seven others asked for more than $4 million as 56 players traded figures with their teams.

Vaughn, who hit .300 with 39 home runs and 126 RBIs in leading Boston to the East Division title, is guaranteed a large raise regardless of how the ruling goes. The first baseman made $2.775 million last season.

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Among those avoiding arbitration were center fielder Brian McRae, who agreed to a $3.4-million, one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs, up from $2.65 million last season; right-hander Scott Erickson and the Baltimore Orioles agreed to a $6-million, two-year contract with a club option for 1998; pitcher Denny Neagle and the Pittsburgh Pirates agreed to a $2.35-million, one-year contract, more than triple his $740,000 salary last season; shortstop Mike Bordick and outfielder Geronimo Berroa signed one-year contracts with Oakland, Bordick for $1.85 million and Berroa for $1.15 million; and shortstop Royce Clayton and St. Louis agreed to a contract worth $1.6 million.

Also, the Chicago White Sox settled with all three of their players in arbitration: pitchers Alex Fernandez ($4.5 million), Wilson Alvarez ($2.7 million) and Roberto Hernandez ($1.9 million).

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Former major leaguer Glenn Davis was awarded $1.6 million in a lawsuit stemming from a fight in which his jaw was broken by a nightclub bouncer in Virginia Beach, Va.

Winter Sports

Alpine skier Picabo Street returned to the Olympic downhill course at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, and won her second World Cup event of the season. It was Street’s second victory at the venue where she began a streak of five downhill triumphs last year.

Swiss skiers swept the first four places at the men’s World Cup downhill race at Veysonnaz, Switzerland. When Bruno Kernen won his first World Cup title, it marked the end of a two-year losing stretch for Switzerland in the men’s downhill.

Golf

Patty Sheehan returned to the LPGA after a 3 1/2-month layoff and shot a 66 at Walt Disney World’s Lake Buena Vista course to lead the HealthSouth Inaugural after the first round in Orlando, Fla.

The first round of the $800,000 Senior Tournament of Champions was delayed by rain. Only two of the 23 players finished the round.

Football

Former Tampa Bay assistant Kippy Brown was hired by new Miami Coach Jimmy Johnson to coach the Dolphins’ running backs. Assistants George Hill, Larry Seiple and Mike Westhoff will be retained on the 11-man staff.

College Basketball

Indiana guard Sherron Wilkerson was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery in Bloomington, Ind., and Coach Bob Knight kicked him off the team.

Bloomington police received a call early Friday saying that a woman was yelling for help outside Wilkerson’s apartment complex. A 20-year-old woman inside told police she had been struck in the face by Wilkerson.

Police said the woman’s lower lip was bleeding and she had a bruise under her chin and human bite marks on her neck.

Miscellany

Tee Williams had 20 kills to lead the San Diego Spikers past the Orange County Diggers, 17-15, 11-15, 17-15, 15-13 in a National Volleyball Association match at the Bren Center. Tracy Dahl led the Diggers (4-3) with 17 kills. . . . World Boxing Organization super flyweight champion Johnny Tapia was given supervised probation but no jail time for assaulting his wife last year in Albuquerque. . . . International Boxing Federation super middleweight champion Roy Jones Jr. joined the Florida Beachdogs of the Continental Basketball Association as a player-coach.