Owners Approve Hicks as New Ranger Owner

Tom Hicks, who owns more than 400 radio stations and the NHL’s Dallas Stars, became the owner of the Texas Rangers Wednesday night.

By a 30-0 vote at their meetings in Seattle, major league owners approved the sale of the Rangers to the 52-year-old media mogul for $250 million.

The vote followed one made earlier Wednesday by baseball’s ownership committee.

“I’m delighted,� interim commissioner Bud Selig and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, said. “I want to say I really enjoyed the ownership of the Texas club. So I’m going to miss them. But I think they have a wonderfully talented person in Tom Hicks.�

“We had not heard of any opposition prior to this and none surfaced,� said Tom Schieffer, who will remain the Rangers’ president. “That just makes everybody feel very good.�

The status regarding the sale of the Florida Marlins remained unclear although some owners in Seattle said they expected it to go through eventually.

The owners announced Monday that they wouldn’t vote on the Marlins’ deal during these meetings.

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The San Francisco Giants lost their cleanup hitter for at least two weeks and remained upset a day after Jeff Kent was injured on a slide by Seattle’s Alex Rodriguez.

Kent was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right knee. He was injured when Rodriguez slid into him while trying to break up a double play during Tuesday night’s game.

“I didn’t think it was that bad until I got home and saw the replay,� Kent said. “Now I think it was cheap. There’s no need for that.�

Rodriguez, who said he tried to call the Giants to check on Kent’s condition both Tuesday and Wednesday, defended his slide as clean and necessary.

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Center fielder Bernie Williams hurt his right knee sliding awkwardly into third base during the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 6-2 victory over Montreal. He played in the field in the bottom of the sixth, then left the game.

Manager Joe Torre said Williams would likely be sent back to New York today for further examination. “We won’t really know until we get home,� Torre said. “He may have sprained his knee a little bit.�

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Erik Hanson’s disappointing three-year stay with the Toronto Blue Jays is over, and the struggling right-hander is relieved.

“There was really no choice other than to let me go,� Hanson said. “The organization is classy enough to see that.�

Toronto designated the 33-year-old Hanson for assignment, which will allow him to sign with another team. He said he wasn’t surprised by the move.

Hanson, who is in the final year of a contract paying him $3.5 million this season, has struggled since returning from rotator cuff surgery in May 1997.

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Atlanta pitcher John Smoltz, trying to bounce back again from an injured elbow, gave up two runs in four innings during a rehabilitation start for Greenville of the Double-A Southern League.

Smoltz, the 1996 NL Cy Young Award winner, began the season on the disabled list after undergoing surgery on his right elbow in December.

He rejoined the Braves in mid-April after making two starts for Greenville and one for Class-A Macon and went 4-1 with a 3.94 ERA before his elbow began hurting again 2 1/2 weeks ago.