Baker’s Surgery Is Called a Success

San Francisco Giant Manager Dusty Baker had successful surgery for prostate cancer on Monday at Stanford Hospital.

Baker, 52, a three-time National League manager of the year, should be at full strength for spring training, the Giants said.

The cancer was discovered by team doctors shortly after the conclusion of the regular season, the team said. During Monday’s three-hour procedure, Baker’s prostate was removed. A biopsy of the surrounding lymph nodes showed no signs of additional cancer.

The Angels acquired right-hander Mickey Callaway from the Tampa Ray Devil Rays for infielder Wilmy Cacares. Callaway, 26, was 11-7 with two complete games and a 3.07 earned-run average last season for the triple-A Durham Bulls. Callaway is 1-2 with a 7.40 ERA in seven major league games and will be placed on the team’s 40-man roster.

Atlanta signed first baseman Julio Franco and catcher Eddie Perez to triple-A contracts and invited them to spring training.... The New York Yankees signed free-agent outfielder Rondell White to a two-year contract.... Kansas City General Manager Allard Baird said the team is close to signing free-agent outfielder Chuck Knoblauch. “Right now it’s just a matter of dotting the ‘i’s’ and crossing the ‘t’s,’ � Baird said.... Shortstop Ricky Gutierrez, who has played only 27 games at second base--none since 1997 with Houston--signed a three-year contract with Cleveland. The team plans to play Gutierrez at second to replace Roberto Alomar, who was traded last week to the New York Mets.... St. Louis agreed to one-year contracts with right-handed pitcher Garrett Stephenson and infielder Miguel Cairo, avoiding salary arbitration for both. Terms were not disclosed.... The Chicago White Sox acquired left-handed pitcher Corey Lee as the player to be named in the trade that sent third baseman Herbert Perry to the Texas Rangers.

The Minnesota Twins and major league baseball told a state court in St. Paul that an injunction forcing the team to play next season strips the sport’s right to govern its affairs. Oral arguments before the state Court of Appeals are scheduled for Dec. 27.... Frank McCourt, a developer, and Jeremy Jacobs, owner of the FleetCenter and Boston Bruins, reportedly dropped out of the bidding for the Boston Red Sox. The Boston Globe reported the leading bidders for the franchise are headed by television producer and former San Diego Padre owner Tom Werner, and a group headed by New York lawyer Miles Prentice that is backed by The Quadrangle Group, a private equity firm.

Boxing

Police in New York are investigating a claim that former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson punched former boxer Mitchell Rose outside a nightclub after Rose yelled at Tyson and called his companions “chicken heads.�

Rose told police Tyson grabbed his mink coat before knocking him to the ground early Sunday morning. Rose had been told to leave the nightclub by Tyson’s security guards and club personnel, but waited for him outside, a police report said.

When Tyson left the club, Rose allegedly cursed and screamed at him and his companions, including two women. “Look at Mike Tyson with a couple of chicken heads!� Rose said, according to the report.

Soccer

Lee Yun-taek, co-chairman of South Korea’s organizing committee for the 2002 World Cup, is under pressure to resign after he clashed with his more powerful counterpart, Chung Mong-joon. The (South) Korea Football Assn., which Chung heads, criticized what it called the committee’s inefficient “two-top system� and asked the government to abolish it.... FIFA, the sport’s world governing body, selected Portuguese midfielder Luis Figo as player of the year. American Mia Hamm was selected best woman player.

Miscellany

High school sports for girls in Michigan must set schedules on the same basis as boys sports, a judge ruled in Kalamazoo.

Michigan is one of only a few states in which high school girls play basketball in the fall and volleyball in the winter--the opposite of the seasons traditionally used by colleges.

The state plans to appeal.