Clarion-Ledger from Jackson, Mississippi • Page 17

SCOREBOARD LRD 2 ps (In 1 5-12 BASEBALL- CLASSIFIED' THE CLARION-LEDGER JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1995 YfflDHk Sate elhiainie RICK CLEVELAND In) Columnist The Clarion-Ledger New York overlooks Darryl Strawberry's wayward past, signing him to a 1-year contract. that will guarantee him at least $850,000. "I'd like to hang out the welcome mat and say he's a part of, our club and that he can help us in a positive way," Yankees captain Don Mat-tingly said in Baltimore before the Yankees By Ronald Blum The Associated Press is eligible to play Sunday. "I personally want to thank Mr. Steinbrenner for the faith he has shown in me," Strawberry said in a statement issued by the club.

"The fans in New York are the best in baseball and I will do everything I can to justify Mr. Steinbrenner's confidence in me and the trust of the fans." In November 1990, when he agreed to a $20.25 million, five-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Strawberry's view of the Big Apple was different. "I think a lot of the fun was taken away because of the pressure and the situation in New York," Strawberry said then. Strawberry has 14 home runs and 54 RBIs his past three seasons in the majors a total of 104 games. And the former Jackson Met has been bothered by nagging injuries, including a bad back.

Strawberry is completing a suspension imposed by acting commissioner Bud Se-lig following the outfielder's positive cocaine tests on Jan. 17 and 18. On April 24, U.S. District Judge Barrington Parker Jr. ordered Strawberry to repay $350,000 in back taxes and sentenced him to six months of home confinement.

But Parker permitted him to leave home for practice and games and allowed him to travel to road games with a baseball team. Lukewarm reception readied, 4C t. ml Strawberry Pete Young back at State with a goal to coach Notes, quotes and an opinion or two Former Bulldog baseball hero Pete Young is back in school at Mississippi State. His new goal: Earn a degree and become a coach. NEW YORK After a trip to the Betty Ford Center, a guilty plea for tax evasion that led to a $350,000 fine, two positive cocaine tests and a 60-day baseball suspension, Darryl Strawberry is returning to New York.

Strawberry, who left the New York Mets after the 1990 season to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, agreed Monday to a one-year contract with the New York Yankees played the Orioles. Strawberry's agent negotiated the deal with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. According to the team, the 33-year-old outfielder will join the Yankees "as soon as he becomes eligible under baseball rules." He Waltrip to pay 10,000 for pair of socks He slugged Lake Speed following Sunday's Miller Genuine Draft 400. From Wire Service Reports Michael Waltrip threw the two highest-priced punches in NASCAR history Sunday after the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The stock car racing sanctioning body fined Waltrip $10,000 Monday for striking rival driver Lake Speed, a Jackson native, as he sat in his car on pit road just after completion of the Winston Cup Series event at Brooklyn, Mich.

It's a NASCAR record by far for an altercation. urVa KicrtTocr fino wmpmlvT fnr fln it- i "Pete will make somebody a great coach. He knows the game and loves the game," said State associate head coach Pat McMahon. Young, 27, gave up playing baseball after being released by the Boston Red Sox in the offseason. He retired with 72 days of big league experience, all with the Montreal Expos.

"I had a couple of offers, but nothing that really interested me," Young said. "It just wasn't as much fun as what it used to be. I was really frustrated. Maybe I had just reached my peak. I was just kind of burned out.

"My wife kids me that I miss it and will want to go back, but I really don't miss it at all," Young said. "We've got a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old and I've really enjoyed spending more time with them. "Plus, I've always wanted to coach. Now seemed like a good time to head in that direction." Young said he will need approximately two years to earn his degree 1 Cook combats McNair name heist Remember last week's news about the three San Diego men trying to pirate the commercial rights to Steve "Air" McNair's nickname? McNair's agent, Hattiesburg lawyer Bus Cook, says he's been told the San Diego trio filed their request last September. "How bad is that?" Cook said.

"You talk about taking advantage of somebody. Steve was still a college quarterback. It was against the rules for him to do anything commercial. It was against the rules for him to even have representation. He was powerless.

To me, it's really sad that somebody would do this." Cook said he will filed an objection with the U.S. Department of Trademarks and Patents. "Our stance is simple. It's Steve's name. He made it famous, and they can't use it." McNair is nowhere near signing a contract with the Houston Oilers, who made him the third pick in the recent NFL draft.

"We've had lots discussion and little progress," Cook said. Cook seeks a contract similar to the one Heath Shuler signed with the Washington Redskins last year. "I figure that's a good starting point," he said. "Shuler is a quarterback and the third pick in the draft the same as Steve." Shuler got $19 million over seven years. His contract included what is known as a voidable clause.

That basically gives him the right to renegotiate after three years if he meets certain statistical goals. So far, the Oilers have balked on allowing McNair such a clause. It's really just a matter of how rich McNair is going to get. Tony Boselli, an offensive lineman and the second pick of the draft, got a $6 million signing bonus and $11 million more over seven years from the Jacksonville Jaguars. So far, Boselli is the only one of the top 10 picks who has signed.

Memphis CFL team draws 13,454 Early returns for the new Memphis franchise of the Canadian Football League weren't good. On a perfect Saturday night for football, the Memphis Mad Dogs drew 13,454 for an exhibition game with San Antonio. The Dogs lost 35-14. Shreveport drew nearly 19,000 for a Friday night game with Birmingham Good news for American soccer The United States national team routed Mexico 4-0 Sunday in game nationally televised by ABC. The bad news: Fewer than 2 percent of U.S.

TV households watched. Lindy's preseason football magazine picks Tennessee sophomore Peyton Manning as its All American quarterback, comparing young Manning to Drew Bledsoe and Troy Aikman. To say it caught Manning off-guard is to understate gorssly. "I'm shocked," Manning said. "I feel it's kind of a reach.

I feel there are a lot of other guys with a lot more experience who have made a lot more plays." Manning already has passed 36 academic hours at Tennessee with a 3.5 (of a possible 4.0) grade point average. To contact Rick Cleveland, call 961-7294. Greg JensonThe Clarion-Ledger Carolyn Henry, ranked No. 1 in the South in the 70-and-over group, has no plans to quit hacking anytime soon. At 7 1 Henry still holding court incident like this is around $500," said retired Winston Cup director Dick Beaty.

"I think this one is so big because it was live on CBS tele vision." NASCAR fined Bill Ingle, crew chief for Ricky Rudd, $250 for slugging rival driver Ted Musgrave in a similar incident after the Hanes 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in April. That incident wasn't on TV. NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett sidestepped speculation that the CBS coverage played a part in the amount Waltrip was fined. "We have to look at each case individually," said Triplett. "Our officials feel some thought went into it (W al-trip's action).

It was not a spontaneous act." Waltrip explained after the incident that he was upset because he felt Speed forced him dangerously high into a slick part of the newly repaved track in the final two laps as they raced for position. Waltrip apologized at the track for hitting Speed, who had his helmet on and was not hurt Speed finished 1 1th and Waltrip was 12th. Said Waltrip: "I understand NASCAR has a job to do and that includes making decisions on fines as it sees necessary. I agree that I deserve to be fined, but I think this fine is a little steep for what I did. I plan to appeal." Speed is testing through Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for the Brickyard 400 on Aug.

5 and couldn't be reached for comment "I guess Michael lost his temper," Speed said Sunday. "We just had a racing incident, bumped doors with a few laps to go. We just rubbed a little bit. "Next thing I know, he's parking me like a highway patrolman down here in the grass. I had my helmet on.

I didn't have time to take it off, but I don't think I would have under those circumstances." Local tennis figure has ranked among nation's best for years By Robert Wilson Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Springs. "When I was about seven, I would get together with all the boys and play football," Henry said. "I was the quarterback. Why? Because I had a good arm." Senior women tennis players have been finding out about Henry's arm for years. Henry is ranked No.

6 in the nation and No. 1 in the South in the 70s singles this year. She's consistently been in the Top 10 in the country since she began competing nationally in the early 1980s. Henry is such a national figure on the tennis scene that Prince became her sponsor four years ago. The company now See HENRY, 2C Jackson's Carolyn Henry, the best 71-year-old women's tennis player in the South, was once a quarterback in Crystal Springs.

Before she ever picked up a tennis racquet, Henry was throwing passes to boys in the neighorhood in Crystal Gens' power outage helps Travs turn out lights 5-4 Jackson homer drought stretches to seven games, and there are other shortcomings. By Mike Knobler Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer Today: Arkansas (Lowe 3-3) at Jackson (Mlicki 5-1), 7 p.m. Mississippi Forestry Commission Baseball Card Night, 10K Buck Night, d'Lo-Mendenhall Community Night. Radio: WJDS-AM 620 with Bill Walberg. Information: Call 981-4664.

Mora followed with a double. Kary Bridges added an RBI grounder, but Mora, representing the tying run, was stranded at third. The Generals never got another base runner. Third baseman Tom Nevers made Jackson's other mistakes in the top of the fourth. First, Nevers tried to backhand a soft bouncer from Keith Johns and dropped the ball for an error.

Dan Cho-lowsky followed with a sharp grounder down the line. Nevers made a great play to backhand the ball but couldn't hold on, and Cholowsky had an infield hit. It turned into a three-run inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by Young, a two-out single by Paul Torres and a two-out triple by TonyDiggs. "When the pitcher's out there and has to get five or six outs instead of three, that's what happens," Tolman said. Arkansas' victory wasn't totally gift wrapped.

Shortstop Keith Johns saved at least one run with a diving stop of a sharp grounder up the middle. Johns said his first thought was just to knock the ball down and keep the run from scoring. When he felt the ball in his glove, he popped up and threw to first to end the inning. "That was a great play," Tolman said. "He's a top-notch shortstop.

He's a major league player in the making, and that's why." It was good timing for Johns, an Ole Miss alumnus. His mother, stepfather and grandparents arrived here Friday from Jacksonville, Fla. They may have to go back today. Winning pitcher Brian Carpenter allowed just one earned run in six innings in his Texas League debut Steve Montgomery pitched a perfect ninth for his league-leading 19th save. The loss went to Tyrone Narcisse, the losingest General at 2-7.

Injured boy Improving, 2B Nevers has eye on Cup, 4C You've heard of timely hitting. Jackson needs timely power. The Generals, second in the Texas League in home runs, haven't hit one through seven games of their series with Arkansas. A homer would have come in handy Monday night as i the Generals lost 5-4 before a Smith-Wills Stadium crowd of 2,718. Without power, you can't afford mistakes.

A fielding error led to a three-run inning; a running error cost the Generals at least one run. Arkansas' only earned runs came on a two-run homer by Dmitri Young. That was just enough. Jackson would have tied it in the seventh, but with two on and nobody out, Henri Centeno got picked off second. Mel-vin Mora whiffed on a bunt, and catcher Paul Ellis alertly threw out Centeno.

"The first thingyou have to do is make sure the catcher can't throw behind you on a bunt that's missed," Generals manager Tim Tol-man said. "He slipped. Well never know how many runs we would have scored." BEST BET TV TODAY BY THE NUMBERS THE HOT CORKZR Mike Tyson turned down an invitation to appear at a Monday candlelight vigil for abused black women and apologize for raping a Miss Black America contestant. The Rev. Al Sharpton, an organizer of Tyson's return to New York after three years in prison, said the group that extended the invitation was not truly inter- i AUA rmar Kaoww.

Atlanta's Greg Maddux, the National League's Cy Young Award winner three years running, will face Cincinnati at 6:30 p.m. on TBS. Maddux, 5-1, shut out Montreal 2-0 on seven hits on Thursday. The homestand-ing Reds will counter with a Teams for this year's Coca-Cola All-Star high school soccer game will report to Hinds Community College in Raymond on Wednesday. The game will be played at Hinds' Joe Renfroe Stadium Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $5 each with youth 12 and under dressed in complete soccer uniforms and accompanied by a paying adult admitted free. Vicksburg's Kevin Manton and Warren Central's Lucy Young will coach the North squad. Harrison Central's Karl Friedrich and Long Beach's Eddie Holmes will coach the South. Complete rosters, 2C. Royals 8 Angels 5 Texas League Arkansas 5 Jackson 4 Winston Cup Points Leaders 1.

Sterling Martin 2,020 2. Dale Earnhardt 2,014 3. Jeff Gordon 2,008 4. Ted Musgrave 1,935 5. Mark Martin 1,899 6.

Bobby Labonte 1,798 7. Rusty Wallace 1,777 8. Terry Labonte 1,749 9. Michael Waltrip 1,725 National League Astros 6 Expos 3 Braves 10 RedsO Pirates 8 Giants 2 Phillies 6 Mets 3 Dodgers 5 Cardinals 2 Marlins 7 Rockies 2 Padres 5 3 American League Indians 4 Red Sox 3 Rangers 6 Tigers 4 Orioles 5 Yankees 4 White Sox 8 Mariners 6 Twins 8 Athletics 5 raw rookie named C.J. Nitkowski, 0-0.

weight champion a second chance, and Tyson would hold his own rally today in Harlem. 5C Emms The New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings clash in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals at 7 p.m. on ESPN. Listings, 2C. M.L.

Carr was chosen as coach of the Boston Celtics, ending a 33-day search he conducted. 3C.