Braves Sign McGriff: 4 Years, $20 Million

Fred McGriff returned to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night, agreeing to a four-year contract worth about $20 million.

Keeping McGriff with the Braves for their World Series title defense had been the No. 1 priority of General Manager John Schuerholz after center fielder Marquis Grissom re-signed with Atlanta last month.

McGriff, who earned $4.25 million last season, filed for free agency in November after his five-year, $19-million contract expired.

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Reportedly dejected and depressed about his release from the New York Yankees, Darryl Strawberry left his team in the Puerto Rico Winter League and flew to the United States to try to find a team in the majors.

Strawberry had come to San Juan to persuade the Yankees to pick up his $1.8-million contract option for next year.

In nine games with the Santurce Crabbers, Strawberry, 33, was batting .355 with six home runs and 10 runs batted in.

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The Cleveland Indians’ 1996 regular season at 42,000-seat Jacobs Field is a sellout, the first time a major league team has pre-sold all its tickets for an entire season of 81 home games.

Golf

Davis Love III and Beth Daniel combined for a 63 and moved into a share of the lead at 194 with the team of Jay Delsing and Val Skinner after three rounds of the JCPenny Mixed Team Classic at Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Zimbabwe’s Nick Price shot a par 72 and lost a three-stroke lead while faltering after the 15th hole, allowing Corey Pavin, who fired a 69, to tie for the lead at 210 in the Million Dollar Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

Winter Sports

Lasse Kjus of Norway ended seven seasons of frustration, posting the first race victory of his career in 1 minute 34.15 seconds in a men’s World Cup super-giant slalom at Vail, Colo.

He finished .29 seconds ahead of Austrian Richard Kroell (1:34.44). The top American was Kyle Rasmussen of Angels Camp, Calif., 14th at 1:35.23.

Russian Warwara Zelenskaja, who has never won a World Cup race in her seven-year career, burst into tears after a race she believed she had won was canceled at Lake Louise, Canada. Zelenskaja had the fastest time of 1 minute 26.40 seconds after 29 racers, but a sudden snow squall reduced visibility to zero and eventually forced the race to be rescheduled for today.

Kurt Browning skated to the men’s title and the $50,000 first prize at the Canadian pro figure skating championships at Hamilton. Scott Hamilton of the United States finished second. Canadians Barb Underhill and Paul Martini won the pairs.

Christine Witty of the United States won the women’s 1,000 meters in 1:22.17 on the first day of the second round of the speedskating World Cup in Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Miscellany

Las Vegas-based bantamweight Justo Sanchez, attacked earlier in the week by a street gang in Belfast, Northern Ireland, canceled his fight on an undercard at Kings Hall. He suffered a broken hand and multiple cuts. On the card, Wayne McCullough (18-0) scored a technical knockout over Johnny Bredahl (26-1) in the eighth round to retain his World Boxing Council bantamweight title. . . . Mildred “Millie” Robinson, widow of boxer Sugar Ray Robinson and executive director of the Sugar Ray Robinson Youth Foundation, died Tuesday of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was 77.

Walker Evans, winning for the second day in a row, drove a Dodge Ram truck to victory in Round 2 of the Chevrolet Off-Road Winter Series at Glen Helen Raceway Park in San Bernardino. Evans holds a 10-point lead over Curt Leduc of Cherry Valley heading into today’s final two rounds.

Ohio State football players Mike Vrabel and Tom Hoying were arrested Saturday on assault charges in Kent, Ohio, police said. Vrabel is an All-Big Ten defensive lineman, while Hoying is a reserve quarterback whose brother, Bobby, is the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback. . . . Kedrick C.L. Whitehead, a 20-year-old Temple tight end arrested in an armed robbery after his photo appeared alongside a newspaper sports story, had all charges dropped after a young witness who had claimed he was one of four men who ransacked her home could not identify him.

Australian swimmer Samantha Riley set her second world record in two days, shaving almost a second off the 100-meter breaststroke mark with a time of 1 minute 5.70 seconds at the Short Course Championship in Rio de Janeiro. The previous record was 1:06.58, set by China’s Guohong Dai in 1993. . . . Fifteen-year-old Jessica Foschi of New York, in her second meet since coming off probation for a positive steroid test, upset Brooke Bennett to win the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. Open Swimming Championships at Auburn, Ala.