McGwire Gets Chance to Meet the Pope During St. Louis Visit

Mark McGwire got his summit meeting with the pope after all.

McGwire, who grew up Catholic, met briefly with Pope John Paul II Tuesday night before a youth rally at the Kiel Center in St. Louis. They shook hands just before the rally began.

“When he learned the pope would be here, he was hoping it was going to work,” St. Louis Cardinal spokesman Brian Bartow said.

During his address, the pope referred to McGwire, who set a major league record with 70 home runs last season.

“I’m told there was much excitement in St. Louis during the recent baseball season,” the pope said. “Well, two great players, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, were competing to break the home run record.

“You can feel the same enthusiasm as you train for different goals, the goal of following Christ, the goal of bringing his message to the world.”

McGwire was in St. Louis for a Cardinal charity function and a dinner honoring him as the city’s baseball man of the year. He had planned on departing for his home in Huntington Beach before the pope arrived but instead left on the private jet of one of the Cardinal owners soon after meeting the pope.

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Longtime Dodger third-base coach Joe Amalfitano has been hired by the San Francisco Giants as special assistant for player development.

Amalfitano, who turned 65 Saturday, was with the Dodgers the last 15 seasons but was not retained.

The Giants also hired two other former players. Robby Thompson, a longtime second baseman, was named roving infield instructor, and Dave Righetti, a pitcher who had a stint with the Giants from 1991-93, will be a roving pitching instructor.

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Pitcher Mike Morgan, a former Dodger, became the 100th player to sign of the 133 who filed for free agency last fall, agreeing to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers.

Morgan, 39, a right-hander, was traded to the Chicago Cubs by Minnesota on Aug. 25. He went 0-1 with a 7.15 earned-run average in five starts with the Cubs, who won four of those games.

Morgan was 4-2 with a 3.49 ERA in 18 games and 17 starts with the Twins. He worked at least six innings in 10 of those starts, and left the game with the Twins leading or tied 13 times.

One of four players in major league history to have played with 10 teams, Morgan made his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics in 1978.

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Outfielders John Cangelosi and Darrin Jackson agreed to minor league contracts with the Chicago White Sox.

Cangelosi, 35, batted .251 with one home run and 10 RBIs in 104 games with Florida last season. Jackson, 35, hit .240 with four home runs and 20 RBIs in 114 games with Milwaukee.

Boxing

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a boxing fan, has introduced legislation aimed at protecting fighters from exploitation and requiring more openness from promoters about their financial dealings.

“We must prevent boxers from being cheated” and the public from being denied “the benefits of a truly honest and legitimate sport,” said McCain, who submitted the bill with Sen. Richard Bryan (D-Nev.).

The bill, named for Muhammad Ali, would restrict contracts that force a boxer into a long-term deal in exchange for a shot at a world title.

It would require promoters and organizers of major boxing events to disclose more financial information and to inform state boxing commissions of charges, costs and fees they take out of a boxer’s purse.

Identical legislation passed the Senate last October by voice vote, but the House did not take up the measure before the session ended.

Winter Sports

World champions Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov of Russia took the lead after the ice dance compulsory portion at the European Figure Skating Championships at Prague, Czech Republic.

Krylova and Ovsiannikov took all first-place votes from the judges, scoring mostly in the 5.7-5.8 range.

Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France were second.

Russia’s Yevgeny Plushenko, barely 16, the favorite in the men’s competition, turned in a commanding performance during qualifying.

U.S. speedskater Chris Witty, the women’s 500-meter world champion, won the World Cup 1,000-meter race at Collalbo, Italy. After finishing sixth in the 500 earlier in the day, Witty won the 1,000 in an impressive time of 1:18.29.

Olympic champion Bjarte Engen Vik of Norway had the two longest leaps, easily beating the field in the ski-jumping portion of a Nordic combined World Cup event at Predazzo, Italy. He will start the cross-country skiing portion 1 minute 18 seconds ahead of Austria’s Mario Stecher.

Names in the News

Jimmy Williams, an inside linebacker at Arizona State who led the Sun Devils in tackles in 1982 and ‘83, died Sunday in Phoenix, of what appeared to be a heart attack. He was 35. Williams, a three-sport star at Tempe High, was at assistant football coach at Desert Vista High, which won the Arizona state Class 5-A championship last season.

Peter Hillary of New Zealand, the son of Mount Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary, has reached the South Pole with two other skiers. Their antarctic journey was hampered by blinding blizzards, temperatures of more than 50 below, illness and frostbite.