Baseball

NO. 70 BALL UP FOR AUCTION: The chase for Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball is in full swing -- with the winner to be decided in an auction.The historic ball will be sold early next month by the New York auction house Guernsey's.

Philip Ozersky, a 26-year-old research lab scientist at Washington University in St. Louis, retrieved the ball Sept. 7 as McGwire's St. Louis Cardinals ended the regular season against Montreal.

"They know how to pull off an auction of this size," Michael Freedland, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer who represents Ozersky, told The New York Times. "And they're going to do an online auction simultaneously."

Three collectors, represented by St. Louis attorney Alan Cohen, have offered $1 million for the ball, and Freedland estimated Ozersky has received more than 500 inquiries.

Boxing

NO DECISION FOR TYSON: The judge who sentenced Mike Tyson for his 1992 rape conviction still has not decided if the former heavyweight champion violated parole and should be returned to prison.

Marion County Superior Court Judge Patricia Gifford was awaiting a report from the county's probation department on Tyson's no-contest plea to misdemeanor assault charges in Maryland.

Tyson was convicted Feb. 10, 1992, of one count of rape and two counts of deviate sexual conduct. Gifford sentenced Tyson to 10 years in prison and suspended four.

Hockey

NHL GOVERNORS MEET: NHL participation in the Olympics remained in doubt during the first day of the Board of Governors meeting.

Other issues discussed included: the two-referee experiment; overtime options to help break ties; off-season tinkering to increase scoring; and the status of franchises in Pittsburgh and Uniondale, N.Y.

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Football

STANFORD KICKER CHARGED: Former Stanford kicker Eric Abrams, who pleaded no contest to charges involving a 14-year-old boy, faces additional accusations in San Francisco.

Abrams entered his plea Monday to felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor child molestation. Prosecutors said he posed as a Nike salesman and lured the boy to his apartment last year.

The prosecution dropped a felony count of attempted false imprisonment involving a 13-year-old boy Abrams met on a plane flight from San Jose to San Diego.

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