Baseball -- Anheuser-Busch Selling Cardinals

ST. LOUIS - The traditional St. Louis combination of beer and baseball is breaking up - Anheuser-Busch is selling the Cardinals.

Anheuser-Busch, owner of the team for 42 years, made the surprise announcement yesterday.

The company said the sale, expected to be completed in June, is part of a plan to concentrate on its core businesses of beer, theme parks and aluminum cans.

"We concluded it was in the best interest of everyone, including the Cardinals and the fans, to seek a new owner," brewery chairman and president August Busch III said.

Brewery spokesman John Jacob said will try to sell the team to a local buyer, or at least to owners who would keep the Cardinals in St. Louis. But there is no guarantee the team will not be moved.

Financial World magazine estimated the value of the team at $110 million.

Tony La Russa, who signed a two-year contract to manage the team earlier this week, said he was surprised when told of the Cardinals' situation.

"I started recoiling," La Russa said. "Part of the attraction of the St. Louis Cardinals, for me a lot was attached to the Busch family and Anheuser-Busch."

Astros poised to move?

Telecommunications executive William Collins III is close to completing a deal to buy the Houston Astros and move the team to RFK Stadium next spring, The Washington Post reported today.

The newspaper said Astros chairman Drayton McLane has agreed to sell the team to Collins' group of local investors, but the price is under negotiation.

Collins intends to play at RFK until a stadium is built in northern Virginia.

Orioles to hire Johnson?

Davey Johnson will get a three-year contract to become the next manager of the Baltimore Orioles, according to a National League source, and he has been busy piecing together his coaching staff for next year, which could include a handful of old Orioles teammates.

Among the names mentioned are Pat Dobson, Merv Rettenmund, Mike Easler, John Stearns, Andy Etchebarren and Elrod Hendricks.

Notes

-- The Los Angeles Dodgers opted not to pick up Tim Wallach's contract for the 1996 season, releasing the veteran third baseman. The 38-year-old Wallach, who hit .266 with nine homers and 38 RBI in 97 games, struggled most of the season due to back and knee injuries.

-- Boston Red Sox team physician and part-owner Arthur Pappas was ordered to pay $1.7 million in damages to former infielder Marty Barrett, who claimed the doctor's negligence cost him his career.

-- A committee that oversees historic Doubleday Field has decided that the birthplace of baseball isn't a fitting place for a minor-league team. The independent Northeast League had wanted to place a franchise in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Compiled from the Associated Press, Baltimore Sun and Bloomberg Business News