Fay Vincent

The Orioles, who never like to put on paper any agreement they might be able to amend in their favor later, have signed a 30-year lease on Camden Yards when they had agreed originally to only 15 years.Why?To show how much they really appreciate the new stadium and the folks who built it for them and who also fill it up night after night?That is, I guess, a possibility.Or, how about this: Because Eli Jacobs wants to get his affairs in order so he can sell the team before the repo man knocks on the door?

For a sport that traditionally governed its clubs with an every-man-for-himself philosophy, Major League Baseball has become practically collectivist. The collective bargaining agreement ratified last week by club owners will require the teams to share more revenue among themselves than ever before, an average of nearly $260 million annually over the next four years. Expanding on innovations in the last labor deal, baseball has become No. 2 in shared revenue among America's four major- league sports.

The 33-year-old son of Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda died yesterday of pneumonia.Thomas C. Lasorda Jr. died at his Santa Monica, Calif., home, said Lee Solters, spokesman for the family. His father, mother and sister were at his side when he died, said Solters.The younger Lasorda was born in Greenville, S.C., and became an artist. He had been ill for about five weeks and was hospitalized briefly at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.Dr. Allen Metzger, who had been treating Lasorda, said he died of pneumonia and severe dehydration.

NEW YORK -- The long-awaited but anticlimactic announcement on George Steinbrenner's baseball future is scheduled for today. Barring a last-minute snag -- the Steinbrenner saga has been filled with snags -- commissioner Fay Vincent will announce that the owner can return to active duty with the New York Yankees on March 1.Steinbrenner has known since June 1 that Vincent would modify their agreement under which he was ousted as the Yankees' managing partner...

SEATTLE -- Steve Greenberg, Major League Baseball's deputy commissioner and chief operating officer, said last night that baseball's rules forbidding foreign ownership of a team don't apply to the bid by a Japanese-led group of investors trying to buy the Seattle Mariners.Greenberg said that baseball is "backing off" from its initial position that the sale is unlikely because Nintendo owner Hiroshi Yamauchi would hold a majority interest in the team.He said commissioner Fay Vincent didn't realize the bidders have the strong minority participation of local business leaders such as Frank Schrontz, Boeing chairman and chief executive officer, and that the majority interest would be controlled by Minoru Arakawa, Yamauchi's son-in-law, who has lived in the Seattle area for 15 years.

PHILADELPHIA -- The latest edition of Penthouse magazine alleges that Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra illegally bet $5,000 on a college basketball game on March 29, 1990 -- a bet handled by a man described as "the biggest bookmaker in Florida."Dykstra denied yesterday that he had bet on the game. He said baseball commissioner Fay Vincent had investigated the charge and had cleared him of any wrongdoing. Vincent also had assured him that this incident did not represent a violation of the one-year gambling probation imposed upon him in March, Dykstra said.

Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Lenny Dykstra doesn't know what baseball commissioner Fay Vincent has in store for him, but the probation for illegal gambling reported by a newspaper sounded fine."

Lenny Dykstra took some batting practice with the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday, his first action with the team since breaking his collarbone in a car crash May 6.Dykstra swung the bat in the indoor batting facility beneath Veterans Stadium, with hitting coach Denis Menke looking on."He took about 20-25 swings," Menke said. "His swing looked good, but he wasn't cutting loose."Dykstra said he took 30 to 40 swings."By the end of the hour, I was taking full swings," said the outfielder, who hopes to make his return July 11.* BREWERS: Commissioner Fay Vincent, saying again that small-market teams like Milwaukee must increase their revenue sources to stay competitive, gave his endorsement to a new stadium for the team.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent presided over a meeting of major-league owners yesterday, briefing them on a list of issues facing the sport.Among them:* The AIDS epidemic and how it can be addressed by professional sports leagues. Vincent said he would be meeting soon with NBA commissioner David Stern and NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.* The Mariners crisis. Vincent told the media that Mariners owner Jeff Smulyan has not asked for permission to relocate the team.* New playoffs.

First baseman Hal Morris broke a bone behind the knuckle of his right index finger when he was hit by a pitch and will be lost to the Cincinnati Reds for four to six weeks.Morris finished second to Terry Pendleton for the National League batting title last year.Reds All-Star shortstop Barry Larkin twisted his right knee and bruised his left arm while chasing a pop fly. It isn't known whether he will miss any games.* YANKEES: Partners are scheduled to meet today amid reports that George Steinbrenner and Leonard Kleinman have reached a settlement of their dispute over Kleinman's lawsuit against commissioner Fay Vincent and over the $1 million Kleinman contends the club owes him.* BRAVES: Outfielder Deion Sanders, batting .447 and with a league-high 17 hits, including one home run and five triples, said that, despite another year on his contract with the NFL's Falcons, he wants to remain with the baseball team until the end of season.