Average Length of Games Increased Six Minutes

So much for Commissioner Bud Selig’s desire to quicken major league games.

The average time of a nine-inning game increased six minutes this year to 2 hours 53 minutes, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, baseball’s statistician. That’s one minute short of the record length set in 1994.

In February 1998, a memo was sent to teams outlining a series of steps to speed up games, and the average dropped five minutes last year to 2:47. But enforcement seems to have slackened.

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Shareholders of the Montreal Expos said they had reached agreement in principle to transfer control of the financially ailing team and keep it in the city.

A spokesman for the team, said an agreement was struck for a group headed by wealthy New York art dealer Jeffrey Loria to save the team. Expo chairman Jacques Menard said Loria would become Expo president and hold 35% of team’s shares.

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John Jaha, who resuscitated his career with the Oakland Athletics this season, signed a two-year, $6-million contract with the team. Jaha, 33, was plagued by injuries to his left foot and shoulder over two previous seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers before signing a minor league contract with the A’s. He hit .276 with a 35 home runs and 111 runs batted in. . . . Danys Baez, who abandoned Cuba’s national team in August, worked out for about a dozen major league scouts in San Jose, Costa Rica, showing off his 98-mph fastball.