Henderson Leaves A’s for Padres

Outfielder Rickey Henderson, baseball’s all-time stolen base leader, agreed to a two-year, $4-million contract with the San Diego Padres on Friday.

Henderson, 37, hit .300, drove in 54 runs and stole 32 bases for the Oakland Athletics last season.

Henderson has spent his 16-year major league career in the American League, with the A’s, New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays.

The Padres recently traded Bip Roberts to Kansas City for first baseman Wally Joyner, making room for Henderson in left field.

Henderson said he had considered Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox, but decided to stay on the West Coast.

“It gave me an opportunity to start fresh and learn from one of the greatest hitters,” Henderson said during a conference call, referring to six-time National League batting champion Tony Gwynn.

Gwynn, 35, helped welcome Henderson to the club.

“The only thing I feel bad about is that I have to give up my front seat on the bus because he’s the oldest guy now,” Gwynn said.

Skiing

On an icy course that scared some skiers, World Cup leader Lasse Kjus raced to the first downhill victory of his career at Bormio, Italy, and boosted his lead in the overall standings.

The Norwegian covered the demanding Stelvio course in 1 minute 55.35 seconds, beating Austrian newcomer Andreas Schifferer by 0.31 seconds.

Canada’s Ed Podivinsky produced his best downhill result in nearly two years, finishing third in 1:55.86.

The victory in the fourth downhill of the season gave Kjus a total of 885 points in the overall standings after 15 races.

Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland, who did not compete at Bormio, is second with 498 points.

Defending World Cup champion Alberto Tomba of Italy, who does not compete in speed races, is fourth overall, 529 points behind Kjus.

Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg, a winner in slalom at Veysonnaz, Switzerland, last week, won at Semmering, Austria, this time in 1 minute 40.28 seconds.

She held a commanding 1.03-second lead after the first run, then added to her advantage in her second trip down the Hirschenkogel course. It was the 13th victory of her career.

On the strength of her consecutive victories, Wiberg is second in the overall slalom standings with 200 points. Austria’s Elfi Eder, who finished third, leads with 260 points.

Karin Roten of Switzerland had the fastest time of the second run and earned her first World Cup medal, finishing second in 1:41.20.

Alexandra Meissnitzer of Austria, who did not compete, leads the overall standings with 488 points.

Hockey

Reg Berg’s goal at 16:09 of the third period gave the United States a 4-3 comeback victory over Switzerland at Springfield, Mass., in the preliminary round of the World Junior Hockey Championships.

The United States trailed, 3-2, after Switzerland’s Mathias Seger scored an unassisted power-play goal at 2:04 of the third period. But Jeff Farkas’ goal at 11:03 tied the score, and four minutes later, Berg scored the winner for the United States (1-2-0).

In other games, Canada defeated Finland, 3-1, Russia beat Sweden, 5-2, and the Czech Republic tied Slovakia, 4-4.

Table Tennis

A field of 16 of the top table tennis players in the world, including No. 1-ranked Wang Tao of China, will compete in the Beverly Hills Gilbert Table Tennis Cup Jan. 6-7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Also competing is two-time U.S. champion Jim Butler and 1995 world champion Kong Linghui of China. Total prize money will be $125,000, with $40,000 to the winner. The Jan. 6 competition will include round-robin elimination, with the quarterfinals, semifinals and final taking place Sunday.