BRIEFLY : BASEBALL PAY RISES ALMOST 10 PERCENT.

Baseball salaries are nearly back to their level before the strike, and Detroit's Cecil Fielder again is the highest-paid player at $9.2 million.

The average salary was $1,176,967 on opening day, according to a study by The Associated Press, an increase of 9.9 percent from opening day last year, when the average was $1,071,029. In 1994, the last season before the 232-day strike, the average was $1,188,679 on opening day, 1 percent higher than this year's average.

The New York Yankees had the highest payroll at $52.9 million, followed by Baltimore at $49.4 million, Atlanta at $47.9 million and Cleveland at $46.2 million.Montreal had the lowest payroll at $15.4 million. Others near the bottom were Kansas City at $18.5 million and Oakland at $19.4 million, a decrease from $35.9 million.

FOOTBALL A huge crane toppled onto the house of Dallas Cowboys fullback Darryl Johnston, partially shearing off one of the exterior walls.

Johnston, a newlywed, was away on his honeymoon. His mother told a neighbor she was the only one in the house when the accident occurred. Johnston's mother was uninjured. The crane crew was in the process of removing a tree from the star's backyard.

Quarterback Steve Beuerlein, who lost his starting job with the Jacksonville Jaguars, has agreed to a contract with the Carolina Panthers.Beuerlein becomes the third quarterback on the Panthers' roster, joining Kerry Collins, Carolina's top draft pick last year, and Kelly Stouffer, who was signed to a free-agent contract last month.

Robert Alexander ``Bones'' Hamilton, a standout running back at Stanford from 1933 to 1935, has died at his home in Palm Springs. He was 83.

As a freshman at Stanford, Hamilton and his teammates made a promise to never lose to Southern California - a promise they kept. While the pledge was originated by quarterback Frank Alustiza, Hamilton termed the promise a vow, and the Stanford team became known as the ``Vow Boys.''

From 1933 to 1935, Stanford had a 25-4-2 record and became the first team to play in three consecutive Rose Bowls.

OLYMPICS U.S. Olympic athletes will no longer be allowed to wrap themselves in the flag to protect sponsors wary of them showing off a competing company's uniform.

A new code of conduct, about to be adopted by the U.S. Olympic Committee, prohibits the kind of commercially inspired behavior that embarrassed the American team in Barcelona four years ago.

SOURCE: Daily News Wires