The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 52

4 REDBIRDS PREVIEW. THE COURIER-JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 1988 Buffalo bidding for attendance title rrTrrr 177 General admission JJ UVCHf (When open) TVA' 1 1 I I I Reserved General Admission Schedule features interloague play The American Association and the International League have formed the Triple-A Alliance. Each club will play 40 games against teams from the other league five against each team with all games counting in the standings of both leagues. Louisville will play three home games each against IL clubs Rochester, Toledo, Richmond and PawtuckeL and two each against Columbus, Maine, Syracuse and Tidewater. At the end of the season, division winners in both leagues will play for league championships, and then the champs will meet for the overall title in a revival of the Little World Series.

f7rioij.3orj CARDINAL STADIUM srw3p3fjoTr 9 Hiis! 3 ww 'VNvu'MVraia 9tftir9i7iraiK Fl.llT7l:fftvnai av in 321 31 JU imricS Ramp 2 Ramp 3 By GEORGE RORRER Staff Writer In 1988, all eyes in the American Association will focus not on Louisville, for a change, but on Buffalo. For six years, Louisville has reigned as the attendance champion of minor league baseball. Now, though, Buffalo is mounting the most serious challenge yet. On April 14. the Bisons will open new $59 million, Pilot Field in downtown Buffalo.

On July 13, they will be hosts for the first Triple-A All-Star Game. Recently the Bisons announced they had cut off season ticket sales at 9.000. That, Buffalo co-owner Bob Rich Jr. pointed out, is more season tickets than the World Series champions, the Minnesota Twins, sold. Buffalo stopped at 9,000, Rich said, because "as we move toward the major leagues, we've got to expand our market area.

We want people to be able to make the drive from, say, Erie, Pa, without being afraid they'll be told the game is sold out." All tickets for the first game in Pilot Stadium were snapped up on March 7 in an hour and 24 minutes. With 9,000 season tickets, the Bisons can count 639,000 in attendance without selling another ticket. Louisville led the Association last year with 522,433, with Buffalo second at 497,860, a franchise record. Buffalo's switch from the Cleveland Indians to the Pittsburgh Pirates is the Association's only change of affiliation. That completed an all-National League affiliation for the Eastern Division Louisville with St.

Louis, Indianapolis with Montreal, Nashville with Cincinnati and Buffalo with Pittsburgh. Indianapolis will be shooting for a third straight championship under Joe Sparks, who was voted the Casey Stengel Manager of the Year Award last season for a record fourth time. A closer look at the other Association teams: Eastern Division BUFFALO: Pittsburgh is trying mightily to field a winner to go with the Bisons' new stadium. Manager Rocky Bridges, whose Vancouver club finished with the sixth-best record in the Pacific Coast League last year, has some veteran performers and some promising youngsters. Pittsburgh traded for slugging Columbus first baseman Orestes Des- (13-8 at Pittsfield) will get a chance to improve the Iowa staff.

They'll join veterans Bob Tewksbury and Jeff Pico in the rotation. Jeff Hirsch, 7-1 at Pittsfield, will get a chance to be the relief stopper. Iowa lost 1987 league "Star of Stars" Wade Rowdon in a trade, but picked up some punch in promising first baseman Mark Grace. Grace, who was considered a threat to the job of Chicago first baseman Leon Durham in the spring, hit 17 home runs and drove in 101 runs at Pittsfield last season. The Cubs acquired infielder Greg Tabor and outfielder Dave Meyer from Oklahoma City, and they still have infielders Paul Noce and Bruce Crabbe and outfielder Gary Varsho.

Rookie outfielders Doug Dascenzo (.306 at Pittsfield) and Dwight Smith (.337 with 18 homers at Pittsfield) have been added. OKLAHOMA CITY: Returning skipper Toby Harrah again has the league's oldest team because all of the top kids in the Texas organization are with the Rangers. Cesar Cedeno came out of retirement and joined the 89ers this spring, but relented and retired again. It wasn't because he felt old, because his teammates would've included catchers Don Werner and Dave Sax, first basemen Jose Tolen-tino and Larry See, second baseman Dan Rohn, shortstop Jeff Kunkel and third baseman Barbaro Garbey. Among the 89ers' pitchers are the venerable Craig McMurtry, Mike Jeffcoat and Tony Fossas.

It's a collection of yesterday's hopefuls, but don't laugh. It was good enough to finish strong and make the playoffs last year. OMAHA: New manager Glenn Ezell has pretty much the same cast as the one that tied for last place in 1987. Gary Thurman, the best of Omaha's young outfielders, is back after failing to displace Bo Jackson in left field at Kansas City, and he'll join veteran Nick Capra and rookie Mike Loggins (.282 at Memphis). In the infield, the Royals still have first basemen Joe Citari and Luis de los Santos, second baseman Rondin Johnson, shortstop Dave Owen and aging third baseman Jose Castro, with Buddy Biancalana in a backup role.

Still in the starting pitching rotation are Steve Fireovid, Al Harge-sheimer, Israel Sanchez, Don Wel-chel and Rick Anderson. Back in relief are Jerry Don Gleaton, Luis Aquino and Tom Mullen. Jeff Montgomery, acquired from Cincinnati, is scheduled for relief work. REDBIRDS DATA Parking: $1 Admission: Adult $4 and $3.50 reserved, $3 general admission Child 7-14 $2.50, $2 reserved, $1 general admission Child 6 and under $1.50, $1 reserved, free general admission Ladies and senior citizens nights (Thursdays and Sundays) $2.50, $2 reserved, $1 .50 general admission Groups of 25 to 250: $3.50, $3 reserved, $2.50 general admission Groups of more than 250 $3, $2.50 reserved, $2 general admission Groups of 1,001 or more $1.50 general admission Wheelchair $3 reserved Game times: Monday through Saturday 7:15 p.m. Holidays and Sundays Times vary.

trade, liberating him from a career playing behind Yankee ace Don Mattingly. Other Bison veterans include outfielders Skeeter Barnes and Tom Romano, infielder Bryan Little and pitchers Dave Rucker and Bruce BerenyL Part of the Pirates youth movement includes Bison rookie pitchers Dave Johnson, Brett Gideon, Randy Kramer and Jim Neidlinger, catcher Tom Prince, infielders Sammy Khalifa and Felix Fermin and outfielders Bernardo Tatis, Tommy Gregg and Benny DiStefano. Jim Reboulet, who batted .319 at Harrisburg after being acquired from Louisville last year, is also a Bison newcomer. INDIANAPOLIS: League batting champion Dallas Williams succumbed to a yen for a big-bucks Japanese contract, but Sparks' Indians still have a nucleus of seasoned veterans and their pitching staff reflects a strength of the parent Montreal Expos. Back are infielders Razor Shines and Johnny Paredes, outfielders Billy Moore and Alonzo Powell and pitchers Joe Hesketh, Mike Smith, Sergio Valdez, Tim Barrett, Jeff Fischer and Kurt Kepshire.

Among interesting newcomers are pitchers Brian Holman, Randy Johnson and Rich Sauveur. Holman was 14-5 at Jacksonville last year, but 0-4 at Indianapolis. Johnson, a 6-foot-10 left-hander, had an 11-8 record at Jacksonville. Sauveur, a lefty drafted from Pittsburgh, was 13-6 at Harrisburg. NASHVILLE: Last year's Sounds collapsed with off-key pitching and tied Omaha for last place, but some off-season trades by the parent Cincinnati Reds should help.

Manager Jack Lind can call on a rejuvenated Norm Charlton, Pat Pa-cillo, Tim Birtsas, Jack Armstrong, Mike Roesler and Mike Jones, among others. Nashville will have veteran in fielders Scott Earl and Lenny Harris, plus outfielders Van Snider and Ron Roenicke. Cincinnati second baseman Ron Oester will begin the season in extended spring training as he rehabilitates his surgically-repaired left knee, but he could be with the Sounds before May 15. Also, Nashville last week obtained hard-hitting Iowa infielder Luis Quinones in a trade. Western Division DENVER: The defending regular-season champions have a new manager in Duffy Dyer, but they still have a lot of the punch that delivered 192 home runs, most for an Association team since 1955, when Minneapolis hit a league-record 241.

Joey Meyer and his 29 homers are gone to the parent Milwaukee Brewers, but returning are Brad Komminsk (32), Steve Stanicek (25) and Steve Kiefer (31), and back in harness are sluggers Jim Adduci and Billy Jo Robidoux. Adduci spent most of last season in Japan and Robidoux rehabilitated a knee injury. Denver also picked up outfielder Darryel Walters, who hit 22 homers at El Paso, and the minor leagues' leading hitter, outfielder Lavell Freeman, who batted .395 with 24 homers at El Paso. The Zephyrs will again have pesky second baseman Billy Bates shortstop Edgar Diaz and strong-armed catcher Charlie O'Brien. Pitching was the weakness of the Z's last season, and many of the same hurlers return, including Mark Ciardi, Al Jones, Alex Madrid, Paul Mirabella and Dan Scarpetta.

IOWA: New manager Pete Mack-anin may have inherited the problem that led last year's Cubs to a sixth-place finish weak pitching. Rookie pitchers Len Damian (13-9 at Pittsfield, Dave Masters (12-3 at Pittsfield) and Roger Williams $0 ORIGINAL 1975 GODFATHER Proudly presents the finest in adult entertainment in the Louisville area. The club has moved to its new headquarters at 118 W. Washington under the 2nd St. bridge.

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The New York Mets' Tidewater team looms as a threat to repeat as regular-season champion in the International League even without slugging first baseman Randy Milli-gan, who was traded to Pittsburgh. Manager Mike Cubbage has veteran outfielders Mark Carreon, Andre David and Darren Reed, plus ex-Yankee catcher Phil Lombardi and shortstop Gregg Jefferies, Baseball America magazine's Minor League Player of the Year the last two years. Columbus, top farm club of the New York Yankees, is rebuilding under manager Bucky Dent with a young outfield that includes Casey Close, Turner Ward and Hal Morris. The Clippers, who won the league Toledo, the Detroit Tigers' top farm club, will be managed by Pat Corrales and coached by ex-Redbird Gene Roof. Syracuse, managed by first-year skipper Bob Bailor, has promising outfielders Rob Ducey and Glen-allen Hill.

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