Star-Gazette from Elmira, New York • 9

Sp(D)IEtsMfflCT Scoreboard 2C Money 6C Executive Sports Editor Randy Benson, 607734-5158, Ext. 290 Star-GazetteWednesday, September 23, 1 992 Knicks, Magic, Clippers complete 5-player deal In Smith, the Knicks get a 6-10 player who can be used at either forward position or at center. He aver-a 14.6 points and 6.1 rebounds last season. The Associated Press NEW YORK Almost a month after it was first agreed upon, a three-team trade involving the New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers was made Tuesday when Stanley Roberts agreed to waive a no-trade clause and go to Los Angeles. The Clippers receive Roberts, a 7-foot center, from the Magic, and point guard Mark Jackson and a 1995 second-round draft choice from the Knicks.

The Knicks get forward Charles Smith and guards Doc Rivers and Bo Kimble from the Clippers, and the Magic get New York's first-round draft choice in 1993 and the worst of LA's two No. 1 selections in either 1993 or 1994. Roberts, 22, entering his second season, held the trade up for more than three weeks while deciding whether to waive the no-trade clause included in a five-year, $14.4 million deal he signed this summer. "He did not like the way it was handled original- "I don't think you can find a player in this league who wouldn't enjoy playing with Pat Ewing or wouldn't enjoy being coached by Pat Riley," Rivers said. Orlando will get a chance to continue building their club through the draft.

"We feel we've had some tremendous success in the past college drafts," said director of player personnel John Gabriel. The Magic has built its team through the draft, getting 19.9-point scorers Dennis Scott and Nick Anderson in the 1989 and 1990 drafts. Roberts was the No. 1 pick in 1991. Roberts' original unwillingness to move was puzzling after the Magic made Shaquille O'Neal the first pick overall in this year's draft and signed him to a seven-year, $40 million deal.

Roberts would have been stuck behind O'Neal in Orlando, while in Los Angeles he figures to be the starter on an up-and-coming team. ROBERTS JACKSON RIVERS KIMBLE SMITH "I can play ly. He had been told he would not be moved. He was angry, he was mad. He just had reservations about LA," Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor said.

Roberts was swayed during a visit to Los Angeles last weekend. "When Stanley got an opportunity to come out, once he got here and got a chance to see the city, he loved it. That was his major concern, the lifestyle. He's from a small city," Baylor said. the 3, backup Patrick (Ewing) at center, play power forward it doesn't really matter to me," Smith said.

The Clippers and Knicks swap point guards, with Los Angeles getting the younger player. Rivers, 31, averaged 10.9 points and 3.9 assists last year in Los Angeles. Jackson, 27, recovered from a horrible 1990-91 season to score 11.3 points and average 8.6 assists last year. sftw on oil uri 1 vl V. i I fiw Yd By ROGER NEUMANN Star-Gazette Marlins stocked with top baseball execs Landing the Florida Marlins as their parent organization may be the Elmira Pioneers' best catch of the year.

At least Pi oneers' owner Clyde Smoll hopes so. "I think there should be new excitement," Smoll said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference at Dunn Field. SMOLL "I'm hoping there is. I'm gambling there is." I 1 he's not concerned that the Miami-based organizition won't put a major league team on the field until next season. "I don't think the lack of a track record is a concern," he said.

"In fact, I think it's a plus that they're not carrying around any negative baggage from the past." Another plus: If concessions sales are any indication, the Marlins already are a hit in Elmira. Merchandise with the team's logo outsold all other major league teams this year at Dunn Field. The Marlins fielded two clubs this year at Erie in the New York-Penn League, and at Kissimmee, in the rookie Gulf Coast League. Ninety players in all are under contract, said Dan Lunetta, direc-tor of minor league administration. "We're very aggressive in our scouting and player development," Lunetta said.

He said the Marlins will be particularly active in scouting Latin American countries and Australia. Among Florida's best young prospects is a 17-year-old shortstop who is expected to play in Elmira next year. Edgar Renteria of Columbia was a standout this season in the Gulf Coast League. "He's a major league prospect, and we think he's got a tremendous future," Lunetta said. "I think Elmira fans will really get a kick out of seeing this kid play.

He has great range into the hole, and he has a strong arm and good bat control." By ROGER NEUMANN Star-Gazette The Florida Marlins began building a reputation long before they began building a team. The early scouting report on Florida was that this was an organization that would build from the bottom up. Emphasis on scouting and player development. Winning attitide from the lowest minor leagues to the team at the top. Reason: Florida executives already had proven themselves most of them with the Montreal Expos.

The Marlins raided the Expos' front office, taking general manager Dave Dombrowski, director of scouting Gary Hughes, director of player development John Boles and others 11 in all. These were the people most responsible for bringing Marquis Grissom, Delino De-Shields, Larry Walker and other budding stars up through the Montreal system and onto the Expos roster. They built a team that's been trying to take the National League East championship away from the Pittsburgh Pirates, whose former president, Carl Barger, now is president of the Marlins. "It's a team whose executives have had outstanding success with minor league programs," Elmira Pioneers owner Clyde Smoll said Tuesday of the Marlins. Smoll, whose club now is affiliated with Florida, said iiiiifiiii 1 ERIC CHECEDUSGannett News Service IN THE SWING: Mike Peters, left, a cartoonist who draws the comic strip "Mother Goose and Grim," shares a laugh with golfer Joey Sindelar of Horseheads during the Johnny Hart "King is a Fink" Short Shot Contest Tuesday at the B.C.

Open, En-Joie Golf Club, Endicott. Andrade, Daly tie for top prize at shoot-out Smoll signed a two-year working agreement called a Player Development Contract Tuesday with the Marlins, who will begin play as an expansion team next year in the National League. Under the agreement, Florida will provide players, coaches and a manager to Elmira for the 1993 and 1994 New York-Penn League seasons. The Marlins became the 13th different major league team to be affiliated with Elmira. That's counting the old Brooklyn Dodgers (1937-40 and 1950-55) as one and the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots as two, although they had a co-op arrangement with the Pioneers in 1970-71.

Smoll said Elmira will continue to use the Pioneers nickname but will wear uniforms bearing the Marlins name and colors Marlin (or aqua) blue pinstripes with black trim. Gone are the classic Red Sox uniforms worn during the team's 19-year association with Boston. Smoll, owner of the Pioneers for six years, said he's gambling that fans and advertisers will support the new club because of the parent organization's dedication to winning at any level. He said fans are less interested in the major league affiliate than the local club's style of play a contention apparently supported by a recent Star-Gazette call-in that overwhelmingly favored dumping the Red Sox. "There's no question in my mind that, while the player development process is important, this organization clearly feels that winning and being competitive is definitely part of their philosophy," Smoll said.

Not so with the Red Sox, who through the years have shown little concern over the won-lost records of their minor league affiliates. The Pioneers, who won their division last season, finished last this year with a record of 31-44. Smoll said he researched the By GEORGE HAWKE Star-Gazette B.C. OPEN him." It was especially all right with Andrade because making it to the final twosome meant that he qualified for the Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out Series championship next week at Coeur d'A-lene, Idaho. See ANDRADE3C ENDICOTT Rain left the Merrill Lynch Shoot-Out fit to be tied Tuesday at the En-Joie Golf Club.

A downpour on the last hole of the Shoot-Out left John Daly and Billy Andrade tied with a par. And that's the way the Shoot-Out ended up. "It was just raining too hard," Andrade said. "John and I decided that we would just split the money. That was all right with me and with B.C.

Open ticket information3C major league teams he thought might be available after he decided it was time to split with Boston. Of those clubs the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers all had winning records at the short-season Class A level for the past five seasons combined. The Pioneers' five-year record: 168-213. Florida's two teams were successful in 1992, the organization's first season of play. I13 team in the Gulf Coast League, a rookie league, finished second, and Erie placed third and was in Gretzky may miss season The Associated Press INGLEWOOD, Calif.

A back injury might keep Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, side the playoffs with a New York-Penn record of 40-37. "We feel very excited about what we have begun to put together," said Dan Lunetta, direc-tor of minor league administration, who attended the news conference. Smoll said he was contacted by one other major league team: the Detroit Tigers. He said both clubs called him on Monday, the first day that such contacts were allowed under baseball rules. Minor league teams have until Sept.

30 to line up major league affiliates. Lunetta said he visited other New York-Penn League cities but added: "This is the place where we wanted to be." The feeling was mutual. Said Smoll: "This was my first choice and, thank God, it was their first choice." Smoll said he called the Red Sox Tuesday afternoon and broke the news to general manager Lou Gorman. He said Gorman told him: "You have to do what you have to do." The Fed Sox already are rumored to be eyeing one of the New York-Penn League vacancies: Erie or Utica, which the Chicago White Sox have vacated. lined for the upcoming season.

Dr. Robert Watkins of the Kerlan-Iobe could possibly be career-ending, the prognosis for a full recovery is very good. Watkins said it was a "one-in-a-millon injury, a most unusual spine injury." He said surgery is not being contemplated. Gretzy, 31, checked into Centi-nela Hospital Medical Center last Wednesday two days after his wife, Janet Jones, gave birth to their third child. Gretzky remained hospitalized until early Tuesday.

"There's a possibiltv he'll return this year," Watkins said. "I'm not going to speculate on that time. That's as specific as I'm going to get." Gretzky said he didn't know where or when the injury oc curred and that he has been bothered by soreness in his chest, a symptom of this kind of injury, since last March. "When I was hurting in March and April and May, I had no idea where I got hit, how long ago," he said. "When the season ended, I went on a holiday with my family.

I spent some time in a clinic in Hawaii. I thought I had sore ribs." Gretzky said at times the pain went away, and added that he felt very good at training camp. He also felt a lot better Tuesday than he did last Wednesday. "I'm in the best care possible," he said. "We're very optimistic.

There are a lot of factors ahead of me. We have to take it one day at a time." Clinic said Pioneers' parent clubs St. Louis Cardinals 1 931 -34 Brooklyn Dodgers 1 937-40 Philadelphia A's 1943-45 St. Louis Browns 1 946-49 Brooklyn Dodgers 1 950-55 Washington Senators 1 957-58 Philadelphia Phillies 1 959-61 Baltimore Orioles 1 962-68 San Diego Padres 1969 K.C. RoyalsSeattle Pilots 1 970-71 Cleveland Indians 1 972 Boston Red Sox 1 973-92 that Kl Tuesday Los I i Gretzkv.

the Angeles Kings star has a her niated thoracic disk. GRETZKY Watkins refused to speculate on when Gretzky might return, but said that while the injury.