The Salt Lake Tribune from Salt Lake City, Utah • 103

G7 The Salt Lake Tribune BASEBALL Friday September 4 19-92 Expansion Forces NL to Balanced Schedule Format Baseball Owners Vote To Oust Commissioner Baseball Bares Sidelights To Buggy Game II Continued From G-1 er- '4 9 "'6'' j'r N4114 It tr Wek' It it tt I 41s A1 '1 --2 -'7 i i 4 4 I 'r''' It 1 i I NI I I i 644 4 "er00000gti or It I 4 "A 4 4 ii The Associated Press Al Clark sprays insect repellant on fellow umpire Greg Rose during Royals game Swarm bugged players drove fans away THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sometimes its just impossible to keep your eye on the ball America's pastime offered more than baseball as a means of passing time Wednesday night as the seventh-inning wretch debuted in Kansas City and two strippers bared their breasts at a luxury box bachelor party in Pittsburgh At Royals Stadium the cloud hanging over another disappointing season for the home team came to life in the third inning and millions of flying insects spent the next few hours enjoying an otherwise annoying night at the ballpark "They were flying in your eyes your ears your mouth everything else" said Kevin Brown who pitched a complete game in Texas' 6-2 victory "At one point I wondered if they might stop play" At Three Rivers the strippers and guests in a luxury suite were kicked out of the stadium when fans in nearby boxes decided they had seen enough too much "They should be ashamed of themselves" Linda Powell seated in a nearby suite said "When she removed her top and rubbed her chest in the face of one of the men that's when I lost it" Back at the Bug Bowl a Kansas City biologist said the pests appeared to be midges a rela tive of the housefly whose normal breeding patterns may have beeh disturbed by heavy rains Whatever the bugs had players flailing to keep them away THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ROSEMONT Ill The National League which will add expansion teams in Florida and Colorado next season will shift to the same schedule format used by the American League spokeswoman Katy Feeney said Thursday Beginning next year NL teams will play 13 games against clubs in their own division and 12 games against teams in the other division Since 1969 NL clubs have played 18 games against division rivals and 12 games versus the other teams A draft of the schedule was sent to all clubs and the Major League Baseball Players Association on Wednesday Feeney said She said the schedule was designed in a manner so that the Giants can play in either San Francisco or St Petersburg Fla "It will accommodate a move if they travel" she said Giants owner Bob Lurie has agreed to sell the team to Florida buyers who would move the team but the sale has not yet been approved The NL schedule originally to be issued by July 1 was held up when commissioner Fay Vincent ordered realignment a move that the Chicago Cubs blocked in court Under Vincent's plan the Cubs and St Louis would have moved to the West and Atlanta and Cincinnati would have gone to the East But because of the Cubs' court challenge the National League decided last week to delay realignment until 1994 A hearing on the Cubs' suit is scheduled in Chicago later this month The AL has used the so-called balanced schedule since 1979 presented to the major league clubs for vote" it also said "It is further resolved that commissioner Fay Vincent be requested to resign effective immediately and that the commissioner be offered in the event of his immediate resignation a severance agreement consistent with his employment agreement of Dec 13 1989" The owners also said their 10- man executive council would appoint a committee next week "to study the restructuring of the management of major league baseball" The committee is to report to all owners by Nov 1 American League president Bobby Brown and National League president Bill White called the meeting over Vincent's objection The commissioner's supporters were less vocal than his opponents after the meeting but George Bush of the Texas Rangers the son of the president spoke up in his defense prior to the session "I'm going to stand up and tell the owners he's a friend of mine since the oil fields of Texas and he's not going to leave" Bush said Because the Major League Agreement doesn't have a mechanism for firing a commissioner it was unclear what options were available to disenchanted owners An attempted firing would lead to a court fight that could tie up baseball's administration for a long time Vincent has retained Brendan Sullivan Jr the lawyer who defended Oliver North and has vowed to "carry out my responsibilities until such time as the highest court in this land tells me otherwise" "Mr Sullivan can figure out how to tie up something in court for 18 months if not 10 years" Bush said When Vincent was approved to replace A Bartlett Giamatti following the death of his friend he told a small group of owners that "if I ever fail to have the support of the owners I would step aside" In a later newspaper interview Vincent said of his job: "If the day comes when someone persuades me that I should no longer do it I will be a very easy fellow to deal with- to labor and television negotiations and franchise stability "The sooner he resigns the better" Philadelphia Phil lies owner Bill Giles said The resolution drafted by lawyers for the American and National leagues was introduced by Douglas Danforth of the Pittsburgh Pirates The vote was taken by secret ballot but several owners and officials identified the Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Florida Marlins Houston Astros Montreal Expos New York Mets Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers as eight teams that Spoke against it There were conflicting reports whether the Detroit Tigers or Kansas City Royals were the ninth team supporting Vincent Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott left the meeting early and her vote was counted as an abstention "The ball is in his court If it comes back to us then we'll run with it" Jackie Autry of the California Angels said "I don't know what this means The only thing for certain is that 18 people want to get rid of the commissioner" Toronto Blue Jays president Paul Beeston elected to preside over the meeting in Vincent's absence read the resolution during a news conference following the session "Now for the first time he can see the numbers against him" Reinsdorf said "Before this he may very well not have realized there were 18 Now he knows" The meeting was adjourned to next Wednesday morning at St Louis prior to the afternoon start of the regular quarterly meetings "The major league clubs do not have confidence in the ability of the present commissioner Fay Vincent to carry out the responsibilities of the office of the commissioner and that under his direction it is impossible for baseball to move forward effectively and constructively" the resolution stated "Those clubs voting in favor of this resolution will not vote in favor of the re-election of commissioner Fay Vincent to another term of office when such matter is The NL East-leading Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants 3- 2 and the company that owns the suite apologized for its clients' behavior and the exposure it received About a dozen people in the box owned by Oxford Development Co a real estate firm were removed from the stadium Powell who tried to shield her children from watching said teen-age boys who noticed the strippers at work were cheering and snapping photos "Their mothers and fathers were trying to stop them but what can you do?" she said adding that it was the -main attraction on the whole level three to six boxes Everyone was and fans running for cover and ultimately for the exits One got under Royals outfielder Kevin KoslofskIs contact lens and the rest got on everyone's nerves Between innings the umpires and players even got together to take turns spraying each other with repellant Several who weathered the swarm ended up swallowing the critters "I got some in my mouth that went down my throat" said the Royals' Brian McRae who gulped one running to first "I had never seen it that bad" One fan refused to let his night out be spoiled "After about three beers they were kind of lumpy going down but they weren't bad" he said With Help Trappers Wrap Up Third Straight Southern Division Title Continued From G1 mound" Pettiford said Salt Lake jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first as JD Ramirez singled and Kevin McMullen walked Tim Clarks triple then scored both runners In the second the Trappers picked up five more runs as Randy Snyder walked and Tim Merrick and Pookie Wilson singled to load the bases Ramirez walked to force in a run and Kevin McMullen's single scored two more Clark tripled home another run and then Bill Vosik's single added one more you don't Second best is not good enough" Playing Idaho Falls 20 times this season certainly helped Salt Lake is only 5-9 against Helena which would have handed the Brewers the title if the teams had finished tied The Trappers however are 15-3 vs Idaho Falls The Trappers had no trouble Thursday Pettiford virtually coasted after the Trappers gave him a 7-0 lead after two innings He finished the game with eight strikeouts while not walking a batter -It felt great best I've ever felt on the "I told our players 'Don't count on anybody' but we got help from Butte Idaho Falls and Great Falls" Belmonte said The win Salt Lakes seventh in the last eight games also dropped the pressure the team had been feeling since it trailed Helena for about half of the season "Here your job is defined when you take the job" Belmonte said "You win the title or LEVGE RE 0141 cmEum viN ii i A 00 I 0 '''''''iiiiii11 ll' 41 I' 'i' 'I i 1 L' II' i vi'ii1 rs: ie- i iM NM IMMO I I limillin I- l'''1'rdhiii111illihihiliiil: 'i- 1111thh'11111 i II 1 '11 ii ir! 0111111 i1Y1 '1 I 'i'l '1 1-: eilllIii' i '1111L 11'i ii l'il'111111i' II 1 l' Ir: f' '1'11 1 01111 'q11111 l'ii 1' ii 1' c' 0 '1 i' '1 4 111P1 I i 4i illii 1: '1! 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