Players Oppose All-Star Boycott, According to Poll

The major league baseball players’ executive board will meet July 15 to set a possible strike date, but the players are against a boycott of the All-Star game, according to an Associated Press poll.

The AP polled the members of the Major League Players Assn. Of the 516 members who responded, 199 had no comment, and all but seven of the others opposed a boycott.

“The fans get hurt, and how many more times are they going to keep coming back to the parks after a strike?” Tito Landrum of the St. Louis Cardinals said. “We can’t boycott.”

Dale Murphy of the Atlanta Braves said: “Baseball is one of the few sports where the the All-Star game is really a big deal. I wouldn’t want to take that away from them (the fans).”

Baltimore’s Joe Nolan and Milwaukee’s Danny Darwin were two of the seven players who favored a boycott.

“Boycott the game,” Nolan said. “Let’s start getting serious and stop all the fiddle-faddle before we fiddle-faddle the whole season away.”

Darwin agreed. “There simply has to be a point where this stuff stops,” he said.

Greg Sacks took the lead from leading NASCAR driver Bill Elliott on the 152nd lap and held on for the last eight laps to win the Firecracker 400 at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Sacks, driving the same car that Cale Yarborough used to win the 1984 Daytona 500, had an average speed of 158.730 m.p.h. He was driving in his 41st Grand National race, and his best previous finish was ninth in the 1984 Busch 400.

Darrell Waltrip was third, Ron Bouchard fourth and Kyle Petty fifth.

Bob Weinhauer, Arizona State University basketball coach, will be fired “in a matter of days,” a Phoenix newspaper reported.

The Arizona State basketball program has suffered consecutive losing seasons and is under investigation by the Pacific 10 Conference for alleged violations.

Weinhauer, 45, is in Australia with a touring Pac-10 all-star basketball team. He is due back Monday.

A bill banning alcohol sales at soccer stadiums in England cleared its major parliamentary hurdle and is expected to become law shortly.

The bill, based on laws already in force in Scotland, also outlaws the sale of alcohol on special soccer buses and trains. It was given an unopposed third and final reading in the House of Commons.

The bill now goes to the House of Lords, which can amend the legislation.

Boxer Shawn Thomas of Detroit, who lapsed into a coma after a May 29 fight, died late Wednesday night.

Thomas was hospitalized and underwent brain surgery for a blood clot after his lightweight bout with Chris Calvin, 26, of Nashville, Tenn. The fight was stopped in the the seventh round, and Thomas collapsed in his dressing room.

Vanlandingham won the $301,000 Suburban Handicap at Belmont Park, covering 1 miles in 2:01. Vanlandingham paid $19.20 to win. Carr De Naskra finished second, and Dramatic Desire edged Life’s Magic, the only filly in the race, for third. Favored Lord at War, ridden by Bill Shoemaker, was last in the nine-horse field.

Prissy Fein scored a wire-to-wire victory in the $515,000 Rainbow Derby at Ruidoso Downs, N.M. The 3-year-old filly opened up an early lead under a ride by California jockey John Creager and finished the 440-yard race in 21.32 seconds.

Prissy Fein, owned by J.T. Hooten and R.D. Hubbard of Uvalde, Texas, earned $211,149 for the half-length win and returned $5.80, $3.80 and $3.00. Spring Lark ran second and paid $4.20 and $3.40; Yankee Dash was third and returned $3.40.

Names in the News

Michael Musyoki of Kenya and Grete Waitz of Norway, the favorites, won the 16th annual Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. Musyoki finished the 10-kilometer run in 27:58, Waitz in 32:02.