ON THE SIDELINES : Owners Say Pirates Not for Sale

Pirates President Carl Barger, reacting to reports that millionaire developer Edward J. DeBartolo is interested in buying the club, said today the Pirates are not for sale.

Barger denied that the public-private consortium that bought the team in 1985 has any plans to sell, although DeBartolo reportedly told Mayor Sophie Masloff and two Allegheny County commissioners last Friday that he would be interested in the team.

DeBartolo, a wealthy real estate developer from Youngstown, owns the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and his son, Edward J., owns the Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers.

Paul Martha, general counsel for the Penguins and president of the DeBartolo-owned Civic Arena Corp., said the subject of the Pirates came up at a meeting he attended Friday with DeBartolo, the mayor and commissioners Pete Flaherty and Thomas Foerster.