BASEBALL LEAGUE MEETINGS : NL Expected to Add Two Teams for 1993

The National League will announce its expansion timetable today, with two new teams expected to begin play in 1993.

In separate meetings Wednesday, National League and American League owners voted unanimously to approve Los Angeles television producer Tom Werner and his 15-member investment group as the new owners of the San Diego Padres.

“Obviously, we’re very excited and looking forward to jumping in,” said Werner, chairman and managing partner of the group that bought the Padres from Joan Kroc for a reported $75 million.

Werner, producer of the “Cosby” and “Roseanne” shows among others, said he expected his group to be involved in the management of the Padres, but added that he believes in hiring the best people and delegating authority.

He said he has been impressed by the Padres’ current management team, “and the best thing we can do is support and encourage them. We think we have a very competitive club.”

Werner and his group are buying into a league that will soon gain symmetry with the American League, which has been at 14 teams since Toronto and Seattle were added in 1977.

The National League has not expanded since the 1969 addition of San Diego and Montreal.

There are those in baseball who question whether there is enough talent to stock two new teams adequately, but Commissioner Fay Vincent is pledged to the project, acceding to a series of Congressional threats regarding the possible loss of baseball’s antitrust exemption if there is no expansion in the 1990s.

Thus, five years after former commissioner Peter Ueberroth said that “baseball will expand sooner than later,” National League President Bill White will outline the plan today. The key dates are expected to include:

--Franchise application through the summer and fall of 1990.

--Applicant interviews in the spring of 1991 and awarding of franchises that fall.

--First minor league season in 1992, dispersal draft for stocking the two teams in the winter of that year and first major league season in 1993.

National League membership cost the Padres and Expos about $10 million each in 1969, but the two new teams are expected to pay between $75 million and $100 million, with a long list of applicants.

Among them are Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.; Denver; Buffalo, N.Y.; Orlando, Fla.; Miami; Phoenix; Washington; and Northern Virginia.

The new cities will require a three-fourths approval in the National League and a majority approval in the American. The two leagues will meet jointly before today’s announcement, but according to sources who requested anonymity, American League owners have played no role in the expansion timetable and were disappointed that they did not even receive a committee report on the matter during the separate meetings Wednesday.

It appears that the franchise fees will be shared only by the 12 National League clubs and that the dispersal draft will involve only players from that league, consistent with previous expansions.