BASEBALL / ROSS NEWHAN : Denver Is a Logical Site for NL Expansion

With the National League scheduled to add two expansion teams in 1993, Denver enthusiasts were a mile high, literally and figuratively, after voters in a six-county tax district Tuesday approved a 0.1% sales tax that will help fund a $140-million, open-air stadium seating about 40,000 and patterned, to an extent, on the intimacy of Boston’s Fenway Park and Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

The tax kicks in only if Denver gets a team, but the 55%-45% approval is seen as eliminating the expansion hopes of stadium-less Phoenix and assuring Denver of one of the two ’93 franchises, providing the NL, as many believe, is seeking untapped markets and intending to expand on an East-West basis.

The Rocky Mountain corridor, with a regional population base of about 12 million to 15 million, would provide the NL with a bridge between St. Louis and the West Coast, and a geographical complement to either Orlando or Tampa-St Petersburg, Fla., one of which is expected to receive the other franchise.

The new stadium will not be ready until 1995, meaning a Denver team would have to share Mile High Stadium with the NFL’s Broncos, as Denver’s American Assn. team does. But the NL’s expansion committee has said it can live with a minor league arrangement, providing an alternative is on the drawing board.

The next step for Denver is finding an owner or group of owners willing to pay the National League franchise fee of $95 million and another $50 million in estimated start-up expenses.

A meeting of interested parties in Denver Friday led to the belief that a syndicate including members of Denver’s cable television industry (the area is known as the Cable Capital), the Coors Brewing Co. and the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain (which owns the Rocky Mountain News) is likely.

Interested groups from the various cities must make a presentation to the expansion committee by the end of September, though Denver will be given leeway because of the late stadium vote.

The NL has also said it will be flexible on the $95-million franchise fee, willing to offer a payment plan and friendly terms.

There is no formal or ongoing investigation, but the inquiry into Dave Winfield’s relationship with Howard Spira and the $15,000 check Winfield gave to Spira in 1981 is not entirely closed, according to deputy commissioner Steve Greenberg.

The commissioner’s office, Greenberg said, has an open mind regarding any and all material or testimony it receives on (a) the Winfield-Spira relationship and (b) allegations that Winfield has gambled. But it has received nothing to indicate that further action is warranted or that Commissioner Fay Vincent erred in clearing Winfield during the investigation of the New York Yankees’ George Steinbrenner.

Greenberg said Vincent would like to talk with Spira in an effort to establish if Winfield knew Spira was a gambler when he gave him the $15,000 check, but Spira will not talk to the commissioner until the extortion case, generated mainly on the basis of Steinbrenner’s charges against Spira, is over.

Jeff Klein, Winfield’s attorney, was reached at his New York office and reiterated that Spira never worked for the Winfield Foundation, as he has claimed, and that Winfield was unaware of Spira’s gambling or the possibility that Spira needed $15,000 to cover gambling debts.

According to Klein, Spira at that time worked for a company being formed by the late Al Frohman, Winfield’s agent. Frohman asked Winfield to lend Spira the money, Klein said, and Winfield did it because he owed Frohman money on his agent’s fee and believed Frohman would pursue Spira if a question of repayment ever developed.

A source close to the commissioner’s office said it is generally believed that Frohman knew Spira gambled, but it has not been established that Winfield knew.

Of Vincent’s ongoing interest, Klein said: “I’m not aware of it and I’ve heard nothing to indicate Dave should have any ongoing concerns.”

Let’s see if we have this right:

Two of the Yankees’ limited partners have filed a suit seeking to overturn Vincent’s decision regarding Steinbrenner, who insists that he opposes the suit. So do almost all of the limited partners, including Robert Nederlander, who, 24 hours before the suit was filed, was selected unanimously by the partners to replace Steinbrenner as managing general partner.

Contradictory and confusing? There’s more.

Since the federal courts consistently support the commissioner’s authority and have previously ruled that due process does not necessarily apply to private organizations (i.e., the NCAA vs. Jerry Tarkanian), legal experts give the suit little chance of succeeding, but that does not foreclose the possibility that a preliminary injunction may be issued at Monday’s hearing in Cleveland.

What would that do? Well, under Vincent’s ruling, which he has agreed to, Steinbrenner must officially resign by Monday. An injunction would allow him to remain in power. Otherwise, Jack Lawn, former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has been named by Steinbrenner to run the Yankees on an interim basis.

And what about Nederlander? According to Greenberg, baseball’s ownership committee has decided that Nederlander cannot serve on an acting basis. He must be investigated by the committee and approved by American and National League owners before serving in any capacity other than that of limited partner.

Thus, between the time Steinbrenner steps down (providing an injunction does not buy him time) and Nederlander is voted on (which may be mid-September), there is a feeling that the Yankee operation will become even more disorganized and paralyzed.

Yes, co-general managers Pete Pederson and George Bradley remain in place, but also in limbo, since it always came down to Steinbrenner calling the shots. Steinbrenner liked to talk about his “baseball people,” but he really was talking about himself.

So, what you have is a circus devoid of a ringmaster, with the partners split and embarrassed by the suit and the attorney for the plaintiffs accusing Vincent of polling and threatening those partners who would not oppose it.

Send in the clowns.

In San Diego, where booing Eric Show and Roseanne Barr has been the highlight of a disappointing summer for Padre fans, Manager Greg Riddoch won admirers with his response to (a) Show’s request to be traded and (b) Show’s accusations that he was undermined and back-stabbed by pitching coach Pat Dobson.

“If he wants to sit in the corner and cry,” Riddoch said of Show, “he can cry there alone.”

The winningest pitcher of the 1980s, Jack Morris, is 10-15 with a 5.08 earned-run average and admittedly embarrassed--by himself and the disintegration of his Detroit Tigers.

“Maybe I stink, but how do you know around here?” Morris said, accusing the Tigers of complacency, an absence of pride and “no light at the end of the tunnel.”

The Tigers, Morris said, need to clean house.

“It won’t take just one move,” he said, “it’ll take 10.”

Speaking of moves, the Pittsburgh Pirates made 10 transactions involving 18 players in a 25-day span through Thursday and may not be through. Neal Heaton, 1-7 in his last 10 starts after going 9-1 in his first 12, has been nursing a sore shoulder and finally may be replaced in the Pirate rotation.

Manager Jim Leyland continues to operate by committee. He has received victories from 18 pitchers, and eight pitchers have at least one save.

Mike York, a rookie summoned to face the Cincinnati Reds in one game of a Friday night doubleheader, became the 12th Pittsburgh starter. He returned to Buffalo on Saturday.

The move that best illustrated the win-now Pittsburgh philosophy came the other day when the Pirates sent a package of pitcher Scott Ruskin, a highly regarded 27-year-old left-hander; outfielder Moises Alou, their No. 1 choice in the June 1986 draft; and shortstop Willie Greene, their No. 1 pick last year, to the Montreal Expos for left-hander Zane Smith and his 45-66 career record.

Of the steep price, Leyland said: “You don’t get that many chances to win. The people out there care about 1990, not 1994.”

Injury of the week: Gary Sheffield of the Milwaukee Brewers left Wednesday night’s game against the Tigers because of numbness in his feet. The cause: Shoelaces on his high-top cleats were tied too tightly.

The Reds are bidding to become the first team since introduction of the 162-game schedule in 1961 to lead every day of the season. The 1970 Reds came close, leading every day but one in early April.

Said Manager Lou Piniella: “I’ve thought all along that the only team the Cincinnati Reds had to beat was the Cincinnati Reds.”