Judge Refuses to Bar Hearing by Vincent

A federal judge today denied an attempt by Leonard L. Kleinman, executive vice president of the New York Yankees, to block a disciplinary hearing set for Thursday before baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent.

U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand, after a two-hour hearing in Manhattan federal court, turned down Kleinman’s request for a temporary restraining order.

Vincent is investigating Kleinman’s role in the $40,000 payment made by the Yankees and George Steinbrenner last January to gambler Howard Spira. Steinbrenner resigned as managing general partner of the Yankees on Aug. 20 because of the charges.

Kleinman, who filed the $22-million suit on Tuesday, claimed that the hearing would be a sham because Vincent was biased against him. He also claimed that the commissioner did not have technical jurisdiction over him because his contract did not contain a specific clause agreeing to it.

Sand rejected both arguments.

“We feel that the plaintiff has not in any fashion sustained his burden of irreparable injury if the hearing scheduled for tomorrow indeed goes forward,” Sand said.