BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT

Commissioner Fay Vincent didn’t prohibit the World Series winner from celebrating with champagne, although he acknowledged being displeased that both the Braves and Twins were seen drinking champagne on TV during their pennant-clinching festivities.

“I’d like to de-couple celebrations from alcohol,” Vincent said. “One year (1989) we had a requirement that it not be in the dressing room and the A’s put it in the room next door. Unfortunately, our culture celebrates with alcohol.”

Vincent also said he is delighted to see such diminutive players as Minnesota’s Chuck Knoblauch and Atlanta’s Mark Lemke become postseason heroes. Both are listed as 5 feet 9, but appear shorter.

“That’s one of the great things about baseball, that size is irrelevant,” Vincent said. “You can’t play basketball if you’re small and football is basically impossible. Here, you can be 5-6, 5-7 and weigh 160 and do well. I think it’s wonderful.”

To avoid a conflict with Saturday’s World Series game, the Minnesota North Stars moved up the starting time of their game against the Boston Bruins at Met Center to 1 p.m. instead of playing at night. To inform their fans of the change, they ran ads in local newspapers picturing North Star center Bobby Smith holding a sign reading, “Need two tickets,” and saying the players wanted to watch the Twins as much as the fans did, making the scheduling change a benefit to all.