You Make Call, but It Will Cost 29 Cents

It’s a debate that figures to be replayed daily when the mail arrives all across America.

Today at home plate in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the U.S. Postal Service will unveil a 29-cent stamp marking baseball’s introduction to the Olympics as an official sport. The stamp depicts a runner sliding into home plate with a catcher trying to tag him out amid a cloud of dust.

Does the runner beat the tag?

“People looking at the stamp should make the call themselves,” said artist Tony DeLuz, who beat out 79 other artists in a contest to design the stamp.

DeLuz said he originally planned to draw a batter standing at the plate.

“But it wasn’t very exciting to look at,” he said.

A few weeks before the contest deadline, DeLuz decided on the baserunner trying to steal home.

“I wanted two people in a confrontation,” DeLuz said. “I thought that was the most exciting part of the game.”

Baseball, a demonstration sport in seven Olympic Games since 1912, will be contested as a medal sport for the first time in Barcelona this summer.

Trivia time: Who was the last PGA golfer to win three consecutive tournaments?

NHL blues: Golfer Fred Couples must be hoping the NHL player strike is settled before next week’s Masters. Otherwise, he may not have much to talk about on the fairways.

Couples’ caddie, Joe LaCava, told Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Verdi that conversation often turns to hockey during tournaments.

“After he hits a shot he might turn to me and ask if I saw the goal (Wayne) Gretzky scored last night. And I probably did because I’m as nuts about sports as he is. That’s Freddie. That’s why I’ve got the best job in the world.”

Capital loss: NHL players could hardly blame goalie Don Beaupre of the Washington Capitals if he voted against a strike.

Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Sun reports that Beaupre’s contract includes an incentive clause that rewards him with $50,000 if he gets 30 victories. Beaupre has 29.

Nobody’s fool: Pitcher Scott Chiamparino of the Texas Rangers wasn’t laughing when he took five stitches in the chin after a fight with catcher Gino Petralli because of an April Fools’ Day joke gone sour.

Nolan Ryan and Manager Bobby Valentine tried to convince Chiamparino that he had to wear a tuxedo and make a speech in a nearby town, but Chiamparino caught on to the gag and thought Petralli was involved.

“You never know how somebody is going to react to these things, and that’s the danger,” Ryan said. “You do it all in good fun, but sometimes people take it the wrong way.”

Advertising glitch: Tonight’s junior welterweight fight between Greg Haugen and Ray Mancini in Reno is being billed as “Tough Guys Don’t Dance.”

Borrowing from a popular new film, Wallace Matthews of Newsday reports a more appropriate title would be “White Men Can’t Fight.”

Hot seat: In another one of those tired wagers between politicians, North Carolina Gov. Jim Martin told Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh he will supply Hoosier Coach Bob Knight with a new chair to throw if Indiana defeats Duke in the NCAA tournament.

The chair, with a red upholstered cover to match Indiana’s school color, is being donated by Bernhardt Furniture Co.

Said Anne Bernhardt: “If he throws it, we’re sure it can withstand it. . . . We’ll send along some floor bolts, though. I got that idea from ‘Silence of the Lambs.’ ”

Details, details: After spending the last few months meeting organizational and administrative demands, Stanford football Coach Bill Walsh says he plans to get to know his players better during spring practice.

Walsh has 15 workouts scheduled.

“Every play that’s called at every practice has been scripted,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been doing in recent days, weeks, so we’re pretty well set to go.”

The American way: Hiromitsu Ochiai of the Chunichi Dragons is the highest-paid baseball player in Japan, earning $2.3 million this season.

Ochiai, who won Triple Crowns in 1982, 1985 and 1986, last year became the first player in Japan to seek arbitration. He wanted $2.07 million, but reportedly settled for $1.7 million.

Trivia answer: Gary Player won the Masters, Houston Open, and Tournament of Champions in 1978.

Quotebook: George Foreman, 44, on the possibility of a fight with Larry Holmes, 42: “That will be the Battle of Ben-Gay.”