Vincent Orders a Realignment of NL : Baseball: He rules it is in the best interest of the game to move the Cardinals and Cubs to the West, the Braves and Reds to the East.

Commissioner Fay Vincent, citing his authority to act in the best interests of baseball, overrode the objection of the Chicago Cubs on Monday and ordered National League realignment in 1993, when the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins begin play.

In the first realignment since the creation of divisional play in 1969, the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals will go to the West with the Rockies, Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros. The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will move to the East with the Marlins, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Montreal Expos and Philadelphia Phillies.

League President Bill White immediately announced that he was “very disappointed with the commissioner’s extraordinary decision to override the National League’s constitution,” and the Cubs called it a bad decision that forces them to consider alternatives.

Although they are barred from suing the commissioner by the same Major League Agreement that gives Vincent the authority to act in baseball’s best interests, league sources say the Cubs probably will pursue legal avenues and that Peter O’Malley, the Dodgers’ president, has told the Cubs he will join them.

O’Malley said “no comment” when asked about the possibility of a joint suit Monday night. He issued a statement in which he acknowledged that the Dodgers support realignment, but said Vincent had exceeded his authority and set a “dangerous precedent” by undermining the league constitution.

Said Vincent: “I don’t know if there will be a lawsuit. I think it’s a possibility, but if I didn’t think this was legally sound and legitimate, I wouldn’t have done it.”

The decision seems to shift the league’s balance of power to the East, because the Reds and Braves are possibly the two best teams in the league. Said Fred Claire, Dodger vice president: “I think you have to look at realignment in the long term, not what it impacts for one or two years. Consistency and continuity are so difficult to maintain now that the competitive aspect (of realignment) is not that big a factor.

“I mean, yes, you would have to acknowledge that Atlanta and Cincinnati are very strong teams and very good organizations, but the Cubs and Cardinals are, too. And who’s to say that in another few years there won’t be three leagues geographically aligned?”

While Claire and Manager Tom Lasorda applauded the realignment, the Dodgers were one of four clubs--the Cubs, Cardinals and Mets being the others--that opposed Vincent’s intervention, believing that a league vote taken on March 4 should be upheld.

The realignment issue received the required 75% support in a 10-2 vote on that date, but the issue also requires all of the involved teams to support it, and the Cubs didn’t. They contend that a move to the West would result in later starting times on their cable network, reducing revenue. The Mets also voted against realignment, but only to show support for the Cubs’ right to vote it down.

Vincent said he became involved only because several National League owners--sources put the number at eight--asked him to, believing realignment made economic and geographical sense.

“It was an extraordinarily difficult decision,” he said. “I went back and forth several times, but I was very uncomfortable leaving the alignment as it is, considering 10 or 11 National League clubs favored realignment. I know that four or five of those same clubs opposed my intervention, but I didn’t consider this a political exercise. I had to look at the overall support for realignment.”

In his eight-page decision, Vincent wrote that the league’s stringent voting requirements had thwarted the majority preference and the best interests of baseball. He wrote that the proposed realignment would relieve the geographical incongruity of two Eastern time zone teams, the Reds and Braves, playing in the West. He wrote that it would allow for a natural rivalry between the Braves and Marlins, preserve the traditional rivalry between the Cubs and Cardinals and make for easier and less costly travel.

On the issue of Cub telecasts, he wrote: “I believe that my concern should properly be for the scheduling of local telecasts of all 14 National League teams.”

He also cited precedent and wrote that he had indisputable authority to intervene.

White, the league president, didn’t dispute that authority in his statement, but expressed disappointment and said: “By this act, the commissioner has jeopardized a longstanding working document which has governed the National League for decades. Although we worked to attain realignment, we did so within the guidelines of the constitution.”

Said the Cub statement: “We believe the commissioner’s decision is wrong, bad for baseball, and especially bad for baseball fans here in the Chicago area. We are currently considering the alternatives available to us.”

An attorney close to the organization said the first step might be a restraining order aimed at delaying adoption of a 1993 schedule long enough that realignment would have to be postponed for a year, at least, giving the Cubs a chance to pursue other roadblocks.

O’Malley, who recently supported the failed attempt by a group of owners to have the commissioner yield his best-interest authority in the area of labor negotiations, declined to answer any questions beyond his statement, which represented his first public criticism of a commissioner.

“The Dodgers believe that the Commissioner has exceeded his authority under the Major League Agreement by attempting to revoke what is, in effect, a business decision made by the National League Clubs in accordance with the National League Constitution,” O’Malley said.

“The Cubs have been in the Eastern Division since 1969. This alignment did not result from any ‘act, transaction or practice’ that can be sanctioned by the Commissioner pursuant to Article I of the Major League Agreement.

“This alignment was established by the National League Clubs. Therefore, even though the Dodgers voted in favor of realignment and have traditionally been supportive of the Office of the Commissioner, the Dodgers do not concur with the Commissioner’s decision in this instance because it undermines the National League Constitution. This decision could establish a dangerous precedent for the future of the National and American Leagues.”

The commissioner has continued to exert his power in an ongoing series of issues and events, knowing, as he has said, that he can’t satisfy all of his constituents all of the time. On Monday, for example, the Reds and Braves, who will benefit by more prime-time starts on their own cable network, applauded Vincent’s decision.

Atlanta President Stan Kasten said realignment was 20 years overdue. But Fred Kuhlmann, Cardinal vice chairman, criticized the decision, saying there is no great good in it from his team’s standpoint and that it should have remained a league matter rather than being “dictated by the commissioner.”

In the meantime, Vincent said he would not get involved in the National League’s consideration of a 1993 scheduling format, which could become a comparably volatile issue. The draft of the 1993 schedule was supposed to be presented to the Major League Players Assn. for approval on July 1, but the league recently received an extension to Aug. 1 because of the unresolved realignment question.

The 14 American League teams play 13 games against each team within their division and 12 against each team in the other division, meaning a team plays 84 games outside its division and 78 within. The National League’s adoption of a similar format would force the Cubs to play only a few more games than they now do on the West Coast, but there are widespread differences among the National League teams regarding the best plan.

In moving to the East, for example, the Reds favor the 13-12 format to retain two visits per year from former division rivals and attendance lures such as the Dodgers and Giants. The Braves, however, want to put the emphasis on division games, and favor a plan that calls for 20 games against each team in their new division and only six against each team in the other division.

Vincent acknowledged the likelihood of bickering and said: “It’s my assumption that the majority of National League clubs want the schedule to be as balanced as possible, but that’s an issue to be decided by the league.”

National League Realignment

The new National League alignment for next season, with St. Louis and Chicago moving from the East to the West, and Cincinnati and Atlanta moving from the West to the East.

EAST

Atlanta Braves

Cincinnati Reds

Florida Marlins

Montreal Expos

New York Mets

Philadelphia Phillies

Pittsburgh Pirates

WEST

Chicago Cubs

Colorado Rockies

Dodgers

Houston Astros

St. Louis Cardinals

San Diego Padres

San Francisco Giants