SPORTS WATCH : Go West, Young Fan

Major league baseball took its mid-season break Tuesday, playing the annual All-Star game in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. It’s always an occasion for recalling baseball’s traditions or good-naturedly debating how today’s stars compare to the heroes of yore.

This season, fans of the National League have more on their minds than how their team stacks up against the American League. The great issue is the recently announced realignment ofthe National League for the 1993 season, with the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals being transferred to the western division while the Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds move to the eastern division.

Geography purists may point out that Chicago and St. Louis have always been west of Cincinnati and Atlanta. But that’s not the way baseball drew its map. (Think that’s odd? Pro football has Phoenix in one of its eastern divisions.)

The ownership of the Cubs is vociferously opposed to the change, which was ordered by Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent last week, and the club even is suing to prevent the move.

The Cubs fear their broadcast revenues will drop if fans in the Midwest must stay up later for night games from the West Coast. Of course, this is the same team that never seems to worry about the fans’ convenience when it plays most of its home games during the day.

So here’s a vote for realignment, and putting the Cubs and Cards where Chicago and St. Louis have always been--in Horace Greeley’s “Go West, young man” country.