‘Bugs’ Slow Move to Interleague Play, Realignment

Interleague play and three-division realignment are out until 1995, at the earliest.

“Too many clubs feel there are too many bugs in it to vote until later this summer,” said Bud Selig, owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and chairman of the governing executive council.

However, the major league owners, meeting in Denver on Wednesday and Thursday, are expected to approve an expanded playoff concept that would have both the American and National leagues remaining in two divisions, with either the second-place finishers in each division qualifying for the playoffs or the two teams in each league with the best percentages after the winners.

This concept would be implemented next season, providing the players union approves it. The union, however, might withhold its approval, viewing it as a potential wedge to keep the current compensation system intact.

Richard Ravitch, president of the owners’ Player Relations Committee, said that Don Fehr, executive director of the union, refused to discuss approval of an expanded playoff when Ravitch met with him to provide details of the new television agreement.

Ravitch said he told Fehr that the owners would give the players the same 60% of the gate from the first four playoff games that they now receive and Fehr merely laughed.

“He took the approach that I would expect him to take,” Ravitch said.

“He said: ‘Why would I agree to it now? It’s part of the next (bargaining) negotiations.’ ”

Asked if he thought he could persuade Fehr to approach the extra playoff tier as a separate entity before negotiations heat up in midsummer, Ravitch said he wasn’t optimistic.

Meanwhile, as the only big-time sport that sends only its division winners into the playoffs, Selig said he knows baseball is in a “damned if we do, damned if we don’t” situation, but he said something needs to be done to stimulate late-season attendance in more cities and postseason ratings, though TV has been skeptical of its ability to sell an extra playoff tier.

“I overheard two friends talking the other night, and one brought up baseball’s wonderful history and tradition and the other said, ‘That’s the trouble, baseball never makes changes. It always listens to people like you. It’s still living in the last century,’ ” Selig said.

“That’s what I mean about being damned if we do and damned if we don’t. I’m a traditionalist, too, but I don’t believe eight of 28 is arithmetically incorrect.”

What Selig meant is that he doesn’t believe eight of 28 is an outrageous percentage, compared to the number of teams qualifying for the football, hockey and basketball playoffs. Neither does Angel owner Jackie Autry, who said she favors an expanded playoff.

“I think it will create more excitement for the fans and keep more teams in the hunt,” she said.

There are many who still believe baseball doesn’t need this hunt for possible panaceas, but the majority of owners apparently believe otherwise.

BASEBRAWL

The recent fight between the Angels and Toronto Blue Jays--more than your typical baseball waltz--got Blue Jay General Manager Pat Gillick thinking about it again. The ensuing rumble between the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles left him convinced:

Baseball should have an automatic $5,000 fine for any player who comes off the bench to join a fight.

“Most baseball fights are between the pitcher and hitter,” he said. “The umpires can handle two guys. They can’t handle 40 or 50.”

Gillick cited Seattle pitcher Chris Bosio, who had made only two starts after coming back from a broken collarbone and then reinjured it when he came off the bench in the fight with the Orioles, prompting his return to the disabled list.

“The Mariners paid Bosio X number of dollars because they thought he could get them (a pennant),” Gillick said. “Now they’ve not only lost his salary (because of his unavailability), but it may be the difference between winning and losing.

“I mean, it’s ridiculous. We’re talking about $4-million and $5-million investments. The NBA fines players as much as $20,000. Even at $5,000 a guy would think twice before coming off the bench.”

American League President Bobby Brown, who suspended seven Mariners and Orioles for a total of 27 games, said a blanket rule is difficult because of the disparity in the number of players on the field.

“In basketball you have five guys on the court for both teams,” he said. “In hockey it’s six, in football it’s 11. The sides are balanced. But in baseball you have the hitter and two coaches on the field for one team, and nine players for the other.

“You could have a rule calling for death by the electric chair and no player is going to sit on the bench and watch three guys get beat up by nine. Soon as one team is out there, the other is going to be out there, too.”

Brown also said that an automatic week’s suspension doesn’t work, “because what if you’re talking about an entire team being involved? Do you call up a minor league team to replace it? Do you suspend two at a time until all 25 have been disciplined? They all have the right to appeal and generally do, and we’re not equipped to handle 30 or so grievances during the summer.

“People who talk about a blanket rule forget all of that.”

ADD BROWN

As a quality infielder with the New York Yankees in the ‘40s and ‘50s, Brown said that retaliation was expected and accepted and that players were less apt to charge the mound.

“That’s the big change,” he said, referring to the number of fights. “I also see guys hit (by pitches) today and don’t understand how they didn’t get out of the way.

“I don’t know if there’s a new approach to hitting with more upright stances, or they feel they can crowd the plate more because of the batting helmet, but it just seems like we were able to get out of the way quicker and spent more time on the ground.”

Much of it, baseball insiders say, comes from the hitter’s perception that the inside part of the plate belongs to them, the pitchers having contributed to that by seldom throwing inside. A hit batter is quicker to take umbrage, but Brown said there would be even more fights if the umpires didn’t have the warning device, preventing retaliation in situations it seems likely to occur.

“If someone has a better idea as to how to keep the hitter in the box, I’d be willing to listen,” he said.

PADRE COURSE

The change in general managers isn’t expected to slow the systematic payroll dismantling by the San Diego Padre owners. Randy Smith, the new general manager and baseball’s youngest at 30, said he was not ordered to trade any specific player, but conceded that with a $7-million or so hit in TV revenue, “it will be tough to continue with the budget at it is.”

Translated, the beat goes on. Unable to trade Bruce Hurst because of his ailing shoulder, sources say Smith’s first assignment will be to deal Fred McGriff and the $6 million left on his multiyear contract. It could even happen before the All-Star break, with the Orioles and Atlanta Braves believed to have expressed interest.

Smith, the former Padre farm director who had moved to the Colorado Rockies as assistant general manager, insisted that owner Tom Werner and colleagues want to win while remaining financially responsible.

“The situation here is not unique,” he said. “It’s happening in all the small markets. We want to build from within and supplement with less-expensive veteran players.”

The difference between San Diego and the other small markets is that the Padres, going back to last August, had a competitive team that may have been only a player away from championship contention. Instead of going after that player, ownership went the other way.

Craig Lefferts, Tony Fernandez, Randy Myers, Benito Santiago and Darrin Jackson, among others, are long gone. McGriff might be next. The resignation/firing of General Manager Joe McIlvaine was no surprise. His hands were tied. He was not responsible for the policy, and he made sure everyone knew that with his public raps at ownership.

He may surface as general manager of the Florida Marlins, with Dave Dombrowski becoming club president.

“We have a lot of good talent here,” Smith said. But how long will he be permitted to keep it?

SAY, WHAT

At 28-30, the Chicago Cubs may have a tough time attaining General Manager Larry Himes’ goal of 10 over .500 by the All-Star break. Himes recently expressed that goal in a radio interview, and it was immediately interpreted as a threat to Manager Jim Lefebvre.

Himes said otherwise the other day, but no one can be certain. Jeff Torborg, hired as the White Sox manager when Himes was general manager of that team, is available, and former Milwaukee manager Tom Trebelhorn is already situated as the Cubs’ bench coach.

For the time being, however, Himes is trying to defuse the situation.

“I’m tired of seeing Jim Lefebvre beaten up,” Himes said of the furor after his radio statements. “The 10-over-.500 isn’t a yardstick on Jim Lefebvre. It was more for the team. Jim and his staff are putting everything they can into it.

“It wasn’t a gauntlet, it wasn’t a deadline and it wasn’t a yardstick.”

Perhaps, but the feeling in Chicago is that the Cubs will have to measure up or Lefebvre is a short-timer.