BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJORS : Mitchell, Johnson in Shouting Match

Outfielder Kevin Mitchell got into an altercation with Cincinnati Manager Davey Johnson before a game Friday night and was suspended for two games.

Mitchell missed the Reds’ game against Florida on Thursday, their first after the All-Star break, and was docked a day’s pay. Johnson told him of the fine when he arrived at the clubhouse Friday.

Their private meeting became volatile. Reporters were kept out of the clubhouse for half an hour while they met, but shouting could be heard.

The ballclub wouldn’t release details of the altercation, and Mitchell stayed in the trainer’s room until the clubhouse was closed before the game. But one player, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “If I punched the manager, I’d be out of here right now.”

General Manager Jim Bowden referred to it as an altercation, and said Johnson decided on the suspension and an undisclosed fine--Mitchell’s third fine in three days.

Johnson wouldn’t give details, but he said he shook hands with Mitchell.

“He’s been under some stress,” Johnson said. “I hope we can work it out together instead of fighting each other.

Mitchell went on the 15-day disabled list Friday because of a pulled hamstring, so the suspension will go into effect when he’s activated.

*

Ted Simmons, former general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates who resigned in June because of a heart attack, said in Cleveland that he would like to return to baseball, but in a much less stressful job.

“Being general manager is like a Nintendo game for adults,” Simmons said. “You have the joy stick in your hand, and you’re controlling the action.

“But being general manager of the Pirates is big-stress management.”

Simmons, 43, said he realized that he could not continue as general manager without risk to his health. He was in his office in April when shooting pains went up his left arm, and he knew immediately that he was having a heart attack. He was hospitalized and underwent an angioplasty, a procedure that enlarges blood vessels by inserting tiny balloons.

“That was a major league wake-up call right there,” Simmons said. “I was smoking 2 1/2, three packs of cigarettes a day, and ignoring 20 years’ worth of advice.

“I used to hate those health-food, nonsmoker, jogging nuts. Now, I’m one of them. I’ve gone through a complete behavioral and psychological change.

“I loved my job, but I was 43 years old, and I wasn’t going to die. I mean, look at what happened to Don Drysdale. He had an angioplasty, too, and four years later, he’s dead.”

Simmons is moving from Pittsburgh back to St. Louis, but he couldn’t resist the temptation to stop in Cleveland to watch games Thursday and Friday at Cleveland Stadium.

“I feel like a new man again,” he said. “I walk an hour every morning, I’ve got my taste back, and have a whole different view of life. I’ll come back again, but at my pace.”