AROUND THE MAJOR LEAGUES : Schott Comes Out Smoking for Reds

Owner Marge Schott says she will continue to puff away in her seat at Cincinnati Red games in open defiance of the city’s anti-smoking law.

The law, which took effect before the season, prohibits smoking in seats at Riverfront Stadium. The Reds remind fans with announcements on the scoreboard before and during games.

Schott sat in her front-row seat next to the Reds’ dugout and smoked during four games of a season-opening home stand. She said no one has complained directly to her, and she sees nothing wrong with smoking in an open-air stadium.

“I don’t care if they complain or not,” she told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. “I just feel in this country, we are not focusing on what the real problems are.

“What we should begin to worry about is unemployment, guns, rape, drugs, crack, dope, all those illegitimate children, murders--things to me that I think people in this country are getting concerned about. If I had a child, rather than doing any of those other things, I’d rather see it smoke.”

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San Francisco hitting coach Bobby Bonds will be released from an Atlanta hospital Tuesday, the team announced. He had three days of tests after he complained of chest pains and dizziness during a game in Atlanta.