BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : Phillips Faces Battery Charge, Jail Term

Chicago White Sox outfielder Tony Phillips, who went into the stands Wednesday night and allegedly punched a heckler for making what he claimed were racial epithets, may face a battery charge and a possible jail term.

Phillips was ordered Thursday to appear before Assistant Dist. Atty. Rayann Chandler-Szychlinski on Monday. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department is recommending Phillips be charged with battery, Lt. Joseph Delaney said.

The charge carries penalties of up to nine months in jail and up to a $10,000 fine.

The incident occurred behind the left-field bleachers after Phillips had changed into street clothes. Phillips was taken out after six innings in a 20-8 victory over Milwaukee, and went into the stands to confront the fan.

Delaney said the sheriff’s department will seek a disorderly conduct charge against the 23-year-old fan whom Phillips punched in the face, according to witnesses. That charge carries fines of up to $1,000 and 90 days in jail.

The fan, identified by the Journal Times of Racine, Wis., as Chris Hovorka of Racine, told the newspaper he had heckled Phillips but denied yelling racial slurs at the outfielder.

“They’re trying to portray me as a drunk racist,” Hovorka said. “First of all, I had two beers the entire game. Secondly, I didn’t say anything racial. I guarantee you if somebody has yelled something racial, I would have been embarrassed. I don’t do that.”

Said Phillips: “Everybody has a breaking point and I just reached mine last night. . . . I’m just saddened that the incident happened last night and I regret it happened. I always have had a pretty good relationship with the fans.”

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Acting Commissioner Bud Selig and National League President Len Coleman would prefer that Cincinnati Red owner Marge Schott step back from day-to-day operation of the team, two high-ranking baseball officials said, speaking on condition they not be identified.

Even before her controversial remarks this month to ESPN and Sports Illustrated, according to the officials, major league baseball was concerned with the way Schott was operating the Reds, especially her cutbacks in baseball operations and marketing.

While current owners declined to do so, several past owners were willing to discuss Schott.

“I hope somebody will urge her to get psychiatric help to get over the notion why she doesn’t like certain people and acts the way she does,” said former Baltimore Oriole owner Jerry Hoffberger.

“I wonder if she has the intelligence to be an owner, to decipher what’s right and wrong,” former Minnesota Twin owner Calvin Griffith said. “I don’t know what baseball can do about her. She should be stifled for the good of the game.”

Selig is continuing his investigation into Schott following her recent remarks about Adolf Hitler and Asian-Americans. Selig won’t say anything publicly, but he is known to be angry that Schott has disrupted baseball’s attempts to repair its image in the wake of the strike.

Schott declined to comment Thursday on possible moves against her and on criticism that followed her recent interviews.