Cubs Unmoved by Selig Appeal to Switch Over

Baseball insists its fan surveys produced a strong majority in favor of the radical realignment plan that would totally revamp the American and National leagues. However, the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs have surveyed their season-ticket holders and said a majority oppose the plan, and so will they.

“They can’t get the vote, and I don’t think it’ll come to a vote next month unless there’s a compromise put forward,” Cub President Andy MacPhail said.

Acting Commissioner Bud Selig continues to say he will put the plan to a vote at the owners’ meeting Sept. 16-18 in Atlanta.

Only majority approval is required, but any club asked to move can veto it.

Selig drove from Milwaukee to Chicago on Tuesday in a futile attempt to get MacPhail and the Tribune Co. to change their minds.

MacPhail said he wouldn’t approve any plan that has the Cubs switching leagues, the designated hitter spreading to the NL or the Cubs and White Sox in the same division.

“How does it help the Chicago baseball fan if all the same teams come into Wrigley Field and then go play nine miles south?” he said.

“You reduce the number of teams that come through the city from 30 to 23. How many times can you bring the [Kansas City] Royals in here?

“I believe in moderate realignment that’s a natural evolution of expansion. If they want Detroit to go into the AL Central [with Tampa Bay going to the East and Kansas City to the West], there’s nothing wrong with that. We just made a historic step with interleague play and don’t need to rush into the next experiment.”

The original plan had 15 teams moving--seven National League and eight American. A compromise under consideration would have four NL and six AL teams switching leagues and would not put the New York or Chicago teams together.

The networks are pushing for geographical realignment because of the common time zones, but tradition and self-interest make this the toughest test of Selig’s lobbying skills.

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He may be one of the best and highest paid players in baseball, certainly the best and highest paid among the Giants, but don’t ask Barry Bonds to carry the club down the stretch. Can’t do it, he said, which didn’t exactly please Bay Area fans.

“This team has never been about one player,” Bonds said. “In baseball, if you expect me to do it every time, then we’re going to lose. Everybody has to do their job to win.”

The key, said Bonds, who has 31 homers and 82 RBIs, is that he isn’t really getting a chance to carry the club. He’d been walked a league-leading 115 times through Friday, 30 intentionally.

“If teams don’t want to give you opportunities, there’s nothing you can do about it,” he said.

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Jeff Bagwell is second in the NL to Bonds in walks and the total is rising since Derek Bell was moved from fourth to second in the Houston lineup, costing Bagwell his protection. He has 36 homers and 112 RBIs, but he may be falling out of the Mike Piazza-Larry Walker MVP derby because of a .225 second-half average through Thursday.

“Bagwell is such an excellent hitter that he’s never needed a great hitter behind him,” Manager Larry Dierker said. “When they don’t pitch to him, he takes his walks. What’s been happening lately is that when they make a mistake, he’s not hitting it.”