AROUND THE MAJORS : Believe It or Not: Ump Rippley May Retire

Angry with baseball and many of his colleagues who didn’t support the union leadership, National League umpire Steve Rippley said Friday that he may retire next week and join the 22 umps already out of work.

“It just gets to the point where the whole thing gets to be mind-boggling,” he said. “The money is not the issue here. It’s what they’ve done and the principle, to see how they have been so ruthless, with how they treated the families, just for whatever reasons. It’s not humane what they’ve done.”

Several of the remaining umps, including Gerry Davis, Jeff Kellogg, Jerry Layne, Ed Rapuano and Rich Rieker, wore “MLUA 22” on their caps Friday night in tribute to the 22 members of the Major League Umpires Assn. who were let go Thursday as a result of the union’s failed resignation strategy.

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Wade Boggs of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the newest member of the 3,000-hit club, will sit out the remainder of the season after an MRI revealed torn cartilage in his right knee. . . . Fred McGriff signed a two-year, $12-million contract extension with the Devil Rays. . . . Whatever caused the fight between New York Met teammates Rey Ordonez and Luis Lopez is behind them, they said one day after Lopez punched Ordonez, leaving the shortstop with six stitches over his left eye. . . . Hall of Famer Willie Stargell will probably be released from his three-week hospital stay today, a Pittsburgh Pirate spokesman said. . . . Kent Bottenfield of the St. Louis Cardinals will sit out his scheduled start today to rest a sore elbow.