Baseball Strike

Runs per game -10.6% April 2000, 10.75; April 2001, 9.61 Batting average -3.7% April 2000, .270; April 2001, .260 Home runs per game -8.6% April 2000, 2.56; April 2001, 2.34 Earned run average -9.5%M April 2000, 4.96; April 2001, 4.46 Strikeouts per game +5.4% April 2000, 12.91; April 2001, 13.61 Walks per game -13.3% April 2000, 7.82; April 2001, 6.78 Length of game -2.2% April 2000, 2.58; April 2001, 2.54 Throughout his crusade to...

SYDNEY, Australia - This one's for the minor-leaguers, the real-life Crash Davises, the nameless, faceless dreamers who ply their trades in places such as Columbus, Tacoma and Bowie. For one night, the nobodies became somebodies. For one night, they owned the baseball world, winning gold medals, sticking American flags on their bat barrels and jogging around a stadium while a crowd stood and roared, "USA, USA, USA." The United States beat Cuba, 4-0, in the gold-medal Olympic baseball final last night.

He is an apostle of financial self-control who has single-handedly launched the salary scale of two sports into orbit with blockbuster deals. He views organized labor as a necessary bulwark against sweatshops, but is the chief antagonist of the baseball players union.Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls, will get the credit if Major League Baseball owners approve a tentative labor agreement today at their meeting in Chicago.Why not? He was blamed for scuttling the same deal on Nov. 6.He is, in the eyes of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a leader of a band of hard-liners who provoked a bitter strike in 1994 and have prevented a settlement since.

THE NOTION OF building a $300 million stadium for National League baseball in the middle of fast-growing suburbia just doesn't excite Northern Virginians. Four counties have rebuffed a group looking for a suitable location -- for good reason.Residents don't want the traffic and noise. Counties don't want the heavy infrastructure expenses, and they see little economic benefit.This shouldn't come as a surprise. Angry communities in Northern Virginia previously blocked a race track and a Redskins football stadium.

For the second time in a week, the Baseball Network and its restrictive rules strike again, costing Baltimoreans a chance to see their hometown team.Emerson Coleman, programming manager at Channel 11, which as an NBC affiliate has the rights to the Friday "Baseball Night in America" telecasts, said the station -- after a series of discussions with NBC's affiliate relations department -- opted not to push for the Orioles-California Angels game. The game starts at 11 tonight, which would have meant bumping the late local news and NBC's late-night programming.

Mike Stone, the United Baseball League's chief operating officer, spoke with the Sun's Jamison Hensley about the new league, which will begin play in March 1996.Q: Who first came up with the idea for the United Baseball League?A: It started when former congressman Bob Mrazek wanted to bring baseball back as family entertainment. He spoke with congressman John Bryant of Texas and they pursued it further with economist Andy Zimbalist. Then they decided to get a tie to baseball and enlisted Dick Moss.

Here in Baltimore, you can hardly tell what's really happening in baseball.At Camden Yards, the crowds once again are at or near capacity. With Bobby Bonilla now in harness, Orioles fans have wild card fever.But even here there are telltale signs of trouble."We went to the game the other night," a friend was telling me yesterday, "and it's no problem getting tickets now from scalpers. Good tickets. Sometimes for less than face value."A year ago we'd go down there and pay $20 or $30 for a $15 ticket.

The drumbeat of criticism for baseball owners from the media has been so relentless that it has affected the sport's attendance and its ratings, or so Orioles owner Peter Angelos believes.Angelos says the turnstiles have not been turning as much as they should because writers and broadcasters continue to pick at the owners for the continuing labor strife."It [baseball] certainly is going to suffer to some degree, but it is suffering attendance-wise to a larger degree than I would expect because the press keeps on talking about the work stoppage," said Angelos.

As a person who has followed the Baltimore Orioles since he was old enough to pronounce Kryhoski (1954, first base, hit left-handed and rarely), it feels uncomfortable but necessary to perform the following ritual in a public place: I speak for the empty seats.They were out there by the thousands the other night when we went to Camden Yards for a ballgame and realized you can hear more noise at a City Council meeting when they know the TV cameras are rolling.Can we talk? Yes, but apparently not very loudly at the ballpark, since the old Memorial Stadium loonies, the Wild Bill emotional brethren, the ones who used to howl to the moon at the dawning of each new rally, who hollered "Come on Ken, put it in the bullpen," and "Eddie-Eddie" and "Come on, Lowenstein, put it over the National Beer sign," and went home with their throats raw but their spirits soaring and came back the next night to do it all over again, apparently all lost their way between 33rd Street and South Baltimore somewhere outside of shouting distance.

Maryland's tourism industry moves into prime time this weekend. As always, the stakes are sizable. The trade generates $4.6 billion in annual sales.State officials estimate that 16 percent of all retail sales tax revenue is derived from travel. Last year innkeepers, restaurateurs and retailers reported mixed results. Resorts did well, but the baseball strike hurt Baltimore businesses.What kind of summer are tourism officials expecting this year?Mary Jo McCullochExecutive director, Maryland Tourism CouncilFrom what I'm hearing, the summer will be a very good one. I'm told that many hotels in the area are looking forward to capacity crowds throughout most of the summer, particularly on the weekends.