Lucchino

Sports, like politics, makes for strange bedfellows. Governor Schaefer and the late Edward Bennett Williams were quite a pair. Tom Clancy and Boogie Weinglass are polar opposites. And suddenly Larry Lucchino is everybody's best friend.The Orioles president angers nearly everyone he negotiates with, but he's uniquely positioned to become part of the club's next ownership, be it with a group led by Cincinnati investor Bill DeWitt or Baltimore attorney Peter Angelos.Lucchino can't officially join either group while working for the Orioles, but he's believed to have an agreement with DeWitt to buy back a share of the team.

DENVER-- --The Boston Red Sox obviously have forgotten where they came from. Didn't this used to be the long-suffering American League franchise that waited 86 years between World Series titles and led the majors in historic baseball angst for most of the 20th century? Well, it's a new century and the Red Sox look a lot more like their archrivals in New York than the team that used to torment its fans with ever more imaginative ways to either stay out of the World Series or, failing that, let the Fall Classic slip away in historically frustrating fashion.

Former Orioles president Larry Lucchino said yesterday he has put his bid to buy one major-league team on hold in order to see if he can close a deal for another.Officials of the city of Pittsburgh announced yesterday they will negotiate solely with cable television executive John Rigas on the purchase of the Pirates, after Lucchino and the city said they had mutually decided to end talks about the possible sale of the club.Lucchino said he took that step because he and Houston businessman John Moores are in the final stages of a bid to buy the San Diego Padres.

BOSTON - Fenway Park was built in 1912, and 80 years later, the Orioles used pieces of it as an inspiration for Camden Yards. Now, the process has come full circle, as the Boston Red Sox are using Camden Yards as an inspiration for the ongoing renovations at Fenway. "There is a mini-Camdenization going on," Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said yesterday, at a luncheon with members of the Baltimore-Washington media. Lucchino, the former Orioles' president, and Red Sox vice president Janet Marie Smith, were two of the driving forces behind Camden Yards, from the critical planning stages in the 1980s to the ballpark's opening in 1992.

Former Orioles president Larry Lucchino, who guided the club's planning of Camden Yards, is reviving that role in South Florida.Lucchino began work last week as a part-time consultant to Florida Marlins owner H. Wayne Huizenga. Lucchino will assist in the development of a baseball stadium for the Marlins and a proposed arena for another Huizenga-owned sports franchise, the NHL's Florida Panthers."I have a pretty keen interest in sports facilities," Lucchino said yesterday. "There are some things from our experiences in Baltimore that I think can be quite useful."

San Diego -- Larry Lucchino still has the house near Washington and his condo overlooking the Baltimore waterfront. But these days, Lucchino's true home is the one nestled in the hills above trendy LaJolla, Calif.As mansions go, it's a modest place. Three bedrooms. Gourmet kitchen. Stone patio with a view of the West Coast that seems to stretch from the Mexican border to Mount Rainier.Lucchino has lived here for five months, since he teamed with computer software magnate John Moores to buy the Padres for a reported $80 million.

There wasn't enough room in the Orioles front office to hold both Peter G. Angelos and Larry Lucchino, but that unlikely duo might be teaming up if an NFL franchise returns to Baltimore.Angelos, owner of the Orioles, has been shopping for an NFL franchise he would move to Baltimore. He said this week he has invited Lucchino to join his effort, if he succeeds in buying a team.Angelos said he has talked with Lucchino about participating as both an investor and in the management of an NFL team.

For the second time in a month, former Orioles president Larry Lucchino has surfaced as a possible buyer for a major-league baseball franchise.Lucchino, an Orioles executive for 15 years until leaving the club dTC last fall, is engaged in talks aimed at purchasing the San Diego Padres, according to two sources familiar with those discussions. His partner in the bid is Texas investor Robert Moores, the sources said. Moores recently was granted exclusive negotiating rights by the Padres owners.

HAINES CITY, Fla. -- Baltimore Orioles president Larry Lucchino confirmed yesterday that the team is talking with Collier County, Fla., officials about a new spring-training location."

SARASOTA, Fla. -- A day after receiving permission from Orioles owner Peter Angelos to talk to assistant general manager Frank Robinson about possible employment with San Diego, Padres chief executive officer Larry Lucchino called the Hall of Famer.But, Robinson said, specific jobs and offers never were discussed in yesterday's brief conversation."We chatted for a couple of minutes," Robinson said, "about nothing really. Then we agreed to talk again next week."Robinson may be offered a job as a special assistant within baseball operations, but if he does go to San Diego, there is potential for promotion.

Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino probably meant every word of it when he said Thursday that the blockbuster deal to send Manny Ramirez to the Texas Rangers for superstar shortstop Alex Rodriguez was dead, but that doesn't mean it won't get done. Lucchino isn't above a little bluster. He was understandably angry and frustrated when the Major League Baseball Players Association rejected a plan to restructure the remainder of Rodriguez's record $252 million contract. It's also fair to assume he was a bit peeved at Rodriguez for publicly siding with the union after tentatively agreeing to the deal.

Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino was so circumspect when he held the same position in Baltimore that it was difficult to get him to take a strong public position on anything. So why has he so willingly turned into the chief antagonist of controversial New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner? Lucchino, frustrated over another round of profligate Yankees free-agent spending, recently labeled baseball's most storied franchise "the evil empire" and has been involved in a nasty little verbal feud with The Boss ever since.

College football Georgia Tech accepts Seattle Bowl berth, will play Stanford Georgia Tech began the season with hopes of playing in the Bowl Championship Series. Instead, the Yellow Jackets settled for a spot yesterday in the inaugural Seattle Bowl. The Yellow Jackets (7-4) will meet Stanford (8-2), ranked No. 12 but only fourth in the Pacific-10, at Safeco Field on Dec. 27. The bowl guarantees $750,000 to each school, but the Atlantic Coast Conference will boost Georgia Tech's share to $1.1 million to help handle the cost of a West Coast trip.

SAN DIEGO -- The guy on the motorcycle looks vaguely familiar. Replace the leather jacket with a three-piece suit and he would be a dead ringer for former Orioles president Larry Lucchino.Upon closer examination, it is Lucchino, pulling up to the offices of the San Diego Padres like some upscale Hell's Angel.Times change, people change, though not usually this much. The uptight Washington lawyer Larry has been replaced with the new laid-back Larry, who has helped put the Padres back on the map and is busy trying to reinvent San Diego as a baseball destination.

SAN DIEGO -- The deal that brought the Super Bowl back to San Diego ultimately might be remembered as the deal that drove major-league baseball out of town."

Orioles assistant general manager Frank Robinson felt good about his chances of becoming general manager of the San Diego Padres. His interview last month went well, and he had a prior working relationship with Padres CEO Larry Lucchino, the former president of the Orioles.But when Lucchino called Robinson late Thursday, he had bad news: The Padres had promoted scouting director Kevin Towers to the GM position, a surprise move."Last night I was informed by Larry that I would not be general manager of the Padres," Robinson said yesterday, when called for his reaction.

The Orioles front office, due for a major change later this month with the arrival of new owner Peter G. Angelos, might be in for one more shuffle.Orioles president Larry Lucchino has held talks with Florida Marlins officials about joining the National League expansion lTC club as a senior executive, according to sources familiar with the discussions.Lucchino and Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga attended the quarterly meetings of owners in Boston last week, where they discussed a possible job, the sources said.

Orioles president Larry Lucchino said yesterday that a "communication problem" may have contributed to complaints that the team isn't working diligently enough to include blacks in Opening Week and Opening Day festivities.Lucchino said he telephoned Del. Howard P. "Pete" Rawlings, who publicly criticized the team, to explain ways that minorities will be represented in ceremonies leading up to Opening Day at the new Oriole Park at Camden Yards."I said to him that we should talk more frequently because, quite frankly, there is a lot of stuff we are doing that he might not be aware of, that would not go through his office.

CLEVELAND -- Randy Smith officially is out as general manager of the San Diego Padres, as of yesterday morning, and is free and clear to join any interested team, like the Orioles. And, officially, Orioles assistant general manager Frank Robinson would like Smith's old job in San Diego.Robinson met with Orioles owner Peter Angelos yesterday afternoon, and afterward Robinson said he's not sure whether he'll be with the club next year. He is sure, however, that he wants to be a general manager, and it just so happens that the Padres need a GM."

If the Orioles want to interview San Diego Padres general manager Randy Smith, a possible candidate to replace current GM Roland Hemond, with no strings attached, they may have to wait until Nov. 1.Smith turned in a letter of resignation to Padres CEO Larry Lucchino last week. But while Lucchino announced yesterday that Smith will not be the team's GM in 1996, he did not accept Smith's resignation, meaning that Smith remains under contract to the Padres until the end of this month.If the Orioles -- who in the past have twice sought permission to interview Smith -- or any other team wants to talk to Smith for the next 30 days, they first must receive permission from Lucchino.