Playing Field

Despite a new $4 million contract and a spot as the Orioles' primary designated hitter, Luke Scott is heading into the spring with a familiar mind-set. He's working out feverishly, he wants to play every day -- and he'd still prefer not to be a full-time DH. "Absolutely I want to be able to play defense," said Scott, who avoided arbitration Tuesday by agreeing to a one-year, $4.05 million deal with the Orioles. "If it were up to me, I'd DH two or three times a week and play in the field wherever they needed me. That would be optimal.

Here's how we measure the impact of William F. ``Sugar'' Cain: ''One of the biggest thrills for me was seeing my brother, David Harcum, score 28 points against Dunbar when Skip Wise was on the team,'' Larry Harcum said Saturday as he sat in Dunbar High School's auditorium and listened to speaker after speaker pay tribute to Cain, coach of the Poets' football, basketball and baseball teams for 32 years.Cain died Feb. 6. His memorial service was held two weeks later. The ``final time out for a legendary coach,'' it was called.

YOUR FEB. 4 editorial against setting minimum milk prices in Maryland ("Milk commission does a body no good") is incomplete. As a result, your conclusion is in error. Maryland milk producers want a level playing field. As long as Pennsylvania and Virginia establish minimum milk prices, Maryland will continue to be a dumping ground with implications for her dairy producers, consumers, and the environment.Maryland dairy producers have a proud history of providing a reliable and safe product while protecting the environment.

In Anne Arundel County, high school sports are very much a man's world.Of the 12 high school athletic directors, all are men. Of the 12 assistant directors, all but two are men. Boys get to play at 7 p.m., "prime time" in the sports schedule, more often than girls. The boys generally have nicer, newer uniforms. Their playing fields usually are in better shape.A school Gender Equity Committee has found enough evidence of a disparity in the treatment of girls' and boys' sports to make it clear that the school system needs to do a better job of ensuring fair treatment.

Baltimore County Executive Dennis F. Rasmussen knew he was in trouble the weekend before the election when he went door to door in his native Essex and saw a campaign sign for his Republican opponent, Roger B. Hayden, on the lawn of an old friend's home.When he knocked on the friend's door, he was assured that the sign meant nothing and that he had the man's vote. Now, he is not so sure.But even with such indicators, Mr. Rasmussen failed to grasp how deeply the vein of dissatisfaction was running against him.Baltimore County voters, caught up in an anti-incumbent mood with the rest of the nation, voted overwhelmingly to throw out not only their county executive, but three of the seven Democrats on the County Council, an unprecedented number.

IF THE ORIOLES, as a major-league and also a minor-league entity, have existed in Baltimore for well over a century, then it would seem in all basic fairness they enjoy the same equitable treatment from the Maryland Stadium Authority as a football team, the Ravens, which has been organized for only four seasons. Baltimore, in a football sense, has been victimized by carpet-bagging tactics. The permanent seat license scheme and putting a corporate name on the stadium were regrettable actions.

THINK OF it as the perfect storm of money in politics. The Maryland insurance industry wanted to throw a fund-raising party for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., hoping to impress him with the heavy burden of regulation heaped upon it by government. These captains of indemnity would have made a deeper and more lasting impression, of course, if they raised a ton of money for the once and future candidate, Mr. Ehrlich. So in a letter seeking support, industry lawyer and sometime-lobbyist David M. Funk asked insurance CEOs to pony up: $2,000 per attendee and at least $10,000 per company.

At the change of every season, Bob Rosencrance has to supervise, coordinate and rejigger the schedules of more than 400 energetic children who play youth sports on only five fields in and around Provinces.Life should get a little easier for Mr. Rosencrance, president of the Jessup-Provinces Youth Organization, when work is completed on Provinces Park off Disney Road. The park would provide more playing fields for football, soccer, lacrosse and baseball."We definitely need it," said Mr. Rosencrance, 34, of Harmans.

I still remember the sincerity in the Oriole player's voice as he confessed a personal fear on a team bus in New York."Sometimes I'm out there on the field," he said timorously, "and I think about what can happen to you when you're exposed like that. All it takes is one nut in the stands. He can shoot you right there. There's nothing to stop him.""Aw, you're worried about nothing," I assured the rookie, who had grown up in Austin, Texas. "The fans love you guys."This was not one of the present Orioles speaking.