Skybox

The official in charge of enforcing workplace safety laws in Maryland accepted free tickets to a Towson contractor's luxury skybox at Camden Yards when he was negotiating a deal for more "cooperative" inspections at the company's stadium work site.Such an action is an apparent violation of Maryland's ethics laws.Craig D. Lowry, chief of compliance at the Maryland Occupational Health and Safety agency (MOSH) for 13 years, said he and his son were guests in the box owned by Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. when the Orioles played the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 22. The veteran regulator was seen at the game by an individual who recognized him and telephoned The Sun.In an interview last week, Lowry defended his actions, saying he was meeting with Whiting-Turner officials to discuss a "cooperative compliance program" for the contractor at the site of the planned Ravens football stadium.

Whether Gov. Parris N. Glendening has vision is a matter of opinion. But there's no doubt that he has a great view.The Governor's Box at Camden Yards sits on the exclusive club level of Oriole Park, just a little to the first-base side of home plate, with a panorama of the city skyline. Its sightlines ensure that occupants will miss little of the action on the field -- unless they're distracted by the television, the phone or a suite attendant bringing a glass of chardonnay.For some, an invitation to watch a game there is a much-appreciated ego stroke.

Cal Ripken seems to be everywhere -- at the ballpark (naturally), on the cover of virtually every publication, on T-shirts, on a lithograph and on baseball cards.Fleer/Skybox International is honoring the Orioles shortstop with a pair of 10-card insert sets, in the premiere edition of E-Motion Major League Baseball and in Series 2 of Flair.The Ripken insert sets feature highlights selected by Ripken. The E-Motion set is called "Timeless," and the Flair set is "Enduring."Both sets will be augmented by five cards highlighting the 1995 season, available by mail.

Baltimore's strangest political bedfellows continued to make nice over the weekend as former Gov. William Donald Schaefer held a $1,000-a-head fund-raiser for City Council President Mary Pat Clarke's mayoral bid.Mr. Schaefer, in his first fund-raising effort for Mrs. Clarke since publicly backing her earlier this month, greeted a skyboxful of 20 of her supporters who gathered to watch the Orioles lose to the Red Sox Saturday night.L He gripped. He grinned. He hammed it up. Then he left early.

Score is at it again.The pace-setting company that first made card backs worth looking at and brought studio photography to the common card is turning its attention to statistics.The first series of 1994 baseball cards will be out early next month, and Score is joining the pack by coating its cards. The cards have been redesigned but retain color-coded borders.On the back, stats for batters will add slugging percentage, on-base percentage and total bases. For starting pitchers, there will be base runners per nine innings, starts and opponent batting average.

This job has some nice perks, but for sheer decadence few can match the joy of watching a ballgame from a skybox at Camden Yards while scarfing down sausage and washing it down with 1990 Chateau Petrus.The wine, in case it's not something you serve every night, is a celestial Bordeaux that fetches upward of $200 a bottle. A nit-picker could complain that it isn't as celestial as the 1990 Chateau Margaux, which costs a mere $100, but the Petrus was more than good enough to ease the pain of watching the Tigers take batting practice against the Orioles pitching staff.

It's June. The NBA and NHL have finished their playoffs, leaving sports fans with only baseball to enter the summer with.But there are no seasons in the world of collectibles, so the first cards of the 1993-94 NFL season will be out before training camp opens. Classic Games expects to ship its 100-card NFL draft set this month.However, most issues probably will continue their practice of August releases.SkyBox International, which branched out into football last fall, has announced its game plan.

SkyBox is looking for a few good words. About a hundred.It is asking young collectors to submit essays about their collections. The top essay is worth tickets for the winner and his or her parents to an NBA playoff game as guests of San Antonio Spurs star David Robinson.Robinson is featured in a five-card SkyBox subset that covers his career, focusing on his childhood, college and off-the-court activities.K? "We're showing another side of David Robinson," says SkyBoxspokesman Doug Drotman.

THE Maryland political year ahead, as seen through my ver foggy crystal ball:Jan. 4, 1993: In what he terms a New Year's resolution, Gov. William Donald Schaefer announces that he will begin reading all the newspapers and other publications he once swore he never would look at again. Observers say he'd rather read The Sun than cabinet secretaries' memoranda.Jan. 23: House Speaker Clay Mitchell, hewing closely to last year's pledge (induced by an attempt by Montgomery Del. Nancy Kopp to dislodge him)

A number of NBA stars once belonged to Boys & Girls Clubs, and SkyBox International is making the connection through its SkyBox and NBA Hoops cards.The company is sponsoring NBA Hoops/SkyBox Player of the Week awards at 1,500 clubs nationwide between November and February. Members will be recognized for academic achievement, service and athletic participation.Clubs have also received cards and posters plus certificates for honorees. The company will donate $5 for each steal by John Stockton and block by Patrick Ewing.