Southern League

12: Total games remaining 7: Home games remaining Highlight: Ripken hit 25 home runs when he played for Double-A Charlotte (Southern League) in 1980. Inside: In 1997, a permanent move to third base. [Page 6D]

12: Total games remaining 7: Home games remaining Highlight: Ripken hit 25 home runs when he played for Double-A Charlotte (Southern League) in 1980. Inside: In 1997, a permanent move to third base. [Page 6D]

BASEBALL American League * BALTIMORE ORIOLES -- Optioned Richie Lewis, pitcher, to Rochester of the International League. Purchased the contract of Jack Voigt, third baseman, from Rochester.* CLEVELAND INDIANS -- Placed Scott Scudder, pitcher, on the 15-day disabled list. Recalled Dave Otto, pitcher, from Colorado Springs of the Pacific Coast League.National League * CINCINNATI REDS -- Optioned Cesar Hernandez, outfielder, to Chattanooga of the Southern League. Activated Reggie Sanders, outfielder, from the disabled list.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A chapter of America's intellectual history came to a quiet close two weeks ago with the death at age 92 of Andrew Lytle at his cabin in Monteagle, Tennessee. He was the last survivor of the 12 Southern writers -- Robert Penn Warren, John Crowe Ransom and Allen Tate were the best known -- who in 1930 contributed essays to the book ''I'll Take My Stand.''It was the manifesto of the Agrarian movement, a small butluminous band of intellectuals who initially were energized in part by resentment of Northern condescension toward the South after the 1925 Scopes trial in Tennessee, concerning the teaching of evolution.

Within 48 hours, Wilson Alvarez went from a bus in Birmingham, Ala., to the major leagues, to the "Today" show.Last Saturday, as Alvarez was preparing for a road trip with the Birmingham Barons of the Class AA Southern League, he got the call from the Chicago White Sox. They wanted him to pitch the next day at Baltimore.Sunday, Alvarez, a left-hander in his second major-league start, pitched a no-hitter and instantly became front-page news across the nation."We had been expecting it [Alvarez' promotion]

BaseballAtlanta Braves -- Optioned IF Jose Oliva and P Brian Bark, P Pedro Borbon, and P Don Elliott to Richmond of the International League; P Michael Potts, C Tyler Houston, IF Hector Roa, and OF Troy Hughes to Greenville of the Southern League; P Matt Murray to Durham of the Carolina League. Sent P Mike Hostetler and SS Chipper Jones to their minor-league camp for reassignment.Cleveland Indians -- Optioned P Jerry DiPoto, P Bill Wertz and IF Jose Hernandez to Charlotte of the Southern League and P Shawn Bryant to Canton-Akron of the Eastern League.

BaseballMajor League Baseball -- Suspended San Francisco Giants OF Darryl Strawberry for 60 days for violating his after-care program and baseball's drug policy.Colorado Rockies -- Named Greg Gross coach at Double-A New Haven. Named Joe Marchese coach at Single-A Asheville.Montreal Expos -- Named Jim Gabella manager and Butch Hughes pitching coach at Single-A Vermont and Rock Sofield manager, Mitch Zwolensky pitching coach and Luis Dorante coach for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League team.

"Rookie: When Michael Jordan Came to the Minor Leagues," by Jim Patton. 220 pages. New York: Addison-Wesley PublishingCompany. $23When Michael Jordan was playing on the Dream Team during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, a Japanese reporter asked, "Mr. Jordan, how does it feel to be God?" God, unfortunately, couldn't hit the curve ball.Perhaps the most dominant guard in the history of basketball, Jordan sank the jumper that won the NCAA championship for the University of North Carolina, and he carried the Chicago Bulls to three consecutive NBA championships.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A chapter of America's intellectual history came to a quiet close two weeks ago with the death at age 92 of Andrew Lytle at his cabin in Monteagle, Tennessee. He was the last survivor of the 12 Southern writers -- Robert Penn Warren, John Crowe Ransom and Allen Tate were the best known -- who in 1930 contributed essays to the book ''I'll Take My Stand.''It was the manifesto of the Agrarian movement, a small butluminous band of intellectuals who initially were energized in part by resentment of Northern condescension toward the South after the 1925 Scopes trial in Tennessee, concerning the teaching of evolution.

"Rookie: When Michael Jordan Came to the Minor Leagues," by Jim Patton. 220 pages. New York: Addison-Wesley PublishingCompany. $23When Michael Jordan was playing on the Dream Team during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, a Japanese reporter asked, "Mr. Jordan, how does it feel to be God?" God, unfortunately, couldn't hit the curve ball.Perhaps the most dominant guard in the history of basketball, Jordan sank the jumper that won the NCAA championship for the University of North Carolina, and he carried the Chicago Bulls to three consecutive NBA championships.

BaseballMajor League Baseball -- Suspended San Francisco Giants OF Darryl Strawberry for 60 days for violating his after-care program and baseball's drug policy.Colorado Rockies -- Named Greg Gross coach at Double-A New Haven. Named Joe Marchese coach at Single-A Asheville.Montreal Expos -- Named Jim Gabella manager and Butch Hughes pitching coach at Single-A Vermont and Rock Sofield manager, Mitch Zwolensky pitching coach and Luis Dorante coach for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League team.

A year to the day since he retired from the NBA, Michael Jordan will wear the uniform of the Scottsdale Scorpions on opening day of baseball's Arizona Fall League tomorrow. It's an unfortunate development for card-carrying cynics and conspiracy theorists.If Jordan is angling to return to the NBA, as so many figured he would, he sure is going about it peculiarly. Throwing yourself headlong into a baseball career is not exactly the traditional warm-up for playing basketball.But Jordan isn't coming back to the NBA. That is obvious now. His presence in the Arizona league, and in the Florida Instructional League before that, says all that needs to be said about his sporting intentions.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- The baseball strike has reduced the Florida Instructional League to a handful of intramural camps, but the minor leagues' most celebrated player has not let the game's labor struggle put a dent in his enthusiasm.Former NBA superstar Michael Jordan arrived at Ed Smith Stadium yesterday to continue his baseball education, joining 46 youthful Chicago White Sox prospects for some back-to-basics training at the organization's spring training facility.This normally is an anonymous affair, but Jordan cannot go anywhere without attracting reporters and camera crews -- and his presence in any other year would be a public relations bonanza for the instructional league concept.

BaseballAtlanta Braves -- Optioned IF Jose Oliva and P Brian Bark, P Pedro Borbon, and P Don Elliott to Richmond of the International League; P Michael Potts, C Tyler Houston, IF Hector Roa, and OF Troy Hughes to Greenville of the Southern League; P Matt Murray to Durham of the Carolina League. Sent P Mike Hostetler and SS Chipper Jones to their minor-league camp for reassignment.Cleveland Indians -- Optioned P Jerry DiPoto, P Bill Wertz and IF Jose Hernandez to Charlotte of the Southern League and P Shawn Bryant to Canton-Akron of the Eastern League.

BASEBALL American League * BALTIMORE ORIOLES -- Optioned Richie Lewis, pitcher, to Rochester of the International League. Purchased the contract of Jack Voigt, third baseman, from Rochester.* CLEVELAND INDIANS -- Placed Scott Scudder, pitcher, on the 15-day disabled list. Recalled Dave Otto, pitcher, from Colorado Springs of the Pacific Coast League.National League * CINCINNATI REDS -- Optioned Cesar Hernandez, outfielder, to Chattanooga of the Southern League. Activated Reggie Sanders, outfielder, from the disabled list.

Within 48 hours, Wilson Alvarez went from a bus in Birmingham, Ala., to the major leagues, to the "Today" show.Last Saturday, as Alvarez was preparing for a road trip with the Birmingham Barons of the Class AA Southern League, he got the call from the Chicago White Sox. They wanted him to pitch the next day at Baltimore.Sunday, Alvarez, a left-hander in his second major-league start, pitched a no-hitter and instantly became front-page news across the nation."We had been expecting it [Alvarez' promotion]