Sports
Wednesday, June 30,1993
une 30,195] I
The Battalion
Page 3
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Baseball: if it ain't broke .. .
I said it once
and I'll say it
again. Attention
Major League
Baseball: Do not
follow the foot
steps of other
professiona 1
sports. Do not
conform to a
new playoff sys
tem.
I think we all
would agree
that baseball has
been a stable
factor in the
lives of many Americans over the past
century. The game has brought togeth
er father and son and people with their
country, and has brought escape from
life's everyday stresses. More over,
baseball has been the one constant
throughout America's turbulent histo
ry. Throughout presidential assassina
tions, the Depression and World Wars,
baseball has provided the world with
joyous memories and magic moments.
When the proposal to expand the
number of playoff teams in baseball
was submitted in February at a Major
League owners meeting in Phoenix, it
appeared as though it would be a
tough sell. Unfortunately, the proposal
has now become a sad realization and,
barring a God-sent miracle, the new
system will be implemented in 1994.
The newly proposed playoff system
would select from the two division
leaders and two wild-card teams (two
division runners-up with the best
records) from each league.
Originally, the proposal was also to
call for the expansion of the two
league's divisions. That is, to split the
two current divisions into three for a
total of six divisions. The split would
have created two divisions having five
teams while the remaining four teams
would have been the newly created
third division.
The playoff system would then
have drawn the three division winners
and a wild-card (the team with the
next best record). However, it appears
that this proposal, if Major League
owners don't change their minds, will
not pass successfully.
Baseball has been a unique game
from its birth. The NBA, NHL and
NFL have all adopted similar playoff
systems within the last five years to
satisfy economic expectancies. But
Baseball has plenty of money to sup
port itself without this new playoff
system. Besides, if they wanted to save
some money, they could decrease the
enormous payroll, largest of all profes
sional sports.
Economics aside, some of baseball's
most memorable moments have come
on the last day of regular season play.
Bobby Thompson's "shot heard 'round
the world," the Carlton Fisk arm-
waved-fair home run and, after finish
ing the 1987 regular season dead
locked, the Detroit Tigers earned a dra
matic entry to the Fall Classic by de
feating the Blue Jays.
If this playoff system is officially
adopted, this style of play may not be
seen again. The "Miracle Mets of 1969"
would not have been as dramatic a sto
ry if they only had to finish in second
place to earn a birth into the post-sea
son. Teams will no longer fight it out
until the second or third day in No
vember, because they will already
know where they stand long before
that. The goals of a team will become
like that of the other professional
sports, simply to make the playoffs.
Baseball is an all or nothing game.
There are no tie games, there are no
Co-Champions and there are only four
teams worthy of entry into the post
season. In baseball you win or wait 'til
next year.
Why change a game that has meant
so much to its fans and players alike.
Why change a constant that has pro
vided many people with rich moments
of heroics, great battles, dynasty teams
and a deep lore that traces back to the
mid 1870s?
To Major League baseball I have
only one simple message: If it ain't
broke, don't fix it.
, A 1,
, A
k • /W
MATTHEW J.
RUSH
Columnist
Heavyweight boxer arraigned for bribery
Mercer pleads not guilty to charge
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Ray Mercer, knocked
out of a rich heavyweight title fight by
Jesse Ferguson, was hooked by the long
arm of the law Tuesday on a charge he
tried to bribe Ferguson to lose.
"Not guilty," Mercer said.
And that's all the 1988 Olympic gold
medalist said. At least within earshot of
reporters during and after his arraign
ment in Criminal Court of New York. He
was released on his own recognizance.
District Attorney Robert M. Morgen-
thau announced at a news conference that
Mercer was arrested Sunday in Indi
anapolis after being indicted by a grand
jury in the County of New York on a
charge of offering Ferguson $100,000 to
lose during their fight Feb. 6 at Madison
Square Garden.
Mercer lost a 10-round unanimous de
cision to Ferguson. He also lost a $2.5 mil
lion payday against heavyweight champi
on Riddick Bowe, who stopped Michael
Dokes in the first round on the Garden
card. Ferguson got $500,000 to challenge
Bowe, and he was stopped 17 seconds
into the second round May 22 at Wash
ington.
Mercer got about $50,000 to fight the
36-year-old Ferguson, who got $10,000.
A tape of the fight revealed the 32-
year-old Mercer first offered the bribe in
the third round, according to Morgen-
thau, who also said "it was repeated nu
merous times after the third round."
HBO taped the fight, but did not tele
vise it.
"They were practicing for the bigger
fight," said Daniel J. Castleman, chief of
the Investigation Division of the New
York Frauds Bureau. "They used four
tracking systems, and we were able to get
into those systems."
"The tapes confirmed that Mercer re
peatedly attempted to persuade Ferguson
to let Mercer win," Morgenthau said. "I
don't think I want to comment on what
Ferguson said."
When asked if Ferguson would be
charged for not reporting a bribe, the dis
trict attorney said, "We're not considering
charging him with anything."
"We're not going to comment on what
his status is," Castleman said. "He is not
being charged."
Ferguson, reached at his home in
Philadelphia, referred all questidhs to his
attorney, James Binns, of Philadelphia.
Binns was not immediately available for
comment.
"He has categorically denied his
guilt," attorney Dominick Amorosa of
New York said at Mercer's arraignment.
Scoreboard
American League
Texas
4
Kansas City
3
New York
4
Detroit
3
Milwaukee
7
Boston
6
Cleveland
8
Chicago
2
Toronto
2
Baltimore
1
Minnesota
7
Seattle
5
National
League
New York
10
Florida
9
San Fran
3
Los Angeles
1
Chicago
10
San Diego
5
Philadelphia 13
St. Louis
10
Cincinnati
3
Houston
0
Atlanta
6
Colorado
4
Montreal
9
Pittsburgh
2
Poor old Navratilova
Aged athlete outplaying younger competition
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WIMBLEDON, England — Pity poor
old Martina Navratilova. Creaky in the
morning, joints sore, muscles slow to
warm up when she straggles out on court.
Offer her sympathy, but save some for
the kids she keeps trouncing in her 21st
Wimbledon as she bids for
her 10th title.
"Yes, I'm a crip
ple and I'm still
beating up on
them," Navratilova
said Tuesday after
reaching the semifinals Tues
day by beating Natalia Zvereva 6-3, 6-1. "I
guess they're really lousy players."
"I'm playing as good tennis as I ever
have in my career," she said. "It's just
hard to get out of bed in the morning, but
once I get going Tm OK.
"I beat Monica, who was No. 1 in the
world, three months ago, and she was
playing well. So I think you shqpld give
me credit rather than take it away from the
rest of the women. I'm just playing good
tennis, period. Forget my age; it doesn't
count."
Navratilova, 36, has won every set
while dropping a mere 16 games in five
matches.
Top-seeded Steffi Graf is winning rather
efficiently, too, as she goes for a fifth title.
On Tuesday, Graf got through her
toughest match, beating
Jennifer Capriati 7-6
(7-3), 6-1.
On Thursday,
Navratilova, seed
ed No. 2, will play
No. 8 Jana Novotna,
who upset No. 4 Gabriela Sabatini 6-
4, 6-3. Graf plays No. 6 Conchita Martinez,
a 6-1, 6-4 winner over No. 15 Helena Suko-
va.
Martinez is the first Spanish woman to
reach the Wimbledon semifinals since Lili
de Alvarez in 1928.
Zvereva, 22, played well but looked lost
out there against Navratilova, who sprint
ed along the net without regard for the
right ankle she sprained in early March.
ty editor
ilife editor
itor
itor
sa Elliott, Laura
rt Vasquez
ring semesters and
periods), at Texas
s ASM University,
Division of Student
:Donald Building'
d advertising,
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