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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Baseball Fever? Catch It With New Advertisement

Associated Press

Major League Baseball hopes to overcome the discontent generated by its season-ending labor strike last year with a new advertising campaign aimed at reminding fans how much fun big-league ball can be.

“Welcome to the Show” is the ad theme set to debut during Tuesday’s telecasts of this season’s delayed opening night.

Only 40 percent of people surveyed for a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll after the strike ended said they were baseball fans, down from 55 percent who said so in a similar poll just before the strike started last Aug. 12.

The new campaign was developed in the relatively short span of about two weeks by the ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners of San Francisco.

The agency has previously created advertising for the NBA (“I love this game”) and for the Oakland A’s (“Billyball” during Billy Martin’s tenure as manager.

Park could be parked in minors

Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park’s hopes of winning a spot in the rotation were severely damaged when he yielded nine hits - including three homers by Rico Brogna - and seven earned runs in the Dodgers’ 10-8 loss to the New York Mets at Vero Beach, Fla.

The Dodgers weren’t prepared to announce a decision on Park’s fate, but team officials said he likely will open the season with triple-A Albuquerque.

Stealing the show at 17

Seventeen-year-old Eddy Martinez hit an inside-the-park grand slam, running through a stop sign and sliding home head-first in the seventh inning of the Baltimore Orioles’ 15-5 beating of the Boston Red Sox.

Martinez, from San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, has never played a regular-season professional game. The home run was his second hit in six spring at-bats.

Reardon retires after 16 seasons

Reliever Jeff Reardon abandoned his attempt to make the Montreal Expos staff and announced his retirement after a 16-year career.

Reardon, 39, ranks second on the all-time saves list with 367, trailing only Lee Smith’s 434.

He began last season with the New York Yankees but was released early. He was invited to spring training this year by the Expos.

Oates to miss season’s start

Texas Rangers manager Johnny Oates, his wife hospitalized with exhaustion, was granted a two-week leave of absence and will miss the start of the season. Third-base coach Jerry Narron becomes acting manager.

Oates left the club Friday night because of his wife’s illness and has missed the last six games. He was appointed Rangers manager Oct. 19 after four seasons guiding the Baltimore Orioles.

Wakefield waived, Hamelin signs

Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, Pittsburgh’s postseason hero as a rookie in 1992, was released by the Pirates.

Wakefield, who has struggled since his rookie year and spent all of last season in the minor leagues, will become a free agent if he clears waivers.

Bob Hamelin, the A.L. rookie of the year in 1994, agreed Thursday to a $435,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals. Hamelin hit .282 and set a Royals rookie record with 24 home runs last year.