All-Star Game Doesn’t Produce All-Star Viewing

TV ratings for the All-Star Game Tuesday night went the same way attendance has gone in major league ballparks this year - down.

Early Nielsen ratings for ABC’s coverage in major metered markets was 14.7, down a full point from last year’s overnight rating of 15.7 on NBC. Last year, that mark held up when national ratings were counted several days later.

The share for the game was 24, compared with 27 a year ago. The share is the percentage of TVs in actual use, while ratings points are the percentage of total TV households in America. Each ratings point currently is worth about 954,000 homes.

From 1991-93, all CBS years, All-Star ratings were 17.4, 14.9 and 15.6. While the rating was down by baseball standards, it matched the average rating for the NBA Finals.

The lowest ratings among major markets were in the two areas to which baseball is expanding in 1998: Tampa Bay (7.7 rating, 12 share) and Phoenix (8.0 rating, 15 share).

Madlock arrested

Former All-Star and four-time batting champion Bill Madlock was arrested on a warrant charging him with passing bad checks, according to police.

Madlock, 44, of Huntington, Conn., was arrested at La Guardia Airport as he stepped off an American Airlines plane from Dallas, according to Capt. Frank Tabert of the Port Authority police.

Madlock, who played in an old-timers game during the All-Star festivities in Arlington, Texas, appeared surprised but was arrested without incident, Tabert said.

He was held on three outstanding warrants from Las Vegas charging him with drawing and passing checks with insufficient funds.

Madlock retired in 1987 after playing 15 years on six teams. He won National League batting titles in 1975 and 1976 with the Chicago Cubs, and in 1981 and 1983 with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He was a member of the Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League in 1973 and hit .338 with a league-leading 119 runs scored.

Sanders returns

At Hoover, Ala., a limping Deion Sanders hit a leadoff home run in his return to professional baseball after missing a month with a badly sprained left ankle.

A crowd of 2,933 greeted Sanders’ return with indifference, despite the solid shot to right-center that helped lift the Chattanooga Lookouts, the Cincinnati Reds’ affiliate in the Class AA Southern League, to a 4-3 victory over the Birmingham Barons.

Sanders, whose appearance in the Class AA game was kept secret until hours before the game, refused to talk to reporters.

McGwire still out

Mark McGwire remained out of the Oakland Athletics lineup, four days after being beaned by David Cone of the Toronto Blue Jays, and he’s not sure when he’ll be able to return.

“I’m getting better. I’m not all there right now,” McGwire said before Oakland’s 7-4 victory over Toronto.

It was unclear whether McGwire would fly with the Athletics to Cleveland for a four-game series beginning today.

Strawberry watch

The New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate kept Darryl Strawberry under wraps following his arrival to Columbus, Ohio.

Reporters were allowed to watch Strawberry work out with the Columbus Clippers but were kept away from him. He took batting practice for 45 minutes then spent another 15 minutes shagging flies in the outfield.

Strawberry, an eight-time All-Star, is attempting a comeback after serving a 60-day suspension for cocaine use. He also received a suspended jail sentence for income tax evasion.

Dick Williams, the former manager who scouts for the Yankees, wouldn’t say how long Strawberry was expected to be at Columbus, which plays in the International League.

Strawberry will be in uniform tonight when Columbus opens a series against the Pawtucket Red Sox. It was not known if he will play in the game.

Johnson on Nomo

Going into the All-Star Game, all eyes were on the pitching matchup of starters Hideo Nomo of the N.L. and Randy Johnson of the A.L. Neither disappointed. Both had three strikeouts in two innings of work. Johnson allowed only a walk, Nomo only a single.

Nomo was the main topic of conversation. At one point Tuesday night, Johnson said, “I didn’t really get all caught up in the media attention (about the matchup) because there wasn’t that much. It was all on Nomo. That was deserved, I suppose.”

However …

“He’s a pitcher,” Johnson said. “He’s a human person. It’s not like he changes in a telephone booth. I held my own. That seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle here.”

Triple-A Americans win

At Moosic, Pa., three first-inning errors by the National League led to three runs as the American League posted a 9-0 victory in the Triple-A All-Star Game.

Luis Lopez of Buffalo was named the American Association’s MVP of the game after getting three hits, including a threerun homer in the eighth, scoring three times and driving in four runs.