Manager’s Cheap Schotts Leave Marge Fuming

Davey Johnson was back managing the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday in Haines City, Fla., after being told to shape up or pack up.

Johnson has been disinterested in managing replacement players, turning duties over to assistant Ray Knight five games into the exhibition schedule. Johnson’s frustrations spilled out Sunday, when he called replacement baseball a “travesty” and said the players were only as skillful as low-level minor leaguers.

Reds officials were upset by the comments. Owner Marge Schott, who is charging full price for replacement games, was concerned that ticket sales would be affected.

Bowden asked Johnson to follow Detroit manager Sparky Anderson’s example and take a leave of absence. Johnson, who has just a one-year contract to manage the Reds, refused to go.

“He said, ‘I’m not a quitter and I’m not going to quit. If you want to fire me, then fire me,”’ Bowden said.

Bowden told Johnson that if he wanted to stay, he’d have to fulfill all the duties of a manager. Bowden was satisfied with how Johnson ran the team Monday night during a game in Winter Haven against Cleveland.

Johnson didn’t want to say anything about it Tuesday before an exhibition against Kansas City.

“I’m just out of it,” Johnson said, moving his hand across his lips as if to zip them shut. “I’ve said my little epitaph.”

Talks prod along

Baseball players and owners may have taken a step backward during a secret session between acting commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr.

Selig, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, talked about owners raising their tax rates and thresholds, not lowering them to move closer to the union. Selig’s spokesman, Rich Levin, denied those accounts.

The goal going into the two-day session in the Washington area was to set up the resumption of full-scale bargaining later this week. But no date was set, probably meaning the next step will be a hearing before a federal judge on the National Labor Relations Board’s anticipated request for an injunction against the owners.

Money players

The Colorado Rockies will pay more money to minor leaguers who agree to become strikebreakers.

“We haven’t laid our plan out to them,” general manager Bob Gebhard said Monday, “but we will be doing something, probably this week.”

By agreeing to raise the pay for those who already have agreed to be replacement players, the Rockies will avoid the stir caused by the Boston Red Sox, who offered a higher salary only to minor leaguers, not to players already signed as replacements.

The major-league guidelines for replacement players called for 29 of the 32 players on the roster to receive $115,000. Three players could make $275,000, but they must have three years of major-league service.

Making his mark

When the Yankees open their regular season April 3 in Texas, at least one of their minor leaguers will be part of the replacement team, perhaps even the opening-day starter. Trent Wallace, a 24-year-old righthander from Kentucky, took another step in that direction Tuesday with five shutout innings in the Yankees’ 5-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. That makes 10 straight scoreless innings for Wallace.

Not in our house

Teams using replacement players would be barred from playing at the Baltimore Orioles’ Camden Yards under legislation approved by Maryland’s House of Delegates and certain to be signed by Gov. Parris Glendening.

The bill, approved by the Maryland Senate on March 1, passed the House by an 87-44 vote.

Now, that’s a bargain!

The Pittsburgh Pirates announced new prices for the first 20 games of the season, with the real bargain coming in the “Family Pack” - four dogs, four pretzels and four pops for just $16.95, instead of the usual $21.