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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Fans, Here’s Your Interleague Play M’S, Rockies Paired In Seattle When Baseball’s Big Test Begins

Larry Larue Tacoma News Tribune

For the first time in major league history, teams from the American League and National League begin playing one another during the regular season this week kicking off the high-concept interleague play Thursday with matchups that include the Rockies and Mariners from the Kingdome.

And if the experiment fails, team owners already have their fall guy. The fans themselves.

“Every poll we did was overwhelmingly in favor of doing it,” acting commissioner Bud Selig said. “I’ve pushed this for years, but last year I took a package in to other owners and it was unanimously approved.”

That package Selig was armed with included fan polls - arguments that N.L. fans wanted to see Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Wade Boggs, that A.L. fans wanted to see Mike Piazza, Greg Maddux, Barry Bonds.

Were the polls persuasive? After making their decision, the owners certainly said so. But if fans figured into the decision, it was their wallets as much as their hearts that baseball wanted to tap into a little deeper. Because the first year of interleague play will pit each league’s East, West and Central divisions against their counterparts, owners cut their travel expenses and pitched the notion of rivalries previously only fantasized. The Yankees vs. the Mets, Dodgers vs. Angels, Cubs against White Sox, A’s vs. Giants.

The result was a flurry of early season sellouts for games that begin Thursday.

The Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees is nearly sold out. So is Baltimore’s three-game visit to Atlanta.

Even the matchups that seem less attractive are selling. Pittsburgh may draw its largest crowds this weekend when ex-Pirates Jay Bell and Jeff King lead Kansas City into Three Rivers Stadium. Cincinnati is expecting its biggest crowds since opening day when Albert Belle and the Chicago White Sox visit.

Did baseball owners think long and hard about interleague play? Hardly. They approved it, agreeing with the players union to try it for one season. And if it’s a roaring success, what matchups will come in 1998?

“We have no idea,” Mariners CEO John Ellis said. “We’d like to create natural rivalries by staying in the N.L. West, but we really have no indication what will happen.”

Unable to agree on what to do with the A.L.’s designated hitter rule, owners relied on compromise - the DH will be used in A.L. parks, pitchers will bat for themselves in N.L. parks.

Some in the game think owners got it completely backwards.

“If we’re going to do it that way, in one league’s parks but not the others, why not have the DH in N.L. parks the first year, and no DH in A.L. parks?” asked Tim Mead, assistant general manager of the Anaheim Angels. “That way fans would see the other system, get a feel for what it’s like. This way, nothing changes. If we’re doing it for fans, give them the chance to see the way the other league plays.”

Was that concept considered?

No.

What was considered, and pushed aside, was the nearly overwhelming opinion of managers and general managers in both leagues that interleague play would unfairly influence pennant races.

Yankees manager Joe Torre, for instance, argues that the wild-card playoff team from both leagues could be decided by the 15 or 16 games played against teams from another league.

“The playing table isn’t level,” Torre said. “If the White Sox win the wild card playing the Cubs, Astros, Reds, Cardinals and Pirates, did they have an edge because the Blue Jays had to play the Braves, Marlins, Mets, Expos and Phillies?”

In any given year, one division in each league is the stronger one. Obviously, teams pitted against the other league’s best division are at a disadvantage.

Angels manager Terry Collins says A.L. teams will have the larger adjustment simply because they’ll lose the DH for away games in N.L. parks.

“Look at the payrolls around our league, the DH is usually a $3 million, $4 million-a-year player, maybe a cleanup hitter but almost always a guy in the heart of the lineup,” Collins said. “Eight, 10 games a year now, you can’t play that guy? Or you put him in the field and bench one of your other players? That’s tough.”

There’s another scenario even more worrisome to A.L. managers - their pitchers being forced to hit and, should they reach base, run.

The Mariners, in fact, have changed their rotation so that Randy Johnson won’t pitch in games this month in San Francisco or July 2-3 in San Diego.

“Yes, these guys are all athletes,” Toronto manager Cito Gaston said, “but some of them haven’t run the bases in 10-12 years. You think I want Roger Clemens trying to go from first to third base and sliding? Or trying to bunt and taking a fastball off his finger?”

Those who have played or managed in both leagues say the differences between the A.L. and N.L. will be obvious to fans, and won’t begin and end with whether there’s a DH.

“The National League is built on speed and defense and pitching,” Collins said. “The American League is more power-oriented. You might have three, four guys in an N.L. lineup who won’t do much offensively but can bunt, hit-and-run, run the bases. In the A.L., you might have a No. 8 hitter with 15-20 home runs and 80-90 RBI.”

“When teams put their rosters together in the N.L., most of them spend the money on pitching” Mariners manager Lou Piniella said. “Over here, you might spent $4 million on a DH and if you have the same budget as an N.L. team, that could mean a couple of pitchers difference.”

According to players who have played in both leagues, there will be hugely different strike zones - a larger one with N.L. umps working in N.L. parks, smaller in A.L. stadiums with A.L. umpires.

And interleague play poses a question regarding the purity of records.

Should Edgar Martinez break the A.L. record for doubles, as he was on pace to do in 1995, but four came in N.L. parks during Seattle’s eight I.L. away games, would it still be an A.L. record? If Houston’s Jeff Bagwell hits 60 home runs - a new N.L. mark - would an asterisk be required if he hit three of those in A.L. ballparks against A.L. pitchers?

When they voted for I.L. play, owners didn’t much care about such issues. They did it partially to please fans, yes, but also a precursor, many feel, to realigning baseball entirely.

“I was against it initially,” said Dick Balderson, former Mariners GM and now a vice president with Colorado. “But with travel expenses growing, we’re going to see realignment.”

See what you fans started?

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: INTERLEAGUE PLAY Thursday’s debut San Francisco at Texas San Diego at Anaheim Los Angeles at Oakland Colorado at Seattle

GRIFFEY LEADS VOTING Seattle Mariners outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., the major league home run leader with 25, leads American League players in fan balloting for the All-Star game released Monday. Griffey, selected to the A.L. starting lineup each year since 1990, has received 1,205,581 votes for the July 8 game at Cleveland. He was the overall vote leader in 1994 and 1996, and topped the A.L. in 1991 and 1993.

This sidebar appeared with the story: INTERLEAGUE PLAY Thursday’s debut San Francisco at Texas San Diego at Anaheim Los Angeles at Oakland Colorado at Seattle

GRIFFEY LEADS VOTING Seattle Mariners outfielder Ken Griffey Jr., the major league home run leader with 25, leads American League players in fan balloting for the All-Star game released Monday. Griffey, selected to the A.L. starting lineup each year since 1990, has received 1,205,581 votes for the July 8 game at Cleveland. He was the overall vote leader in 1994 and 1996, and topped the A.L. in 1991 and 1993.