Turner Aims To Stop Dodgers Sale

Ted Turner, who has fought Rupert Murdoch and likened the practices of his rival to those of Adolf Hitler, intends to attend his first baseball meeting in years to thwart the sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After a meeting of baseball’s ruling executive council ended Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla., a council member said Turner’s decision to arrive today was the biggest news of the 4-1/2-hour council session, which began the three-day quarterly meeting.

The council member, speaking on the condition he not be identified, said the group assumed Turner, a vice chairman of Time Warner Inc., would urge owners to oppose the sale of the Dodgers from Peter O’Malley to the Fox Group, a division of Murdoch’s News Corp.

Turner has not attended a baseball owners’ meeting since March 1989, one baseball official said.

The sale needs approval from 12 of the 16 National League owners and eight of the 14 American League owners.

The owners want to keep interleague play, the sport’s latest attempt to jazz up the game, according to the owner most involved in scheduling.

John Harrington, the chief executive officer of the Boston Red Sox, said owners intend to ask the players’ association for an agreement to extend interleague play beyond 1998 during their meetings which began Tuesday night.

“Same number of games, same number of series,” Harrington said when asked what owners intended to propose.

Dykstra leaves camp

Outfielder Lenny Dykstra, once one of baseball’s premier leadoff hitters, is ending his comeback bid for now, and maybe for good.

Dykstra, who missed the last 1-1/2 seasons recovering from major back surgery, said he’s going to take at least “a few months” off because of recurring back pain.

“I’m getting nerve pain again and some numbing down my legs, so it’s pretty scary,” said Dykstra, 35, a three-time All-Star who helped the Phillies to the World Series in 1993.

‘El Duque’ arrives

Orlando Hernandez, the New York Yankees’ new $6.6-million arm, completed his journey into exile, nearly three months after he fled Cuba on a small rickety boat.

Hernandez, 28, who was his nation’s top pitcher, walked into Miami International Airport and into the passionate hugs of relatives and adoring tugs from fans who yelled his nickname “El Duque!”

Later at a popular Cuban restaurant, he fell tearfully into the arms of his half-brother, Livan Hernandez, the 1997 World Series MVP and Florida Marlins pitcher.

Hideki Irabu extended his scoreless streak to 12-2/3 innings, and Paul O’Neill drove in three runs as the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0 at Tampa, Fla.

Irabu (3-0) allowed three hits, struck out six, walked one in 4-2/3 innings.

O’Neill doubled home two runs off 1997 American League Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens in the third and added a sixth-inning solo homer off Robert Person.

Vaughn deal just a rumor

The Boston Red Sox denied they are ready to offer Mo Vaughn a four-year contract worth approximately $50 million.

“We don’t have any plans,” chief executive officer John Harrington said. “It was an erroneous report.”

Vaughn dismissed the Boston Globe story as “speculation,” saying he could not be sure of anything until he and his agent, Tom Reich, had an offer in hand.

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