Irs Pursues Former Stars

Several retired baseball stars may be indicted or hit with civil fines by the Internal Revenue Service for failure to report income received for signing autographs.

The New York Daily News obtained a copy of a confidential federal report that named several players, who were paid a total of $243,100 during a three-day memorabilia event at an Atlantic City, N.J., hotel Jan. 14-16, 1989. The payments ranged from $3,600 for Ernie Banks to $57,000 for Mickey Mantle.

According to the newspaper, a two-year probe revealed only two of the players - Willie Mays and Ted Williams - reported payments on their tax forms.

Besides Mantle and Banks, others receiving payments and the amounts, included: Willie McCovey, $22,000; Pete Rose, $20,000; Mike Schmidt, $20,000; Eddie Mathews, $20,000; Mays, $19,000; Reggie Jackson, $15,000; Duke Snider, $10,000; Hank Aaron, $8,500; Harmon Killebrew, $4,500; and Tony Perez, $4,500. Amounts for Williams and Frank Robinson were unknown.