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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Manager Backs From Promise

Associated Press

Spring training

While Felipe Alou concedes his support of the players union is a thing of the past, he says managing the Montreal Expos this season is by no means a certainty.

On Tuesday, he conditionally backed off his promise to manage a team of replacement players during spring training and on opening day.

“I’m giving you a little ‘if,”’ he said from West Palm Beach, Fla. “If we have to go into the stadium with the national guard and the police protecting us, I’m not going to lead a team into that.”

Alou, The Associated Press’ manager of the year last season, said strike-related animosity could extend beyond the diamond. He wants replacement players to know that.

“Being a major leaguer is not just on the field,” he said. “You have to be one the rest of the day, too, and that means we have to be free to go to the airport, restaurants and hotels.

“I want those conditions when this thing starts. I want the people putting on this show to be major league in their performance.”

Alou said he would not follow the lead of Detroit’s Sparky Anderson by refusing to manage replacement players.

“As soon as I left as a player, my ties with the union were never the same,” Alou said. “I am not a strikebreaker. It isn’t us managers putting this show on.

“If I leave, it won’t be on any kind of a leave of absence. If I run away from this, it’s for the rest of my life. Otherwise, I’m going to stick around to see the end of this.”

Alou also attacked acting commissioner Bud Selig and the other owners.

“On September 13, when Selig said he was cancelling the World Series, ownership didn’t give a damn about the fans. Now they say they’re doing this for the fans, to give the fans baseball. It’s a paradox.”

“A lot is on the line here, and they better know what they’re getting involved with because this is no joke.”

If the Baltimore Orioles don’t reverse their position against playing teams using replacement players, their entire spring training schedule will be canceled today.

In a letter written to Orioles general manager Roland Hemond, all 11 clubs on Baltimore’s spring schedule set a daedline of 2 p.m. EST. The letter was signed by club officials from Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Minnesota, the New York Yankees, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Texas and Toronto.

“We have told them that we have no further response to make,” Hemond said.

The decision to cancel the games was endorsed by the baseball operations committee.

Borbon’s feat

Pedro Borbon, 48 years old and 15 years removed from the majors, signed Tuesday as a replacement player, threw in the bullpen and declared himself ready to pitch.

The Reds erroneously issued a news release Monday saying they had signed Borbon. General manager Jim Bowden later said that the right-hander would not be signed unless he passed a physical.

“I can get somebody out for two innings,” Borbon said.

Martin defends stance

Al Martin, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ player rep, says he wasn’t breaking ranks when he criticized the union for strongarming minor leaguers into not playing exhibition games. Martin had criticized union leader Donald Fehr for saying any player who appears in an exhibition game is a strikebreaker.

“Those guys are caught in the middle, and that’s unfortunate,” he said Tuesday. “Don’t sell out your whole career for a few exhibition games. What if this thing is settled in the next couple of weeks? You’ll have made a mark on yourself for no reason.”

Glenn Carter, a Triple-A pitcher last season in the Boston Red Sox organization, is troubled.

“Sometimes it gets to a point you want to cry because you’ve got to make a decision on something you love more than anything in the world and maybe something that’s going to ruin you for the rest of your career,” said Carter.