Umps’ Warning: Keep Your Distance

Baseball umpires, once again upset by what they say is a lack of support from owners and players, said Tuesday they would eject anyone arguing within “an arm’s length” of them during the postseason.

“The support for your umpires has been worse than woeful … it has been practically non-existent,” umpires union head Richie Phillips said in a letter to acting commissioner Bud Selig and the league presidents.

“Players continue to assault umpires, spray tobacco in their faces, curse them and attempt to denigrate them without the slightest reprisal,” Phillips said.

Selig, N.L. president Len Coleman and A.L. president Gene Budig responded by saying “baseball is disturbed that the umpires have chosen this time to divert attention from the field of play.”

“They do not have the authority to make their own rules,” their statement said. “We expect them to honor the integrity of the game … and to continue their level of professionalism and tolerance in the postseason that they have exercised throughout baseball history.”

Cleveland manager Mike Hargrove said he wouldn’t test the umpires’ “no tolerance” approach. “Everyone has their stand, and the umpires aren’t different than anyone else,” Hargrove said.

White Sox fire Bevington

Terry Bevington had trouble communicating with his players, had strained relations with some of his coaches, alienated the media and turned off the fans.

But his biggest problem was the Chicago White Sox’s failure to make the playoffs, despite a huge payroll and the addition of Albert Belle.

For all of that, Bevington was fired as manager. The move was announced two days after the end of an 80-81 season and another second-place finish in the A.L. Central.

“I’m not going to sit here and knock him,” general manager Ron Schueler said. “I think a lot of managers would like to be over .500 and they aren’t.”

Bevington had a 222-214 record after taking over in June 1995 for Gene Lamont, fired two years after being named A.L. Manager of the Year.

“Terry Bevington is a friend and I feel bad for him right now,” White Sox slugger Frank Thomas said.

Thomas, incidentally, agreed Tuesday to a new four-year contract worth nearly $32 million with five conditional years that could make the entire deal worth about $85 million.

Thomas, who just captured his first A.L. batting title and was the league MVP in 1993 and 1994, will receive $7.15 million in each of the 1998 and 1999 seasons, $7.25 million in 2000 and $10.375 million in 2001.

Torre’s brother hospitalized

Frank Torre, the 65-year-old brother of Yankee Manager Joe Torre, will watch the first round of the playoffs from the same hospital room where he watched the Yankees win the World Series last year.

Frank Torre, who underwent a successful heart transplant last Oct. 25, the day before the Yankees won the Series, was admitted to New York’s Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center last Friday for treatment of infections related to the transplant operation, said Dr. Donna M. Mancini, head of the center’s heart transplant program.

Jean Smith, a hospital spokeswoman, said Torre was in stable condition Tuesday night. “He’s walking around in the halls,” Mancini said. “He can watch the game without any problem.”