
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 6, 1994                   TAG: 9403060185
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: TAMPA, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

MITCHELL HIGHLY REGARDED IN BASEBALL CIRCLES

George J. Mitchell, the Senate majority leader, instantly became a leading candidate for the job of baseball commissioner when he announced Friday that he would not seek re-election this fall. But Mitchell might also be a candidate for a position on the U.S. Supreme Court.

The baseball job will probably pay a $1 million salary. A Supreme Court justice earns $164,100 annually.

Bud Selig, the acting commissioner, declined comment Saturday on Mitchell's possible candidacy for the baseball job, and Bill Bartholomay, chairman of the search committee, was not at home and did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

But when Bartholomay's committee began searching for a successor to Fay Vincent more than a year ago, Mitchell's name was the first to surface as a possible candidate. At the time, one official said Mitchell had made inquiries about the job.

The Democratic senator from Maine, who is a baseball fan and has friends in baseball, confirmed his interest in serving as baseball commissioner or a Supreme Court justice at a news conference Saturday in Portland, Maine. But he cited his belief in term limits for himself, if not for others, as the prime reason for his decision not to seek re-election.

Despite Mitchell's possible interest in the commissioner's job and the owners' possible interest in him when the search committee began its efforts, one owner said Saturday that the search committee did not interview him.

The owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he has heard from people in Washington that a Supreme Court position for Mitchell is "very possible." Justice Harry A. Blackmun, who is in his 80s, is considered to be the justice most likely to retire next, and President Clinton could nominate Mitchell to replace him.

But, the owner added, "This is a man who will have a lot of options to consider."

Mitchell, 60, is held in high regard by at least some baseball club owners.

"I'm not on the search committee, but Senator Mitchell is thought very highly of in baseball, and I personally have great respect for him," Jerry McMorris, owner of the Colorado Rockies, said by telephone from Tucson, Ariz.

Although Selig would not discuss Mitchell, he has had a good relationship with him since meeting him about 15 months ago. Selig was in Washington to testify at a hearing on baseball's exemption from the antitrust laws, and his lifetime friend and college roommate, Sen. Herbert Kohl, D-Wis., introduced him to Mitchell. It might have been at that meeting that Mitchell discussed his interest in the position.

The timing of the end of Mitchell's Senate career could work out well for baseball if he and the owners want to get together on the commissioner's job. The owners decided at their meeting in January that they did not want to elect a new commissioner until they completed negotiations for a new labor agreement with the players' union.

Those negotiations, which are scheduled to begin Monday night, are expected to be long and laborious. An early agreement is out of the question, and agreement may not be reached until late this year or even early next year. By that time, Mitchell would be completing his term or be out of office.

Some clubs have pushed for quicker action in filling the vacancy, but they are in the minority.

by CNB