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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990                   TAG: 9005190060
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

D.C. WANTS TO BE PART OF EXPANSION

"It's important to realize that the media have been getting after the business community to put up or shut up," said Washington attorney Brad Fisher, one of the principals in Capital Region Baseball. "We want others to join the campaign. It's like a political election - we're saying we're interested."

The group has two major messages - to tell the major leagues that the Washington area is interested in a team and inform residents that local support is needed, Fisher said.

"We want to put this issue in the sunlight," Fisher said. "We are a group with a common interest. We're certainly interested in reaching out to other investors and the community," he added. "There are a lot of questions, but the sooner we start to answer them the better off we'll be."

The group includes Mark Tracz and Ira Saul, owners of the Prince William Cannons of the Class A Carolina League, Northern Virginia real estate developer William Bryant and Alexandria, Va., attorney Philip Tierney.

The group will discuss its plans at a Tuesday news conference.

Major league baseball owners are scheduled to meet June 13-14 in Cleveland to set a schedule for prospective cities to make presentations.

The group has told National League officials, who plan to expand the league by two teams in the next two years, that it wants to be part of the process, Saul said.

Saul and Fisher said they hoped a team could use the District of Columbia's Robert F. Kennedy Stadium until a stadium could be built in Northern Virginia.

"It's fairly well accepted that the [Baltimore] Orioles would prefer there not be another team on that side of the Potomac [River]," Saul said.