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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991                   TAG: 9102070465
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C/5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

STEINBRENNER PLEA SPIKED

A 135-page petition by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, claiming that baseball had a vendetta against him, is worthless and has only helped to "deforest the Pacific Northwest," baseball's deputy commissioner says.

The petition, accompanied by another 400 pages or so of documentation, was mailed to baseball's 10-member executive council on Oct. 9 but not made public by Steinbrenner's lawyers until Wednesday.

"I think it's probably long since been filed in the circular file," deputy commissioner of baseball, Steve Greenberg, said.

The petition, first reported by the Los Angeles Times last fall, attracted attention again Wednesday when the New York Daily News published details.

The petition accuses commissioner Fay Vincent of orchestrating and overseeing "a totally biased and unfair `investigation"' in order to "gather damning, negative, and one-sided information" against Steinbrenner.

Steinbrenner signed an agreement last July which bars him from any involvement in the day-to-day operations of the Yankees, based on his association with known gambler Howie Spira.

Boston Red Sox general partner Haywood Sullivan, an executive council member, said baseball's ownership stood behind Vincent and the investigation.

"I think it's time that some of us stand up and be counted," Sullivan said from his Boston office. "There are reports that some people say there has been a vendetta to get George. I think the majority of ownership thinks that Fay Vincent has done an excellent job."

Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter O'Malley said the issue was dead as far as he was concerned.

"This matter was dealt with by the executive council last fall and it was determined the council does not have jurisdiction," he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. "I fully support the commissioner on this matter."

Paul Curran, a Steinbrenner attorney who helped draft the petition, said he had not spoken to any member of the executive council since the document was mailed.

"But my understanding is that they are looking into it," Curran said. "Certainly, we have not been told by anyone that they are not considering it or that they have rejected it."

Curran said the petition "does not seek" Steinbrenner's reinstatement. Instead, it's purpose was to point out the "unfair, improper and in some instances illegal actions" taken during the investigation. And, to help baseball "take appropriate action to review its rules and procedures to assure this doesn't occur again."

The attorney said there was a "significant legal question as to whether" the executive council could overturn Vincent's suspension "even if it wanted to."

The council is made up of four owners from each league and the two league presidents.

"It's role is solely as an advisory body," Greenberg said. "It has no jurisdiction over this matter or any other disciplinary matter."

Greenberg said the circulation of the petition, along with another 400 or so pages of substantiating documents, served only two purposes. "One, to help deforest the Pacific Northwest and, two, and more seriously, to perpetuate the fictionalized version of the George Steinbrenner story."

An executive summary of the petition reads: "Vincent's personal bias against Mr. Steinbrenner's involvement with baseball is not just a matter of compelling inference . . . he has expressly characterized Mr. Steinbrenner as a `blight on baseball' who does not belong in the game."

Sullivan, from his office in Boston, however, said he thought Vincent "and particularly his investigators, have handled the situation with the utmost care, and they've done an efficient job. It has been handled in a correct way. The commissioner has done a respectful and creditable job."

Steinbrenner signed an agreement to stay out of the baseball business after it was learned he had Spira $40,000, allegedly to supply him information on player Dave Winfield.

Steinbrenner's petition contends that baseball director of security, Kevin Hallinan, met with Spira. And that Spira told Hallinan he "intended to approach Steinbrenner and request that Steinbrenner give him $150,000, a job and a place to live."

The petition says the commissioner's office was delinquent in not advising Steinbrenner of the meeting with Spira or of Spira's intentions.

There currently three federal lawsuits pending on Steinbrenner's banishment.

by CNB