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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991                   TAG: 9104040120
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BRAVES' OFFICIAL DIES AT HOTEL

John Mullen, a vice president and assistant general manager of the Atlanta Braves and the man responsible for signing all-time home run leader Hank Aaron, was found dead in his West Palm Beach, Fla., hotel room Wednesday morning. He was 66.

Braves manager Bobby Cox said Mullen's body was found in the shower at the team's hotel.

The cause of death was undetermined after a preliminary autopsy report, said Palm Beach Gardens police detective Jack Schnor. He said further tests to determine the cause of death would be completed within 10 days.

Schnor said Mullen was last seen alive by a hotel housekeeper at about 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Mullen had worked for the Braves' franchise for 32 years. He is credited with signing Aaron, when Aaron was a teen-ager playing for the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro League.

\ In other news:

In Chicago, Speedway Wrecking Company crews began the task of demolishing the oldest stadium in major-league baseball to provide parking space for the newest park, also named Comiskey, across 35th Street on this city's South Side.

Boos resounded from scores of fans - clad in business suits, work clothes and even a clown costume - who showed up at 10 a.m. for the first swing of the wrecking ball against the outer right-field wall of the 81-year-old stadium.

Then, the crowd broke out in the familiar Comiskey ditty, "Na-na-na-na, Na-na-na-na, Hey, hey, hey, goodbye."

The old stadium, named after former White Sox owner Charles Comiskey who built the ballpark in 1910, is a treasury of memories - the first exploding scoreboard, the majors' first All-Star Game, Babe Ruth homers.

It was home to Shoeless Joe Jackson and controversial owner Bill Veeck, who dreamed up the scoreboard exploding with fireworks. Joe Louis fought there for the heavyweight title in 1937. The Beatles banged out tunes in 1965.

\ Frankie Gustine, an All-Star infielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1946-48, died of a heart attack in Davenport, Iowa. He was 71.

by CNB