KINGS OF MARLINS' HILL COME FROM SALEM

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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 10, 1993                   TAG: 9304100124
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
KINGS OF MARLINS' HILL COME FROM SALEM
When knuckleballer Charlie Hough of the brand-new Florida Marlins confounded the Los Angeles Dodgers on Opening Day at Miami's Joe Robbie Stadium, the hill on which he stood had a little piece of Salem in it.
Salemites Murray Cook, Budgie Clark and Chad Kropff - baseball grounds gurus at the nine-field complex at West Palm Beach, Fla., shared by the Atlanta Braves and Montreal Expos - were called in to build the mound.
"We enjoyed that," Cook said.
If living in Florida isn't enough, life has been very enjoyable of late for Cook and crew. They were recognized recently by Sports Turf magazine for maintaining the most exquisite lawns in the sport.
Saying Cook and his crew had "honed field maintenance to near-perfection," the magazine called the West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium its professional diamond of the year.
Cook, a former employee of the Salem Buccaneers (as were Clark and Kropff), was called "a dynamo with combined skills of master technician, teacher and salesman." The complex is operated on an annual budget of $1.2 million.
Of the award, Cook said, "We're excited about it."
\ FAVORITE SONS: Scott Little, the Salem Buccaneers manager, is from Poplar Bluff, Mo., the same home as right-wing radio oracle Rush Limbaugh. Unlike Limbaugh, Little appears to hold more of an interest in golf than politics. . . . Former Salem manager Jay Ward is a roving batting instructor in the Atlanta Braves organization.
The Martinsville Phillies have a new manager in Ramon Henderson, who replaces Roly DeArmas, manager of the past five years. . . Phil Leftwich, the former Radford University right-hander, started the season in Vancouver of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, that despite going 6-9 with a 5.88 earned run average at Midland of the Texas League last year. With those numbers, some in the California Angels organization think he'll be back in Texas if he falters at Vancouver.
Bruce Benedict, an instructor in the Atlanta Braves chain last year, has moved up and will be the manager at the new Appalachian League outpost in Danville. Benedict had a seven-year big-league career with Atlanta. The only holdover from the old Pulaski staff is trainer Mike Cerame. . . . The Carolina League will comply with guidelines to speed up games provided this year by the Major League Baseball office.
\ IN THE HEART OF DIXIE: Randy Ingle, the manager at the Braves' old team in Pulaski the past two years, is managing Macon of the South Atlantic League this year. . . . Winston-Salem Spirits coach Derek Botelho spent a season on the Martinsville Phillies staff. . . . The Frederick Keys have named Estelle Krieger community relations director.
The nation's oldest standing baseball park, Rickwood Field, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. Rickwood Field, dedicated in August 1910, was home to the Birmingham Barons of the Southern Association and the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League. In 1963, the Barons broke the ordinance that prohibited blacks and whites from playing on the same team.
\ BRIGHT FUTURES: Ferrum left-hander Billy Wagner has been rated as the nation's second-best collegiate prospect. Wayne Gomes of Old Dominion, a right-hander, is the No. 7 prospect, according to an upcoming edition of Baseball America.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB