Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 8, 1995 TAG: 9503080110
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PALM BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
The teams would start play in 1998 if owners approve the recommendation. Expansion committee chairman John Harrington said he hopes a vote can be taken Thursday.
The committee didn't announce its decision, but two committee members, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the choices to The Associated Press.
Entry fees are expected to be $140 million apiece. Teams names are expected to be Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
The teams would become the 29th and 30th in the major leagues. Owners said the franchises possibly wouldn't be assigned to leagues until later.
If one team is added to both the American and National Leagues, it would force the start of interleague play.
One group from Orlando, Fla., and two from Northern Virginia also were seeking franchises. One source said the committee would not now recommend a team for the second wave of expansion, which is not expected until 2000 at the earliest.
Vincent Naimoli heads the Florida group. His bid to buy the San Francisco Giants and move them to St. Petersburg was rejected by National League owners in September 1992, prompting a still-pending antitrust suit.
``At this point, we'll just sit and wait and hope,'' he said.
Naimoli wanted to call his team the Stingrays, but the Hawaiian Winter League team in Maui already owns that name.
Acting commissioner Bud Selig said if a final expansion decision isn't made this week, he likely would call another owners' meeting later this month.
The expansion committee, chaired by Boston Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington, also is recommending that owners add a second wave of teams, probably no earlier than 2000. Baseball officials believe the Northern Virginia group headed by Bill Collins may be designated later this year for the second wave.
``That certainly was part of our presentation to major league baseball,'' said Collins, who would call his team the Virginia Fury.
Meanwhile, strike negotiations could resume as early as next Monday, Colorado Rockies chairman Jerry McMorris said.
McMorris said progress was made during last week's talks with the union at Scottsdale, Ariz.
``The poles are in the ground,'' he said. ``Now we have to build the bridge.''
by CNB