ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 29, 1996 TAG: 9604290123
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BASEBALL NOTES
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
The basket of flowers that Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott sent to umpires in sympathy over John McSherry's death was recycled, the Dayton Daily News reported Sunday.
Schott scribbled a sympathy note, attached it to flowers that had been given to her on opening day by the team's television affiliate, and had them sent to the umpires' dressing room, the paper reported.
The newspaper cited two unidentified sources for its report. A phone call to Schott home Sunday went unanswered. A similar report appeared in The Boston Globe.
McSherry collapsed behind home plate on opening day and died at a hospital. Schott was criticized nationally for saying she felt cheated because the game had to be postponed.
She has said that she sent the umpiring crew flowers the next day. She also went onto the field before a game April 14 and tried to tell a different umpiring crew that the media was to blame for the furor over her statements.
In other baseball:
TALKS RESUME: Baseball labor negotiations are to resume today after a one-month break with the union due to make a new counter-offer.
During a March 22 meeting in Phoenix, owners made a significant move for the first time in a year, abandoning their attempt to link a luxury tax to revenue, dropping their luxury tax rate from 50 percent to 40 percent and increasing the threshold where the tax would start from $44 million to $46 million.
The luxury tax on high-payroll teams would be in effect from 1998-2001, with the threshold rising 7 percent a year until it was at $56.3 million in 2001, the final season of the proposed six-year deal.
Union officials have spent the past month studying the proposal and preparing their counteroffer.
If the sides do not make significant progress by summer, they could be headed back to federal court. Under a court order, players and owners are operating under the collective bargaining agreement that expired in December 1993.
OWENS UP AGAIN: The Cincinnati Reds will recall former Ferrum standout Eric Owens from Indianapolis before their game Tuesday against Pittsburgh.
Manager Ray Knight said Owens, an infielder who has 21 major-league at-bats, will play left field and be the leadoff hitter. Owens opened the season on the roster, then was optioned to Indianapolis on April 15 after going 6-for-19 (.316) in 10 games.
The Reds activated reliever Chuck McElroy from the disabled list Sunday and optioned pitcher Kevin Jarvis and outfielder Chad Mottola to Triple-A Indianapolis.
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