THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 20, 1994 TAG: 9407200535
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
The Norfolk Tides took the brunt of the fines and suspensions levied by International League president Randy Mobley on Tuesday as a result of Sunday's bench-clearing skirmish against the Richmond Braves.
Twenty players were slapped with $300 fines and two-game suspensions that began Tuesday night.
Doug Linton, Monday's winning pitcher, and outfielder Pat Howell sat out Tuesday's game against Columbus and will do so again tonight.
Three Tides - catcher Joe Kmak, pitcher Dave Telgheder and outfielder Shawn Hare - avoided penalties.
Meanwhile, 15 Braves were cited and eight cleared. Among the eight was Troy Hughes, who was ejected from Sunday's game for his role in sparking the scuffle that came after he tried to bowl over Kmak at the plate.
Hughes, Kmak and Telgheder, the players most involved in the incident, were not fined or suspended because they did not violate the new minor league rule that prohibits players from leaving their positions to join an altercation.
Hare and five Braves - Brad Woodall, Mike Potts, Jarvis Brown, Luis Lopez and Terry Clark - were not penalized because they were determined to be in their clubhouses when the scuffle started. Richmond's Mike Birkbeck was in the seats with a radar gun and Tyler Houston, the on-deck hitter, was behind the plate, signaling to Hughes.
Only a few shoves were exchanged, and the crowd was broken up quickly. But Mobley said he had no sympathy for players who thought the incident was too minor to deserve punishment.
``I'll be the first to admit that these are harsh penalties for what occurred Sunday night,'' Mobley said. ``But it's impossible for this entire policy to be successful if you don't have basic foundations to it. I don't think there's anything more basic than `you can't leave your position.' ''
In scheduling the order of the suspensions, Mobley said he tried not to take more than one infielder or outfielder at one time. He scheduled two suspensions at a time except for when the Tides play Richmond July 29-Aug. 1, when three will be sidelined. (However, one of the three, catcher Brook Fordyce, is on the disabled list and is expected to still be there during that series.) Likewise, Richmond will be without three players on the 29th and 30th.
The suspension schedule:
July 20: Doug Linton, Pat Howell; July 21-22: Ken Greer, Omar Garcia; July 23-24: Eric Hillman, Jeromy Burnitz; July 25-26: Jonathan Hurst, Butch Huskey; July 27-28: Frank Seminara, Doug Dascenzo; July 29-30: Kevin Morton, Aaron Ledesma, Brook Fordyce; July 31-Aug. 1: Joe Roa, Jim Vatcher, Quilvio Veras; Aug. 2-3: Mike Cook, Tito Navarro; Aug. 4-5: Pete Walker, Rick Parker.
FORDYCE SHELVED: Catcher Brook Fordyce's season could be over now that he's been placed on the disabled list for the second time as a result of an infected left knee.
Fordyce had been trying to play with a hole in his knee, through which the infected tissue was being removed, but the wound has been slow to heal.
Fordyce, who said he chose to rest now rather than face surgery that could keep him out of winter ball, will be examined today in New York by Mets' doctor David Altchek.
But he said he was preparing himself to be told that he should sit out the rest of the season to allow the knee to mend.
Al Hammell was promoted from Class-A St. Lucie as a backup catcher. by CNB