THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230636
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
It apparently takes nothing less than a federal case to get shortstop Rey Ordonez out of the Norfolk Tides lineup.
Ordonez has played in every game this season, one of the small handful of minor leaguers to do so. But when the Tides leave on Monday for three games in Ottawa, Canada, Ordonez will stay behind because of legal matters.
It seems Ordonez, a Cuban defector, does not have the proper paperwork in order to leave the country and return. This was discovered upon the Tides' return from Ottawa last month, when Ordonez was stopped by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents at the Baltimore airport.
Tides trainer Joe Hawkins, who also serves as the team's traveling secretary, said Ordonez previously obtained his permanent residence status with an I485 form. But he never filed for the form that gave him permission to leave the country.
So, because Ordonez technically left the country illegally in May, Hawkins said Ordonez must refile, in person in Miami, to regain permanent residence status. Until he does so, Ordonez cannot file the form that allows him to leave and return.
``The INS in Baltimore didn't have to let him back into the country, but they did because he was with a group,'' Hawkins said. ``They just didn't understand why he left and didn't have the proper paperwork. Before we left we contacted the commissioner's office and they told us his work authorization card and his I485 form was all he needed. So apparently they had some bad information.''
Hawkins said it was confusion sparked by a ``lot of miscommunication. It was Rey thinking his agent would handle it, his agent thinking the Mets, the Mets thinking Rey. It just got overlooked.''
So it fell to Hawkins to enter the labyrinth of the immigration service, to his frustration.
``In school, they never prepared me for the INS, put it that way,'' Hawkins said.
CASTING ABOUT: Ottawa shortstop Rafael Bournigal, who spent part of last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, is sporting a cast on his right forearm and hand, the result of a Jimmy Williams fastball Tuesday night.
Bournigal, who had squared to bunt, couldn't pull the bat away quick enough when Williams threw inside in the second inning. Bournigal's right thumb, high on the bat's barrel, took the brunt of the contact.
He has a fracture of the middle bone of his thumb and said Thursday that he will be sidelined four to six weeks, although Ottawa has not at this point placed him on the disabled list.
Bournigal, 29, acquired from the Dodgers' Triple-A team in Albuquerque less than two weeks ago, said he was relieved there wasn't more damage.
``I was lucky it didn't break the joint,' he said.
WARE UPDATE: Old Dominion University and First Colonial High product Jeff Ware picked a great night to show off his best stuff Wednesday.
With Toronto Blue Jays vice president of operations Bobby Mattick and farm director Mel Queen down to evaluate the Syracuse Chiefs, Toronto's Triple-A affiliate, Ware went 7 1/3 innings without giving up a hit.
The righthander completed eight innings in a 3-0 victory, striking out 11, walking one and giving up an infield hit in the eighth.
It's a huge turnaround for Ware, who was sidelined for two years with shoulder and elbow problems, returning last season to go 0-7 with a 6.87 earned run average at Double A-Knoxville. Ware, a supplemental first-round draft pick of the Blue Jays in 1991, is 5-0 this season with a 3.06 earned run average. Even more impressive, opponents are batting just .203 and he has struck out 57 in 53 innings.
``It's a little bit of a disappointment,'' Ware said of losing his bid for the no-hitter. ``But not too severe. I was having fun out there. I'm just glad to be pitching again.''
NOTES: The Ask the Manager Show with the Tides Toby Harrah, a 30-minute call-in segment hosted by Jack Ankerson, will air tonight on WTAR Newstalk 790 at 6:30 p.m. Callers can quiz Harrah by dialing 499-0790. ... The Tides will hold ticket-stub drawings for 15 televisions, nine custom coolers and two four-day, three-night vacations tonight on Pepsi Gift Night. MEMO: Staff writer Rich Radford contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Rey Ordonez, a Cuban defector, does not have the proper paperwork to
leave the U.S. and return.
by CNB