OFF THE RADAR SCREEN? MLB IN COURT OVER GIANTS NON-MOVE

     A civil lawsuit brought against MLB by Vincent Piazza and
Vincent Tirendi, who were rejected in their bid to move the
Giants to FL, is scheduled to begin tomorrow in a Philadelphia
federal court.  The suit alleged that Piazza and Tirendi's civil
rights, state contract laws and federal antitrust laws were
violated by MLB.  Harvard Law's Paul Weiler, noting that a jury
may be prejudiced against the owners by the ongoing labor
dispute:  "There's no doubt the strike makes this a tougher case
for baseball."  The case will center around the issue of
"defamation" concerning a '92 comment from Fred Kuhlmann of the
Cardinals that Piazza had problems with his "background."  Piazza
alleges an anti-Italian bias.  But the case has "the potential to
bring down" baseball's antitrust exemption.  While U.S. District
Court Judge John Padova has already ruled that the exemption
"won't have any validity in this case," the owners vow to appeal
the case to the Supreme Court should Piazza and Tirendi prevail
(Noam Neusner, TAMPA TRIBUNE, 9/28).