BASEBALL HELD HOSTAGE -- DAY 82: HARRINGTON BACKS MITCHELL

     Red Sox CEO John Harrington, last night said he would
support retiring Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell as the
next MLB Commissioner.  Mitchell, who met with BOSTON HERALD
editors yesterday, said he has talked with many owners, including
Harrington, about the job and would consider it if offered (Joe
Giulotti, BOSTON HERALD, 11/1).
     METS THREATS:  Less than a week after Met players Bobby
Bonilla and John Franco made "threatening comments about the fate
other players faced if they became strike breakers next spring,"
MLB's labor relations committee filed an unfair labor practice
charge against the two.  MLBPA General Counsel Gene Orza said
Bonilla and Franco should not have made the comments: "I
understand the frustration which leads them to say such things,
if they said it, but it remains the wrong thing to have said"
(Murray Chass, N.Y. TIMES, 11/1).