MARGE'S ANTICS LEAVE MANY WITH RED FACES IN CINCINNATI

     In Boston, Peter Gammons reports that "there is a bigger
fear" in Cincinnati than the Reds' opening playoff match-up --
"that they won't come close to selling out home dates" for the
first series.  Gammons notes that the Reds are averaging fewer
than 18,000 as they head toward the playoffs, as Marge Schott has
slashed costs throughout the organization.  The Reds have only 10
front office employees and a one-man marketing department.
Gammons: "There are few greater fears in baseball than creeping
Pittsburghism. ... If the crowds continue to dwindle, the park
continues to smell and the franchise is run like a mini-mart in
Yeehaw Junction, Fla., one has to wonder if in two years in the
heart of one of the great baseball cities on earth, Marge Schott
will have turned Riverfront Stadium into another Desolation Row"
(BOSTON GLOBE, 9/17).