ESPN reported Albert Belle's five-game suspension is
expected to be reduced to three-games when AL President Gene
Budig makes a final ruling early this week ("Baseball Tonight,"
6/14). CNN's Tim Kurkjian, who also noted the suspension will be
reduced to three-games, added, "It's troublesome to me that the
Players Association would even be involved in this. Certainly,
they have to protect one of their player's rights, but they are
going against another player and I'm not sure this is the Players
Association's place to be here. This should be something that
maybe a third, outside party should be handling as opposed to the
Players Association" ("Baseball 96," 6/15). In Providence, the
JOURNAL-BULLETIN's Sean McAdam writes for the MLBPA to be
"currying favor for Belle, and in pop psychology terms, acting as
his enabler is bad enough. But to do so at the expense of
[Brewers 2B Fernando] Vina -- lesser paid, lesser known, is
shameful" (Providence JOURNAL-BULLETIN, 6/16).
C'MON BACK: On "Baseball Tonight," Peter Gammons noted that
MLB attendance figures are beginning to rise because a there is
finally more "normalcy" in the game (ESPN, 6/16).
