Writing under the header, "How Can Baseball Take
'Pride' In This Observance?," Bernie Lincicome of the
CHICAGO TRIBUNE notes MLB's season-long ceremony honoring
the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color
barrier. Noting Acting Commissioner Bud Selig's comments at
Wednesday's press conference stating Robinson represents
"Baseball's proudest moment," Lincicome writes "Let us not
confuse who was decent and who was derelict." MLB "is using
Robinson's legacy ... to feel good about itself. ... There
was nothing noble in Major League Baseball including
Robinson. The nobility was all Robinson's. ... Baseball
still does not understand that it is the beneficiary, not
the instigator, of the concept" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/28).
NEWS & NOTES: MLB polled all its teams on attendance
projections for the '97 season "and predicts an industrywide
increase" of 8.77% from '96. Projected attendance is
65,370,786 (USA TODAY, 2/28)....Braves pitcher and player
rep Tom Glavine may take a lesser role in union matters.
Glavine: "It's gotten tiresome, there's no question about
that." He said he may give up his Braves player rep role
but keep his position as the NL's rep (AP/DETROIT NEWS,
2/28)....From Spring Training, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES columnist
Jay Mariotti, on MLB: "It does feel like the lost game can
find its way back, slowly but inevitably. ... To date, the
owners have shown no desire to let a middleman operate their
business. It is time they do. There is too much hope this
spring" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/28)....MLB's Executive Council
assigned the rights of Japanese pitcher Hideki Irabu to the
Padres (Mult., 2/28).
