EXECUTIVE TRANSACTIONS

          Phillies GM LEE THOMAS "was fired" yesterday, after
     "nearly" ten years in that position.  ED WADE was named the
     club's acting GM (PHIL. INQUIRER, 12/10)....LACHLAN MURDOCH
     has "won the blessing" of his father RUPERT MURDOCH and his
     siblings as the "official heir apparent" at News Corp. (WALL
     STREET JOURNAL, 12/10)....LARRY O'BRIEN, longtime aide to
     JACK NICKLAUS, will retire at the end of the year after 26
     years with Golden Bear Int'l (GOLFWEEK, 12/6)....MICHAEL
     MCPHILLIPS will become VP/Marketing & PR at The World Golf
     Village.  McPhillips has been the Dir of the Walt Disney
     World/Oldsmobile Classic PGA Tour event the past five years
     (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 12/10)....CHARLES HALL was named to the
     new position of Senior VP/Creative Dir at Spike DDB, NY
     (N.Y. TIMES, 12/9)....The Montreal Gazette named STEPHANIE
     MYLES as its new MLB writer, replacing JEFF BLAIR who left
     for the Toronto Globe & Mail (MONTREAL GAZETTE, 12/9).