TY VOTAW, special assistant to the Commissioner/General
     Counsel, has been promoted to VP/Business Affairs for the
     LPGA.  Votaw will handle all business deals, including
     sponsorships and TV rights negotiations (LPGA)....USA
     Baseball promoted PAUL SEILER to Dir of National Team
     Baseball Operations.  He was Special Projects Manager since
     '88 (USA Baseball)....The Coyotes named DAVE SMREK as Dir of
     Ticket Sales.  Smrek has been with the Canucks, Grizzlies,
     Nuggets and Avalanche.  The team also promoted STACI
     GREVILLIUS to Manager of Fan Development (Coyotes). 

          EAGLESON PLEADS: ALAN EAGLESON, founder and former Dir
     of the NHLPA, "pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud
     for his role in elaborate, illegal schemes that bilked huge
     sums of money from the players he had pledged to serve." 
     The plea arrangement calls for Eagleson to be imprisoned for
     18 months in Canada, and for him to pay back C$1M to the
     players he stole from.  Much of that money will be held in
     trust to benefit past and present NHL players (Zachary
     Dowdy, BOSTON GLOBE, 1/7).  ESPN's Bob Ley reported that
     Eagleson, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame will be asked
     "to resign from the Hall, and that would be a first for the
     Hall of Fame of any major sport" ("SportsCenter," 1/6).
          OTHER NAMES: Twentieth Century Fox Film Division Chair
     TOM SHERAK, on HOWIE LONG, who stars in "Firestorm," which
     opens Friday: "Hollywood has a need for the next big action
     star.  Howie brings to the party likability, [plus] he's
     big, strapping and good looking" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/7).
     ...Cowboys FB DARYL JOHNSTON, on Cowboys Owner JERRY JONES:
     "He gives us every opportunity to be successful, [but] one
     of the things I think he has to be careful about with what
     he's doing right now, is scaring a coach away because of the
     involvement that he wants to have with the football team"
     ("Up Close," ESPN, 1/6)....BOBBY KNIGHT, on DENNIS RODMAN:
     "I have great admiration for what Rodman has done in a
     capitalistic society. ... In the process, I think Rodman, if
     he's as intelligent as people have told me he is, would be
     genuinely upset with himself at the influence, negatively,
     that he's probably had on a lot of kids" ("SportsCenter,"
     ESPN, 1/6)....Devils LW REID SIMPSON and D SHELDON SOURAY,
     along with Islanders D BRYAN BERARD and D BRYAN MCCABE, are
     featured in this month's issue of GQ in a hair styling piece
     titled "No Helmet Required" (GQ, 1/98 issue)....The RED
     WINGS will visit the White House on January 30 where they
     will be honored for winning last year's Stanley Cup (DETROIT
     NEWS, 1/7)....BILL LAIMBEER, "touted by Michigan Republicans
     as a possible candidate for Congress," said that he "has no
     interest in politics" (DETROIT NEWS, 1/7).

          BASEBALL AMERICA lists its annual "25 Most Influential"
     people in baseball (BASEBALL AMERICA, 1/19): 

RANK NAME                       POSITION/ORGANIZATION
1)   Don Fehr                   Exec Dir, MLBPA
2)   Bud Selig                  Acting Commissioner/CEO, Brewers 
3)   Paul Beeston               President & COO, MLB
4)   Rupert Murdoch             Chair & CEO; News Corp.
5)   Jerry Reinsdorf            Chair, White Sox
6)   Ken Griffey Jr.            OF, Mariners
7)   Jerry McMorris             Chair, Rockies
8)   Jerry Colangelo            Managing General Parnter, D'Backs
9)   Scott Boras                Agent
10)  Ted Turner                 Owner, Braves 
                                Vice-Chair, Time Warner 
11)  Steve Bornstein            President & CEO, ABC Sports/ESPN
12)  Randy Levine               Players Relations Committee, MLB
13)  Dick Ebersol               President, NBC Sports
14)  John Hart                  GM, Indians
15)  Alan & Randy Hendricks     Agents
16)  George Steinbrenner        Owner, Yankees
17)  Ron Shapiro                Agent
18)  John Harrington            CEO, Red Sox
19)  Tony Tavares               President, Anaheim Sports
20)  Jim Bronner/Bob Gilhooley  Agents
21)  Gene Orza                  Assistant General Counsel, MLBPA
22)  Peter Gammons              Boston Globe/ESPN analyst
23)  Tom Reich                  Agent
24)  Peter Angelos              Owner, Orioles
25)  Pedro Martinez             P, Red Sox