MLB: In Boston, Dan Shaughnessy reports that MLB
Commissioner Bud Selig and Exec VP Sandy Alderson "have
commissioned a scientific study" -- to be conducted by Dr.
Jim Sherwood, a mechanical engineering professor at the
Univ. of MA at Lowell -- to "determine if today's baseballs
conform to size, weight, and impact standards established"
by MLB. Selig, on criticism that lighter baseballs are
contributing to the increase in home runs: "I'm hearing
about the ball everywhere I go. When people say, 'What
about the ball?' I want every bit of empirical data we can
find as to how the baseball is produced. Is it different or
not different? I think we ought to study everything, but
I'll be surprised if it's any different" (BOSTON GLOBE,
5/11)....USA TODAY's Mike Dodd profiles the 22 MLB umpires
who "lost their jobs in last year's labor action" against
MLB in a Sports Cover Story. Dodd writes that some of the
umpires "are in a financial squeeze, they say, because they
haven't been paid since" December 1 and MLB "hasn't given
them severance or termination pay, presumably pending the
outcome of the arbitration." The World Umpires Association
replaced the MLBUA (USA TODAY, 5/11).
NOTES: Al Unser, Jr., on leaving CART for the IRL in
order to compete in the Indy 500: "A hundred years from now,
what will be here, CART or the Indy 500? I think the Indy
500 will be here. The Indy 500 is bigger than all of us.
It's bigger than the Unser family. It's bigger than the
Andretti family. It's an event that nothing can destroy. I
decided I couldn't miss another one" (N.Y. TIMES,
5/11)....In Pittsburgh, Chuck Finder writes XFL Chair Vince
McMahon's "Brand X football seems, on the surface, a touch
of marketing genius. ... His timing is apropos. The NFL
truly has become the No Fun League" (PITTSBURGH POST-
GAZETTE, 5/11)....Smith College economics professor Andrew
Zimbalist, noting a recent lawsuit filed by eight MLS
players challenging the league's single entity structure was
thrown out by a federal judge, said: "The fact that this
ruling is out there will only provide encouragement for
leagues to do this [operate under the single-entity
structure]. But it's going to be challenged" (AP,
5/10)....Net Ten Sports LLC CEO Ralph Rossi, whose
investment firm specializes in sports related business
investments, was named an investor in the IBL. Rossi is a
minority partner and a member of the BOD. He has also
purchased an option for future expansion franchises (IBL).
