LET "LA PRIMERA SERIE" BEGIN: BASEBALL IN MEXICO

     The Mets and Padres begin a three-game series in Monterrey,
Mexico, tonight.  In New York, Thomas Hill writes, "In all
likelihood, the series will serve as a gauge of Mexico's interest
in Major League Baseball and will become a reference point when
discussion of Mexican expansion arises in the next five years"
(N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/16).  In DC, John Ward Anderson notes "many"
MLB officials see the series as a sign that Mexico is going to
get an expansion team, either in the industrial center of
Monterrey or in Mexico City (WASHINGTON POST, 8/16).
     PLAYER REACTIONS: The Mets' John Franco: "Football has done
something like this and so has basketball.  It's about time
baseball did something, too" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/16).  Mets Bill
Pulsipher: "It will be a first, something Cal Ripken hasn't done"
(NEWSDAY, 8/16).