Scorecard July 21, 1997

All Shook Up

On his flight home to Milwaukee last week after the All-Star Game in Cleveland, acting baseball commissioner Bud Selig mulled over numerous proposals for realignment of the major leagues. Some plans would require one or two teams to switch leagues to accommodate the 1998 expansion franchises: the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have been slotted for the National League West and are adamant about remaining there, and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who are to play in the American League West and desperately want to be moved. Other schemes, which are gaining favor, call for the creation of four new divisions along geographic lines that would mean the abolition of the 121-year-old National League and the 96-year-old American League. "Baseball has the greatest tradition of any sport," Selig said last week. "We should be appreciative of it but not be a prisoner of it."

While the expansion teams have brought the realignment issue to the fore, talk of radical change began during the 1994 strike. A marketing study prepared for the owners at the time determined that realignment based on geography and an unbalanced schedule weighted toward intradivisional play would enhance rivalries, reduce travel and ultimately grow the sport. The 27% greater attendance at interleague games than at intraleague games this season has reinforced that notion, while also blurring the distinctions between leagues.

There is no question that, with attendance lagging far behind prestrike figures, baseball is desperate. But radical realignment is at best a cosmetic fix. Rivalries aren't necessarily going to flourish because of proximity; conversely, distance didn't prevent those between the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals in the '80s, or between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Yankees in the '90s. By destroying its two-league tradition, baseball would risk losing what many fans hold most dear—the records, the history, the World Series as we know it. Those who treasure such traditions are precisely the people most likely to pass on their passion for the game to the next generation of fans.

While any realignment plan can be vetoed by a single owner who is forced to switch leagues, there is a groundswell of support for wholesale reorganization. One of the most vocal proponents is the Diamondbacks' Jerry Colangelo, who is trying to use his refusal to budge from the National League West as leverage. "When we ask for a show of hands about which league people in Arizona want, about 80 to 85 percent favor the National," Colangelo says. Of course, under the plan he supports, there would no longer be a National League.

And Mays Reminds Us of Bonds
Tiger Woods may be a 21-year-old with one victory in a major to his credit, but even the greatest golfer in history can get a little loopy in the face of Tigermania. When asked how he felt about being compared with Woods, Jack Nicklaus, winner of 18 majors, said, "It's certainly a compliment."

Above the Law

Last week Washington Redskins running back Terry Allen was charged with driving under the influence and attempting to elude police in Monroe, Ga., after going 133 mph in a 55-mph zone. Police say Allen was finally caught when he lost control of his Ferrari, struck a sign, then slid off the road and into a tree. (He was not seriously injured.) Though Allen's case is the most egregious we've come across, he's only the latest athlete caught for obliterating a speed limit. Among the top speeders this year:

•Sedate Threatt, Houston Rockets guard. While allegedly driving his Mercedes 109 mph in a 35-mph zone last June 26, in Paradise Valley, Ariz., he bottomed out in a dip in the road, hit a tree and was thrown through the sunroof. Threatt, who suffered no significant injuries, was charged with DUI—his blood-alcohol content of .236 was more than twice the legal limit—and five other traffic violations.

•Tim Hardaway, Miami Heat guard. On June 20, he was caught driving his Ferrari 110 in a 40 zone. No alcohol was involved. Hardaway received a citation for speeding.