Baseball

Still, it is a good time to be a pro baseball player. Recently Twins general manager Andy MacPhail watched as actor Tom Selleck took batting practice at the Metrodome to prepare for a baseball movie he's filming there. Said MacPhail, "He's one of the few people on this planet who would have to take a pay cut to play major league baseball."

MARATHON MAN

The longest consecutive-game streak in Baltimore actually doesn't belong to shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. On Sunday, Oriole field attendant Ernie Tyler worked his 2,452nd home game in a row at Memorial Stadium....

How badly do the Astros need a power hitter? They went from Aug. 8 until Sept. 19 without a home run at home....

Commissioner Fay Vincent was right to reject 67-year-old Minnie Minoso's bid to become the only player ever to play in six decades. Vincent said he respects Minoso, who had wanted to make a plate appearance in a White Sox game, but said, "It's my job to see that the game is well represented, to protect its professional integrity on the field. I don't think we should trivialize this game." ...For the first time this year, someone attempted to steal a base against Oriole righthander Dave Johnson. It happened in the first inning of last Saturday night's game, in Johnson's 27th start, when B.J. Surhoff of the Brewers tried to steal second. He was thrown out. Last season seven runners attempted to steal on Johnson, who has the most baffling pickoff move in the majors, and none of them was successful....

Milwaukee coach Don Baylor is disappointed with the approach some of the Brewers players take to the game. "You can put a college football game or an NFL game on television [in the clubhouse], and the enthusiasm is unbelievable," he says. "They know who's hurt, and who can't play. But you ask them who's pitching [against them] the next day, and they don't know. Get your priorities in line and then maybe you can win a championship."