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PAUL ZIMMERMAN
Inside the NFL
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BASEBALL FREE AGENCY

Major Leaguers On the Move

Think baseball's slowing down now that the World Series is over? Hardly: 184 major leaguers, including Manny Ramirez, CC Sabathia and Mark Texeira, are now eligible for free agency. Check out SI.com for complete coverage of the off-season, including Ben Reiter's ranking of the top 50 free agents, trade news from John Donovan and Jon Heyman, and our free-agent tracker.

Photo gallery of off-season baseball story lines at SI.com/mlb.

SI VAULT
YOUR LINK TO SPORTS HISTORY

FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
OCTOBER 10, 1994

SI writer Richard Hoffer witnessed welterweight Pernell (Sweet Pea) Whitaker batter Buddy McGirt to win a unanimous decision in Norfolk.

THE FIGHTERS sold their rematch as high art, a little piece of culture. Pernell Whitaker, who is nicknamed for a member of the legume family, promised a "fast-paced chess match." Little Buddy McGirt, whose trademark homburg (he conducted his prefight interviews in bed, with the hat atop his glazed dome) lent an unusual civility to the scene, assured his fans that he would "make Sweet Pea think." This would be an entirely intellectual exercise, elegant and refined. Fans might want to bring their opera glasses.

Check out the latest classic SI story at SI.com/classic.