Owners approve giving All-Star game winner Series home-field

[Big-O Mark]

Owners approve giving All-Star game winner Series home-field advantage

By RONALD BLUM
The Associated Press
1/16/03 3:04 PM

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Baseball owners unanimously approved commissioner Bud Selig's proposal to have the league that wins the All-Star game get home-field advantage in the World Series.

Selig came up with the plan following last year's All-Star game, which ended in a 7-7, 11-inning tie when both leagues ran out of pitchers. Management lawyers will now ask the players' association to approve the change. Union head Donald Fehr said before Thursday's 30-0 vote that players were not yet sure of their stance.

In recent years, as the differences between the American and National leagues lessened because of increased player mobility and interleague play, many players have treated the All-Star game as a show rather than a game.

Since the start of the World Series in 1903, home field has alternated between the leagues.

The change is strongly backed by Fox, which holds baseball's national television rights. It also needs approval of the players' association.

"We've been discussing it with players," Fehr said Wednesday. "We know they're interested in it, and we'll get back to them."

Some veteran players are against it, including New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine, the NL player representative.

"It's not something I'm in favor of," he told The New York Times. "I would find it hard to believe that most players would want the outcome of the All-Star game to determine home-field advantage for the World Series."

A management official who had spoken with the union said that while the change was likely to become an issue between the sides, the union told management it was still unclear what position it would adopt.

As the two-game meeting began Wednesday, the committee on the future of the Montreal Expos met. Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who is not on the committee said he remains opposed to a move to the Washington area.

Downtown Washington and Northern Virginia are among the areas that have groups ready to bid for the Expos, who were bought last year by the other 29 major league teams.

Angelos said the committee had not consulted the Orioles, who claim a move to the Washington area would erode their fan base.

While Angelos said his talks with Selig were cordial, he sounded as if Baltimore's had little weight with Selig and Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

"The Orioles' position has been fully elaborated to the commissioner and Mr. DuPuy," Angelos said. "The commissioner and his people keep their own counsel."

When the committee was formed in November, DuPuy said his goal was to have a recommendation on a permanent solution for the Expos' problem by midsummer. Selig wouldn't say Wednesday whether that remained the goal.

"They're still working on getting organized," he said.

Group from Washington, Northern Virginia and Portland, Ore., remain the favorites to land the Expos, who would be the first team to move since the expansion Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers after the 1971 season.

People in other areas have expressed interest, such as Mexico City and San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the Expos will play 22 home games this season in an effort to increase revenue. While those areas may be allowed to meet with the committee, baseball views them as more likely for a struggling franchise in the future-- perhaps Florida or Tampa Bay -- than for the Expos in 2004.

Tavares said the bidders from the Washington area and Portland appeared to be ahead of the other areas because they have stadium plans.

"That's an important component," he said.

DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said Thursday the committee "received a report from preliminary contacts with communities that expressed interest and discussed moving forward and having discussions with those communities."

If baseball attempts to move the Expos to the Washington area, it could lead to a suit by Angelos, who made his fortune as a litigant. Downtown Washington is about 40 miles from Camden Yards, and he could claim putting a team that close interferes with his rights.

"You wouldn't put another team in the same market with Boston or in the same market with St. Louis or the same market with Minnesota," he said last year.