Peter Bavasi

A realignment of the Cleveland Indians' front office is underway as part of an effort to make the American League team more competititive with other major league baseball organizations, Indians president and chief operating officer Peter Bavasi announced. "Players are smart," Bavasi said. "They understand when an organization is stagnating. They also understand when an organization is progressing, so that they can one day wear a World Series ring."

On the eighth floor of a renovated warehouse overlooking the Manhattan skyline, Peter Bavasi has seen the future and it is now--a superhighway of instant sports information delivered over lanes that keep getting wider and wider. "Let me show you this," says the former baseball executive, punching a few keys on his computer.

The light burning in the Cleveland Indians' offices late into the night belongs to Peter Bavasi, the recently appointed 42-year-old president of the American League team. "It's not so much that I'm a workaholic. It's just that I love doing what I'm doing," said Bavasi, who replaced the retired Gabe Paul as the Indians' top executive. "I feel very much at home in a stadium and a baseball office. "Like Sparky Anderson said, 'Getting paid to manage is like stealing.'

A realignment of the Cleveland Indians' front office is underway as part of an effort to make the American League team more competititive with other major league baseball organizations, Indians president and chief operating officer Peter Bavasi announced. "Players are smart," Bavasi said. "They understand when an organization is stagnating. They also understand when an organization is progressing, so that they can one day wear a World Series ring."

On the eighth floor of a renovated warehouse overlooking the Manhattan skyline, Peter Bavasi has seen the future and it is now--a superhighway of instant sports information delivered over lanes that keep getting wider and wider. "Let me show you this," says the former baseball executive, punching a few keys on his computer.

Peter Bavasi, president of the Cleveland Indians, resigned to become president of Telerate Sports, a sports information service that is being formed in New York.

The Cleveland Indians intend to ask their players to sign contracts that include a clause allowing drug testing, team President Peter Bavasi said. "This is a request by us for them to embrace such a clause and go along with the efforts of baseball to clean up our game," Bavasi said. "It is not punitive. The clause is designed to accomplish two objectives: to amplify the general concern (about drug abuse) we all have and to show our players that we are concerned about their well being."

Peter Bavasi, the Angels' general manager, distributed a one-page questionnaire to players after practice Saturday, asking if they would be willing to participate in exhibition games and, in effect, be labeled as strikebreakers. Players have until this afternoon to return the questionnaire, but a team official said many of the 49 in camp had already done so before heading back to the clubhouse. The Angels open their exhibition season against Arizona State on Wednesday night in Tempe.

Three American League teams protested the Cleveland Indians' waiver-trade of Bert Blyleven to the Minnesota Twins, but the baseball commissioner's office has upheld the deal. Blyleven was allowed to be claimed on waivers by the Twins on Thursday, and the Twins, in what the Indians said was a separate but related deal, sold pitcher Curt Wardle and minor league players Jay Bell and Jim Weaver to the Indians.

The Cleveland Indians backed off from an original plan to close the stadium bleachers and will now open them for all afternoon games, including the home opener with the New York Yankees on April 13. The team management also said the bleachers will be opened for other games if potential crowd size warrants it. Bleacher seats will still cost $2 each, the team said.

The light burning in the Cleveland Indians' offices late into the night belongs to Peter Bavasi, the recently appointed 42-year-old president of the American League team. "It's not so much that I'm a workaholic. It's just that I love doing what I'm doing," said Bavasi, who replaced the retired Gabe Paul as the Indians' top executive. "I feel very much at home in a stadium and a baseball office. "Like Sparky Anderson said, 'Getting paid to manage is like stealing.'

Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and an array of baseball luminaries attended funeral services in Fullerton on Friday for former Dodger general manager Al Campanis, who died of coronary disease Sunday at 81.

The crowd of 3,223 that attended Tuesday night's game between New York and Cleveland at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland was the smallest the Yankees have drawn since April 23, 1970, when 1,807 attended a game with the Washington Senators in Washington. The Indians, who traditionally open on Saturday at home, drew 66,978 last year. This year, Peter Bavasi, the club president, opted for a Friday opener, giving him a three-game weekend with Detroit.