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By MARC TOPKIN
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 30, 2001
DETROIT -- Vince Naimoli and John McHale Jr. were in the same ballpark Sunday, and there even was a rumor, unconfirmed, that they may have said hello.
Otherwise, there appeared to be no progress in the Rays' efforts to hire McHale as their chief operating officer. McHale, president and CEO of the Tigers, met with a steady stream of Tampa Bay and Detroit reporters, but he didn't say much different than he did Saturday except that "the way things work in baseball, from my standpoint it seems inconceivable anything could happen in the next couple of days."
Asked by an Associated Press reporter if he would accept the job if offered, McHale said: "I know that they have had an unsettled situation and that they're looking for someone. But there are a lot of issues that anyone would want addressed before saying 'yes' or 'no.' It's tough for me to predict what would or wouldn't happen. I'm not the solicitor."
Naimoli, meanwhile, wasn't talking to Tampa Bay writers. Asked about McHale, he replied: "The only thing I'd like to say is that the story I read in the St. Petersburg Times (Sunday) is the most gross distortion I've ever read."
He did tell the Associated Press, "I'm looking for a COO. I'm getting a list of candidates together. We're not at a point where we can say anything more."