Sports: Baseball briefs

Baseball briefs

Compiled from Times wires

Tax to help Marlins build stadium is in jeopardy

MIAMI -- A parking tax that helped bail out the city and figures prominently in plans to pay for a downtown stadium for the Marlins was declared unconstitutional Wednesday by a state appeals court.

The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the Third District Court of Appeal took city officials by surprise and left them uncertain about their next move or the impact of potentially losing the $13-million a year the tax brings in.

However, the most immediate victim could be the Marlins. While the city has other revenue options to pay for general operations, time is running out on the fragile and still unsigned stadium funding deal, which relies partly on the tax and would need to be approved by Miami voters in the fall.

Marlins officials said they had not had a chance to review the ruling to determine what it means for the ballpark financing plan that the team, the city and Miami-Dade County officials are trying to finalize.

The judges ruled the law unconstitutional because it specifies that the only possible beneficiaries were cities with financial emergencies and populations of at least 300,000 on April 1, 1999.

RED SOX BIDDER: A group led by a New York businessman who owns minor-league baseball and hockey teams in Texas has emerged as a sixth bidder for the Red Sox.

Miles Prentice has been cleared by Major League Baseball to review the team's confidential financial records, the Boston Globe reported. The Associated Press reported that Prentice has put together an ownership group and is a qualified bidder.

RIPKEN EQUIPMENT TO COOPERSTOWN: Adding to a crowded Cal Ripken exhibit, the National Baseball Hall of Fame said it was getting memorabilia from Ripken's All-Star Game appearance. The cap and jersey Ripken wore Tuesday and the bat he used to hit the home run that gave him the MVP award were on the way to the hall in Cooperstown, N.Y.

LASORDA OKAY: A day after getting hit by the shattered barrel of a bat at the All-Star Game, Tom Lasorda said he felt fine. "It wasn't scary or anything," he said, "but everybody made such a big thing of it."

MARIS SUIT: Anheuser-Busch lost a motion to strike accusations that the brewer violated Florida's deceptive and unfair trade practices act from a lawsuit brought by the family of the late Roger Maris. The Marises claim the company made up bad evaluations about their distributorship and breached a contract by taking away their Gainesville-Ocala business in 1997.

CUBANS SIGN: Two Cuban players who recently defected signed with the Sonoma County Crushers of the Western Baseball League. Right-hander Mayque Quintero, 22, and infielder Evel Bastida, 23, starred for the powerhouse Industriales team in Havana.

BRAVES: Shortstop Rafael Furcal returned to Atlanta to begin rehabilitation a day after season-ending shoulder surgery.

CARDINALS: Left-hander Rick Ankiel, trying to regain his control, struck out 12, walked two and threw no wild pitches in six innings for Rookie League Johnson City.

RANGERS: Right-hander Tim Crabtree has a partial tear in his right rotator cuff and will miss the rest of the season.

TIGERS: The team can't be held liable for injuries 6-year-old Alyssia Benejam sustained when a broken bat flew into the stands in 1994, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled.

YANKEES: George Steinbrenner is again criticizing the production of leftfielder Chuck Knoblauch. New York's principal owner noted that two of the players traded to the Twins for Knoblauch were members of this year's AL All-Star team, shortstop Cristian Guzman and left-hander Eric Milton. "You turn on the TV and there are two kids at the All-Star Game we traded for him, and he's sitting at home with a lousy average and on-base percentage," Steinbrenner said.

NORTHERN LEAGUE: James "Kash" Beauchamp resigned as manager of the Lincoln Saltdogs two days after he was charged with fighting with a woman in a diner parking lot.