National League to Add 2 Teams in 1993

CLEVELAND —  The National League will add two teams in 1993, and their rosters will be built from an expansion draft to be conducted in November, 1992, NL President Bill White said today.

The two expansion cities won’t be named until late summer of next year, White said at the end of two days of meetings by owners from both major leagues.

Also today, baseball owners approved the San Francisco Giants’ proposed move to Santa Clara, which could take place by the start of the 1994 season.

Acting on a resolution from Commissioner Fay Vincent and presidents of both leagues at the conclusion of their meeting, the 25 other team owners voted unanimously in favor of Giants chairman Bob Lurie’s request to transfer the franchise to Santa Clara if a proposed new stadium is constructed.

The NL may have to realign its two divisions if two cities from the same region of the country are chosen, said Pittsburgh Pirates Chairman Douglas Danforth, who chairs the league’s four-man expansion committee.

“We’re not going to worry about the relative geographic locations at this point,” Danforth said. “We’re not limited in that way.”

Suggestions that St. Petersburg-Tampa and Denver have a lock on the two franchises were premature, he said.

“Everybody is starting from the gate at the same time,” Danforth said. “No one has a leg up at this time.”

He also said the expansion committee will spend the next month gathering information about interested cities and groups. Questionnaires will be sent to those groups, and once the responses are evaluated later this summer, the most serious candidates will give presentations to the committee.

Applicants will be charged a fee, probably about $100,000, that will be refundable if they do not win a franchise, Danforth said.

Expansion committee members will visit the cities of the finalists during the first three months of next year and will give their final recommendations next June. The final choice is due by Sept. 30, 1991, but the date could be moved up if the process moves along more quickly, Danforth said.

Groups in more than a dozen metropolitan areas have expressed interest in getting one of the NL franchises. Those considered highest on the league’s list are Tampa-St. Petersburg, Denver and Buffalo.

The final decision may hinge on the financial stability of the prospective owners, Danforth said.

He said financial strength of bidders would be a major factor.