Executive Refutes Sosa Foundation Report

Domingo Dauhajre, the vice president of the Sammy Sosa Foundation, denied a Fortune magazine report that the fund is on the verge of bankruptcy.

“All of this is slander against a man who has done nothing more than help the most needy,” Dauhajre said from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. “I am worried that this problem could affect Sosa on the playing field.”

Fortune said it appears Sosa has given little money to the foundation, a charge Dauhajre denied. He did not say how much Sosa has contributed or the total assets of the foundation, but said Sosa has donated $15,000 since January for a dental health program in his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris.

Fortune reported that Sosa gave the foundation Plaza 30-30, a shopping complex in San Pedro de Macoris appraised at $2.7 million, earning a U.S. federal tax deduction of at least $1 million. The magazine said the building has generated little money for the foundation because many tenants do not pay rent.

Fortune said Mark McGwire has given $100,000 to the foundation, but Dauhajre said the donation was made by McDonald’s in McGwire’s name.

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A day after he hobbled out of Busch Stadium with his body contorted into an L shape due to a lower back strain, an upright McGwire felt so much better he was able to joke about the injury. He was optimistic he would be able to play today against Chicago in the Cardinals’ second game of the season.

“I may be a hell of a manager someday because that was a great move by me taking myself out of the lineup,” McGwire said.

His replacement at first base, Craig Paquette, hit a three-run home run in the first inning of the Cardinals’ 7-1 season-opening victory over the Cubs. His stand-in as cleanup hitter, Fernando Tatis, had an RBI single and two stolen bases.

McGwire felt he might have saved himself from more serious injury by deciding, just before game time, not to play. He left in the third inning for Barnes Hospital, where an MRI showed no disc problems. Doctors were able to quiet the spasms.

“The positive side of it is I’m glad it happened when I was running,” McGwire said. “If I was swinging it could have been way more severe because there’s so much more torque.”

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Bruce Bochy, who’s managed the San Diego Padres to two division titles and a World Series in five seasons, agreed to a four-year contract extension through 2004, with an option for 2005. Bochy will make $500,000 this season in the final year of his current deal. He was believed to be seeking at least $1 million a year in the extension. . . . The Chicago Cubs signed relief pitcher Bobby Ayala to a minor league contract. The right-hander will join the Cubs’ triple-A affiliate in Iowa. . . . Laverne Noeth, the mother of Pete Rose, died Saturday at a hospital in Lawrenceburg, Ind. Noeth, who was 84, was in Lawrenceburg visiting a daughter. No cause of death was given.