Edition: U.S. / Global

BASEBALL: NOTEBOOK; The Yankees Perfect the Art of the Denial: The Confusing Deal That Wasn't

Published: November 23, 1997
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How did he figure 23 players? The 15 the Reds could protect for the first round plus the three they would add to the list after each of the first two rounds plus the two players who would be selected, then returned. But Bowden realized he would have to make a similar trade with Arizona.

''We didn't feel there was a way to have it work for us unless we could make a deal to secure both of the first two rounds,'' he said. ''Just doing the first round wouldn't be enough. That's when we started exploring the same concept with Arizona and they were interested. We gave both teams our protected list to see if we could work out something ahead of time.''

After getting Kelly, the Devil Rays selected Dmitri Young, a first baseman-outfielder, with their eighth pick in the first round.

The Diamondbacks, who had acquired a pitcher, Felix Rodriguez, from the Reds, chose a pitcher, Scott Winchester, with their third pick in the second round. After the draft ended, Young and Winchester were identified as the players to be named.

''Whoever didn't take our first player in the first round better have selected our player in the second round before the other team,'' Bowden said. ''Otherwise our deal would not have worked out. We couldn't afford a mistake in the second round. It worked out very well.''

Old Pitcher, New Hit

Joe Black is a celebrity again, 45 years after he started three games as a rookie for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series.

''Everybody's been teasing me, saying, 'Are you going to be a batting coach now?' '' Black said. ''They say: 'You're a pitcher. What do you know about hitting?' Gene Budig said, 'We're not going to give you an American League pass next year.' I was in the Diamondbacks' office, and they were teasing me, saying you got a lot of publicity, you must be important.''

Black, a senior adviser in Major League Baseball, has gained widespread attention because he was instrumental in the outcome of the World Series. From his seat next to the field in Game 7, he advised Bobby Bonilla to step back from the plate because the Cleveland rookie Jaret Wright had been getting Florida batters out by jamming them with inside pitches. Bonilla followed Black's suggestion and hit a seventh-inning home run that ignited the Marlins' comeback.

''That's what happened to me in '52 against Mantle,'' Black recalled. ''I was pounding him inside and I struck him out three times. Then he started bunting on me with two strikes. In the seventh game, neither Campy nor I noticed that he had backed up a little bit and I threw that same pitch and he hit it out.''