A STRIKE AGAINST BASEBALL\Interleague play would further break down tradition.

Byline: Hal Bock Associated Press 

Slowly but surely, the custodians of baseball chip away at the sport's traditions, changing the game by bits and pieces.

First, it was fake grass, the better to make stadiums into multi-purpose sports palaces. Never mind ordinary singles turning into super-bounce turf triples and lightning-fast grounders zipping through the infield. This was progress.

Then came the designated hitter, an extra bat in the lineup to replace light-hitting pitchers at the plate. Never mind the disruption of strategy in a sport whose offense and defense are so delicately balanced. This was more progress.

And then came the decision to expand the playoffs with wild card teams, creating an extra layer of games and discarding the premise that, unlike other sports, in baseball a team had to finish in first place to get to the postseason. More playoffs meant more revenue. And that was the best progress of all.

Now the proprietors have come up with another scheme to reinvent their game. Interleague play may be the most sinister and insidious of all, an artificial grab for attention.

Throughout the glorious history of baseball, there has never been cross pollination of the leagues. The Nationals and Americans each went their separate ways until the season's end, when the two league champions met in baseball's annual climax, the World Series.

There was mystery and magic about the event. That's why they called it the Fall Classic.

That showdown between teams and players that had not met before created special moments. One of those occurred last October when the Series produced a showdown between baseball's best pitcher, Greg Maddux of Atlanta, and its most menacing slugger, Albert Belle of Cleveland. It was an intriguing confrontation, one made even better because it wasn't an everyday occurrence.

Baseball has been the only sport that bothered to maintain the integrity of separate leagues.

Two years ago, the NFL offered San Diego against San Francisco in the Super Bowl. The teams had played during the regular season with the 49ers prevailing by 23 points. It was no great surprise, then, that they won the Super Bowl by the same 23 points.

There was nothing special about Orlando facing Houston in the NBA Finals last year because they had played during the regular season. Only the NHL lockout prevented Detroit and New Jersey from skating against each other before last spring's Stanley Cup finals.

Now, baseball is preparing to do away with the separation that made it unique, proposing interleague play to begin as soon as next season. The owners have suggested 15 or 16 games. The union may want as many as 30.

The first year it would be East vs. East, setting up tantalizing matches between the two New York franchises and less compelling ones between Detroit and Florida. Then it would be Central vs. Central and West vs. West. After that, the divisions would rotate with East vs. Central, etc.

They still haven't decided on how they will deal with the DH dilemma. One answer would be scrapping it entirely, turning baseball back into the nine-person game it was designed as in the first place. The more likely solution is the World Series answer, using the extra hitter in AL parks and letting the pitchers bat in NL parks.

They haven't explained how they would deal with the statistical problems. League averages are supposed to measure performance within a league. If Cecil Fielder hits a home run against Hideo Nomo, does it count in AL stats even though he hit it against an NL pitcher? The Elias Sports Bureau, baseball's official records custodian, says it does. Traditionalists aren't so sure it should.

Interleague play would create some interesting natural rivalries like Mets vs. Yankees, White Sox vs. Cubs, Reds vs. Indians, Expos vs. Blue Jays, Athletics vs. Giants, Rangers vs. Astros and Angels vs. Dodgers. That's the up side. The down side is, who cares about Cardinals playing the Orioles except perhaps ornithologists? The Brewers against the Pirates doesn't exactly stir the imagination.

Don't include Pete Rose, baseball's career hit leader, among supporters of interleague play.

"I don't like it," he said. "We don't need it."

Rose was raised on the separation of the leagues.

"I remember at All-Star Games, (NL president) Warren Giles would come in and the veins in his neck would be popping out. He'd say 'Go out and show the American League we're the superior league.'

"We were raised that way. There wasn't any jumping around between the leagues. It's a different brand of ball in the National League. If you ever sat in on an All-Star meeting with Warren Giles, you'd understand."

Giles' son, Bill, is owner of the Philadelphia Phillies and an interleague advocate.

"My father was a real traditionalist and believed that the National League was better than the American League," Giles said.