
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 1, 1994                   TAG: 9403010073
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NO SALE ON BUCS

The proposed sale of the Salem Buccaneers, which has been confronted with one obstacle after another, appears to have been finally torpedoed for good.

Monday, the contract deadline for the closing of the sale, Bucs owner Kelvin Bowles and would-be buyer Eric Margenau of New York were informed by the Carolina League that it would not approve the sale.

"The application [to buy the team] has been incomplete for a month," league president John Hopkins said. "It was unapprovable. To have it languish with the season approaching [the Bucs open April 7] and an important decision by the City of Salem on whether or not it will build a new ballpark coming in May, the league did not feel it was in its best interest to approve the sale."

The sale was thrown into jeopardy last month when Salem City Council voted to table until May a request to transfer the lease to Municipal Field from Bowles to Margenau. That would have left a Margenau-owned team with no home field for at least a month, a situation the league could not tolerate.

The action to send back Margenau's application was recommended by the executive committee of the league and voted on by the remaining owners by telephone. The last votes came in Monday, Hopkins said.

The executive committee is Hopkins, Lynchburg owner Calvin Falwell, Frederick owner Peter Kirk and Bowles. Bowles said he voted to approve the sale.

"The timing of this decision is odd," Margenau said. "I don't know what my reaction is until I talk to my attorney, who will tell me what my reaction is."

Margenau had hoped he could change the council's mind, or to persuade Bowles to extend the closing of the sale until May.

"Then we can find out what the real issue is with the city council," Margenau said.

Bowles wasn't going along with that.

"That doesn't cost him anything and leaves me in limbo," he said. "The sale is dependant on having a place to play, the approval of the Carolina League, the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, and the approval of Major League Baseball. Why should I extend the agreement when [Margenau] has none of the four?"

Bowles was sounding like a fellow who planned to be in the baseball business for a while.

"As far as I'm concerned, the 1994 season in Salem will go forward as if nothing had happened," he said.

by CNB