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Thursday, July 04, 1996     Page: 1B

Regarding Butch, it’s out of sight, out of mind
   
The rain pounding off the tarpaulin canceled batting practice Wednesday,
    forcing the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Barons to wait out pregame in their
clubhouse at McCoy StadiumThe manager was in his office this time.
   
The weather in Pawtucket paralleled a similar late afternoon of May 4, when
the PawSox hosted an evening game against the Red Barons.
   
Butch Hobson was arrested earlier that day.
   
That’s why he didn’t show up at McCoy until after 4 p.m., less than two
hours before a 6 p.m. start, while brushing off his tardiness to personal
family business.
   
But if the Red Barons were struck by the irony, they didn’t show it.
   
First basemen Jon Zuber and Gene Schall were running football pass patterns
in the locker room Wednesday, until trainer Craig Strobel stepped in to stop
their fun.
   
Ramon Aviles was sitting comfortably in the manager’s chair Hobson occupied
earlier this season, and Greg Legg, the only coach left over from Hobson’s
reign over the Red Barons, wasn’t exactly pondering what happened the last
time he sat in that room.
   
“It seems like it was so long ago,” Legg said.
   
The previous time the Red Barons were in town, Hobson managed his last two
games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He was arrested for cocaine possession at
the Comfort Inn In Pawtucket in the early afternoon hours of May 4, posted
bail, and guided the Red Barons to a split of a two-game series May 4 and 5.
   
Then he was gone.
   
The Pawtucket police department released news of Hobson’s arrest on May 6,
and Hobson immediately returned to his home in Fairhope, Ala., on a paid leave
of absence.
   
Aviles has been managing the Red Barons ever since.
   
But in a 142-game Class AAA season, where changes are part of the daily
routine, players don’t have time to get caught up in such sentimental matters.
   
“Every day’s a new day,” Zuber said.
   
Not even a visit to the Comfort Inn, where the Red Barons stay while they
play in Pawtucket, brought Hobson’s voice back into the heads of the players.
   
“Just another stop on the road,” Zuber shrugged Wednesday afternoon. “It
didn’t really occur to me the last time we were here that happened until
yesterday. I didn’t really think much about it.”
   
By then, the Red Barons had already began a four-game series against the
PawSox with an 11-3 loss Monday.
   
“In Triple-A, you’re used to making a lot of changes,” said Legg, a former
player with the Red Barons who began his coaching career two years ago. “You
just have to roll with the flow.”
   
Indeed, not many of the current Red Barons were even around back in May,
when police took Hobson for a trip down the station.
   
The preliminary hearing for the case, which was scheduled Wednesday, was
delayed. Hobson lawyer Stephen Famiglietti said Hobson’s July 10 arraignment
was also delayed.
   
But only 12 of the current 23 active Red Barons were with the team when the
whole messy matter began in May.
   
Those who were around Hobson at the time remain loyal to him, though.
   
“I enjoyed him when he was our manager,” Zuber said. “I hope he’s doing
well.”
   
“I think everyone would like to see the best for him,” outfielder Bob
Zupcic said. “I think when everything is said and done, he’ll be cleared.”
   
Famiglietti is attempting to work a deal with Rhode Island District Atty.
Jeff Pine that would allow Hobson to do community service time in the
Providence area in exchange for an admission that Hobson possessed cocaine and
didn’t inform authorities he had it.
   
During his previous trip into the visitors’ locker room at McCoy Stadium,
Zupcic was a new member of the Red Barons, and spent his time crediting Hobson
for bringing him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
   
“I think everybody’s pulling for Butch,” Zupcic said. “He definitely was a
key figure in getting me here. Everyone who was here when he was here liked
Butch.”
   
They’re just not keeping his name in the front of their minds anymore.
   
“You just try not to think about the negatives in baseball,” Legg said.
“Because there are so many going on.”
   
Barons beat Pawtucket
   
— Page 6B