Major League Baseball
Notebook: Calderon is laid to rest

By Manuel Ernesto Rivera
The Associated Press

	Ivan Calderon
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LOIZA, Puerto Rico — Three days after he was gunned down at a bar, former major leaguer Ivan Calderon was buried yesterday as dozens of relatives and friends recalled his intense love of baseball.

Police said two men shot Calderon multiple times in the head and back Saturday evening in the Puerto Rican town of Loiza, where the 41-year-old lived.

Detectives have ruled out robbery and are investigating revenge as a possible motive. Calderon sometimes loaned money to people and in retirement worked as a bondsman, police said.

The former slugger played with the Mariners, Chicago White Sox, Montreal Expos and the Boston Red Sox during his 10-year big-league career, which ended in 1993.

Dozens of mourners lined a coastal highway in Loiza under palm trees as Calderon's funeral procession passed on its way to the northern town's cemetery. Towed behind was Calderon's yellow Corvette, which he drove to the El Trombo bar on the evening of his death.

"This is a great loss," said Juan Carlos Quinones, a cousin. "He was born to play ball. There was no one like him. I remember one time when he was little he broke his arm, and even with a cast on his left hand he could hit the ball."

New York Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams visited Calderon's family at their home yesterday, and Yankees outfielder Ruben Sierra attended a wake Monday.

Calderon also was an aficionado of cockfighting, which is popular in Puerto Rico, and several friends let loose roosters at the cemetery's entrance to fight in his honor.

Calderon's best season was 1987, when he batted .293 with 28 home runs and 83 RBI with the White Sox. He made an All-Star appearance in 1991 and finished his career with a .272 batting average, 104 homers and 444 RBI.

Calderon was born in the northeastern Puerto Rican town of Fajardo. He is survived by his wife and seven children, five of whom are from previous relationships.

Coors escalator was missing safety switch

DENVER — A major safety switch was missing from an escalator when it malfunctioned at Coors Field this summer, injuring dozens of baseball fans, city inspectors said yesterday.

City inspectors said the switch would have prevented the escalator from hurtling out of control July 2.

The device was there when the escalator was originally certified, and contractors said they inspected it in March, according to Julius Zsako, spokesman for the city Community Planning and Development Office.

"We don't know when it was removed," Zsako said.

Escalators at Coors Field are maintained by Kone Inc., whose president was said to be out of the country and unavailable for comment yesterday.

The company previously issued a report that blamed the accident on overcrowding and a misconnected wire, and said yesterday that tests left "no doubt" that the misconnected wire was to blame.

According to the city's investigation, a sensing device that is supposed to bring the escalator slowly up to speed malfunctioned and allowed the moving stairs to hurtle out of control. Inspectors said the overspeed board would have shut the escalator down.

Notes

• The Baltimore Orioles, needing a right-handed setup man with closer's experience, reached agreement with reliever Mike DeJean on a one-year contract with an option for 2005. DeJean, 33, went 5-8 with 19 saves and a 4.68 ERA in 76 games with Milwaukee and St. Louis this year.

• The Detroit Tigers signed pitcher Jason Johnson, 30, to a two-year contract, adding a veteran starter to the team's rotation. Johnson went 10-10 with a 4.18 ERA in 32 starts for Baltimore last season.

• Chris Speier was hired by the Oakland Athletics as bench coach to replace Terry Francona, who left to become the manager of the Boston Red Sox.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company