European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 6, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Bye Bye babe removal of Maris asterisk eliminates Ruth s 60 homers from record books new York a Roger Maris finally got baseball a single season Home run record to himself wednesday and Harvey Haddix and Mark Gardner were kicked off baseball a no hit list. An eight Man committee on statistical accuracy voted unanimously to drop the asterisk beside Marisa 61 Home runs formally eliminating babe Ruth a 60 homers from the record books. The panel also voted unanimously to define no hitters As games of nine innings or More that ended with no hits. That dropped 50 disputed games from the list leaving 225 no hitters in major league history. List on Page 22. Commissioner Fay Vincent who chairs the committee decided to push for the elimination of the asterisk after Reading an article earlier this year by Roger an Gell of the new yorker. Maris who died in 1985, had Felt slighted by the asterisk. A obviously its great a said Roger Maris jr., a son of the former new York Yankees Star. A i never Felt it should have been put there to begin with. The Only reason i Ever Felt there was an asterisk was to take away from what he accomplished in 1961. I think people Felt with the extended season people would be hitting 70  Quot the asterisk Issue came about on july 17, 1961, when Maris had 35 homers and was three weeks ahead of Ruth space. It was the first season the schedule was expanded to 162 games and commissioner Ford Frick a Friend of Ruth decided the record could be broken Only within 154 games. Maris hit no. 61 in the final game of the season. A this decision does not diminish nor demean the contributions of babe Ruth to the game of baseball a Vincent said. A the is. Surely the most famous player in the history of the game and will remain so for generations to come. This change allows Roger Maris to receive the recognition he  the panel agreed without dissent. In reality there is no asterisk. Baseball a two record books published by the sporting news and the Elias sports Bureau have listed Ruth and Maris next to each other. A we list a lot of records for 162-game and 154-game seasons and for the playoffs and world series we list records for four games five games six games and seven games a said John Rawling editor of the sporting news. A we discussed it and and we re not going to change  Seymour Siwoff general manager of Elias and a panel member said Ruth would be dropped from his Book. A we were looking to do it for years a Siwoff said. A a we re delighted at what they be  Martina Navratilova keeps her eyes on the Ballen route to three set Victory Over Aranta Sanchez Vicario on wednesday. Courier dethroned Sampras new York a French open Champion Jim courier reached the semifinals of the . Open on thursday defeating defending Champion Pete Sampras 6-2,7-6 7-47-6 7-5. Courier wearing his trademark White baseball Cap wore Down his old pal with 100 Mph serves that produced 14 aces. Sampras and courier grew up playing Junior Tennis together and until last year played As a doubles team. The elimination of the sixth seeded Sampras who was the youngest menus Champion in open in history when he won the title at age 19 last year leaves the tournament without either of its defending champions. Gabriela Sabatini the 1990 women Schamp was beaten in the quarterfinals by Jennifer Capriati. Courier seeded no. 4, has not dropped a set in the tournament. He plays the Winner of thursday . Open quarterfinal Between Jimmy Connors and Paul Laarhuis in a saturday semifinal. The other semifinal will pit Stefan Edberg who advanced wednesday with a 63, 6-2, 6-3 Victory Over Javier Sanchez against the Winner of the match Between no. 5 Ivan Lendl and no. 3 Michael Stich which was suspended by rain after they split the first two sets wednesday night with Stich leading 4-3 in the third. They were scheduled to finish thursday following the quarterfinal Between courier and Sampras. The women a semifinal pairings were set with four time Champion Martina Navratilova and top seeded Steffi Graf advancing to a Friday showdown. The other pairing sends no. 7 Capriati against no. 2 Monica Seles. Navratilova seeded no. 6, battled the stars and stripes september 6,1991 b Page 28 from behind after losing a first set tiebreaker and surviving another tiebreak in the second set to defeat no. 4 Arantha Sanchez Vicario 6-7 6-87-6 7-56-2. Graf had an easier time with a 6-1, 6-3 rub out of no. 8 Conchita Martinez. For Navratilova a four time open Champion it was the 12th trip to the semis in 17 years and not one of her easiest journeys. Sanchez Vicario was serving at 4-4 in the second tiebreak three Points away from sending Martina Home. But Navratilova broke her to take the Lead and eventually win the set sending the match to a decisive third. Then Navratilova broke Sanchez vicar ions service four times in the final set to Seal the Victory. It was achieved with a dose of the kind of Tennis Connors has used to captivate this tournament. She won 97 of 168 approaches to the net compared to nine of 18 for Sanchez Vicario.. Falls to France in semis Athens Greece a another Gold medal basketball game eluded the United states on thursday. The previously unbeaten . Cism team despite twice battling Back from 10-Point deficits finally fell to France 9283 in the semifinals of the cism basketball tournament. The americans will play for the Bronze medal on Friday. In the end poor second half shooting undid the . Bid but not before theism basketball americans had wiped out a 63-53 second half deficit to knot the score at 79 with 4 13 to play. From that Point on however everything bounced Frances Way As the americans were running up a fatal 33 per cent from the floor for the second half hitting on just 14 of 42 Field goal attempts. France runner up to Host Greece in Pool play jumped out to a Quick 10-0 Lead a the game was Over six minutes old when Melven Jones finally got the americans on the Board. Jones next significant bucket came with just under six minutes left in the half when his Layup put the . On top for the first time at 33-32. From that Point on the Lead changed hand seven times before the americans took a 45-43 Edge into the halftime dressing room. The see saw pattern continued after intermission but France behind the shooting of guard Antoine Riga Dean built a 63-53 Lead with 12 55 to play. Once again the americans chipped away and Samuel Jones who led the . With 20 Points canned the bucket that tied the game at 79. That however was to be the High water Mark for the americans who got 15 Points from Mark Slimko and 10 from Ralph Baltimore but Only four Points from everybody Over the games last four minutes. France which got 22 Points from Riga Dean and 18 from Eric John will play the Winner of thursdays late semifinal Between the once beaten soviet Union and undefeated Greece. The loser plays the . For the  sports Vinnie Johnson put on waivers a Page 22 expos Knock braves from first a Page 26 jays whip of a up Lead to 3 a Page 26 Cunningham surgery successful a Page 27