5-year pact is signed by Maddox

PHILADELPHIA – Outfielder Garry Maddox has signed a five-year, multi-million-dollar contract with the Phillies, the Associated Press learned today.

A source said Maddox' contract had been sent to the National League office in New York for approval.

The Phillies are expected to announce the agreement, probably Wednesday, in St Louis, where they are playing the St. Louis Cardinals.

WHILE THERE WERE no official figures, it is believed the gold-gloved center fielder will receive in the neighborhood of $700,000 a year.

Maddox, through his agent Jerry, Kapstein, has been negotiating with the Phillies since January, 1979. During the recent spring training, the player and the club announced that they had reached an impasse and that he would play out his option and become a free agent at the end of this season.

Paul Owens, the Phillies' personnel director, said at that time he might have to trade Maddox.

"I'm not going to lose him for nothing," Owens said, referring to the amateur draft choice the Phillies would receive if they lost Maddox in the reentry draft.

Maddox, however, who has settled in the Philadelphia area and admittedly does not want to leave, had Kapstein reopen negotiations in Florida with Phillies' owner Ruly Carpenter.

At the time of the announced negotiating impasse, Maddox reportedly was asking for $1 million per year for five years. He denied that figure.

MADDOX DID SAY, however, that the Phillies told him he was worth what he was asking for but that they weren't going to pay it.

Only last week, Owens said that he expected to get permission from Carpenter to make a serious effort to trade Maddox, indicating that they were still too far apart to reach an agreement.

Kapstein and Carpenter negotiated into the season, which opened last week, and finally came to an agreement in which both sides obviously compromised their position. There are believed to be a number of incentive clauses involved in the contract, which apparently require league approval before the signing can be announced.

Maddox said Saturday that Carpenter had told him to forget the contract negotiations and to just concentrate on playing baseball.

Maddox, 30, was acquired by the Phillies by the San Francisco Giants for Willie Montanez May 4, 1975. He has a major league career batting average of .293 and has won five Gold Gloves for his fielding.

Last season, he hit .281 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI.

Baseball talks set

NEW YORK – Negotiators for both sides in the baseball contract dispute will meet three times with a federal mediator this week beginning today.

Marvin Miller, executive director of the players association, also will sit down with Ray Grebey, chief management negotiator, and mediator Kenneth Moffitt for meetings tomorrow and Thursday. Two more sessions are set for April 22-23.

The two sides are working against a May 23 strike deadline. The executive , board of the players association has said that if a new collective bargaining agreement is not reached by that date, it will order the players to stop playing games.

Attendance okay

NEW YORK – Baseball attendances so far this season are keeping pace with the comparable period in 1979 when the sport set an all-time record of 43,550,398, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's office announced yesterday.

Attendance for the first five days of the season totaled 1,060,042, just 2,130 less than the same clubs had over the same dates last year. The average attendance was 22,085 – 44 fewer fans than in 1979.

Seven of the 13 teams that opened at home this season attracted larger Opening Day crowds than they did a year ago, and three clubs – California, Philadelphia and St. Louis – set first game records. The Angels drew 37,085, a record for any opener. Philadelphia's 48,460 was a night opener record and the Cardinals' 43,867 set a record for day openers in that city.