Hugh Alexander

The great Jesus Rios experiment apparently is over. Depressed by a negative report filed by special assignment scout Ray Shore, who watched the Mexico City Tigres phenom raise his record to 4-0, the Phillies have decided to inform club owner Alejo Peralta that they have decided not to purchase Rios. Today was the deadline for them to complete the $100,000 purchase of the pitcher. "So it cost us $10,000 for the look and he got us a lot of early publicity," Phillies personnel adviser Hugh Alexander said after what was clearly a slap in his face.

The cross hairs paused briefly on the person of righthander Fred Toliver, then moved on. The newest pitchers in the gun sight, as the Phillies probe for ways to assemble the best possible 10-man pitching staff, are veteran righthander Larry Andersen and lefthanded reliever Dave Rucker. The Phillies have put the word out that either pitcher is available. Cheap. Why cheap? Because both players have had more than three years of major league experience and can't be sent to the minor leagues without their permission.

What's the Spanish for Catch 22? How about Catchare veinte-dos? Jesus Rios, the Mexican League hero the Phillies are projecting as a potential pitching savior, will arrive here tomorrow, one day late. Rios and almost-fellow Phils Arturo Gonzalez and Jose Cecena ran into the customary visa problems, according to a club spokesman. More interesting than the 22-year-old righthander's arrival here is the timing of when the Mexico City Tigres' ace actually will be able to pitch for the Phillies.

The greening of the New York Yankees is well under way. Manager Dallas Green will meet at the summit in Tampa today with owner George Steinbrenner and other front-office officials. More hirings are expected from the ranks of Green's franchise in exile. Charlie Fox, the Chicago Cubs' special assignment scout and special adviser to general manager Jim Frey, has agreed to serve as Green's bench coach, the Daily News has learned from sources. Yankees general manager Bob Quinn has asked for and received permission from Frey to negotiate with Cubs special-assignment scout Hugh Alexander, a power behind the Phillies' throne who resigned after losing a 1986 power struggled with deposed farm director Jim Baumer.

There were no high-level meetings to discuss the burning question of where to go next with Steve Carlton before last night's Phillies game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Bill and Nancy Giles celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary over the weekend and the Gang of Six conclave was rescheduled for after the Phils' 5-3 victory when Giles didn't arrive at the ballpark until midafternoon. We suppose that when a decision is made, we'll be among the last to know. Gang of Six Revisions: There is probably a vacancy on the committee that serves Giles.

Trade talks continue between the Phillies and the Pirates involving righthand pitcher Rick Rhoden. Phillies player personnel advisor Hugh Alexander said that the Pirates demand for the disgruntled righthander remain high. The Pirates are willing to trade Rhoden for lefthanded relief pitcher Don Carman even up. The Phillies have already rejected that proposal. They would also trade Rhoden for third baseman-shortstop Rick Schu, but would want the Phillies to sweeten the deal with a top minor league prospect.

Jason Grimsley started yesterday's game for the Phillies against the Cincinnati Reds, and within minutes his 1.13 spring ERA was in ruins. In the first inning alone, he walked three and uncorked four wild pitches. Phillies manager Nick Leyva, looking for a ray of sunlight, later said that Grimsley was wild because "he had so much movement on his pitches. His fastballs were moving just like sliders. " Grimsley, projected as the fourth starter when the season opens, did manage to regain his poise after a six-run first inning and pitch a pair of perfect frames - before running into more problems with walks.

One of the reasons Jeff Stone is an improved outfielder since his recall from Portland is the quiet work a retired Gold Glover named Garry Maddox has done with him. Maddox worked with Stone before nearly every home game until the sessions began to attract too much media attention. There won't be too much media attention at Garry's next teaching post. Starting Saturday, Maddox will spend one week in Portland working with the organization's Triple A outfielders. His No. 1 project will be good-hit, no- field outfielder Steve DeAngelis, a lefthanded power hitter who has played leftfield for the Beavers most of the time since his promotion from Reading.

Tom Hume will pitch for the 1987 Phillies, after all. The bespectacled long reliever reached terms with vice president Tony Siegle last night, just three hours before he would have passed into baseball's new limbo. Since the Phils opted to not offer arbitration to Hume should he have gone past midnight unsigned, the righthander could not have signed with them again until May 1. It is one of the many Catch-22s that has made the baseball meetings an event that should be covered by The Wall Street Journal.

Lefthander Don Carman has been shut down until further notice and will not pitch until at least his next scheduled turn in the rotation, which was penciled in for Thursday night in St. Louis. Carman was scheduled to pitch tonight against Mets righthander Ron Darling, but is unable to throw due to soreness in his left shoulder. Manager John Felske pushed the start back to Monday in Pittsburgh, but Carman's shoulder was too sore for him to throw in the bullpen before last night's game, as scheduled.

THE PHONE RANG around 3 a.m. Groggy and ill with flu, I rolled over and rasped, "Yeah?" "Bill, the Baron here," Phillies media relations director Larry Shenk said. "Come to the Pope's suite as soon as you can. We've got a trade to announce. " A trade? If it couldn't wait until daylight, it had to be a big one. "What kind of trade?" "A big one," Shenk said. "We got Sutter . . . That's all I can say. The Pope will fill you in. " This was 1979 and baseball's winter meetings were in Toronto.

Most folks go a lifetime without catching a foul ball at a Major League Baseball game. Hank King caught three - in one season. Of course, King's chances were greater than most. For the last 25 years, he practically lived in big-league ballparks. King, a lifelong Montgomery County resident, recently retired from his post as Phillies advance scout. What a way to go out - first with a World Series ring and now this: Tomorrow night in Los Angeles, King will receive the prestigious George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award in Scouting given annually by the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation.

Gene Mauch, the steely-eyed little manager who guided three teams, including the infamous 1964 Phillies, to the brink of a World Series only to see them stranded there by the cruelest of baseball fates, died yesterday at 79. Mr. Mauch succumbed at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif., after a lengthy battle with cancer, according to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Nicknamed "The Little General," both for his gifts as a game strategist and his dictatorial style, Mr. Mauch was the winningest and losingest manager in Phillies history, compiling a record of 645-684 from 1960 to 1968.

Baseball lost one of its most beloved characters and the Phillies one of the most important men in the history of their franchise Saturday morning with the death of legendary scout Hugh Alexander. Mr. Alexander, 83, died in Oklahoma City. He had battled cancer and other health problems for years. Known throughout the sport as "Uncle Hughie," Mr. Alexander scouted for major-league baseball teams for 63 years. His scouting career, which began after an oil-well accident ended his own promising playing career, spanned eight decades.

Hugh Alexander, still going strong at age 79, settled into a seat at the Carpenter Complex yesterday, lit a cigarette and began talking. " . . . All the tools, a five-tool player," the Cubs' scout emeritus was saying as another National League scout walked by. "This kid can run, throw, field, hit for average and hit for power. " The other scout shook his head and smiled. "I don't even have to ask who you're talking about," he said. Uncle Hughie, you see, makes no secret of the fact that he just loves Phillies rookie third baseman Scott Rolen.

Next time you hear your friendly neighborhood general manager say, "Nothing is harder to trade for than good pitching," here is the correct response: No, no, no, no, no. Maybe that used to be true. But if it is, how are we to explain that since the end of last season, all of these pitchers have been traded: A two-time Cy Young award-winner (Bret Saberhagen). A 20-game winner (John Smiley). A one-time 18-game winner (Greg Swindell). And a guy who has a lower career ERA (2.99)

Mitch Williams spent yesterday afternoon unpacking in the Chicago apartment he was resigned to calling home this summer. Later he went to the store, returned with bags full of groceries and was putting the food away when the phone rang. The call to Phillies general manager Lee Thomas had come earlier. Thomas was in Kissimmee, Fla., watching the Phillies close out their exhibition schedule with an 8-0 loss to the Houston Astros. Secretary Susan Ingersoll relayed the message. Cubs general manager Jim Frey had phoned.

With just hours left until the start of the regular season, the Phillies' long-discussed trade for Cubs reliever Mitch Williams finally became a reality late last night. The Phillies, who dropped their demand that a minor-leaguer be included in the deal, sent pitchers Chuck McElroy and Bob Scanlan to Chicago. Phils general manager Lee Thomas said Williams, 26, could join the team in time for today's season opener against the Mets in New York. The club has assumed Williams' contract, which will pay him $1.5 million and expires at the end of this season.

The Mitch Williams trade, a deal that has risen from the grave more often than one of the ghouls in "Night of the Living Dead," was laid to rest one more time last night. "As of now, it's dead," Cubs general manager Jim Frey said in Arizona. Well, maybe. The trade, the latest incarnation of which would send lefthander Chuck McElroy and Bob Scanlan for Williams, the lefthanded reliever the Phillies have been so desperately seeking, has been written off before. And it's always managed to flicker back to life.

Cubs reliever Mitch Williams could become a Phillie as early as today. The long-proposed deal for Williams now includes a Chicago minor-leaguer, and it could be completed today if Chicago general manager Jim Frey gives it his approval. The trade, which has been discussed for weeks, would send Williams and a minor-leaguer to the Phils for pitchers Bob Scanlan and Chuck McElroy. Cubs superscout Hugh Alexander said Phils general manager Lee Thomas submitted a list of five Chicago minor-leaguers who would be acceptable to the Phillies.