Tim Johnson could not escape the truth: The lies he told about his Marine service in Vietnam created too many problems.
In a move rarely seen in spring training, the Toronto Blue Jays fired Johnson as manager and replaced him with Jim Fregosi."The unsettledness and the distractions had become the issue," general manager Gord Ash said at Dunedin, Fla. "It had become apparent it wasn't going to work."
Johnson never saw combat but supposedly made up stories -- including one about shooting a young girl -- to inspire the club. He taught mortar training to recruits going to Vietnam but never served there.
The truth was revealed last year, causing conflicts with several players and coaches, and he apologized to them in camp last month.
But with the Blue Jays at 3-12, and just a few days after former Toronto third baseman Ed Sprague called Johnson a "liar" and a "back-stabber," Ash had seen enough.
"It wasn't going to fade into the background as quickly as I hoped," Ash said.
Johnson, 49, was offered a job as a scout, and it was not known whether he would take it.
Fregosi, 56, managed the Philadelphia Phillies when they lost the 1993 World Series to Toronto. Fired after the 1996 season, he was with the San Francisco Giants as a special assistant to the general manager when he signed a two-year deal with Toronto.
Fregosi had an 861-937 record while managing Philadelphia, the Chicago White Sox and California Angels.
In their first game under Fregosi, the Blue Jays stole a run with a double steal in the first inning. Later, he came on the field to argue a ground-rule double call in the fifth of a 10-6 victory at Clearwater, Fla.
At Mesa, Ariz., pitcher Todd Stottlemyre was not so thrilled by what he saw from Sammy Sosa in the Chicago Cubs' 8-5 loss to Arizona in 10 innings.
Sosa hit two home runs off Stottlemyre and punctuated each drive with a pronounced bow to the crowd. Sosa, with seven homers this spring, said he picked up the habit last November during a tour of Japan.
"Nobody wants to be embarrassed," Stottlemyre said. "I sure don't remember Mickey Mantle bowing after home runs. I guarantee Joe DiMaggio didn't bow. I bet everything I got Lou Gehrig didn't, Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente."
At Tucson, Ariz., the San Diego Padres sustained a loss when catcher Carlos Hernandez ruptured his left Achilles' tendon, likely sidelining him for the season.
The Padres beat the Chicago White Sox 7-6. Country music star Garth Brooks made his first exhibition start for the Padres and was 0-for-4. Brooks, 37, is hitless in nine at-bats in "A" games this spring.
In New York, the state Legislature has voted to honor New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio by renaming a portion of a Manhattan highway after him. A section of the West Side Highway will be called the Joe DiMaggio Highway in commemoration of the former Yankees center fielder who died March 8 at age 84.