Snow stops start of season

Baseball

The Major League was regretting its earliest start to the season this century as bad weather forced the cancellation of several games.

Seven inches of snow fell in the Cleveland area during yesterday morning's rush-hour, causing serious traffic jams and putting paid to the Indians' game against the New York Yankees. A spokesman for the city said: "We had 40 salt trucks out this morning once it started snowing, but I guess you could said it's a cruel April Fool's joke on Cleveland."

On the east coast, heavy rain caused further problems. A deluge wiped out Baltimore's game against Kansas City, where President Clinton had planned to throw out the first ball. Philadelphia versus Colorado was also postponed.

However, in the first Major League game played in March, Alex Rodriguez singled home the winning run in the 12th innings as the Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Sunday night.