August 12, 1991

Wilson Alvarez had thrown no-hitters before. Twelve of them. But his masterpiece against the Baltimore Orioles today was dramatically different from the others. The 21-year-old left-hander, making only his second major league appearance, pitched the sixth no-hitter of the season to lead the Chicago White Sox to a 7-0 victory.

For three days, David Spear drove the 1,700 miles here from his home in San Francisco as fast as his old car would go. He made the trip with little food, sleep or money, he said, because "the Holy Spirit led me here" to join what has become a monthlong assault on the city's three abortion clinics.

For years, the broadcast networks have looked to the profits of the syndication market as a way to ease their financial troubles. But like the rest of the television industry, the syndication market in reruns has hit a slump. Sales of commercial time have been slow for local stations, just as they have been for the networks. As a result, stations have not had the kind of cash to spend on hit comedies that they had in the late 1980's, when "The Cosby Show" became the most successful program in the history of television syndication, raking in estimated sales in excess of $600 million, or more than $4 million for each rerun episode.

In the late 1980's, when steel producers were seeing some of their most robust times in years, industry executives boasted that their companies had become so lean that they could make money running at 60 to 65 percent of capacity. Now, American steel plants are running at 70 percent capacity, and many industry analysts expect the steelmakers' losses to exceed $1 billion for the first half of this year.

Edward Austin Tracy, the 60-year-old American freed by kidnappers in Lebanon, emerged from his ordeal today thankful for his freedom amid concern about his physical and mental well-being. He was described by Syrian officials who met with him as "sick, disoriented and confused," but precise details on his medical condition were not available.