March 15, 1993

Players from baseball's old Negro Leagues, barred for decades from the major leagues and then largely forgotten as their achievements faded into the past, are enjoying a revival of interest linked to the boom in baseball memorabilia. Their faces and team names appear on a growing volume of T-shirts, trading cards, caps and jackets; they attend card shows, and they are flown to Old-Timers' Games at ball parks they once would have been prohibited from playing in. For many of the former Negro Leaguers -- men in their 70's, 80's and 90's, some poor, some sick, some forgiving, some sensitized by old racial abuses -- the potential revenue from this licensing effort could provide much needed help for things such as rent, medical bills, food and even funeral expenses.

Companies G.M. has persuaded Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua, the hard-driving purchasing executive who in nine months has saved it hundreds of millions in costs, not to go to Volkswagen, apparently by offering him more authority. [ Page D1. ] VW is planning a major overhaul that is expected to include significant cutbacks in its work force as well as a big spending program to help spur growth in Germany and America. [ D1. ]

Nearly all rail lines in the New York region will operate on normal schedules today, with some scattered delays, officials said. Commuters using buses may face longer delays because of some poor driving conditions, and officials urged people to leave their cars home. Article, page B4

Before Ferdinand Piech jumped into the driver's seat at Volkswagen A.G. in January, his reputation as Germany's toughest auto executive opened a guessing game as to just what kind of shake-up was in store. While it is still Europe's largest auto maker, Volkswagen faces a crucial battle here in the 1990's, as the Japanese aggressively move in, and as the company must make yet another attempt to revive its nearly deserted American showrooms, which have not had two crucial models to sell for months because of a production fiasco in Mexico.

In an abrupt change of heart, a hard-charging Spanish purchasing executive who in nine months saved hundreds of millions of dollars in costs for the General Motors Corporation, decided over the weekend not to leave G.M. for a more prestigious post at Volkswagen A.G. of Germany G.M. apparently succeeded in persuading Jose Ignacio Lopez de Arriortua to stay on by offering him greater authority over manufacturing operations, said several G.M. executives who spoke on condition of anonymity.