BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJORS : Managers, Players Get Suspensions

Four players and both managers were suspended Friday by the National League for their part in a beanball war that led to several bench-clearing incidents between the Cincinnati Reds and Houston Astros three days earlier.

Red reliever Xavier Hernandez was given the largest suspension, eight games, for “instigating a bench-clearing incident,� NL President Leonard Coleman said in a prepared statement.

Red outfielder Ron Gant was suspended for four games, and Manager Davey Johnson received a two-game suspension.

Astro Manager Terry Collins was suspended for two games, and Astro pitcher Doug Drabek and catcher Pat Borders each received five-game suspensions.

Those suspended also received undisclosed fines.

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A group of Montreal Expos who threw a rowdy beer-bash aboard a chartered Air Canada jet this week will have to pay for the damages out of their own pockets, team management said.

But the most lasting damage from the flight may have come from comments made by Expo second baseman Mike Lansing.

Lansing, upset at having to listen to pre-flight safety instructions in both English and French, burst out, “We don’t have to listen to this. . . . Everybody here understands English, at least for now,� he said, referring to Montreal’s bilingual status.

Lansing’s ill-timed remarks appeared in a local newspaper the same day the provincial Parti Quebecois government tabled its referendum question concerning the separation of Quebec from Canada.

Air Canada said the players were on an all-night flight from San Francisco to Montreal on Thursday when they wrecked 18 seats and spilled so much beer on the carpet that much of it had to be replaced.

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The Detroit Tigers traded utility player Juan Samuel to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be determined and claimed infielder Steve Rodriguez on waivers from the Boston Red Sox.

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Pitcher Mac Suzuki became the third Japanese-born player to reach the major leagues when the Seattle Mariners recalled him from single-A Riverside. Suzuki, 20, follows pitchers Hideo Nomo of the Dodgers and Masanori Murakami, who was with the San Francisco Giants in 1964-65.