Nintendo Bristles at Rumors That Seattle's Baseball Team is For
Sale  True or not, a baseball team owned by an aging Japanese
magnate, two weeks after trading away a Japanese national hero,
is an easy target for rumors that it's up for sale.  Add to that
the fact Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo in its ascent
to video game dominance, is 84 years old, has never seen the
Seattle Mariners play, bought the team mostly as a favor to
Nintendo's American hometown, and is said not to even like
baseball, and it's hardly a surprise the M's would be facing
questions about their future.  "I know there has been some
speculation that the Mariners are for sale, or planning to put
the franchise up for sale," Howard Lincoln, the Mariners CEO and
former Nintendo of America chairman, said after the team traded
Ichiro Suzuki to the New York Yankees. "I've read this and I've
heard it, and all I can tell you is that it is absolute
nonsense. There are no plans by this ownership group to sell the
Mariners."  That's not going