News In Brief

LET'S MAKE A LITTLE HISTORY

Hanna Yerushalmi and Ari Goldstein were married last Friday near Philadelphia. Nothing especially noteworthy about that, right? Wrong. Actually, the nuptials may have been a first in the US. Both bride and groom are rabbis. The ceremony was presided over by their fathers, both of whom also are rabbis. So were many of the guests - friends from the years when the couple were students at a rabbinical school in Cincinnati.

IT WAS A THURSDAY

Speaking of weddings, the final statistics are in, and they show that 431,000 people were married last year in Germany. This represents a 3.2 percent increase over 1998. So what, you ask? Well, that's significant because it is the first time in a decade - since reunification, in fact - that the number of new marriages hasn't declined. There's no proof, but analysts think part of the reason for the spike may have been the desire for a hard-to-forget anniversary date, Sept. 9. Or, put another way: 9/9/99.

Pedro Martinez is the best current player, managers say

In the lead-up to baseball's All-Star Game tonight, The Sporting News magazine invited a dozen general managers, assistant GMs, and personnel directors to rank the best players this season. Following are the names that came out on top of the tabulated results, as distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service:

1. Pedro Martinez, pitcher, Boston Red Sox

2. Alex Rodriguez, shortstop, Seattle Mariners

3. Randy Johnson, pitcher, Arizona Diamondbacks

4. Barry Bonds, outfielder, San Francisco Giants

5. Ivan Rodriguez, catcher, Texas Rangers

6. Ken Griffey Jr., outfielder, Cincinnati Reds

7. Mark McGwire, first baseman, St. Louis Cardinals

8. Vladimir Guerrero, outfielder, Montreal Expos

9. Nomar Garciaparra, shortstop, Boston Red Sox

10. Derek Jeter, shortstop, New York Yankees

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