Issue date:
June 19-21, 1998

The Seattle Mariners player bringing in crowds again this season is handsome shortstop Alex Rodriguez. Is his off-field life as interesting as his game?

Kathryn Howell, Chicago

Rodriguez, 22, is a ballpark heartthrob who (as teammate Ken Griffey has pointed out) brings more women out to the Mariners' games. He's 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds -- most of it muscle. When he has the chance, he dresses in Armani suits. Rodriguez grew up in Miami and now lives in one of its suburbs, close to his mother, who raised him and his siblings alone. He reportedly has no contact with his dad, who left when Rodriguez was about 10 years old.

I'm dying to know more about Robert Carlyle, who played Gaz in the Oscar- nominated British movie The Full Monty. How old is he? Does he have a family?

Carolyn Ellis, Ayer, Mass.

Because he's been seen primarily in "small" English pictures, Carlyle, who has been called "the greatest Scottish export since Sean Connery," was little known stateside till the acclaimed film about a band of unemployed men who decide to try stripping. "Bobby," as friends call him, is, at 37, very close to his painter-decorator dad, who raised him. They moved from commune to commune, living a life Carlyle calls "bohemian." He recently married makeup artist Anastasia Shirley, but that hasn't diminished his appeal to female fans. He eschews publicity because he worries that the more people see the real guy, the harder it is to believe him playing a character.

I've heard that Paul McCartney, who adored his late wife, Linda, is planning a tribute album. Is that so?

Jim Brenden, Roscoe, S.D.

Yes, and it may be released as early as fall, depending on how he fares with producing it. Linda, who succumbed to breast cancer in April, had written some new songs that the couple, who loved making music together, recorded before her death. Paul has been working with those recordings and more in his studio at home in England, where the family, always close and private, has been together. Daughter Mary, 28, even delayed her planned spring wedding after her mother's death.

Bay Buchanan, co-host of CNBC's political show Equal Time, seems to share conservative ideology with brother Pat, the former presidential candidate. Is she like her brother in other ways, too?

Dorothy Condie, Rockford, Ill.

Both are sharp GOP strategists expected to play roles in the 2000 elections, especially if he runs again. Bay Buchanan, 49, also is as scrappy as Pat, 59, who takes his own party to task when he disagrees on issues. They were raised in a Washington, D.C., Catholic family of nine kids. Bay later switched to the Mormon faith and married a Mormon. They divorced; she's a single mother of boys 10, 13 and 15. Her given name is Angela. Why "Bay"? Her toddler brothers couldn't pronounce "baby."

Madonna, who'll be 40 in August, has a more mature look these days, and her songs are more personal than ever. One thing about the controversial star that hasn't changed: her fitness. How does she keep in such good shape?

Peggy King, Crocket Mills, Tenn.

Daily yoga. The more spiritual girl gave away her exercise machines and now is devoted to the mind-body technique that is the rage in Hollywood. She attends group classes but also has an instructor come to her. Madonna has homes in L.A., Miami and New York, but she and baby Lourdes stay mainly in New York now -- Mom's making a movie there.

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