THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 1967

THE MICHIGA S IV AILY aj


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PAGE SEVEN

T

the kitchen cynic
RICK STERN,

Matmen

Prepare

for

NCAA

When Pitchers
Still Hit Homers
With spring just around some undefined and apparently fairly
distant corner, the old yearning arises in the hearts of millions of
American males.
Hearts beat fast, faces flush, and homework seems suddenly un-
important, as thoughts turn inexplicably to.-.-.
Major league baseball?
Yes, major league baseball. Every American boy experiences at
one time or another the urge to be a big leaguer.
130 years since Doubleday organized a game in upstate New
York, $0 years since the first World Series games, 40 years since
Ruth hit 60 homers; what is there more ingrained in American
culture than this inexplicably powerful sport where nine men
spend hours chasing a three inch ball all over captivity?
But alas, as with all else, the game is changing! It makes me
feel old to admit it, but baseball just isn't the same as it used to be.
In Detroit for example they're going to change the rules of the game
in a high school league. Two strikes for a strike out and three balls
for a walk. The ramifications boggle the mind. And in the majors
they're fooling around with making it legal for pinch hitters to bat
twice in the same game.
The young players of today have lost the All American Boy
image. Instead they run bowling alleys and spend off the field hours
chasing after Hollywood starlets. The old,"do or die" spirit has died.
Oh for the days of the Ernie Oravitzs, the Wayne Terwilligers,
the Foster Castlemans and the Dixie Howells!
Dixie Howell. There was a ball player like they don't make
ball players anymore. Millard Fillmore Howell was his real name
and no President ever had a more illustrious relief pitcher named
after him.
Ole Dixie spent 17 years in the minor leagues before he finally
made it at the age of 36 with the Chicago White Sox. And when he
made it he made it big.
The year was 1956. The place Comiskey Park in Chicago. It was
the fifth inning and Kansas City had just bombed the Sox starter off
the mound with four runs and Dixie was brought in to pitch. Not
only did he retire the side, but he hit a three run homer in the bot-
tom of the fifth inning which sailed 410 feet into the bullpen to put
the Sox ahead by a run.
Apparently Dix was winded by his effort though and he gave up
three more runs in the next three innings and the Sox trailed by
two in the last of the eighth when Dixie came up to bat again, and
again with two men on.
The crack . . . the flash ... .disbelief .. . ecstasy! Right into
the same spot in the bullpen. They say that aside from Dixie,
only Babe Ruth and Hank Greenberg have ever hit back to back
bullpen homers in Chicago. Dixie was true to form though-he
gave up three more runs in the ninth inning and lost the game.
And Dixie wasn't the only Sox pitcher that swung a mean bat.
Jack Harshman, a lanky left-hander with a zippy fast ball, used to
lead the club in slugging percentage and fellow starters Billy Pierce
and Dick Donavon had batting averages hovering around the .270
mark. Early Wynn, pitching for' the Sox in 1959, the year they won
their only American League pennant in 50 years, won a 1-0 one hit
shutout over Boston with a homer in the eighth inning.
But if the Sox pitchers could hit, the hitters sure couldn't. From
the first 'hitlesswonders' of 1908, who won the pennant with a .2301
team batting average, down through those teams of the '50's, Chicago
never had a hitter hit more than 29 home runs in a single season.,
The 1959 pennant. winning squad featured 3B-2B-SS trio of Billy
Goodman, Nellie Fox, and Luis Aparicio.
Strange but true it is that though Fox and Goodman hit just1
four homers between them in the '59 campaign, two of them came
back to back to beat Boston in extra innings. I don't rememberi
who the Boston pitcher was, but I'd like to get a swing against
him myself. Aparicio hit about five homers but two or three wereI
inside the park jobs, including one on an 110 foot pop fly.
Indeed, in Aparicio, the Sox had the fastest player in the majors.
But in catcher Sherman Lollar they also had the slowest. Sox fans1
Used to joke that Lollar ran the hundred in 10 flat: ten minutes. They
didn't find it so funny though in the seventh inning of the secondt
game of the '59 World Series, when Lollar as a potential tying runt
tried to score from second base on a long single to right field and wass
thrown out by 40 feet.e
There was a loyal core of Chicagoans that followed the Sox
in '59, even a few that had followed them since their last pen-a
nant in the Black Sox scandal of 1919. But there were a great
many that didn't too. On the night the Sox clinched the flag,
September 22nd, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley ordered the city's
Air Raid sirens set off as part of the celebration.
To Daley's chagrin, within five minutes half a million citizens
were cowering in makeshift bomb shelters or running down the
street in pajamas trying to save themselves from the attack. It was
one of Daley's very few "uncool" moves.
Nor did Bill Veeck's exploding scoreboard raise property values
in the neighborhood of the ball park.
The Cubs had their share of the great ones too. Like stalwart
pitching ace Russ Meyer who broke his shoulder blade in the bathtub
Just before the '55 season started.
Even the TV announcer, Harry Creighton, was of a calibre you
don't see anymore. Creighton used to do a Hamms beer commercial
everyother inning, and during each commercial, he drank a glass
of beer. Single games weren't bad but on one Sunday the Cubs played
a double header, and the second game went 17 innings, and for TV

viewers the last five were really something.
But the years have flown by. Baseball isn't the same. The players
play with machine-like perfection. Pitchers don't hit homers ,and
there is a sordid air of professionalism about the whole sport.
Those bungling but exciting stars of the fifties, and every team
had its share, are all lost in the shadows of brown box scores and
moldy ball gloves.
I

By BOB LEES
Take ten nationally ranked
wrestling teams. Add a generous
dose of national champs or run-
ners-up on each squad, and mix
well in the NCAA Finals. What do
you get?
"You get one hell of a- dog-
fight," predicted assistant Michi-
gan wrestling coach Rick Bay. The
nationals begin today at Kent
State University, and, according to
Bay, "it's been a long time since
there's been such a large crop of
potential winners."
A glance at some of the dual
meets and conference tournaments
upholds this outlook. In the east,
for example. Lehigh won the East-
ern Intercollegiate Wrestling As-
sociation crown, followed in order
by Penn State and Navy. Yet in
dual meet competition, Navy tied
Penn State, who in turn beat
Lehigh, who in turn beat Navy.
Then there's the strong Big
Eight, where the University of
Oklahoma won the conference

compared to three or four for Big
Ten schools. When you have
around 120 boys down in your
wrestling room, all on tender,
you're bound to have a lot of
talent."
But this year's scholarship crop
hasn't bloomed for the prairie
schools, while this area of the
Midwest has taken up the slack.
"We may not have such an over-
whelming number of champion-
ship people here or at State," de-
clares Bay, "but we're getting
maximum quality from lesser
numbers."
And the Wolverines will have a
leser number to work with when
they invade the Ohio campus, car-
rying only eight members from
this year's Big Ten runner-up
squad. With the addition in the
finals of the 115- and 191-pound
classes to the normal nine weight
.divisions, then, the Michigan mat-
men must move immediately to
keep in the thick of things.
All of the eight are familiar to
followers of the squad, yet coach
Cliff Keen has juggled the lineup
to better balance the team. Big

Ten champ Bob Fehrs will retain
his 123-pound classification, but
Gordy Weeks and Geoff Henson,
normally at 137 and 130, respec-
tively, will reverse roles.
Burt Merical, who came in sec-
ond at Columbus, will continue in
the 145-pound division, but Fred
Stehman and Jim Kamman, both
of whom won Big Ten crowns,
will switch their respective 152-
and 160-pound classes. Rounding
out the squad will be 177-pounder
Pete Cornell, a second-place fin-
isher in the conference, and, of
course, heavyweight Dave Porter,
Big Ten and defending NCAA
champ.
According to the Amateur Wres-
tling News, the favorite for the
national crown should be Okla-
homa, mainly because of their
overall balance. Bay agrees, saying
that "those Oklahoma schools are
rich in tradition, and have a way
of catching fire come tournament
time."
But both sources also agree that
MSU should get prime considera-'
tion as the top contender. Not
only will State have their 130-

pounder Don Behm, 137-pounder
Daye Anderson, and 167-pounder
George Radman, all Big Ten
champs and favorites in their divi-
sion, but the Spartans also boast
15-and 191-pound contenders in
George Bissell and Jim Zendel.
Both of these 'bonus-weighters'
won their classifications at the
Midlands Tournament last De-
cember.
Yet every top-flight school boasts
its favorite. Joe Caruso, the pride
of Lehigh at 123, is back to defend
his NCAA crown, while the Engin-
ers also tout Joe Peritore, twice
runner-up to a since departed 130-
pounder, Yojiro Uetake of Okla-
homa State.
Unbeaten Cowboy
The Cowboys, however, have
their own returning champ, Gene
Davis at 137, while Iowa State's
145-pounder Dale Bahr, undefeat-
ed this year, took the Midlands
crown, dumping Jim Kamman
along the way for the Wolverine
grappler's only loss this season.
Michigan's chances look exceed-
ingly bright this year, especially
if the stars from each school

GEOFF HENSON

vlt
eet
knock each other off. "We should
have two or three finalists of our
I own," declares Bay, "and if we
get two others in the consolation
finals, we should be in good shape.
"Unless," he concludes, "some
team goes nuts and wins some
things it shouldn't."
But, one might add, it would be
nice if this team wore Maize and
Blue.
Clay Zeroes
In on Zora
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK-Cassius Clay teas-
ed Zora Folley contemptuously for
six rounds and then knocked out
the game old warrior from Chand-
ler, Ariz., with a thunderclap right
in 1:48 of the seventh last night
for the ninth successful defense
of his world heavyweight boxing
championship.
The 34-year-old Folley, an ugly
knot under his left eye and blood
spewing from his nose, fell flat on
his stomach under the bright lights
of the Madison Square Garden
ring.
He rolled over slowly at the
count of seven, wobbled to his
feet on shaky, aging legs and then
fell back to his knees.
Referee Johnny Lo Bianco wav-
ed the fight over-the 29th victory
without a defeat for the sleek,
25-year-old champion and the
eighth defeat and sixth knockout
loss for the former.
Clay, cheered as Muhammad All
by his Black Muslim cohorts, took
Folley's heaviest blows with bare-
ly a flinch in the opening two
rounds-which he appeared to
concede as part of a sadistic game
-and then in the fourth began
opening up his murderous fusil-
lade.

'M' 9 Drops
Thriller, 6-5
special To The Daily
TUCSON - Michigan keeps on
inching closer to Arizona, but this
time a matter of inches made an-
other Wolverine loss.
With two outs and a two-strike
count in the bottom of the ninth,
Arizona's big Eddie Leon bounced
a single up the middle, just be-
yond the reach of relieverLarry
Guidi, to drive in the winning run
as the Wildcats defeated the Wol-
verines 6-5.
It was a frustrating afternoon
for the Maize and Blue, who had
the initial lead, lost it, came from
behind twice, and then lost it for
good in the end.
Michigan's first run came in the
top half of the first inning as, with
one out, Rick Sygar singled to cen-
ter. Les Tanona followed with a
walk, and both moved upon a wild
pitch. Spicer then singled home
the run.
In the eighth inning, trailing
5-1, Sygar again began a rally
with a one-out walk, followed by
Tanona's hit to deep short. When
the Wildcat catcher muffed
Keith Spicer's foul fly, the Wol-
verine outfielder responded by
tripling to left center, scoring
Sygar and Tanona. Spicer then
scored on Nelson's groundout.
With Michigan down 5-4 in the
ninth, two pinch singles by Jim
Hosler and Bud Forsythe put Wol-
verines on first and second. Hosler.
was then picked off second, but
Kennedy booted Zahn's bunt.
Glenn Redmon then singled in the
run.
In the bottom of the inning,
Terry DeWalls hit a one-out triple.
Forsythe, now at short, made a
great catch of Mike Worley's
popup to hold the runner. Guidi
then came in to pitch to Leon,
who already had a triple and a
single; but the slugger's single
ended everything.
The same two teams meet this
afternoon in a single game.
MICHIGAN 100 000 031-5 8 2
ARIZONA 002 001 201-6 13 2
Zahn, Guidi (9) and Nelson; Hin-
ton, Kennedy and Welton. WP-
Kennedy. LP--Zahn.

title, followed by Iowa State and
Oklahoma State. But when they
met head on, Oklahoma beat Ok-
lahoma State twice, and both
schools beat Iowa State.
To make it even better, Michi-
gan State beat Oklahoma, tied Ok-
lahoma State, and then proceeded
to win the Big Ten crown. Yet the
Spartans lost to the grapplers of
Michigan when the cross-state
rivals clashed face to face. And
in dual meets, the Wolverines this
season sported the only unbeaten,_
untied record among major col-
lege powers.
Last year's results found Okla-
homa State on top with a 79-
point total, followed by Iowa State
with 70 and Oklahoma with 69.
"But this year," says Bay, "the
talent is so well distributed among
so many squads that 50 points
could do it." Which makes Michi-
gan's fifth-place score of 48 last
year a worthy target for this year's
squad.
"It's really unusual," continued
the Wolverine assistant mentor,
"to fnd individual stars on this
many squads. The Big Eight, for
example, usually leads everybody,
mainly because each team gives
out 20 or 30 scholarships a year,

ON SPRING GRIDIRON:
Frosh Vie for Varsity Spots

'M' Golfers
7th in Tourney
Special To The Daily
MIAMI, Fla.-After the first
round of the Miami Invitational
Tournament, Michigan's golf team
is in seventh place with a score
of 301.
Florida leads the field of 39
clubs with a score of 283, closely
followed by host team Miami at
285.
The Hurricanes' Jeff Alpert
leads the individual competition
with 68, and Michigan's John
Schroeder is tied with three others
in second place with 70.
Wolverine Coach Bert Katzen-
meyer said that he "was not ter-
ribly disappointed with our per-
formance in the first round, al-
though John Richart and Rod
Sumpter had poor days -with 81
and 85 respectively."
The other four Michigan players
finished with the following totals:
Frank Groves, 75; Harry Engle-
hart, Dave Graff, and captain Bob
Barclay, 78 each.

By PHIL BROWN
"It's now or never."
These words, spoken by center
Pete Sarantos, reflect the attitude
of the entire group of freshmen
presently going through spring
football practice.
"The winter program was great,
and I know it helped me a lot,"
says Garvie Craw, a highly-re-
garded halfback. "But now it's
time to make all the sweat pay
off. I've sacrificed - but so has
every other guy on this team. What
we're doing now is what we've
been anticipating since our first
day at Michigan."
What is it that's so important
to these youthful gridders? It's
making the varsity team-trying
to get one of the 22 jobs left va-
cant through graduation. And the
Wolverine coaching staff is de-
pending heavily on freshmen to
fill the numerous voids.
Empty Shoes
Can these inexperienced boys
fill the shoes of stars like Jack
Clancy, Carl Ward and Rick Volk?
"They have to," says coach Tony
Mason. "And I think they can.
This is a 'good' freshman team..
That may not sound like unre-
served praise, but let me define'
good.' Any freshman team that
can providefour, five, or even six
starters is good. That's a lot of
sophomores to start, but this group
can do it."
Michigan will lose seven of the
eight starting offensive and de-
fensive backs, and filling these po-t
sitions will be one of the morel
serious problems f a c i n g the
coaches.1
"Sure, we'll have a few menc
with some playing =experience re-I

turning, but we must depend heav-
ily on these freshmen to fill both
starting and replacement spots,"
commented Mason.
} Back Foresight
This predicament was antici-
pated a year ago when Michigan
concentrated, heavily on backs in
the normal recruiting drive. The
result was, in the words of fresh-
man coach Bill Dodd, "potentially
the finest set of backs we've ever
had at Michigan."
Craw, a 6-2,, 215-pound power-
house, and Tom Barnes, a speed-
ster at 5-10 and 185, are both
prime contenders for starting
halfback slots. Competition for
them will be amply provided by
John Gabler, a polished backfield
performer weighing 190 pounds
and standing 5-10. Gabler, from
Royal Oak Kimball, is a brother
of Wally Gabler, Wolverine quar-
terback in 1965.
Defensive QBs
The fullback job will be sought
by Pete Drehmann, 6-1, and Tom
Weinman, an inch taller, both
playing at 220 pounds. Three
candidates are vyingefor a quar-
terback job: Brian Healy, Barry
Pierson and Tom Curtis. However,
all three are working on defensive
right now while Dick Vidmer
holds down the starting spot.
Mason emphasized the point
that spring, practice is the time
for experimenting: "We want to
develop as much depth as possible
at each position. Almost all of our
backs wills be tried at defensive
positions."
Two freshmen rated as excel-
lent prospects to assume first-team
duties are Cecil Pryor, a 6-4, 230-
pound linebacker, and Jim Man-

dich, a fine pass-catcher at 6-3
and 215.
Mason, when asked how many
sophomores he expected to start
in the fall, said, "Two, in all like-
lihood. But almost any spot on
the team can be taken by a
sophomore who can do the job
better than it is presently done."
Pryor and 'Mandich rate as the
most likely choices to claim start-
ing roles.
Some frosh linemen will be in
contention for first-line replace-
ment spots. Sarantos, a 6-0, 200-
pound center, and Dick Caldaraz-
zo, 5-10 and 220, a guard, might
play on either offense or defense.
And both Rich Pniewski and Phil
Seymour, rangy ends presently
playing on defense, might find
playing positions by September.
After two months of weight-
training and conditioning work,
all the frosh are happy to get back
to playing football. "What we're
doing in practice is not technical-
ly difficult," commented' halfback
Barnes. "But," added Pierson,
"everyone is putting out to the
limit-everybody wants to play."
Do the players mind being
shuttled between various positions
from day to day? "You play where
you can help the team," said
Drehmann, then he added with a
smile, "And if it's a matter of
changing or not playing-well, you
change."

Alcindor Blue?
Lew Alcindor, T1" college bas-
ketball All-America, is not happy
at UCLA, according to "Sport"
MUagazine. Alcindor indicated that
he would be happier at Michigan,
Stanford, 'or Berkeley.
"It's the quality of the people
out here that disturbs me," says
Alcindor. "They are not for real.
They do not seem to know what's
going on around them."
Alcindor had considered Michi-
gan as well as UCLA when he was
the most sought-after prep basket-
ball player in history.
SPORTS NIGHT EDITOR:
DAVE WEIR


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EASTER DINNER
at the Commons


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It doesn't cost enough.
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