The Michigan Daily-Friday, September 22, 1978-Page 13
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LES MOSS TO TAKE OVER
Hotuk to retire at end of season
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By APand UPI
DETROIT - Ralph Houk, manager
of the best and worst teams in baseball
over a career that spanned two teams
and 16 years, stunned the Detroit Tigers
when he announced yesterday he was
retiring and thus would not be returning
as their manager next season.
:Les Moss, manager of Detroit's
Triple-A affiliate, Evansville of the
American Association, was im-,
mediately named his replacement,
starting next season to take over a team
that has gone from being baseball's'
worst in 1975 into a possible contender .
ii 1979.
"IT'S TIME for me to go fishing,"
Houk said. "It's time for me to spend
some time with my wife. I've been in
baseball for over 40 years.
"It's not easy to do this," he said,
"yet I feel it's the thing to do.
"The Tigers have been nice enough to
give me a job as a consultant -
although I don't know what that would
be."
Campbell said: "I never worked with
a manager as close as Ralph. I don't
think we've had one argument. We've
had some disagreements., but we've
always managed to settle them
amicably. I've never seen a manager
who could handle players like Ralph. I
asked him to do a real tough job around
here. He's done a tremendous job. We'll
still be real close."
HOUK SAID he, club president and
general manager Jim Campbell and
vice president Bill Lajoie discussed a
successor and "were 100 per cent
unanimous" in favor of Moss.
"He's had 18 of our players that have
come up here," Houk said.
Campbell said Moss, given a one-year
contract, had "been programmed into
this thing for over a year."
Like Houk, Moss is a former major
league catcher who spent the bulk of his
career as a substitute.
MOSS SPENT 11 full seasons and
parts of two more as a catcher with the
St. Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox,
Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White
Sox. He had a .247 lifetime batting
average.
Moss was a coach with the White Sox
in 1960 and 1967-70. He was interim
manager of the White Sox for five
weeks in1968.
In 11 seasons as a minor league
manager he had four pennant winners
and none of his teams finished below
third place. He won consecutive pen-
nants at Montgomery, Detroit's AA
farm club of the Southern League, in
1975 and 1976.
AT EVANSVILLE the past two
seasons, the Triplets finished third and
second - despite many of their top
players being promoted to the Tigers.
Houk had been hinting at retirement
the past season or two - citing his age,
the aggravation of traveling and fan
abuse - but said he wanted to stay until
he felt the job of rebuilding Detroit into
a respected team again was accom-
plished.
He became manager of a Tiger team
that was already lengthy in the fang
before he took over and it crumbled in
less than a season. His second year
featured a near-record 19-game losing
streak before a step-by-step return to
respectability began with an infusion of
youngsters in 1976.
MARK FIDRYCH and Jason Thom-
pson joined Ron LeFlore as regulars
that seasop, Steve Kemp and Dave
Rozema followed last season while the
sparkling double play combination of
Lou Whitaker at second and Alan
Trammell at short have provided the
club with an excellent foundation for a
return to power in the near future.
"These kids will give the people a
ballclub they'll remember a long
time," Houk said.
Houk was a non-playing member of
the New York championship teams of
the early 1950s. The most times he ever
batted in a season was 92 in his rookie
year of 1947. He never had a home run
in 158 at-bats and his major league
playing career- ended with an unsuc-
cessful pinch-hit in 1954.
But like a lot of players whose talent
never matched their love for the game,
Houk spent his time on the bench
listening, learning and asking
questions.
THE TIGERS struggled -under
Houk's first four seasons, changing
over from aging veterans - who
brought Detroit a World Series title in
1968 - to youngsters brought up from
the minors.
Detroit, although fifth in the
American League East, has a much
better record, 81-70, going into Thur-
sday's game than last season when it
finished fourth, and the club is loaded
with players of three years or less ex-
perience.
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Ralph Houkl
Tigers tamed *Bosox
keep pace with N. Y.
By BRIAN MILLER
Special to The Daily
DETROIT-Milt Wilcox, once labeled
a six-inning pitcher, went the distance
for a team-leading 16th time in 26 starts
but his efforts were wasted as the
Boston Red Sox stopped the Tigers, 5-1,
at Tiger Stadium last night.
. Wilcox, who has been known to have
trouble in the early innings, struggled
through the first inning as the Red Sox
scored three quick runs.
Shortstop Rick Burleson began his 4
for 5 performance with a leadoff single
to right. Second baseman Jerry Remy
then fouled out to Tiger third baseman
Phil Mankowski in front of the Tiger
dugout. But Burleson tagged and went
to second when Mankowski slipped on
the dugout steps.
Burleson trotted it to third when Jim
Rice grounded out to Lou Whitaker.
Then, after Carl Yastrzemski walked,
Carleton Fisk singled in the game's fir-
st run. Freddie Lynn followed with a
walk and, after both runners moved up
on a wild pitch, they scored on Butch
Hobson's line single to left.
Wilcox, now 13-11, was also shaky the
second inning when Dwight Evans
walked and Burleson singled him to
third. However, the Tiger righthander
settled down and retired the Red Sox
without another run scoring.
Boston starting pitcher Dennis
Eckersley (18-8) had few problems
quieting Detroit's loud bats. Eckersley
gave up only six hits all night long and
survived the only real Tiger threat of
the night in the second inning when
Steve Kemp and Tim Corcoran both
singled. They were left stranded,
though, when Eckersley bore down and
got Mankowski to strike out.
Boston upped its lead to 4-0 in the fif-
th when the 39-year-old Yastrzemski
walked and then stole second while Fisk
was striking out. Lynn promptly scored
Yastrzemski with a sharp single to cen-
ter.
Eckersley did the wet, cold fans in the
ballpark a favor, mowing the Tigers
down on just three hits though six in-
nings. Jason Thomson warmed up the
fans a little himself in the seventh
frame, however, when he parked his
25th home. run of the year in the right
field upper deck..
Boston scored a meaningless run in
the eighth inning. And, after-Eckersley
got Kemp to ground into an inning-
ending double play, the Red Sox kept
pace with the Yankees, who defeated
Toronto, 7-1.
While Boston remains two games
behind New York, the Tigers were
mathematically eliminated from this
year's pennant race. New York's magic
number has been reduced to eight while
Detroit must wait until next year to
earn division honors.
SCORES
American League
Boston 5, Detroit 1
New York 7, Toronto I
Texas 6, Minnesota 3
National League
Pittsburgh 3, Chicago 2 (14 innings)
Philadelphia at Montreal, ppd, rain
Houston 2, Atlanta o
- St. Louis 6, New York 2
CHICAGO (AP)-Wilbur Wood of the
Chicago White Sox says the name of his
favorite pitch, the knuckleball, is a
misnomer.
"A knuckler is actually thrown with
the tips of the index and middle
fingers," the veteran southpaw pointed
out.
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