Page Eight THE MICHIGAN DAILY Friday, October 9, 1970 PageEigh THEMICHGAN AIL INFORMATION MEETING Michigan-Illinois Year Abroad in Barcelona-1971 All interested are welcome TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13-Michigan Room 7:30 P.M.-Michigan League SIMPSON DEFIES ABA Clause dims HOMECOMING '70 Invites YOU to Participate in the Homecoming Parade, Oct. 23,1970, 3-5 P.M. " Organizations " Pop Bands ® Beard and ML * Dog Show By AL SHACKELFORD "I've never seen the hardship clause in writing so I wouldn't know who would qualify," says Michigan assistant basketball coach Fred Snowden. "Actually there is no specific hardship clause in the Ameri- can Basketball Association by- laws," says Bert Schultz, public relations director for the Amer- ican Basketball Association. Yet this hardship clause, my- thical as it appears, has resulted in the signing of Spencer Hay- wood and Ralph Simpson by the ABA's Denver Rockets and has important and perhaps ominous implications for the future of basketball. Haywood signed with t h e Rockets following a brilliant sophomore year at the Univer- sity of Detroit; he won the ABA rookie-of-the-year award last year in his first pro sea- son and established himself as that young league's stellar at- traction. THE AMBITIOUS Rockets picked off Simpson this summer under the same hardship clause; the former Michigan State ace is expected to be the guard the Rockets need to take the ABA title this season. In addition, the fact that Haywood a n d Simpson were high school play- mates at Detroit Pershing should cause fans of the Mile High City to rush lemming-like to Rocket games. "Ralph a n d Spencer: together again;" what could be a more obvious money- maker? / But the ABA fought Simpson's signing tooth and nail: only Wednesday was Ralph assured of playing with the Rockets, when the ABA board of trustees followed the lead of a south-, ern Michigan federal judge in declaring that Simpson's con- tract is valid. ABA Commissioner Jack Dolph got in his licks at Denver, how- ever, by fining them $10,000 and voiding their number one draft pick next year. In regard to pro raids, Dolph vowed that "we'll do everything in our power to keep this from occurring again." JUST WHAT is the "hard- ship clause?" "Under special circumstances the usual re- quirements of graduation may be waived in a player's sign- ing," says ABA public re- lations man Schultz. Those "special circumstances" in Simpson's case are eight younger brothers and sisters liv- ing in a broken home, according to Rocket president Don Rings- by. Simpson's mother and t h e children are existing on welfare; cage -future - these "special circumstances" personal integrity of the pro obviously constitute a hardship owners. "I don't think the pros case. When the Rockets waved would allow wholesale raiding," the long green (to the tune of he says, and cites Detroit Piston a reported $1 million) at Simp- owner Fred Zollner in partic- son, how could he turn it down? ular , as one owner who would realize the shortsightedness of REGARDLESS of whether the raids. Rockets were justified in sign- If raids did occur, the follow- ing Simpson, it appears that an ing avenues would be open to accommodation will have to be colleges, according to. Snowden: worked out between pro basket- "It might be feasible for coaches ball and colleges which are rob- not to recruit those high school bed of their stars. Dolph in- c dicte AA oliy n isvow players who might qualify under to fghtagaist ro aidson ol- a hardship clause." In fact, says Snowden, "if pros raid, colleges leges; the courts, however, may might disband basketball pro- not back him up, as indicated grams.' in the Simpson case. How are college coachs re- IF THIS occurred, Snowden sponding to the encroachment continues, "it would be best for of pro raids? pro teams to either sign players "Something has to be done," out of high school or wait until says Michigan coach Snowden after their graduation from col- of the raiding. "This situation lege." is very bad for college athletics." The elusive hardship clause Snowden sympathizes with has already brought Simpson the grabby Rockets, saying that and Haywood into the pro ranks Denver saw the chance to ac- and threatens to damage col- quire two players from the same lege programs around the coun- background and took it. "Had try; the pro hierarchy deplores Ralph gone to another high signing players out of college school, "says Snowden, "there but the courts so far have de- wouldn't have been so much fended it. If the signings con- pressure on him to sign." tinue, says Snowden, pro and A roadblock to wholesale pro college basketball "are going to raids, comments Snowden, is the destroy each other." ustache Contest PLEASE CONTACT: Homecoming office, 3A Michigan Union-763-1256 I U AND B ES * Schwinn and Raleigh * Big Game Selection " Stuffed Animals " Hobbies-Boat Kits Quality Merchandise backed by Friendly Student Service CAMPUS BIKE and TOY I 11 I I SIGN-UP FOR FRANCE TRIP DEC. 21st-JAN. 5th $32500 ROUND TRIP if j /I ki C/le Meeting: Oct. 12th-7 :00 Michigan Union-Rms. 3R and 3S JOIN THE SPORT OF THE SPACE AGE PARACHUTING SERVICE TECUMSEH, MICHIGAN. Michigan's Most Active Sport Parachuting Center Saturday, Sunday, Holidays -For Information Call- MON.-FRI.-291-3634 WEEKENDS-423 -7720 ENJOY SKYDIVING AT ITS BEST Classes Start 11:00 Sat. & Sun. on this and that The Fizz Kids fizzle again eric siegel HE WORLD SERIES begins tomorrow, and for the 54th time in 55 years, the Philadelphia Phillies will not be in it. The Phillies, who are closer to losing 600 games in this century than any other major league team, have won the National League pennant only once in a little over half a century, and that was something of a fluke. The year was 1950, and the team they billed The Whiz Kids won it in the tenth inning of the last game of the season on a wrongfield homer by Dick Sisler after watch- ing a comfortable mid-September bulge dwindle to one game by the begining of October. They wouldn't have won it then, either, if it hadn't been for a marginal Dodger named Cal Abrams who tried to score from second on a single to center in the bottom of the ninth with one out and never made it. The Whiz Kids wasted little time establishing their fluki- ness losing the Series to the Yankees in four straight in one of the more feeble efforts in baseball history. But even if the Phillies had put up more of a fight, it would hardly have blemished their reputation as the losing- ist team in modern baseball history. In the 20th century, the Phillies have lost 100 games or more 14 separate seasons. Over in the "other" league the Senators, the team that inspired the pundits to run into the ground the old adage that Washington was first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League, could manage the feat only nine times. In 1941, the Phillies set a league record for the number of games lost with a 43-111 mark, and the record lasted 21 years, or until the Mets came along and went 40-120. (The American League record of 117 is held by the old Philadel- phia Athletics, who did it in 1916, and if the Phillies hadn't won the pennant the year before, one would have a right to wonder if losing was contagious.) One losing record even the -Mets couldn't erase was the Phillies' mark of finishing last four straight times from 1958- 61. The Mets merely tied the record with four consecutive tenth place finishes before moving up to ninth their fifth year. The Phillies have always had a knack for doing things wrong. In 1930, they had a team batting average of .315, but someone forgot to tell the management that pitching was a part of the game, too. So the Phils gave up 7.7 runs per game and finished last with a 52-102 mark. In 1961, they improved to where they only allowed 5.1 runs, but someone forgot to bring the hitters along and they finished last again, setting a modern record with 23 straight losses. They didn't finish last this year - only fifth in a six team league. But they were only one-half game out of the cellar, and it may be significant that they played one game less than last place Montreal. Their on the field bungling is surpassed only by what they do in the front office. Last year, they decided they couldn't get along with Richie Allen, and traded him to the Cardinals for Curt Flood. Instead of helping them to the first division, the move put them in court, along with the rest of baseball. . The Phils once had the title to Ferguson Jenkins, but they sent him to the Cubs in 1966 for.Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson. They also had the original title to Alex Johnson, who just won the American League batting crown, but traded him away. \ That all might seem like so many bad trades or so much water under the bridge, but things really haven't changed much in the City of Brotherly Love. This summer, the Phils offered Henry McGraw, who played for their Pacific Coast League farm club, because his hair was too long. They said something about long hair hurting the image of their "system", which is bad enough in itself, but the real rub of it all is that McGraw hit .302 the year before for Reading, the third best mark in the Eastern League: He may not have been a second Willie Mays or a Mickie Mantle, but one suspects that a .302 hitter, even in Class A ball, could have helped a team like Philadelphia. The attitude of the Phils towards McGraw, and the attitude towards Allen and Johnson, who they said were too hard tohandle, is indicative of a sickness among baseball management. They seem, for the most part, unable to toler-. ate any display of individualism, on the body or in the mind. It's an attitude you find in the army, where they shave your head and beat your brains in. It's bad enough there, but the army was never meant to be fun. Baseball was, even when you're losing. Famous PIZZA & CHICKEN from THOMPSON'S PIZZA 211 E. ANN ST. (Next to Armory) CALL 761-0001 FREE DELIVERY-7 Days a Week-FREE DELIVERY 4 I - - I I or call I, Cold, Greasy Pizza! is not our business-BOOKS ARE! Next time you're out at the Fox Village, why not stop in and browse among our extensive collection of hardcovers and paper- backs.' *You'll read us loud and clear. L LITTLE PROFESSOR BOOK CENTER M Maple Village Shopping Center Open every night till 9:00 662-4110 7 ~ LIVE LOBSTER-BIGGEST IN TOWN Choose Your Own from Our Tank Open from I1 A.M.-2 P.M. 27 miles from 4 P.M.-10 P.M. NORTH CAMPUS NO 8-9387 5400 PLYMOUTH RD. 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