Temporary
n-Sa hn-ity
By Billy Sohn
Light dims for Yanks ...
Rivers is a victim
T HE WORLD Champions are falling apart.
Dissention is the disease which inflicts the two-time Champion New
York Yankees. The latest victim felt the crushing blow Monday when he was
traded to the Texas Rangers.
Mickey Rivers had his ups and downs with the Yankees. Basically, he
was a moody person. His temper, however, fit in line with the rest of the
tempers on the team.
Rivers will be sorely missed by New York. He was often the catalyst for
a very powerful team. His leadoff position in the batting order, secure since
the day he put on the pinstripes, exempliies his crucial role. Now, he's
history.
Well into the second half of the season and 14 games behind the
trailblazing Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees prospects to just winning their
division, needless to say the World Series, are becoming dimmer and dim-
mer. Their fourth place status with the Detroit Tigers on their tails has a lot
to be desired.
Rivers, acquired by the Yanks in a deal with California before the 1976
season, played three full seasons in centerfield for the Yankees. In those
three seasons, the Yanks won three American League pennants and the last
two World Series.
During his stint with New York, the outfielder batted .312, .326, and .265
respectively. When he got his notice a couple of days ago, he was hitting .287.
How do the Yankees prosper from the absence of this fine yet difficult
ballplayer?
Fate is inescapable
On paper, the Yankees will receive Domingo Ramos, a shortstop sent by
New York to Texas in the Sparky Lyle-Juan Beniquez deal, and Mike Hart
and Gary Gray. Both Hart and Gray can play the outfield as well as first
base.
In terms of rhetoric, which flows from the front office after a controver-
sial trade such as this one, the Yanks lose maybe in the short-term, but in the
long-term they are better off. In other words, they have spent Rivers' talent
wisely in their view, and have banked for the future.
However, there is one fault in this logic. The Yankees are not plagued by
the future, at least not yet. Their problems are now. They are in a bind. The
all-mighty Yankees probably will not win a fourth consecutive pennant.
Despite the similar situation to that of last summer when the Yanks surged
past the division-leading Boston Red Sox to take the pennant and then the
Wrld Series, there is an important difference.
The difference is Billy Martin, or should I say, the absence of Bob
Lemon
Like Lemon had, Martin now has a nearly impossible task ahead of him.
He's got both his pride and his job on the line. The thus-far calm Martin has
handled the Reggie Jackson syndrome relatively well in contrast to the past.
Yet, he has done little to bolster his team's record in the standings of the
American League East.
Thereason for the sudden and swift deterioration of the Yankees this
season lies not in the evaluation of their talent, but in the atmosphere
surrounding the controversial ballclub. After all, nobody ever doubted
Rivers' talent. It was his attitude that the front office, that is George Stein-
brenner and Billy Martin, evaluated.
The missing duo
Rivers has reportedly been a problem to the team. He is his own man and
has been difficult to discipline. But why should this upset anybody? What
else does one expect from a Yankee? Maybe Rivers was just following suit
with Reggie Jackson.
The team is simply plagued by selfishness and the "me first" attitude
that is becoming more and more common among professional sports in this
country. Jackson, Sparky Lyle, Thurmon Munson, Catfish Hunter, Ken Holt-
zman, and Rivers - the names are all familiar.
Perhaps the lack of leadership is the cause for all this dissension. Lemon
was able to lead the volatile team. He had a free hand given to him by Stein-
brenner to do the impossible. He also had the help of Al Rosen. The Rosen-
Lemon tandem was a tremendous asset to the troubled team. But most of all,
from an outsider's view, Lemon was able to command the necessary amount
of respect from his ballplayers to make them into champions.
When a manager has a reputation of scrapping for this and that just as
his players do, he is automatically brought down to the players' level in this
respect. He is nolonger leading.
It is this predicament which has brought woe to the Yankees, to Billy
Martin, and to George Steinbrenner.
Where are you Al and Bob when we need you most?
The Michigan Daily--Wednesday, August 1, 1979--Page 11
Michigan swimmer,
Canales grabs gold
By the AssocatedPress
MOSCOW-Michigan junior Fernando
Canales, swimming for his native
Puerto Rico, won the gold medal in the
100-meter freestyle swimming event at
the Spartacade Games, outstroking two
Soviets ina close race.
Canales was clocked 31.81 seconds in
the sport's glamor event at the Lenin
Sports Park outdoor pool Monday night.
Sergei Koplyakov of the Soviet Union
finished in 51.87 for the silver medal
and teammate Sergei Krasyuk took the
bronze, 52.27.
MICHELE FORD of Australia won a
gold medal in the women's 800-meter
freestyle in closing events Tuesday. She
clocked 8:44.38, just ahead of Russian
Oksana Komissarova, with her team-
mate Galina Emelyanenko third.
Alexander Sidorenko of the Soviet
Union won the men's 400 meter in-
dividual medley Tuesday, in 4:24.78.
Teammate Sergei Fesenko took the
silver, 4:25.22, and Miroslav Rolko of
Czechoslovakia bronze, 4:30.88.
* * *
Churella highlighted
MOSCOW-Four American wrestlers
leave here tonight with one silver
medal in the under 82-kilogram event at
the Spartacade Games.
DON SCHULER, 25, of Fountain
Valley, Calif., finished second in the
Pirate's
Candelaria
is O.K.
MEADVILLE, Pa. (AP) - Pit-
tsburgh Pirate pitcher John Candelaria
was treated at a hospital yesterday af-
ter a two-car crash and released with
what a doctor said was a back sprain.
Injuries to five persons, including a
Rochester, N.Y., family of three,
traveling in the other car were not
serious, medical authorities said.
The Pirates said the 25-year-old left-
hander was driving alone when the
collision occurred along Interstate 79
five miles south of Meadville in
Crawford County. Rain had fallen in the
area shortly before the collision, the
Pirates said.
Candelaria's injury did, not appear
serious.
"He had soreness in his lower back,
but X-rays were negative. How long
he's going to be sore is hard to tell,"
said Dr. William Moyers, emergency
room chief at Meadville City Hospital.
Candelaria, who starts for the Pirates
despite chronic back problems, said he
planned to pitch as scheduled Saturday.
"I think he cn do it," Moyers said.
BILLIARDS
at the
UNION
Open l1:3Oam M-F
1 pm Sat & Sun
180-pound category at the pre-Olympic
competition, losing in Saturday's final
to Makhomedkhan Aratsilov of the
Soviet Union.
The other three U.S. freestylers
failed to qualify for the medal finals,
although two of them managed to notch
victories in the preliminaries.
MARK CHURELLA, 22, of Ann Ar-
bor, Mich., won two and lost two mat-
ches in the early rounds of the 74-
k'logram or 163-pound class. Churella is
a three time NCAA wrestling champion
at Michigan.
Mark Mangianti, 25, of Tempe, Ariz.,
won his first match and then lost the
F p
Fernando Canales
next two in the 57-kilogram or 125-
pound class.
Richard Salamone, 21, of Rochester,
N.Y., was eliminated in the 42-kilogram
or 105-pound class when he lost his first
two matches to Soviet wrestlers.
THE FOUR-MAN U.S. Greco-Roman
contingent failed to win any of their
preliminary matches and were
eliminated.
The team was coached by Jim Hum-
phrey of Norman, Okla.
ARE YOU LETTING
CLASSES GET TO
Take a10W1 break
... you deserve it
.. ... r 4 1 - .. L
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