Page Twelve
THE SUMMER DAI LY
Wednesday, lone6, 1973
Now, for Houston, number 9 .. .
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, the World
Hockey Association is here to stay!
After surviving a lean initial campaign
the WHA is about to soldify itself on the
gporting scene by signing the rival Na-
tional Hockey League's greatest player,
Gordie Howe.
When Howe does sign with the Houston
Aeros, as did his two sons yesterday, it
will give the WHA the two biggest scorers
and superstars in NHL history, Howe and
Bobby "The Golden Jet" Hull. Add to
this, the fact that many good, young
players are jumping in the new league,
it is becoming clear that the WHA is
coming of age.
For the WHA it is a coup of grand pro-
portions; for Howe, it is a dream come
true. Ever since his sons, Mark, 18, and
Marty, 19, have expressed interest in play-
ing professional hockey, the 45-year-old
winger has said publicly that he wanted
to play on the same line as his boys . .
hnd to play in Detroit.
But somehow, it never worked out. The
NHL established a rule against signing
players before completion of their junior
eligibility. After bouts with the Canadian
TR mentin
- chuck bloom
Parliament in the early '60's, the NHL Now in an effort to save some face and
agreed not to sign anybody under 20. its superstar, NHL president Clarence
This seems foolish as compared to other Campbell and Wing owner Bruce Norris
professional sports. Baseball signs school- have offered Howe a post as "goodwill
boys right out of high school and fresh- ambassador and public relations man for
men plead hardship and sign big pro the National Hockey League . . ."
basketball contracts. This is an insult to a man of Howe's
Even though Howe has served in the De- stature. Norris' statement sounds a lot
troit Red Wing organization for 27 years, like the one he made when announcing
one senses that his talents are being that Howe was a Red Wing executive.
wasted. After his retirement two years Neither Campbell nor Norris care anything
ago, Howe was given a vice-presidency about the younger Howes, only in exploit-
with the club in charge of public relations. ing Gordie Howe as a PR man for their
It was a more-or-less meaningless posi- own league in its fight with the WHA.
tion with little authority. He was power- Perhaps if Howe were general mana-
less to help the Wings who were desper- ger of the Detroit Hockey Club, he would-
ately trying to make the playoffs but n't be so anxious to play in Houston, a
always falling short. strange city with unfamiliar fans. If only
Norris had tried to allow Detroit to sign
his sons, maybe Houston wouldn't be
moments away from signing Number Nine.
Howe stated yesterday that the only
thing standing in the way of his inking
a contract was money, one of the thinnest
barriers that exists today. There is little
doubt that come September, Howe will
be opposing teams like the New York
Golden Blades, the New England Whal-
ers, the Minnesota Fighting Saints, and
maybe even a Detroit franchise.
And as one Detroit sportscaster an-
nounced a few days ago, the hockey fans
in Detroit were flooding his office with
requests for information on the Aero's
opening game. I suspect that they will
make up a large portion of the crowd that
sees Howe's return to active duty.
Perhaps the greatest loss will be to the
city of Detroit, itself. The greatest sports
hero in Detroit history is about to leave
and the citizenry has no say about it.
However, the Red Wings did have a
chance to do something to say but instead
chose to say nothing; almost as if the
whole thing was one big joke. But they
aren't laughing now.
EIGHTH INNING SINK SOX
Oriole rally nips Wood
From Wire Service Reports
BALTIMORE - Tommy Davis,
Baltimore's designated h i t t e r,
singled home the tying and lead
'uns and Bobby Grich stole home
in a four-run eighth-inning rally
that lifted the Orioles to a 7-4
victory over 13-game winner Wil-
bur Wood and the Chicago White
Sox last night.
Boog Powell, who hit a three-
run homer in the fifth, led off
the eighth with a single, the fifth
hit off Wood, and pinch runner
Enos Cabell was sacrificed to
second. A walk to Rich Coggins
and Grich's infield hit loaded the
bases before Davis laced a 1-2
pitch to left field.
Al Bumbry ran for Davis and
broke for second. When Wood
wheeled to throw to second,
Grich took off for the plate and
scored standing up. Don Baylor's
RBI double chased Wood and
saddled the knuckleballer with
his second straight setback and
fifth of the season. The White
Sox have dropped four in a row.
Powell's homer, only his sec-
and of the season, wiped out a
2-0 Chicago lead built on Dick
Allen's 13th homer in the third
inning off Mike Cuellar. Eddie
Leon tied the score for the White
Sox with a sixth-inning homer
and Ed Hermann put them on
top 4-3 with a run-scoring single
in the seventh.
Padres carded
ST. LOUIS - Jose Cruz slam-
med a tie-breaking two-run triple
with two out-in the eighth inning
and scored on a wild pitch, lift-
ing the torrid St. Louis Cardinals
to a 5-3 victory over the San
Diego Padres last night.
Ted Simmons started the up-
rising with a one-out double off
loser Bill Greif, 4-6, and Tim Mc-
Carver was purposely passed.
After Luis Melendez flied out,
Cruz tripled to right field and
scored when Greif uncorked a
wild pitch.
The Cardinals, who have won
four in a row and 15 of their last
17 games, scored in the second
on a walk and singles by Mc-
Carver and Cruz.
Cubs dodgered
CHICAGO - Ron Cey's three-
run homer capped a four-run
first inning yesterday and Willie
Davis rapped out four hits to lead
the Los Angeles Dodgers to a
10-1 victory over the Chicago
Cubs.
The Dodgers struck against
Ferguson Jenkins, 6-4, after two
were out in the first inning. Da-
vis doubled, Joe Ferguson walk-
ed and Willie Crawford singled
Davis home before Cey hit his
seventh homer over the left field
bleachers.
Rangers yanked
ARLINGTON, Tex. - Jim Ray
Hart smashed a three-run homer,
Roy White clubbed a two-run
shot and Ron Blomberg drove in
three runs with a single and
double last night, leading the
New York Yankees to an 8-6 vic-
tory over the Texas Rangers.
Summer Daily
Sports
Tigers lead
ANAHEIM-After four and a
half innings, the Detroit Tigers
lead California 5-2. Leading the
Bengal attack was Eddie Brink-
man who doubled home a run in
the second inning and crashed
a home run off of reliever Rudy
May in the fifth.
After Detroit scored two runs
in the top of the first, Frank
Robinson tied the game in the
bottom half with a two-run shot
to deep center field.
Mickey Stanley strained liga-
ments in his knee in the first
inning and will be out of action
Malor League
.. Standings
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East
W L Pet. Ga
Detroit 27 22 .551 -
New York 27 24 .529 1
aaltimore 23 22 .211 2
aston 23 25 .479 3 j
Milwaukee 23 26 .469 4
Cleveland 20 30 .400 7%
West
Chicago 27 19 .600 -
Minnesota 26 21 .553 11
Kansas City 30 25 .545 11,
California 25 22 .532 2!/
Oakland 26 26 .500 4'/,
Texas 16 31 .348 11 J
Results
Minnesota at Cleveland, postponed
Baltimore 7, Chicago 4
Boston 9, Kansas City 2
New York 8, Texas 6
Milwaukee at Oakland, inc.
Detroit 5, California 2, (6th inning)
Today's Games
Minnesota (Kaat 6-3 and pecker 0-0
at Cleveland (Tidrow 4-6 and Lamb
2-2), dh
Kansas City (Splittorff 8-3) at Boston
(Lee 5-2)
Chicago (Fisher 5-3) at Baltimore
(Alexaoder 4-1)
New York (Kline 3-5) at Texas (35er-
rit t0-0)
Milwaukee (Slaton 2-4) at Oakland
(Hunte, 6-3)
Detroit (Coleran 10-3) at California
(Singer 9-2)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East
W L Pct. GB
Chicago 31 21 .596 -
Pittsburgh 23 23 .50 5
Montreal 22 23 .488 5
New York 22 25 .468 6'
St. Louts 23 25 .479 6
Philadelphia 20 31 .392 104
West
San Francisco 37 29 .649 -
Los Angeles 32 21 .604 3
Cincinnati 29 23 .558 5t.
Houston 30 26 .535 6V
Atlanta 18 33 .349 16
San Diego 19 35 .351 160%
Results
Los Angeles 10, Chicago 1
Montreal 7, Atlanta 6
New York at Cincinnati, ine.
San Francisco 3, Pittsburgh 2
Philadelphia 4, Houston 0
St. Louis 5, San Diego 3
Today's Games
Los Angeles (Sutton 7-3) at Chicago
(Hooton 5-3)
Atlanta (Niekro 3-2) at Montreal
(Torrez 3-5)
san Francisco (Marichal 6-4) at Pitts-
burgh (Blass 3-3)
Philadelphia (Ruthven 1-4) at Hous-
ton (Dierker 0-0)
San Diego (Kirby 2-5) at St. Louis
(Gibson 3-6)
AP Photo
THE INCOMPARABLE WILLIE MAYS slides safely into home last night during the injury-riddled Mets' encounter with the Reds. New
York had several key players hurt and Mays, himself, just returned from the disabled list.