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.