Saturday, August 10, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Eleven Saturday, August 10, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sluggers bemoan HR By ED SHEARER time." By contrast, the American he said. "You don't even see AP Sports Writer Dick Allen, the unpredict- League fell only from 1,076 to balls go out in batting prac- Major league baseball's pro- able star of the Chicago White 1,020 and some National Leag- tice any more. It's a pitcher's duction of the one of the game's Sox and the game's home uers are of the opinion that the ball." most dramatic hits - the run leader this year, offered junior circuit had more horse- Only four teams in the Na- home run - has declined by the tongue-in-cheek comment hide baseballs in stock at the tional League showed an in- nine per cent this season. that "maybe we're using a start of the year . crease in the survey conducted Hank Aaron, the all - time livelier ball over here in the "If you hit the cowhide balls this week. Los Angeles had 30 home run king, is convinced the American League." once or twice, they go soft," more this year, the New York conversion to cowhide baseballs He may be correct. The re- says Aaron, the A t I a n t a Mets an additional 22, St. Louis is the reason. duction is more acute in the Braves' 40-year-old slugger who eight more and San Diego 13 Bobby Bonds of the San National League - a plunge became baseball's home run more. Francisco Giants agrees, say- from 1,033 in 1973 to 884 this king when he smashed the The White Sox and Texas ing, "I don't think everybody year through the same number 715th of his career April 8. Rangers showed the greatest in- just got weak at the same of games in each season. "They're just not carrying," creases in the AL - Chicago up by 26 and the Rangers by 19. Baltimore had one more homer than a year ago and California had an increase of five. Atlanta, playing in a park fondly called "the launching pad" in previous years because of its lusty yield of long balls, and the Giants showed the greatest decline. The Giants, who traded away slugger Willie McCovey, had 52 fewer and At- lanta 51 less. With Willie Stargell's produc- tion down from 32 last year to only 18 this year, the Pitts- / burgh Pirates showed a plunge of 39 home runs. Montreal had a reduction of 30 while Detroit AL, down from 117 to 90. Bonds, whose 15 homers is less than half what he had last year, said, "Of course, I'm having a bad year. May- be I shouldn't say anything. But some guys with 20 hom- ers are among the leaders. At this. time of the year, that's ridiculous." Through games of last Wed- drop nesday, Allen led the majors with 29 home runs. Jimmy Wynn of the Dodgers was the NL leader with 26. Aaron, Darrell Evans and Dave Johnson set a major league record last year when each hit 40 or more homers, marking the first time it had been done by three teammates. Through Atlanta's first 11 games in 1973, Evans had 30 homers, Aaron 28 and Johnson 25. At that point this season, Aaron had 15, Evans 13 and Johnson 10, a decline of 45 among them. Evans says he believes the ball is softer and that it has cost him five or six home runs, but he also acknow- edges he's not having as good a year in any phase of hitting. "But some of it is the balls," he said. "I've seen a couple of balls knocked lopsided this year. I've hit a couple that I thought didn't have a chance to stay in the park, but they were caught on the warning track." Allen says he never thinks about home runs. "My game is not built around home runs," he said. "As far as I'm concerned, there aren't enought all-around players in the game. During spring training Juan Beniquez of the Boston Red Sox actually knocked the cover off a ball in grounding out on the infield. Aaron said teammate Ralph Garr showed him a ball recently that had a dent in it. AP Photo SECOND ROUND leader John Schlee grimaces at a missed putt on the fourteenth green at the PGA championships yesterday. Schlee carted a 68 to retain the lead at the end of the day with a five under 135. IN PGA TOURNEY Player chasing Schlee CLEMMONS, N.C. (M,) - Gritty Gary Player birdied six times in a string of seven holes on his way to a record-matching 64 sod charged to within two strokes of leading John Schlee in Friday's rain-delayed second round of the PGA National championship. Player's six-under-par effort tied the record for the best 18-hole score ever recorded in the PGA and put him back in the thick of the fight in his quest for a third major title of the year. The muscular. little man from Johannesburg, South Africa, already the winner of the 1974 Masters and British Open titles, put together a two-round total of 137, three under par. The star-gazer Schlee, who shared the first- round lead with two others, salvaged a 67 with a miraculous par on the final hole and slipped into sole control with a 135. The graying 35-year-old Schlee flew the mud- encrusted ball over the green on his second shot on the 18th hole, swept it out of the deep, wet, clining rough across the green to the fringe some 22 feet from the cup - then made the putt that left him alone in first halfway through the last of the season's four major tests of golfing greatness. "SEE," grinned the pro tour's resident ama- teur astrologist. "When your signs are right you can do anything." The tall, rangy Schlee finished just moments before a heavy downpour which forced a 45- minute suspension of play, put at least two greens under water, filled bunkers and left pools and puddles dotting the hilly, heavily wooded, 6,050 Tanglewood Golf Club course. Hubert Green, who -has won three 1971 titles with his unorthodox putting style, was caught in the torrents. He scurried to the clubhouse then came back to sink a 25-foot putt that got him home in 68 .and second place at 136, just one shot out. Bobby Cole, a skinny young globetrotter from South Africa, also managed a 68 before the rains came and was tied with Player at 137, Defending champion Jack Nicklaus was well positioned at 138 after another 69. He was only three strokes back, obviously well pleased and sensing a prime opportunity to add to his record horde of 12 major professional titles. "I'm delighted with a pair of 69s," he said. "That's a very good start. "I'm amazed anyone could shoot 135 under these conditions. "I may have lost a stroke or two to the leader, but I lost a lot of other guys going the other way, too." 603 E. Liberty * Dial 665-6290 Open 12:45 daily, Shows at 1 -3-5-7-9 p.m. "".. boisterously Zany BARBRA funny her wackiest old-time farce... STREISAND For Pete's Sake, at her best!" See The Picture -Vincent Canby, N.Y. Times Already. You'll Absolutely Love It Know What I Mean? BARBRA STREISAND in "FOR PETE'S SAKE"