Tuesday, August 15, 1972
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Seven
O's, Yanks spark Tiger hopes
Sports of The Daily
I
The agony of .. .
. . a .500 club
By DAN BORUS
SPORTS, AFTER ALL, are a logical extension of number
games. In a realm based on swifter, higher, farther and all
that it is only natural that numbers would be used for the
language of the knowledgeable.
In this age of specialization, sports, like all components of
the society, 'have developed a jargon localized for its own
particular needs. Like a computer technologists, a sports buff is
consigned forever in a world of numerals.
For the true fan what and not how is important. The number
not the performance or execution has ruled his judgment because,
in part, it has ruled his language.
For one versed in the tongue of sportese, .300, 714, and 60*
are as important as a "curve low and away" or "split T."
Numbers in sportese take on meanings above and beyond their
pure numerical significance.
This jargon, which is an instant pass to both the glories and
agonies of sport, has caused sleep anguish to me, a Cardinal fan
from birth.
The reason can be plainly seen in the sports pages across
the land. As of yesterday the darlings from the Gateway City
were 3 games below .500. .500 as most hot stovers know, is the
demarcation line between good and bad teams. Any team below
that mark is not a serious contender for kudos. (An exception
being, of course, competition in the Eastern Division of the
American League, where any record at all will put you in
contention).
But the Cardinals, you understand, are never mediocre. Even
when they have a poor record, I'm always sure that some gnome
has inverted the standings before the paper went to the presses
and that the Redbirds are actually in first place.
The sun never sets on the Cardinals. Even after you've left
the city with the World's Biggest Croquet Wicket, you're still a .
Cardinal. Just look at Steve Carlton, Mike Torrez, Dick Allen,
Vic Davilillo, Leron Lee, Tim McCarver ....
But trying to tell someone wha wasn't weened on Harry
Caray that the Cardinals are a decent ball club, nay a great
ballclub all you get is vacant stares and "Who the hell are you
kidding?' And the fans, true sportese speakers that they are
take up the standings and say, ".499 that's pure garbage." No
matter that they could whip the Tigers easy enough.
And they are right of course. The Cardinals are inexplicably
failing. They are not winning like they used to do when Curt
Flood was in center field and Orlando Cepeda at first. An the
new heros, who are just as capable: Joe Torre, Lou Brock (he's
an old timer actually), Ted Sizemore, and the Ole Fireballer
himself, Bob Gibson, somehow just can't cut the mustard.
You Out it down on paper and you look through the line-up
and it looks solid. It feels right with the good clean taste of all
outdoors. But the sportese speakers know different.
Well the pitching staff is not dazzling. Makeshift is a good
word for it and a very kind one at that. But they are Cardinals
and the sun never sets.
All this is true. You just can't beat the Pirates on spit alone
without pitching and Scipio Spinks, who was getting good, ran
through the sign and into Johnny Bench and out of the league
for the rest of the season. But I, for one, can't reconcile myself
to their fate.
In a way, it is my fault for I accept the premises of sportese,
of numerical judgment of players. But then again I revolt at
the thought because it means trouble for the Cards. They are my
boys and I know they are good. "They'll finish second. Any club
would like to have a line-up with Brock and Matty Alou, with a
young prospect likeTed Simmons. They'll come back." All these
flash through my head.
But you can't prove it. We're in fourth and two mediocre
clubs are ahead of us. Maybe as I grow up I can reconcile myself
to this fact, but as one who holds to this day Brock was never
out at the plate in the Series, I fear this is asking much too much.
* *
REGULAR READERS of this column will have noticed the
antipathy that the Tigers are exclusively held. "Can't
those drunken degenerates say anything nice about our guys?
Can't those murderers of the English language put in a good
word for an old club staggering on its last legs?
Well, since most of us are kind sorts and don't like to laugh
at funerals, maybe a few words at the bottom of this long and
sometime self-indulgent column would be in order. Maybe it
would restore someone's faith in mankind.
So here goes:
I went to the Tiger doubleheader Sunday and I have a few
nice things to say about the Tigers. (This is roughly equivalent
to telling Richard Nixon I think he's doing a great job as prez).
They won the first game and a lot of nice, clean young men '
have Ds on their uniform.
Finally let me say in all honesty that Edide Brinkman is
the best clean up man ever to play in Detroit.
From Wire Service Reports
In this light and tumble base-
ball season, when nothing is pro-
ceeding as predicted, the Detroit
Tigers seem to be doing well only
when they are not playing. Using
a lay-off to advantage, the Ben-
gals gained ground as their rivals
fell in American League East
baseball action last night.
The high-flying Orioles saw
their first place lead slim as they
dropped a 5-2 decision to the
Oakland Athletics. The New York
Yanks, fielding like the 1960
Mets, handed the Kansas City
Royals a 3-0 victory. This means
the Tigers, ferocious cats that
they are, are in second place
only one game from the summit.
Magic Number????
Even though the Tigers got
good news from the East Coast
1.ist night, can any serious
sports fan think they have a
Republican's prayer in Ann
Arbor's first ward to capture
the AL crown? Since the sane
answer is no, seehave dispens-
ed tonight with the box in order
to spare Tiger tears.
The O's lost the easy way as
Mike Epstein and Joe Rudi
slugged home runs and Bert
Campaneris scored two A runs
after dazzling the Birds with his
base running. Epstein's 19th
came in the fourth and Rudi's
16th in the fifth off loser Jim
Palmer, 15-6. Camparneris earn-
ed his run in the fifth by forcing
a Palmer balk.
The O's, forgetting that they
were in a pennant race, wasted
six hits in the first four innings.
Dave Johnson homered and
Chico Salmon's first hit of the
young season along with singles
by Paul Blair and Bobby Grich
proved too much for Mr. Holtz-
man
In New York Steve Kline's
ERA was untouched but his won-
lost record was as Gene Michael
and Horace Clarke kicked away
chances that opened the flood
gates fur theahard-hitting Royals
in the third and seventh inning.
In a way it was 'a moot point
since Bruce Dal Canton was in
the process of allowing just four
hits and retiring, at one point,
23 Yankee batsmen in a row.
Lions battle
Browns here
Michigan Stadium will be the
scene of football action again
this weekend when the Detroit
Lions make their annual visit to
Ann Arbor and host the Cleve-
land Browns. Game time Sunday
is 2:00 p.m. and plenty of good
tickets are still available at the
Michigan Ticket Office, State and
Hoover.
The Lions who are again ex-
pected to be leading contenders
in the National Football Confer-
ence's Central Division have split
a pair of exhibition game's to
date, against a pair of top notch
opponents.
Their first game pitted the
Lions against Super Bowl losers,
Miami, and they got by the Dol-
phins, 31-23. But last Sunday af-
ter a good first half, Detroit fell
to Cincinnati's Bengals, 20-13.
Cleveland, always one of the
Lions' fiercest rivals, and easiest
victims, was 0-2 on its trip to the
west coast but has shown a good
defense although the young of-
fense is still developing. A host of
ex-Big Ten stars dot the Browns'
lineup including Purdue's Mike
Phipps at quarterback, and ex-
Illini tight end Doug Dieken, now
starting for Cleveland at offen-
sive tackle.
Sunday's game will also mark
the return of two former Wol-
verine stars to their college home
when the Browns' Paul Staroba
and Tom Darden take the field.
Darden is a probable starter in
the defensive backfield for Cleve-
land and Staroba will see action
at wide receiver as well as work-
ing as the Browns' punter.
FLYING HIGH, Brooks Robinson can only take the peg
in an attempt to stop Bert Campeneris (coming from
right). The 0's however, fell low and dropped the game
last night.
AMERICANS SQUAWK:
Chess halIt hilt
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (At') -
Bobby Fischer complained yes-
terday that Boris Spassky should-
n't have received a medical post-
ponement of the 14th world
championship chess game-be-
GOPrips
hems, 7a2
From Wire Service Reports
WASHINGTON - The Capital
Hill Republicans, using some
trick pitches learnedatthe knee
of their guiding light, downed
their Democratic rivals 7-2 in
Congressional softball action yes-
terday.
The Goppers whacked Dem
pitching ace Henry Gonzales of
Texas for five runs in the third
inning of the filibustered contest.
When Jimmy Symington, St.
Louis county's man with a plan,
lost a fly ball in the sun, the
Goppers scampered home to vic-
tory.
Republican strength at the
plate was evidenced by Barry
Goldwater Jr., batting from the
right, Bob Mathias, jumping over
everything in sight, and Wilmer
Mizell, who some may remember
as Cardinal and Pirate pitching
star.
cause his ailment was not spe-
cified.
Chief Referee Lothar Schmid
criticized the American for air-
ing a gripe "not in good spirit,"
but promised to consider it.
The Russian champion request-
ed the postponement from Sunday
to Tuesday after losing the 13th
game of the $250,000 match to
the 29-year-old challenger from
Brooklyn. Fischer now leads the
24-game series I points to 5.
Spassky, 35, needs 12 points to
retain his world crown. Fischer
must score 121/2 points to take the
title out of the Soviet Union for
the first time since 1948.
A letter containing4the com-
plaint was signed by Fred Cra-
mer, a Fischer aide.
"WE SUGGEST that the ex-
planation is too vague and in-
definite to meet the requirements
of a specific illness or injury as
set forth in the rules and the
certificate is therefore insuffi-
cient," it said.
Schmid said Monday night:
"He's quite wrong, and the let-
ter is not in a good spirit. I
believe Mr. Cramer is a light-
ing engineer, not a lawyer."
Snassky was believed working
with his team of seconds in a
search for a way to recover from
his deficit. He moves second to-
day with the black pieces and
experts say he has only a slim
chance to retain his crown.
Professional League Standings
Amnerican League National League
East Eastw Pe. B
W 1, Pet. (GB W 1,Pet. GBf
naltimore 60 50 .545 -_Pittsburgh 68 40 .630 -
netroit 59 51 .536 1 New York 57 49 .538 10
New York 58 51 .532 1 Chicago 58 52 .527 11
Boston 54 53 .505 4 St. Louis 52 55 .486 15'
Cleveland 51 58 .468 8S Montreal 49 58 .458 18/
Miwaukee 43 67 .391 17~ Philadelphia 41 67 .380 27
West . Test
Oaklan 65 46 .586 nnat 42 .11 -
V) ktHouston566 4 .5595TM
Chiago6t 46 4 1Los Angeles 57 50 .533 8
Mtnnesota 650.5286i> tlanta 16t .455 17
Kansas City 52 56 .481 111 anF so 4963.43815
Cat nia 49 40 SanDiego s 38924
Texas 44 65 404 20 Resultsw
Results Cincinnati 12.Atlanta2
Oaktand 5, Batimore 2ouston 7, San Francisco 5
KansasCityN3,Nw York 0 Other(tubs notschdled
(Other ctlubs aoltchdated 'Todaiy's Gme
Today 's Games Cincinnati (Simpson, 7-4) at 11a-
Catifornia (May, 5-8) at Cleveland diphia (Twitchell, 2-3), night
(Tidrow, 10-10), night Houston (uierker, 1-6) atMMontreal
New York (Kekich, 10-11) at Kansas (Stoneman, 9-9), night
City (Hedluna, 4-5), night Atlanta (scheler, 4-6) at New York
Boston (Curtis, 6-6) at Texas (stan- (McAndrew, 8-3), night
house, 2-2), night St. Louis (Cleveland, 12-8) at San
Minnesota (Corbin, 6-6) at Detroit tiego (Cardwell, 5-5), night
(Coleman, 12-11), night Pittsburgh (Briles, 11-5) at Los Angeles
Milwauter (Parsos, 9-0) at Chicagot (Osteen, 13-8),nigt
(Bradley, 12-),night Chicagos(Hads, 9-7) at San Francisco
Only games schedauled .(Maricha, 4-13), night