Page Twelve
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Saturday, May 22, 1971
Canonero: The colt belongs to the people
A*
BALTIMORE (A) - Canonero II, knock-
ing on the door of thoroughbred racing's
elusive Triple Crown, is in his owner's
eyes "truly a horse of the people."
While this Kentucky-bred colt came by
way of another continent to capture the
Kentucky Derby and Preakness and earn
W a chance at the Belmont on June 5, there
is another dimension to the story that
owner Don Pedro'Baptista is savoring.
"We have come up here-two Indians
and a black-with a horse that nobody be-
lieved in and we're destroying 300 years of
American racing tradition dominated by
the flower and the cream of your society,"
said the balding, slightly overweight 44-
year-oLd Venezuelan industrialist.
"This is a monumental event for inter-
national relations. You can't imagine the
impact this has had in Venezuela. Cano-
nero II is truly a horse of the people,
wo late
something the people can identify with."
Yet, Baptista feels the pressures to keep
the colt in his own country, for the people
are claiming the spirited animal and the
congress has cited him as a national hero.
To sell Canonero II-and the owner re-
ports the offers are as high as $5 million-
Michigan's thinclads had a pleasant
afternoon yesterday, and Johnny U and
Brooks Robinson will "tell it to Hanoi."
For details, see p. 11.
could bring the ill will of many fans in
Venezuela.
"How do you fix a price?" he asked.
"This horse is without a price.
"Imagine it . . . try to comprehend
what has happened to 300 years of tradi-
with a horse from abroad and done it
here in this great land," he continued.
The Indians to whom Baptista refers
are himself and jockey Gustavo Avila,
though neither is pure Indian. The black is
trainer Juan Arias, perhaps the first of
his race to saddle a winner in the Derby
and Preakness.
The 300 years of tradition are a com-
bination of 97 Derbys, 96 Preaknesses and
104 Belmonts, the owner confident of his
colt's chances in the last leg of the Triple
Crown. Calumet Farm's Citation, in 1948,
was the last to win the three big races.
Baptista was 23 when he acquired his
first horses. He has owned 260, won 260
races, and makes of hobby of the study of
bloodlines.
Kentucky-bred Canonero II was sold at
Keeneland in the fall of 1969 for $1,200 to
tista bought him for about $6,000 from
Navas and says the importer hardly could
have made any money on the deal, con-
sidering travel, medical, insurance and
other costs.
"This Canonero II has blood of blood,"
his owner said proudly.
The colt's name is derived from a type
of popular musical group in Venezuela,
the Canonero-Cannoners. Yet it wasn't un-
til the colt came to the United States last
year to race at Del Mar in California that
his name became Canonero II. There had
been a horse from Mexico named Cano-
nero and the Jockey Club advised a change
of names.
The owner continued: "At home, they
all call me crazy. Nobody, not even the
experts, thought we had a chance to win.
Nobody wants to believe this is really a
horse . "
Lion-two Indians and a black have come Venezuelan importer Luis Navas. Bap-
rallies gain
victory,
Special to The Daily
CHAMPAIGN - Who said the
sun never sits on the brutish um-
pire? Michigan's scrapping base-
ball team yesterday found out
that the sun sometimes sets very
fast indeed, as darkness halted
the second game of their double-
header with Illinois with the
teams deadlocked at 9-9 after
seven innings.
Michigan won the opener 6-4
in ten frames to keep its slender
hopes for a conference title alive,
but the tie in the second game,
coupled with Michigan State's
sweep of Purdue, gave the Spar-
tans the Big Ten title.
The Wolverines screamed and
howled when the game was halt-
ed shortly after 7 p.m., but to no
avail.
Perhaps the 'M' diamondmen
should have been grateful fo: the
darkness and the Illim charity
that allowed the Wolverines to
overcome a two-run deficit in the
seventh inning of the second
game.
With two men out and runners
on first and second, third base-
man Mark Carrow lofted a rou-
tine fly to right that should have
been the ball game. But lllini
rightfielder Bob Widmiler ha
the ball drop right out of his
glove.
He hurriedly picked it up and
fired home, and Wolverine catch-
er John Lonchar appeared to be
a dead duck. Lonchar, however,
has learned a few catcher's
tricks and he kicked the ball
loose and slid safely home. 'The
Illinois catcher panicked and
fired wildly trying to get Greg
Buss at third, and the Wolverine
pinch-runner trotted home to
deadlock the game.
Reliefer Dan Fife kspt the
home team at bay in their half
of the inning as twilight set in,
and the dispute began.
In addition to the three errors
committed on one play in the
seventh, the graceful host team
gave Michigan four unearned
runs in the fourth as the Wolver-
ines stormed from a four-run de-
ficit to take a 7-5 lead. Illinois
Dave Hill: How
you play the game
FORT WORTH, Tex. () -
S t o r m y Dave Hill purposely
signed an incorrect scorecard
and was disqualified from the
Colonial N at io na Invitation
Golf Tournament yesterday.
Hill, center of several major
controversies in recent years
faces a possible fine of $150 for
his actions.
Hill had no chance of making
the cut for the final two rounds
today and tomorrow. He had an
opening round 77, then his
scorer, Dick Hotz, marked down
a six for Hill's score on the fia.al
hole. Hill changed it to a ts9B
and signed for it, giving him a
second round 81 when his score
should have been 85.
tie for batsmen
stomped home four tallies in the
fifth to regain the lead and ret
the stage for the hectic seventh.
Slugging flychaser Leon Rob-
erts provided the Wolveroe
heroics in the first ganse as he
belted a two-run double in the top
of the tenth to give Pe'te Helt his
third Big Ten win against two
setbacks.
The Wolverines had sent the
contest into extra innings by
pushing across a run in the top
of the seventh. Carrow wa;hil
by a pitch with one out and went
to third on a single by Mike
Bowen. Mike DeCou then hit a
ground ball and Illinois went fur
the doubleplay. DeCou barely
beat the throw and Carrow
scampered home with the equal-
izer.
Michigan had jumped off to a
3-0 lead in the fourth. Jim Koc)-
Spartans grab
Big 10 pennant
From Wire service Reports
Michigan State clinched the
Big Ten baseball championship
yesterday by sweeping a dou-
bleheader from Purdue, 8-2 and
7-2, but the limelight was shared
by Purdue third baseman Terry
Wedgewood, t h e conference's
1 e a d i n g hitter, who swatted
himself into the record books.
Wedgewood, who smacked a
homer in the first game, broke
Harvey Kuenn's record for total
bases in a season.
Kuenn, an ex-Wisconsin great,
set the old record of 47 in 1952,
but Wedgewood easily bested it
with 50.
The Spartans' season record
of 12-2 is now inaccessible by
Michigan and other great"
schools.
In other action, Indiana edged
Northwestern 3-1 on a four-hit-
ter by Ron Beatty and then got
clobbered 14-4. Wisconsin beat
Ohio State 3-1 and then lost 6-3.
lowski singled home the first
run and starting pitcher Jim Bur-
ton plated two more with a boom-
ing triple. The Micihig n rally
came to an inglorious end when
the Wolverine hurler was tagged
out after oversliding third. v
Horton, who twirled a nos-hitter
against Northwestern last week
end, was not overly sharp. He
walked four while bing tagged
for two long home reins th't ac-
counted for all the Illinois runs.
and was lifted for a pinct-hitter
in the seventh.E
Coach Moby Benedict's teain,
now 23-12, can clinch second place
by sweeping its final two games
of the season at Purdue this aft-
ernoon.
Season's twilight
MICI. 00 300 100 2-6 12 1
Ill. 000 031 000 0-4 8 1
Osrtn, iient (1) and Muivihili;
Engle, Anderson (6) and Swakon. I
W-Heit; L-Anderson. HR-Ilinois, /5.
Dixon, 5 two on; Nicholson, 6 none
on.
MICH. 001 600 2-9 10 2 -Associated Press
ill. 000 040 0-9 53 5
Helt, Fleszar 4,Fife 5 and Hal- THE BIG 'D' stands for Dean. Dean Chance, that is, who twirled
vihin; Cortesi, Engle 4, Hauber 7 a three hitter for 7 2/3 innings last night, before succumbing to con-
and Swakon trol problems in the eighth. The Tigers beat Washington, 1-0.
CHANCE FINALLY WINS:
Iosox beltOrioles, fatten lead
I
From wire service Reports
Don't tell the Baltimore Orioles
and Washington Senators about
Jim Lonborg's and Dean
Chance's arm troubles.
Both hurlers were assumed to
be washed up long ago because
of recurrent physical problems,
but the only ones who needed
washing last night were the tear-
stained Nats and Birds.
Actually neither were around
at the finish, and Lonborg didn't
even get the victory for the Red
Sox. Lonborg was one out from
his first complete game in two
years, when Baltimore erupted
S Major League Standings -
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cast Division
W L Pct. GB
Boston 24 11 .686 -
Baltimore - 21 14 .600 3
Detroit 18 19 .486 7
New York 16 19 .457 8
Washington 15 22 .405 10
Cleveland 14 22 .389101 /2
West Division
Oakland 28 14 .667 -
Minnesota 20 19 .513 60'
Kansas City 19 19 .500 7
California 20 21 .488 71,
Milwaukee 14 21 .400 10',
Chicago 13 21 .382 11
Yesterday's Results
Cleveland 8, New York 7
Boston 8, Baltimore 4
Milwaukee at Kansas City, ppd.
Detroit 1, Washington 0
Minnesota at Oakland, inc.
Chicago at California, inc.
Today's Games
New York at Cleveland
Boston at Baltimore
Milwaukee at Kansas City
Washington at Detroit, 1:15 p.m.
Minnesota at Oakland
Chicago at California, night
NATIONAL LEAGUE
'East Division
W L Pct. GB
Pittsburgh 24' 15 .615 -
New York 22 15 .595 1
St. Louis 23 16 .591 1
Chicago 19 20 .487 5
Montreal 14 17 .452 6
Philadelphia 13 24 .350 10
West Division
San Francisco 29 10 .713 -
Atlanta 20 20 .500 61/2
Los Angeles 20 21 .48 9
Houston 19 21 .475 92
Cincinnati 16 23 .405 13
San Diego 12 27 .304 16
Yesterday's Results
Los Angeles 0, Chicago 1
Cincinnati 7, Philadelphia 3
New York 6, Atlanta2
Pittsburgh 6, Montreal 2
Houston 4, San Francisco 1
Today's Games
Los Angeles at Chicago
Cincinnati at Philadelphia, night
Pittsburgh at Montreal, night
Atlanta at New York
Pittsburgh at Montreal, night
san Francisco at Houston, night
San Diego at St. Louis, night
for two runs to send the game
into extra innings.
Lonborg allowed but six hits in
his 8 2/3 innings, and the Red
Sox won it in the 10th, 8-4, when
rampaging R i c o Petrocelli
doubled home Luis Aparicio with
the go-ahead run to give Boston
the first round in the two teams'
show-down series.
Dean Chance was even more
effective for the Tigers, and also
got the victory as he three hit
the Senators for his 7%3innings.
The Tigers scored the only
run off Washington's Jerry Jan-
eski in the 1-0 contest in the
fifth on doubles by Dalton Jones
and Ed Brinkman. Chance need-
ed relief help from Fred Scher-
man when he walked the bases
loaded in the eighth. It was
Chance's first victory in eight
decisions.
In the National League, St.
Louis and San Diego combined
for 23 runs, 28 hits and nine
errors, as the Cardinals came
from behind in one of the wild-
est games of the year to win
15-8.
The Redbirds, the m a j o r s
sluggingest team, trailed 1-3 in
the fourth, but came back for
four in that frame, one in the
next, one in the one after that,
and then four more in the fol-
lowing inning,
St. Louis, not known for home
run power, got homers from Joe
Torre, Jose Cardinal, who got
five RBIs, and Julian Javier. Lou
Brock and Matty Alou extended
their hitting streaks to 17 and
13 games, respectively.
The other two contending
teams in the NL East, New
York and Pittsburgh kept pace.
The Mets' Nolan Ryan threw a
four-hitter at Atlanta and got
last out help from Danny Fri-
sella, as New York beat the +
Braves and ended a five-game
skid, 6-2.
Pittsburgh beat Montreal 6-2
in 13 innings, as Willie Star-
gell's three-run blast led the
Bucs.
In the NL West, San Fran-
cisco lost a rare contest, as Larry +d
Dierker scattered nine hits to
record his seventh win against
one loss for Houston.
The Giants weren't the only
team to experience something
unusual. Cincinnati's light hit-
ting Dave Concepcion not only
hit his first homer of the year,
but also his first double and
drove in four runs as the Reds
walloped Philadelphia, * 7-3.
In an afternoon contest, Los
Angeles combined two four-run
innings to beat Chicago, 8-1.
Willie Davis, Jim Lefebvre and
Wes Parker drove home two runs
each. The recently obtained
Chris Cannizzaro ruined Claude
Osteen's shutout with a homer.
Cleveland scored twice off re-
liever Lindy McDaniel with four
singles in the bottom of the
ninth to beat New York, 8-7.
The Yanks had gone ahead in
the top of the inning on Danny
Cater's two run single.
IN THE LATE WEST Coast
games, Twins' Bert Blygven
hurled a four-hitter past Oak-
land, 10-1, and Chicago's Tom
Bradley five-hit California, 3-0,