g gI . 6 0 0 * Ij 6 F* .'s 0 Page Eight THE MICHIGAN DAILY Thursday, August 13, 1970 RESER E CLUS UPHEL SfIiC a Cl IaiI Vol. LXXX, No. 66-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, August 13, 1970 Ten Cents DORM APPLICATIONS REJECTED .i The Court BASEBALL'S ANTI-TRUST EXEMPTION REAFFIRMED; APPEAL IS EXPECTED A. LEE KIRK. H ousing tight for ' 4' I Support jock lib .. . .., free Ralph Simpson FOR RALPH SIMPSON, basketball is a way of life, or rather it was. The Denver Rockets of the American Basket- ball Association signed the MSU soph as a hardship case this past spring, but the ensuing holy howl from colleges and the NCAA forced ABA commissioner Jack Dolph to rule that Simpson could not play until his college class graduated in 1972; and another athlete was victimized. Under NCAA rules, a player who signs any professional contract automatically forfeits his right to further collegiate competition. Thus, the mere act of signing the contract has almost certainly ended Simpson's playing days at Michigan State. Continued enforcement of Dolph's decision and NCAA rules would serve to keep Simpson sidelined until the 1972-73 season opens. He would gain nothing by attacking the NCAA regulations, so Simpson has filed a multi-million dollar suit against Den- ver, the ABA and Dolph. Money doesn't appear to be the object of the suit, as Denver has said they will honor his $1 million con- tract. Simpson apparently hopes to pressure the ABA into re- versing its decision and allowing him to play. Knocking the system is something most athletes won't do as it serves their purpose fairly well, but the system has not served Ralph Simpson at all. Youthful athletes aspiring to careers in the professional ranks must pass through well-defined stages in order to'reach their goal. First, there is high school competition, perhaps a year or two in a junior college pumping up the old grades, and then on to big time college competition. An athlete who fails at any of these stages has all but doomed his chances for a professional career. Only on rare occasions will this system fail to serve those it is designed to serve best, college and professional teams. The young football or basketball player coming out of high school is usually far from ready for professional competition. Collegiate competition gives him a chance to improve his skills, and the cost is often covered by a fat athletic scholarship. Until recently, the system has functioned well. Pro baseball continues to sign collegiate stars before they graduate, but a baseball player matures earlier than a gridder or hardcourt star. Pro football and basketball have shied away from premature signings in exchange for cooperation from universities and the NCAA. But when Denver signed Spencer Haywood, an Olympic star and teammate of Simpson's on Detroit Pershing's fan- tastic state championship team of 1967, relations beween the ABA and the NCAA became strained. Haywood had com- pleted only one season at the University of Detroit, but the Rockets signed him as a hardship case so he could provide for his large family. Simpson may also qualify as a hardship case, but his sign- ing within a year of Haywood's brought such pressure on Dolph that he felt cohpelled to ban Simpson from the league, regard- less, until Simpson's class graduated. Dolph's action was but an attempt to appease the NCAA, which had threatened to bar all ABA scouts from campuses, and since the NCAA never said it would allow Simpson to play again, it is hard to understand why Dolph felt compelled to bow down to them. Simpson's welfare was of concern to no one. He is one of those rare athletes whose talents blossomed too quickly for his own good. Simpson is ready now to play pro ball and make good money doing it, but he will have a hard time simply because he didn't complete four years of college, the completion of four years being more important than actual graduation. Hopefully, the ABA will see the error of its way and allow Simpson to play this season if indeed he is a legitimate hardship case. This is the only criterion on which they should be able to pass judgment, and by denying Simpson the right to play after he has signed a contract would seem to create a hardship case in itself, although the motivation for the ABA's final resolution of the case will probably be far less platonic than pragmatic. In all the furor surounding Simpson's signing, the role' of the NCAA has been overlooked, but they are the real vil- lains. Under the guise of amateurism, the NCAA all but en- slaves an athlete to the college of his choice for at least four years, and there is very little the athlete can do about it. Admittedly, the system is not bad for most athletes, but this is scarcely enough to justify its existence, especially when it works completely counter to the best interests of someone like Ralph Simpson. No amateur organization would claim exclusive rights to an athlete for four years, but for all in- tents and purposes, the NCAA does make this claim. The ABA could do everyone a favor by telling the NCAA where to get off and letting Simpson play this season. It would be quite a surprise if they did this, but until someone stands up to the NCAA and their blatant professional amateurism, there will-be more Ralph Simpson's." NEW YORK T - Curt Flood lost his suit against baseball yesterday when a federal judge upheld the le- gality of the sport's contro- versial reserve system and suggested any c h a n g e should be made through player-owner negotiations. In handing down his de- cision two months after the trial in open court ended, Judge Irving Ben Cooper denied Flood's bid for an in- junction a n d for damages in the $4.1 million anti-trust suit that was brought after he was traded by t h e St. Louis Cardinals to the Phil- adelphia Phillies. "There will, of course, be an appeal," said Allan Zerman, one of Flood's attorneys. Flood has alleged in his com- plaint that the reserve system, actually a set of rules, including a contract clause, that binds a player to the club that signs him until he is traded, sold of released, violated federal anti-- trust statutes. "Clearly the preponderance of credible proof does not favor elimination of the r e s e r v e clause," Cooper wrote in a 47- page decision. Instead, the judge said, the evidence suggested that "arbitration o r negotiation" might modify the system to satisfy all parties." Judge C o o p e r wrote that "from the standpoint of the ... player" the effect of the system is to "deny him througout his Would you buy a . 0 . Judge I. B. Cooper career freedom to chose his employer" but he noted base- ball's contention that the sys- tem is "reasonable and necessary to preserve the integrity of the game, maintain balanced com- petition and fan interest and encourage continued investment in player development. "We are convinced the parties conflicts between the parties are not irreconcilable and that negotiations could produce an accommodation. . . which would be eminently fair and equitable to all concerned." As for Flood's contention that the reserve system violated an- ti-trust laws, Judge Cooper wrote: ". . . baseball remains exempt from the antitrust laws unless and until the Supreme Court or Congress holds to the contrary." Curt Flood Marvin Miller, executive di- rector of the Players Asocia- tion, which supported Flood's suit, said "all that Judge Coo- per held is that it is up to the Supreme Court to overrule the Supreme Court. I think everyone knew it would be difficult for a district court to overrule the Su- preme Court. "I think there were significant points in the decision," Miller continued. "Judge Cooper ex- pressly refused to decide on the reasonableness of the reserve rule system. He clearly recog- nized the need for change in the reserve rule system. And he also stated his strong conviction that the matter can be negotiated. "This of course, has been our precise position for more than three years, but the owners have taken a contrary position." No, the President isn't trying to sell something. He merely is exhibiting the new symbol of the Post Office Department, a streamlined bald eagle. Nixon, who yesterday signed the postal reform bill, is with Postmaster- General WV i n t o n Blount who holds the old plaque. - -Associated Press ties APPROVES NEW ABM SITES Senate votes three GIBSON SETS RECORD Mets win; Pirate pitching fails By The Associated Press CINCINNATI - Wayne Gar- rett cracked two doubles and scored twice while Gary Gentry stymied Cincinnati on four hits last night as the New York Mets edged the Reds 2-1. The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the third inning as Garrett rip- ped a two-out double to right, moved to third on Mike Jor- gensen's infield hit and scored when pitcher Tony Cloninger, 5-4, misplayed the ball. * * * Bums bump Rucs PITTSBURGH - Wes Parker raced home with the tie break- ing run on an eighth inning wild pitch by Dave Giusti, start- ing the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 11-4 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates last night. eThe Dodgers exploded for sev- en runs in the ninth -off Giusti and two other relievers, with a key two-run single by Jeff Tor- borg and a two-run double by Willie Crawford highlighting the inning. Magnificent ! ! ST. LOUIS - Carl Taylor drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 14th inning last night to lift Bob Gibson and the Cardinals to a 5-4 victory over San Diego. Gibson pitched one helluva game, fanning 13 Padres to be- come the firsttplayer in major league history to whiff over 200 ;+{;;}}+tti}: si:"::;:.":1'.'':M-ycp v+s.41:+: : :: 1'V +".'+: '.".S.p., ' i ..9:t1 '+ ?:;":v?,::ti4: 'r }'"'}:. ,o {:,.{,,} : :>:%'J" : ,'fil q7:, Y ::$$: Yd;.:.:'+tij::v:r:.:,, {:s.;y:.;.}v:,% {{{:"!. ..1' ....,. 'ifY':+« :+. i4''+tJi: slli/: M: "A'4. X11.".:'.M.A.1.h'1...: ....}:+..V+M.Y.' 4'+.{ .i4+.'.Sti:l :SM.:.\S:'ihV:.}}:v:-. ?. +.L: Y.t1i +.:1:'ik' Major League Standings batters in eight different -sea- sons. He retired the last ten men he faced. Tigers tumble MILWAUKEE - Pinch-hitter Bernie Smith cracked a two-run, bases-loaded double to cap a four-run eighth inning that lift- ed the Milwaukee Brewers to a 6-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers last night. Lombhardi is seriously ill CHICAGO (P) - Jerry Kra- mer in a taped NBC television interview released on the net- work yesteday, described h i s former Green Bay Packer coach, Vince Lombardi, as "fighting for his life" in a Washington hospital. Lombardi, who left Green Bay to become head. man of the Washington Redskins, under- went surgery earlier this year and re-entered the hospital July 27. Kramer, a guard at Green Bay under Lombardi, was in- terviewed in Tulsa and the tape was run on Johnny Morris' tele- vision sports show on NBC's Chicago station WMAQ. "Lombardi was so weak he could hardly talk," Morris quot- ed Kramer as saying. "He has lost a lot of weight and looks very drawn. Lombardi told me: "I'm fighting to lick it.- to expand WASHINGTON (A)-The Senate voted a last-dit 52 to 47 yesterday to let President Nixon geographi expand the Safeguard antiballistic missile At the system. A little earlier it overwhelmingly Ronald L rejected a move to reduce the ABM pro- welcomes gram to a research-only basis. today byt Then it postponed action on still an- Making otheramendment to curb administration result thi development of the multibillion-dollar son (D-N system intended to protect the missiles Both men which would be used in retaliation if the changedt Soviet Union launched a nuclear first- strike. Anders The five-vote margin of victory for the administration was surprisingly large f in view of that fact that a year ago it : :' won by only a single vote when it sought' the initial authorization for deployment of Safeguard._ The amendment offered by Sens. John Sherman Cooper (R-Ky.) and Philip Hart (D-Mich.) would have barred the expansion of the program to two more- sites but would have allowed continua- tion of work on the two sites approved last year in Montana and North Dakota. The administration plans' now to go ahead with two more sites at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming and Whiteman AFB in Missouri. In pressing for - the expansion, Nixon argued that the four sites represent the minimum requirement to counter a pos- sible Soviet first-strike. And the admin- istration insisted also that the ABM de- ployment is essential as a bargaining tool for the United States in the current Stra- tegic Arms Limitation Talks with the Soviet Union. Sen. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.) failed