Wednesday, August 10, 1977 THE MICHIGAN DAILY * Page Eleven Morris bolsters Tiger staff By DAVE RENBARGER Special To The Daily DETROIT-Jack Morris needs a nickname. Maybe that would change his luck. After all, the latest addition to the young Tiger starting rota- tion will be trying to follow in the colossal footsteps of a couple of other Bengals who faired - pretty well in their freshman campaigns-a. k. a. "The Bird". and "The Rose." WITHOUT AN off-beat pseu- donym like his two predecessors, it might seem a hit unlikely that M o r r i s, the tall, 22-year-old righthander purohased f r o m Evansville only last July 25, would strike fear in the hearts of rival American League hit- ters. And, if you believe that one, just ask some of the hitters on the Texas Rangers what they think of Morris. And, if you're having trouble thinking of a home-made nick- name for the young flamethrow- er, try "Jack the Jewel" be- cause he's already tossed a pair of pitching gems at the Rangers in his first two major league starts. GETTING HIS first look at big league batters, including the All he needs is a nickname likes of seasoned hitters Mike Hargrove, Claudell Washington, and Willie Horton among others, Morris limited the Texans to a pair of runs on only four hits in nine innings in his starting de-. but on July 31 in Arlington. For-an encore, Morris return- ed to Tiger Stadium last Friday to face the Rangers again. This time he refused to even yield a base hit until two were gone in the sixth, when Ranger Bump Wills ruined his no-hit bid with a double directly over third base. Included in the two-game per- formance was a string of 10%/ innings of hitless baseball. May- be that wouldn't impress Cleve-' land's Dennis Eckersley, but it's not too bad for a kid in only his second year of pro ball, fresh out of the Triple A circuit. "I THREW the ball fairly well," Morris said in a docu- mented understatement. "I had all three of my pitches (fastball, slider and change-up). When that happens, I'm going to be tough." Despite the two impressive outings and a 3.20 earned run average, as compared to the Tiger staff mark of 3.92, Morris is still looknng for that first major league victory. The Ti- gers dropped both contests to Texas in extra innings to leave Morris with a couple of goose eggs for a won-loss mark. His regular turn in manager Ralph Houk's five-man rotation comes up again tonight, as Mor- ris goes to the hill at Tiger-Sta- dium against the Milwaukee Brewers. "THIS IS the first time I've ever pitched against them (the Brewers) so I'm just going to have to go with what I've got," he said of tonight's assignment. "I'll just have to talk to some of the catchers who know some of them to see what to throw and what not to throw. "I'm really looking forward to that first win, too," he added can get the guys out," he ex- plained. "I know I can pitch and have a lot of confidence in my- self. A lot of people think it's cockiness for a young kid to come up with my attitude. But I can't get too surprised just be- ing here or I wouldn't be able to do the job I'm capable of." Even though Morris has en- countered a touch of hard luck in his first two non-decisions, he prefers to bide his time and wait for a few breaks. softly. "YOU CAN'T get frustrated in "It's one thing to get here (to this game," figured Morris. the majors), but it's aonther "Even if you go 0-9 or 0-10 you thing to stay here and win here. still gotta have a positive atti- After all, that's my job and I tude. I know that things will just hope that I can do it." start going my way if I keep pitching the way I have." MORRIS ISN'T just hoping to Morris' self-assured and con- become a success on the major fident tone abruptly changed to league level, he knows he will, one of admiration and respect He is definitely not lacking in when his name was mentioned the confidence department. in the same breath with the "If you wanna win in this Tigers' two star righthanded game, you gotta feel that you See MORRIS, Page 12 GaPubc Service of this newspaper& The AdvertsngCouni counted n us. ft's a spewing smoke- stack. It's litter in the streets. It's a river where fish can't live. You know what pollu- tion is. But not everyone does. So the next time you see pollution, don't close your eyes to it. Write a letter. Make a call. Point it out to someone who can do something about it. People start pollution. People can stop it. ®. KeepAmerica Beautiful ' Pa rAe s isim ,New.Y , *N.Y:10016 A 1ASeOeOrrNs Newsp8per b If Red Cross hadn't trained young Lars Alecksen in lifesaving tech- niqueslast summer AdamGauthier just might have ended up one more drowning statistic. (Adam's alive and well today, thank you, and in the first grade in Manitowoc, XVisconsin.) We'renot asking for medals (Lars is the one who deserves those). But we do need your continued support. Help us. Because the things we / / do really help. In your own neighborhood. And across America. And the world. WeW count!ng can u YOU Red Ct'OSS. " The Good ?i o Red ~ The Good Neighbor.