Lolich hangs on . .
.. . despite age, injury
By DAVE RENBARGER
1968-the year of the Tigers.
Sometimes it's mighty tough to believe that nearly ten summers could
have past since that wonderful summer of '68. The many names-Lolich,
McLain, Kaline, Cash, Northrup-seem all too familiar to be a decade old
already.
But the fondest memories are usually the ones that stick around the
longest, and as every Tiger fan retains the images of the World Series
triumph, most of the players who made it happen are now calling the '68
season the highlight of a career long since completed.
Flamboyant Denny McLain won 31 games that year. Since then, he must
have attempted 31 comebacks and declared bankruptcy 31 times.
Al Kaline is now known for his occasionally glib commentary from the
Tiger TV booth instead of his prowess at the plate and in the outfield. Former
teammates Norm Cash and Jim Northrup now play for something called the
Caesars, but are finding a slow arching pitch tougher to hit than a high hard
one from Sam McDowell or Mel Stottlemyre.
Only Mickey Lolich remains.
A disabled former hero
The Mick was a 27-year-old fireballer ten years ago. He was the hero on
a team of heroes. His three victories in the seven-game series with the Cards
tied a record. So did his homer, which came on his first Series at-bat. Lolich
was the toast of the town.
Nowadays, the bionic-armed southpaw is on the roster of the San Diego
Padres, but, so far nobody in Southern California has lifted a glass in
Lolich's honor.
After managing to avoid the serious injury bug for 14 years-long
enough to pitch 3556 innings-Lolich tore some cartilage in his right knee
eight weeks ago. The layoff has stalled what looked like a successful
comeback from his year-long retirement.
"I had a very good spring training and I was pitching good at the begin-
ning of the season until this injury came along," said Lolich last weekend in
the Padre dugout after pitching batting practice at Chicago's Wrigley Field.
Lolich expects to be activated after the All-Star break, but still figures that
"it's probably gonna be a total of 12-13 weeks that I'll be out. That's half a
season right there. After being out of baseball for a whole year, I was sorta
hoping to have a good comeback year."
Unfortunately for the pot-bellied hurler, he's t going to walk off with
Comeback Player of the Year honors. Despite a 1- record and an 1.13 ERA,
Lolich has worked only 8 innings. That's not a whole lot for a guy who pitched
376 innings in one year and averaged 330 each year from '71-'74.
The funny thing about those eight innings of work is that they all came
as a reliever. "I've been a starter all my life but the Padres have three real
good lefthanded starters who are young fellows," he says. "They felt I'd be
more beneficial coming out of the bullpen due to my experience."
Eyeing strikeout milestone
Assuming a thorough recovery, it could very well be that Lolich might
escape the bullpen. The trio of Padre southpaws-Randy Jones, Bob
Owchinko and Bob Shirley-have a combined record of 11-16.
Lolich certainly realizes this, but doesn't act concerned one way or the
other. The Mick isn't one to make waves, not after the Padres rescued him
from ranks of the supposed washed-up major leaguers.
After the Tigers dealt their all-time winningest lefty to the Mets for
Rusty Staub in the winter of '75, Lolich pitched one year in New York and
then quit. This past winter, Lolich called on the Tigers again, but GM Jim
Campbell was more interested in his overflowing pool of promising young
pitchers and told Lolih so. When the Padres offered to make a bullpen man
out of him, Lolich accepted.
Somewhere along the line he regained his love for the game. "After this
year," he said, "I'd like to pitch for two more years and get 3,000 lifetime
strikeouts. It's just a number I'd like to get. It doesn't mean any specific spot
in a record book." Lolich already ranks as the top lefthanded strikeout pit-
cher in history with a current total of 2803.
But the whiffs don't come as easy as they once did, and Lolich is the first
to admit that he isn't the same pitcher as he was with the Tigers.
"Ten yeats ago I threw the balla lot harder and I could overpowwer the
hitters. I can'4 throw the ball right down the middle and blow guys away like
I used to. I have to hit the corners and keep the ball down. In return I don't
get as many strikeouts."
ANDY BEAN USES his body to coerce his birdie attempt into the 16th cup, but
the putt rimmed out during last Sunday's final round of the Memphis Classic.
Bean went on to defeat Lee Trevino in sudden death by sinking a 35-foot birdie
putt on the first hole to grab his second victory in as many weeks and looks strong
for this week's U.S. Open.
Nieklaus leads fiel
to U.S. Open tourney
By The Associasted Press
DENVER-As usual, the imposing
shadow of Jack Nicklaus looms over the
U.S. Open Golf Championship.
But the shadow isn't quite so all-
encompasing now. Other figures are
fighting their way out of it.
He's still the most imposing figure in
the game. But his rule is challenged.
He's played in 19 of the previous 77
American national championships.
He's won three of them.
"I'd sort of like to win another," he
smiled in understatement yesterday af-
ter a practice round over the 7,083-yard,
par-71 Cherry Hills Country Club cour-
se, site of the championship that begins
a 72-hole run tomorrow. "And I'd like to
win one real soon.
"It's been a couple of years since I
won a major. I've played well enough to
win several of them in that time, but it
just hasn't happened."
It's a fair appraisal. He lost in head-
to-head confrontations with Tom Wat-
son in both the Masters and British
Open last year. He missed a playoff for
the 1977 PGA national championship by
a single shot.
This year he failed to make a
challenge in the Masters only through
his own fault.
"I went into the Masters feeling I was
playing better than at any time in my
life. I went in there actually protecting
a lead."
And he comes into this one well
prepared-perhaps not as sharp as he
was in Augusta, but, by his own
estimation, very ready to make a run at
a record-matching fourth American
national title.
It was in this tournament, as a 20-
year-old amateur, 18 years ago that
Nicklaus made his first major
challenge in a professional event. He
shot 39 on the back nine and finished
second to Arnold Palmer with a 282
score-a record for an amateur.
Among the chief contenders, of cour-
se, are Tom Watson, Lee Trevino,
Hubert Green and Gary Player.
Watson, the heir apparent to Nicklaus
as the world's premier player, has his
credentials all in order. He's won three
times this season, tops the year's
money-winning list and was second in
his last start.
"Right now, winning the Open is the
most important thing to me," the
stocky redhead said.
SCORES
American Lague
Minnesota 2 Toronto0(1sttame)
Minnesota 7, Toronto2 (2nd game)
Baltimore 3, Seattle 2 (11 innings)
Milwaukee7, Detroit 2
Boston 5, california 0
New York S.Oakland 3
Kansascity 5, Texaa
National League
Atlanta 12, St. Louin
cineinnati 1, chicago0
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