Men's Tennis
vs. Ball State
Today, 2:30 p.m.
Liberty Sports Complex

SPORTS

Baseball
vs. Michigan State (DH)
Tomorrow, 1 p.m.
Ray Fisher Stadium


The Michigan Daily

Tuesday, April 19, 1988

Page 10

x

Wanted: Manager

"

Previous
A baseball manager is a lot like a
human cannonball. Getting. in, both
know they eventually will be fired.
And, like the circus performers,
managers take their act on the road.
After being fired, they usually return
in a new city, only to be fired again.
Only Billy Martin keeps his act un-
der the same Big Top.
The unfortunate victims of the
wheel o' managers are the new ap-
plicants for the positions. When
jogs open, inevitably a former man-
ger is hired. It is easier to break
into Fort Knox than the managerial
profession.
Crawling out of his hole this
winter was the Gerbil, Don Zimmer.
Former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee
coined the nickname for Zimmer's
resemblance to a corpulent rodent.
tiie Gerbil's career lowlights as
t6xas and Boston manager include
blowing a 14-game lead in 1978,
trading Lee for something called
Stan Papi, and ruining the careers of
Butch Hobson and Bill Campbell by
overworking them.
SZimmer's qualifications appealed
o the Chicago Cubs, a last-place
(ea that realizedrthey had little tal-
~nt for him to ruin. In his first
weeks as Cub manager, the Gerbil's
exploits have included two suicide
Squeezes with his catcher at bat, and
attempting a double steal with two
" .Y .'{
L
p ,

experience required
?Tip of the Kap
& BY RICK KAPLAN

outs in the ninth, trailing by one
run.
BY CONTRAST, the National
League East's other rodent, Whitey
"The White Rat" Herzog of St.
Louis, may be the finest manager in
the majors. Despite having pitchers
John Tudor, Danny Cox, and Ken
Dayley on the disabled list, Herzog
kept the Cardinals in the pennant
race. Then he led St. Louis to the
World Series without Jack Clark, his
only slugger, and superb fielding
third baseman Terry Pendleton.
Herzog is a master of utilizing
his entire bench. It was no coinci-
dence that utilitymen Tom Lawless
and Jose Oquendo, neither of whom
can be compared to Stan Musial,
both hit crucial post-season home
runs. The Rat has perfected the dou-
ble switch, often placing ace reliever
Todd Worrell in right field, allowing
him to return to the mound later in
the inning.
Whitey's genius is rare among
managers. More tend to be like the
vastly overrated John McNamara and
Davey Johnson. Anyone who saw
the 1986 World Series (a.k.a. the
Managerial Dumb Off) can attest the
quality of those two skippers.
The Mets' Johnson kept the Red
Sox alive by inserting rookie short-
stop Kevin Elster into the series;
McNamara countered by leaving the
comatose Bill Buckner on the field.
But McNamara cliched the title of
Baseball Bonehead when he used
batting-practice pitcher Al Nipper
instead of Oil Can Boyd in Game 7.
Jimy Williams and Gene Mauch
also deserve mention in the Catas-
trophic Collapse category. Williams'
Blue Jays choked last season after
holding a three-and-a-half game lead
with seven to play. If the Blue Jays
don't get off to a quick start, Jimy
may be looking for an "m" in the
unemployment line.
Mauch, the recently retired An-

gels' manager, is best remembered
for his 1964 Phillies, which blew a
23-game lead. Then in 1982 and
1986, the Angels were eliminated
from the American League playoffs
by losing the last three games. In 26
years as a big-league manager,
Mauch never won a pennant. He did
not have the best talent, but a career
record of 1903-2037 aptly sums up
his career: a loser.
INSTEAD OF recycling man-
agerial losers like Frank Robinson,
hired last week by the Baltimore
Orioles, general managers ought to
look to fresh new talent. Tom Kelly,
in his first full season in the majors,
led the Minnesota Twins to the
world championship last year.
Other teams with managerial
openings should follow the Twins'
lead and hire a rookie skipper.
Coaches Bill Robinson and Billy
Williams deserve a chance over re-
treads like John Felske or Rene
Lachemann.
Only a great manager like Billy
Martin deserves to be rehired. And
fired. And rehired...

/

Photo by JULIE HOLLMAN
Attack Rich Kotite (No. 46) and midfield Adam Bovone (No. 7) look to pick up the ball against Toledo on April
10. The men's lacrosse team won the Big Ten championship last weekend.
MEN'S LAX TEAM CONQUERS CONFERENCE
o "
Lacrosse wins Big 'Ten
By BETHANY KLIPEC portunity to play on the first day of the tournament.
When the Michigan men's lacrosse team left for Sunday's.final-round game against Purdue was a
Evanston, Il. and the Big Ten Club Lacrosse Tourna- different story. Having lost the week before to Miclii-
ment last Friday, it was with a mixture of confidence, gan in Ann Arbor, the Boilermakers entered Sunday's
hope, and determination. contest with a strong desire to avenge that 10-4 loss.
The confidence was justified. Coming into the This desire was manifest in their intensity, as Purdue
weekend with an impressive 11-3 season record, the took an early lead and maintained it throughout much
Wolverines had played and beaten all but two of the of the game.
participating teams-Iowa and Wisconsin. After being down 5-3 at the half and 7-5 after the
After dropping last year's final game to Wisconsin, third quarter, Michigan came on big in the fourth quar-
second seed Michigan entered the tournament planning ter, outscoring Purdue 4-1. "Moose" Kennedy once
to prove itself a dominant force in Big Ten lacrosse. It again figured prominently in the offense with four
accomplished just that, winning the tournament in a goals and'three assists.
well-fought match against Purdue, 9-8. The real scoring story, though, lies in the distribu-
tion of the goals, as the midfielders came through on
On Saturday, Michigan grabbed a first-round win four of the nine, with middie Tim Reilly tossing in the
from Iowa, 8-2. Sophomore attackman Mike Kennedy winning goal.
scored three goals and two assists, while teammate According to starting goalie Rob DiGiovanni, who
Mike Carr recorded three goals and one assist in the recorded 23 saves on the day, the Purdue game marked
victory. the first time in the season when the midfielders really
In their second game, the Wolverines topped Illinois worked as a unit. "It was a total team effort," said Di-
by a score of 9-4. Scoring plaudits were earned by Carr Giovanni.
and Club President Rick Engel, with five and three "I knew that we had skill, but this come-from-be-
goals, respectively. Michigan was able to maintain a hind win shows character as well," said Coach Bob
comfortable margin throughout both of these contests, DiGiovanni. "We've proved that we're the best in Big
allowing each of the players who made the trip the op- Ten club lacrosse."
How to stan out
m0 rod

Ob

'/

Zimmer
... "The Gerbil"

Herzog
... "The White Rat"

,4,


7wr data
systems
~-" THE QUAUTY GOES IN BEFORE THE NAME GOES ON"
The Flat Tension Monitor:
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-14" Display, OCLI nonglare treatment
-31.49 KHz Scan Frequency, Analog Input
- 50% Greater Brightness and Contrast
over conventional monitors
- Resolution of up to 640 X 480
- .28mm Dot Pitch
The Z-248 Personal Desktop Computer:
- Advanced 16-Bit 80286 Processor
Running at 8 MHz, oWS
- Advanced 31 Khz Video Providing
640 X 480 Resolution
- 512KB RAM
-20 MB or 40 MB Hard Drive
- MS-DOS 3.2 and MS-Windows Ver. 2.0
- Runs OS/2 from Microsoft
The Z-386 Personal Desktop Computer:

It

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How to get the Card now.
College is the first sign of success. And because we
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Whether you're a freshman, senior or
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Or call 1-800-THE-CARD and ask for
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The American Express Card.
Don't Leave School Without Its

0

- Advanced 32-Bit 80386 Processor
Running at 16 MHz, oWs
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640 X 480 Resolution
- 2 Additional 32-Bit Slots Available
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LAn r1 % n n n - J R Af5% IA I: - - - -nA

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