The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday- January 27, 1992 - Page 3

Fisk
The future Hall of Famer talks
about the 1992 White Sox team

Jeff Sheran

Over his long career, White Sox
catcher Carlton Fisk has established
himself as one of the greatest players
ever to play the position. He owns
the record for most home runs hit by
a catcher, and at the age of 43, is
still arguably the American League's
premier backstop.
While he is best remembered for
his dramatic game-winning home
run in Game Six of the 1975 World
Series, there are great expectations
for "Pudge" and his Sox to create
even more memories this season.
Recently, Daily Sports Writer Rod
Loewenthal spoke with Fisk about
the White Sox and their competition
in the American League West.
Daily: There have been a lot of
changes in personnel for the White
Sox over the winter. As a catcher,
you must have been upset to see
Melido Perez go, but then again you
got Steve Sax, who is a solid second
baseman, a potential All-Star. How
do you view the transactions man-
agement has made so far?
Fisk: Well, anytime you give up
a pitcher for an everyday player, you
run the risk of not having enough
pitching. And Melido - who was
expected to be a starter last year,
but showed his most value coming
out of the bullpen in long relief - I
think because he didn't.develop into
a starter last year, he was considered
a little more expendable than if he
was.
And getting Steve Sax in return,
I mean, you have to give up a little
bit of quality to receive quality..
And Steve Sax, he's an everyday
player and he's a proven major
'Of course, our
offense, with the
hammers that we
have, plus the
addition to the lineup
of Steve Sax, going
into the season, I
think we've gotta be
the team to contend
with.'
league player, so he's going to add a
little spark to our offensive lineup.
D: Coming off their world
championship last October, would
you consider the Minnesota Twins
the team to beat?
F: Well, I don't know whether
you would or not. They lost Dan
Gladden, and they lost Jack Morris,
so they may not be ranked number
one this year. I think Toronto may
be ranked number one in the East,
and in the West, I think. we may be
rated right up there, along with a
couple other teams that still have
the personnel to be there.
Kansas City improved them-
selves, from a poor offense, Oak-
land's always going to be tough,
Texas is always scary, because they
can either be real good, or they can
be not so good.
D: Would you say the West is
baseball's best division?
F: The reason it is the best, and

has been the best, is the pitching.
Every staff in the last few years has
had four quality pitchers. And it's
going to be the case again this year.
It's going to be the team who has
the pitching.
Minnesota lost Jack Morris, so
he's going to be missed. And we
gained Kirk McCaskill, so if he

who comes from the other league.
He comes from the National League,
where the pitchers do hit, where
there's a little bit different strategy
involved. He comes to a new league,
so he has to learn the other teams in
the league, and most importantly,
the other teams in our division.
But, maybe most importantly, he

I'm a new player I don't want to
have him think I'm not a very good
manager or shouldn't be here for the
job.'
In any type of team effort, it
takes the whole team. And that's
from the manager, through his
coaches, and all the way down to the
very last guy on the staff. So, it's a
group process, and hopefully we all
can learn together.
D: You were involved in perhaps
the most exciting World Series
'Oh, I think that I'm
going to be a very
vital part of his
learning, of our team
and of our league. I've
been in this league for
20 years and this is
his first year, so,
hopefully, he'll come
to me.'
ever, in '75. How do you think that
compared with the most recent
World Series, which people are
calling another classic? Did you feel
the same type of excitement, of
course, you weren't in it, it's not the
same, but do you think the two
compare favorably'?
F: It's tough to compare and
contrast Series that you play in and
Series that you don't play in.
I think there's been a lot of ter-
rific moments in the playoffs and
World Series, and that's what I re-
member most about the Series, the
moments that made the Series mem-
orable, as opposed to who won or
who lost, or who I was cheering for.
But the Twins, in both their Se-
ries, the '87 Series and now this
most recent one, both those Series
were as exciting as you can get. They
lost all their games on the road and
won all their games at home, so it's,
pretty exciting. I was definitely
glad that the American League won,
and especially a team from our divi-
sion. We finished second to Min-
nesota this year.
D: I thought they were going to
slow up come August.
F: We thought they were going
to have a little slow spot. They
didn't have one. They didn't have a
slow spot after May. They never
lost more than three in a row from
the beginning of May till the end of
the year, and if they had, we'd have
caught them.
They just played really well. We
played well, but sometimes, teams
that get on that roll, and, of course I
think they have an advantage playing
in their home ballpark.
D: Where they blow the air out
when they hit, and blow it back
when you're hitting?
F: It could be. They could do a
lot of things there that you don't
know. But if there is a team, that has
a home-team advantage, or a home-
field advantage, it's them.-I was real
happy for them, it was an exciting
Series and I hope we create an excit-
ing Series next year.

Notre Dame tragedy felt
all over, especially here
Two people were killed and 34 others injured when the Notre Dame
women's swim team overturned early Friday morning. No one here was
injured, but many of us felt the effects of the tragedy.
I didn't know Meg Beeler or Colleen Hipp. Neither did thousands of
Notre Dame students who turned out for a Mass Friday afternoon in
honor of the two 19-year-olds.
But I couldn't help feeling a strange immediacy when I heard about
the crash. I've driven in snowy conditions. I've driven late at night. I've
driven back from Evanston on the Indiana Toll Road.
Not during any of these situations did I ever expect anything bad to
happen. I don't imagine the swim team did, either. That's part of why it's
so shocking.
Beeler and Hipp were pinned by the overturned bus when it hit a patch
of snow. They were probably sleeping after an exhausting meet at
Northwestern.
Thousands of collegiate sports teams travel each weekend. If you
think about it, the odds favor an accident like this from time to time. But
you can never, ever, be prepared for something this random and inexplica-
ble.
Michigan's own women's swim team competed at Ohio State this
weekend. They filed into the bus, got on U.S. 23 and headed south. It
snowed here, like it did in South Bend, and the driving conditions were no
doubt hazardous.
The Michigan swimmers heard what had happened, and were under-
standably shaken.
"Most people were pretty nervous," said Amy Bohnert, a junior on
the team. "This was so fresh in our minds."
The immediacy I felt to the tragedy can be nothing compared to how
the Michigan swimmers felt. Notre Dame and Michigan fall in the same
recruiting areas, a situation which often acquaints each team's swimmers
with each other. Some of the Michigan athletes even had close personal
ties with those injured in the crash.
"Swimming is such a closely knit community," said Jim Richardson,
Michigan's women's swimming coach. "Something like that has far-
reaching effects."
The effects reached at least as far as St. Louis, where Hipp was from.
Her funeral is today, and Notre Dame University flew scores of team-
mates and fellow students down to attend the services.
Eighteen-year-old Haley Scott, also in her first year at Notre Dame, is
now bedridden in a South Bend hospital after twice undergoing surgery
for a serious back injury. Her room, and much of her hospital corridor, is
inundated with balloons and flowers.
The university, which canceled the weekend's athletic events, has dis-
played a warm outpouring of support and sympathy in the wake of the
crash. Hopefully the campus unity will help ease the pain more quickly.
I think college students sometimes feel a sense of solidarity with one
another, especially when their schools are closely related. When a Iowa
student went on a killing spree throughout the Iowa City campus last
semester, it was especially hard-hitting at Michigan and other Big Ten
universities.
Fortunately, there will be no resentment and ill-feeling at Notre
Dame like there was following the Iowa tragedy. And those who mourn
at Notre Dame, in St. Louis, and across the nation should know that oth-
ers understand the shock and the pain.
Especially in Ann Arbor.
Women gynnasts score
season high at Ohio State


KENNETH SMOLLER/Daily
White Sox catcher Carlton Fisk plans to return to the playoffs thit year.

pitches like he did last year, he's go-
ing to he something that's going to
allow our pitching staff to be as
good as everybody elses'.
Of course, our offense, with the
hammers that we have, plus the
addition to the lineup of Steve Sax,
going into the season, I think we've
gotta be the team to contend with.
D: That's interesting with the
managerial change of Gene Lamont
replacing Jeff Torborg, in that
you're not only the elder statesman
of the team, you have a new guy
coming in, an unproven guy, it's a
new chemistry, this guy's going to
have to prove himself. How do you
view the situation?
F: That's always the scary part
about getting new management,
whether it be a new general man-
ager, or a new manager, new coaches,
they have to spend some time
recognizing their team and the
players in their organization. They
have to do a certain evaluation to
determine how they're gonna use
those players.
But, especially, with a guy like
our new manager, Gene Lamont,

has to learn all the players on the
team - what they can do, what they
can't do, what they're expected to
do, how well they execute, how well
prepared they are, how they'll react
and respond in different situations,
and what he can basically ask a
player to do.
Our previous manager, Jeff Tor-
borg, was the guy there at the devel-
oping stage of all our young players.
So he knew how they reacted, how
they responded, what he could ex-
pect and what he could demand from
his players. This new guy has to
learn that. I guess hopefully that's
what spring training's for.
D: Do you see yourself easing his
transition?
F: Oh, I think that I'm going to
be a very vital part of his learning,
of our team and of our league. I've
been in this league for 20 years and
this is his first year, so, hopefully,
he'll come to me. Hopefully, we'll
be able to work on it together.
I hope he doesn't say, 'Well,
geez, I don't want to ask him be-
cause I don't want him to think I
don't know what I'm doing. Seeing

by Andy Stabile
Daily Sports Writer
Every time something bad hap-
pens to the Michigan women's
gymnastics team, something good
seems to come of it. The team has
struggled through injury after in-
jury this season, and yet, its perfor-
mance continues to improve.
Such was the case Saturday in
Columbus, where the Wolverines
defeated Ohio State, 187.2-184.7..
The victory brings Michigan's
record to 3-0, but more significant
than the record is the team's im-
proving score. Last week against
West Virginia and Pitt, the Wolver-
ines posted 185.95 points.
"We're doing amazingly well
considering this is only the second
meet," Michigan co-captain Diane
Armento said.
In fact, Saturday's score equals
Michigan's highest dual meet total
from last season - achieved against
Michigan State midway through

room for improvement," Armento
said.
Improvement lies, in part, on
staying on the balance beam. Falls
from the beam may have been all
that kept Michigan from breaking
its own school record.
Redshirt frosh Beth Wymer took
a fall from the beam and still
claimed the all-around title at the
meet with a score of 38.2. Wymer
tied or eclipsed the school-record
marks on the other three individual
events.
Michigan juniors Ali Winski
(37.65) and Debbie Geiger (37.00)
finished third and fifth in the all-
around competition. Sophomore
Nicole Simpson (36.85) finished
sixth.
The rare win in Columbus was
especially sweet for the Wolver-
ines, who travelled with only eight
gymnasts and competed on unfamil-
iar equipment.
"They had equipment most
teams don't have, so we had to ad-
just to that," Armento said.

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March.
"It took us until our second-to-
last meet to get to this point last
year. And there is still so much

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