The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, August 4, 1981-Page 15
BASEBALL'S SCHEDULE UNSETTLED
Owners meeting postponed
y
CHICAGO (AP) - A scheduled
meeting of major league baseball
owners, gradually recovering from the
effects of the 50-day strike, has been
postponed two days because of the air
traffic controllers' strike.
The meeting, originally set for today,
was rescheduled for Thursday in
Chicago. If travel still is blocked on that
date, the owners will discuss the set-
tlement of baseball's 50-day strike and
plans for the remainder of the season
by conference call.
One choice is to finish the season in
regular fashion and let the divisional
championships fall where they may. A
popular alternative is to split the season
in half and start new races when cham-
pionship play resumes Monday
following the All-Star Game at
Cleveland Sunday night.
The split season, commonplace in the
Reds don 't want
a splt season
minor leagues, appears to be the way
the owners will go because interest
would be stimulated among teams that
are all but out of their respective races.
Teams like the New York Yankees,
the Oakland A's, the Los Angeles
Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies
probably would favor the split season
because they already would have clin-
ched playoff berths by being declared
winners of the first half.
Teams emerging as winners in the
second half would play a mini-playoff
series with the first-half winners to
determine each divisional champion. If
a team wins both halves, it would
receive a bye before entering the pen-
nant playoffs.
This type of playoff would extend the
season and push back the World Series
for as long as a week.
There also is the possibility that one
league might vote to play out the season
in regular fashion and the other might
opt for the split season.
In such a case, Commissioner Bowie
Kuhn would be called upon to resolve
the matter and Kuhn has indicated he is
in favor of the split season.
In fact, there are some in baseball -
Heywood Sullivan, owner of the Boston
Red Sox, for one - who favor the split
season permanently.
Also on the agenda will be owner ap-
proval of the settlement reached last
week between negotiating teams of the
players and the owners.
The executive board of the Major
League Players Association met Satur-
day and unanimously approved the set-
tlement. The player representatives of
each club, with MLPA Executive
Director Marvin Miller urging adop-
tion, were to take a vote of players this
week.
National League owners also are ex-
pected to approve sale of the Chicago
Cubs by William Wrigley Jr. for $20.5
million to the Tribune Co., which was
announced June 15.
By RON POLLACK
Daily Sports Writer
The owners of the 28 major league
ball clubs have between today and the
August ninth All-Star game to decide
whether a split or continuous season
will be used, and no team is more in-
terested in, or affected by, the decision
than the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds
were a half game behind the Los
Angeles Dodgers in the National
League's West Division when the 50-day
baseball strike started. Thus a con-
tinuous season would be in the Reds'
best interests.
"We wouldn't want a split season,"
said Cincinnati manager John Mc-
Namara. "It's probably a selfish
reason, but being a half game back, and
with Houston in third place seven and a
game.
"At this point, every game we play
means a lot since there are a limited
number of games," said outfielder
Mike Vail. "That's why we're trying to
get in shape as quickly as we can."
NOT ONLY will each contest take on
greater significance in division races,
but teams will not have the luxury of
giving an untested player an oppor-
tunity to perform in game situations.
"In a 162-game season, we can ex-
periment with a guy," said Cincinnati
pitching coach Bill Fischer. "But when
we hit the field Monday (when the Reds
resume the regular season against the
Dodgers) for a 51-game season, we
can't experiment."
While the players and coaches can
only speculate as to what type of season
'If the owners have a split
season, it might accelerate get-
ting fans into the stadium sin-
ce if a team like Chicago or
San Diego gets hot, then
they're in the race.'
-George Foster
Tigers in good shape-
for opening game
DETROIT (UPI)-Manager Sparky Anderson is "amazed" by the con-
dition of his Detroit Tigers and thinks they'll be better than people expect
Aug. 10 when the strike-abbreviated season resumes.
"I don't think we're going to be near as bad (out of shape) as some guys
figure we are," Anderson said yesterday following a sparsely attended
workout at Tiger Stadium.x
ONLY 1,665 CAME out in a light morning drizzle to watch the Tigers go
through their third day of drills. Detroit tentatively has planned just two in-
tra-squad games this week, the second scheduled for Friday night.
"Our pitchers look good. It looks like they were doing some throwing,"
Anderson said.
"Like a couple of our guys said, they didn't want anyone knowing they
were throwing.
"THEY DIDN'T TALK about it because they didn't want any of the owners
or anybody to know they were doing it," he said.
"I'm not concerned that we'll be that far away," Anderson said. "I was
before. A lot of it (how they bounce back) will be youth.
"We've got a very good attitude here that I'm very pleased with," he said.
PITCHING COACH Roger Craig of the Tigers is predicating his post-strike
pitching assumptions on ace Jack Morris appearing in Sunday's All-Star
game.
Current plans, contingent upon Morris pitching in the All-Star game Craig
said, call for Milt Wilcox to pitch when Toronto comes in Monday night to
open the second season. He would be followed by lefthander Dan Schatzeder
and Morris.
Dan Petry would start the first contest of the four-game weekend series
with the New York Yankees, followed by Wilcox, Schatzeder and Morris.
"IF MORRIS DOESN'T pitch in the All-Star game," Craig said, "then
he'll start first."
"If he doesn't pitch in the All-Star game," Anderson said, "there ought to
be some sort of investigation. He leads the league in innings-pitched, wins,
and he won eight in a row before the strike ... If he doesn't pitch in the All-
Star game this year, he never will."
Detroit works out again today and tomorrow, with the pitchers throwing
batting practice, before playing intra-squad games Thursday morning and
Friday night. h
MORRIS, WILCOX, Aurelio Lopez and Kevin Saucier will divide the pit-
ching for a pair of teams Anderson will make up Thursday.
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half games behind us, we could gear
ourselves at one team - the Dodgers."
Infielder Junior Kennedy, meanwhile,
looked at both sides of the issue. "Ob-
viously we don't want a split season
because we're so close to first place.
But obviously, if I were on a team eight
or nine games back, I would want it."
ALTHOUGH A team's record will
rplay a role in each owner's decision
regarding what type of season will be
played, it is not the only factor that will
be considered. Expressing this view
was outfielder George Foster, who was
the Reds' player representative during
the strike. "If the owners have a split
season, it might accelerate getting fans
into the stadium since if a team like
Chicago or San Diego gets hot, then
they're in the race."
Regardless of the owners' decision,
the pennant races will be decided by a
reduced number of games than usual,
thus magnifying the importance of each
the owners will choose for them to play
and what differences there will be in a
reduced and full season, there is one
question that the players are currently
trying to answer: Were their differen-
ces with the owners worth going on
strike over? Foster contends that they
were.
"We were pushed into a corner where
we either gave them what they asked
for or go on strike," he explained. "I
feel we gained ground from what they
were asking. If we had given in now, it
not only would have hurt us now, but in
the future. So whatever sacrifice we
made, I think was worth it. I feel that
the proposals are good, but it's a step
back although not a big step."
Foster concluded by noting that at
times, the strike's negotiations were
very frustrating for him. "You go into a
meeting one day and a proposal is
given, and the next day it changes.
That's when you feel you nolonger want
to be player rep."