ESmmnchnigi back. Raffo puts injury behind, goes on a tear By Mike Koolbeck Gazette sportswriter One of the sweetest sounds in baseball is the crack of a bat connecting with horsehide. Tommy Raffo has heard that sound many times during his baseball career from his days as a member of U.S. Junior Olympic Team, through his all-American career at Mississippi State and on into the pros. All that changed earlier this season when Raffo a designated hitter for the Cedar Rapids Reda entered a game at first base as a late-inning replacement for Joe De-Berry. "It was a freak type of thing," Raffo said of the collision with Clinton's Ray Jackson back on April 18. "It was a little blooper to the infield and my only play was to tag him. I put my left (throwing) hand on top of the ball to keep him from knocking it out and he ran into me. - "I thought it was just jammed. But we went to the doctor and he took an X-ray that showed a clean break." Rather than the one or two weeks he thought he might miss, Raffo was idled two months, "Because it also involved a ligament, that had pulled a piece of bone looset the doctor said if my thumb got pulled back it could just keep , getting reinjured and I could possibly end up having to have surgery," Raffo said. "We didn't want that." So Raffo found himself on the sidelines for the first time in his career. "I'd been hurt before but both times it happened during the summer and I had ample enough time to come back," he said mentioning a hand and knee injury. "At first it's a shock," said Raffo, who was voted team captain by his teammates just before the season opened. "Then you have to accept it and do what you can to help the MINOR LEAGUE NOTES team. Encourage them, slap 'em on the back, p"at 'em on the butt, whatever it takes. "That's the role I had to accept. I thought I had to show the guys I was backing them up 100 percent because I know they realized how much I wanted to be out there and they were encouraging me." Finally, Raffo was cleared to play again and was activated off the disabled list June 14. He went hitless.in his first three at-bats, dropping his average to .143. Since then he's been a terror. Through Friday, he was on a 14-for-21 tear that had raised his average to .310 and included two doubles, three home runs and eight RBI. "I'm just trying to do good things at the plate," said Raffo. Tve had a lot of time to watch our guys hit and we have some good hitters. When you watch guys hit well it reinforces good habits." Reds Manager Mark Berry said he's looking for some big things out of Raffo in the second half. "He's a great hitter and when he gets in one of these binges who knows how many hits he'll get," Berry said. Attendance watch Through Friday, the Reds had attracted 55,488 fans through the Memorial Stadium gates, an average of 1,632 per game. That is an increase of 10,820 through the same number of games a year ago. Most amazingly, the nearly 25 percent increase has been accomplished with a high mark of 3,899 "We're pretty happy with our consistency but we still haven't had that blockbuster night like they've had here in the past," Reds general man ager Jack Roeder said. "We've had a number of nights between 2,000 and 4,000 and that was what we were hoping to do. That's probably better than having 6,000 one night and less than 1.000 the next." Roeder still is holding out hope the Reds will reach the 150,000 goal he set before the season started. Last year, when the club had an actual gate count of 119,526, the Reds had seven crowds of more than 4,000 with a season-high of 7,313. At their current pace, the Reds will draw 107,712, although it must be pointed out there are several large promotional nights remaining, including last night's Sun Mart promotion featuring a postgame fireworks show that was expected to draw around 5,000. Concert business The Reds will get into the concert business this Thursday when they will host a Henry Lee Summer concert at Memorial Stadium. The concert, promoted by radio station KFMW of Waterloo, is part of the Freedom Festival activities occuring in the city this week. . Roeder said the club will make $1 per ticket plus all concessions. The team is responsible for security. On the Lookout(s) Chattanooga has introduced a national hotline telephone number for the latest information on the Lookouts, the first minor league club to do so. , The five-minute report will be updated daily before 8 a.m. (Iowa time) and will consist of game highlights, interviews with players and Manager Dave Miley, roster moves and oth-. er inside information. Cost is $1.95 per call plus 95 cents per minute. The number is 1-900-73-REDS-1.