The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 31

HWIWWI.IUlHa.jE Pittsburgh (Z.Smith 7-7) at Pittsburgh 4 CINCINNATI Cincinnati (Brown 0-0), 7:05 p.m. QUINN WON'T FORGET: Reds' GM will forever remember Billy Hatcher's contributionsD-5. LOST ANGELS NO MORE: California ends 1 1 -game losing streakD-4. SMOLTZ SIGNALS: Braves' pitcher tosses shutout at CubsD-4. Cardinals at Dodgers, 9, 7, 3 p.m.

Pirates at Reds, SportsChannel, 7:05 p.m. Braves at Cubs, WGN, WTBS, 8 p.m. THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER EDITOR: GREG NOBLE, 768-8438 SATURDAY, JULY 11, 1992 SECTION MMO Met tennisD-3 Pro footbaIlD-3 DigestD-5 GolfD-6 0 Seattle 5 New York 2 San Dieao 8 Philadelphia 7 Boston 6 Chicago 5 Montreal 3 San Fran. 2 Minnesota 5 Baltimore 2 Atlanta 4 Chicago Oakland 5 Toronto 1 New York 7 Houston 6 California 6 Detroit 1 St. Louis 3 Los Angeles 1 Kansas City 3 Milwaukee 1 Texas 6 Cleveland 5 Sip 1 Pirates raim on Reds9 parade 4-0 loss comes after long delay BY JOHN ERARDI The Cincinnati Enquirer It was a game not even a night owl could have endured.

After a 3-hour and 16-minute rain delay Friday's game was to have started at 7:35 p.m., but didn't commence until 10:51 p.m. the Pittsburgh Pirates finally emerged victorious, 4-0, over the Reds at 1:36 a.m. Doug Drabek (7-7) got the victory, Chris Ham mond (5-5) the loss. yT Buechele dealt for Jackson When the game started, Steve Buechele was a Pittsburgh Pirate. But by the end of Friday night's rain delay at Riverfront Stadium, the third baseman had left the game for a pinch hitter in the second inning after being traded to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Danny Jackson, a former Red.

Actually, the game could have been stopped after six innings. The Reds trailed 4-0. The Pirates first dented Hammond in the fifth inning. Cecil Espy hit a one-out single to center, and scored on a double into the left-field corner by John Wehner. Jose Lind's bounder over third baseman Darnell Cole's head sent Wehner to third.

Drabek's single to left scored Wehner. South Bend new home for BY D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER The Cincinnati Enquirer The College Football Hall of Fame appears set to pack up its trophy cases and move to South Bend, Ind. The reason: dwindling attendance. The Hall, which is adjacent to Kings Island Amusement Park, closed temporarily in January.

The National Football Foundation (NFF) is expected to announce Monday it will reopen at a new location in South Bend, near the Notre Dame campus. South Bend would be selected over four other finalists Atlanta, Houston, The Mead-owlands in New Jersey and New Orleans. South Bend Mayor Joseph Kernan will attend Monday's announcement, but he refused to say Friday if the city had been selected. David Rothberg, a spokesman for the NFF, told the Associated Press, "A deal is not a deal until it is 4 deal." After a promising start 10 years ago, attendance at the Hall of Fame has dropped drastically over the years. The hall, which opened Aug.

3, 1982, drew 78,000 fans in its first six months, more than the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton in their first years. Army's Hall of Fame coach Earl "Red" Blaik said, "The reality of this magnificent building is the greatest thing to happen to college football since the legalization of the forward pass. It gives college football a solid and tangible foundation." Early studies projected the Hall would attract 300,000 visitors annually. Hall and NFF officials now admit those projections were unrealistic.

In 1990, Jimmy McDowell, the NFF's executive director, placed attendance at 35,000 annually, less than 100 a day. "I think it always hurt that the enshrinement (ceremonies have) been in New York," said Sondra Gividen, formerly the Hall of Fame's assistant general manager who was married at the museum. The Hall went to weekend-only hours for the winter of 1984-85, citing a downturn of visitors after Labor Day. A move has been suspected since the NFF, based in Larchmont, assumed control of the facility from Great American Broadcasting in June, 1990. The Hall of Fame originally was slated to relocate in Memphis, but that fell through.

The NFF said it was accepting offers to move the Hall, and that Atlanta, Houston, The Meadowlands, New Orleans and South Bend all were on a list of sites being considered. Bids from each of the finalists projected construction costs of $10 to $15 million. South Bend is considered a site because the Hall has a strong Notre Dame connection, with several former Irish coaches and players enshrined. Among them are coach Knute Rockne and the Four Horsemen Elmer Layden, Jim Crowley, Harry Stuhldreher and Don Miller. JS; rtim If A Aft 7rii The Bucs were up 2-0.

It was a relief, actually, after the long delay and four innings of goose eggs on the scoreboard. The Bucs added two more runs in the sixth. A lapse cost Hammond when, after getting All-Stars Andy Van Slyke to ground out and Barry Bonds to strike out, he walked Don Slaught. Espy chased that with a home run to left to make it 4-0 and Wehner doubled inside the third-base line. After Hammond walked Jose Lind Reds manager Lou Piniella was literally one step out of the dugout while the ball was in flight reliever Dwayne Henry was summoned.

Drabek reached on an infield single to load the bases, but Gary Redus lined to left to end the inning. Reds reliever Tom Bolton, acquired from the Boston Red Sox in the Billy Hatcher trade Thursday, pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning. The Pirates first showed their boredom with the rain delay a half hour before the game started. The Pirates' Andy Van Slyke, Steve Buechele and Jay' Bell came out of the Bucs' dugout, armed with pockets and hands full of baseballs and began tossing them to Pirates' fans in the green-level seats on the third-base side. At 10:30, the tarp came off the field and the players and starting pitchers began warming up.

Twenty-one minutes later, play resumed. While the precipitation fell, most fans huddled beneath the overhangs. The rain, it was plain, did not fall on the sane. By game time, there were about 25,000 fans left. That means about 17,000 fans reversed themselves back through the turnstiles during the rain delay.

At the peak count, there were 42,438 fans in the (Please see REDS, Page D-5) The Cincinnati EnquirerErnest Coleman Pittsburgh's Orlando Merced passed the time with a game of bowling in the dugout during a 3 hour, 16 minute wait before the start of the Pirates game with the Reds Friday night at Riverfront Stadium. The game, scheduled to start at 7:35 p.m., didn't get under way until 10:51 p.m. Merced scored a strike on this roll. Cooper signs contract, It's Battle Of Ohio, Arena style with strings attached Francisco joins Buckeyes' staff Hiawatha Francisco, a former Moeller High School and Notre Dame standout, has been named one of Ohio State's graduate assistant football coaches for the 1992 season, said head coach John Cooper. Francisco, 27, will work with the offense and special teams.

He also worked as a graduate assistant at Ohio State in 1990 and at Akron in 1988-89. Art Schlichter Major Harris left and right. They will run him wide on sweeps." Mel Mills, a Rocker running back and linebacker, played against Harris while at the University of Louisville. Mills, a linebacker in college, chased Harris around in a 30-21 loss in 1989. "Your defense has to be more cautious of Major Harris because he doesn't like to sit in the pocket," Mills said.

"The defense is trained to rush up the field and get to the quarterback, but now you have to be more of a control rusher because you want to contain him and make him throw the ball." Even on the smaller Arena Football field, Harris can dominate with his running ability. "I don't think Major Harris is any different on this field than on a regular field," Mills said. "All Major needs is a little space to create some things. He's dangerous on any field." The Rockers' pass rush only two sacks is below average, but that might help against Harris. "We are trying to make sure that he throws the ball," Rockers' head coach Fran Curci said.

"If he sees a crack he would rather run it than throw it. He drops back, waits until everybody is spread out all over the field, and then finds a crack and starts running." The Thunderbolts, who went 0-10 last season playing out of Columbus, have several Cincinnati connections. Dave Whinham, Cleveland head coach, was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Cincinnati in 1984 under Dave Currey. Former UC players Marvin Bowman (1987-89) and Phil Poirier (1986-89) play for the Thunderbolts. Bowman, a defensive back in college, is second on the team in receiving with 17 catches for 195 yards and has 13 tackles.

Poirier, who was UC's third leading tackier and won the John Pease Award as outstanding lineman of 1989, has three tackles. Also, Tony Missick, a Kentucky graduate, plays defensive back and is the AFL's third leading tackier with 39 solos and seven assists. George Cooper, a former Ohio State standout, plays fullback for Cleveland and has 32 rushes for 124 yards and four touchdowns. BY D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER The Cincinnati Enquirer It is not the Bengals and the Browns.

It is the Cincinnati Rockers (4-2) and the Cleveland Thunderbolts (3-3) at 7:30 tonight in Richfield Coliseum (WSAI-AM 1360, Channel 64) in the Arena Football League's version of the Battle of Ohio I. Because of a quirk in the AFL schedule, the two teams meet again in Battle of Ohio II next Saturday in Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum. Both teams have dandy quarterbacks. Cincinnati is led by Art Schlichter and Cleveland by Major Harris, the former Heisman Trophy candidate from West Virginia. "Major relies a lot on scrambling around," said Schlichter.

"He's a pretty elusive guy and their offense is built around that. We are a drop-back team and try to throw the ball down field." And, Schlichter has been doing a fine job of getting the ball down-field to Ira Hillary and a host of Rockers receivers. He has completed 123 of 218 passes for 1,409 yards and a THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio State football coach John Cooper on Friday received a four-year contract that gives the university more control over his outside income and requires him to emphasize academics for his players. It also includes new provisions for paying Cooper should OSU end the contract, and gives new incentive to get to the Rose Bowl. The agreement, retroactive to April 1, replaces a five-year contract that was to expire Jan.

3, 1993. In effect, it gives him three additional years. His base pay remains at $114,000 a year, and total compensation betters $500,000 a year. Cooper's teams are 27-18-2 in four seasons at Ohio State. He has no Big Ten Conference titles, and he hasn't beaten rival Michigan in four tries.

Athletic Director Jim Jones announced the decision to keep Cooper last November just hours before a game with Michigan. At that time, Jones said Cooper's contract would be extended three years. The agreement actually turned league-leading 27 touchdowns. Hillary leads the league with 15 touchdown receptions and 96 points scored. Schlichter is not apprehensive about his match-up with Harris.

"We just need to continually put points on the board," Schlichter said. "I think our offense is better than their offense. We have to score 40 or 45 points." Harris led the AFL in rushing last season, with 429 yards on 88 carries and 14 touchdowns. He has not been as much a force this season, with 44 carries for 123 yards and three touchdowns. "They've got a lot of gadget stuff for Major," said Schlichter.

"They've had some success with it. They roll Major out a lot to the out to be a new, negotiated contract. It contains several changes from the old contract. One clause requires Cooper to get the approval of the university president and athletic director for any deal that involves outside income. The old contract required only the approval of the athletic (Please see COOPER, Page D-3).