The Pittsburgh Press from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 36

Sunday, December 17, 1989. B4 The Pittsburgh Press COLLEGE FOOTBALLBASEBALL Fans are responsible for baseball salaries Micchia leads Westminster to title, 51-30 By Ed Kracz A Gene Collier i fy.vr V', 4 Ass- 1 1 1 HT IS THE season for special giving, our hearts tell us. Our theology tells us. If nothing else, our department stores tell us. Is it merely the spirit of giving, do you think, that has spread so richly, and decisively throughout the brethren of employers who decide the salaries of baseball players? Or is it just acute psychosis? If it is just a matter of seasonal spirit, then surely this winter's free agent signings represent a spirit out of control, a spirit on a rampage, a full-scale paranormal slimer.

Who ya gonna call? You can always tell when baseball salaries have left the identifiable galaxy again when athletes in other sports start joking about being underpaid. I think they're joking. A couple of pro footballers, Cincinnati quarterback and underwear model Boomer Esiason among them, last week got quoted sniping at the new baseball pay scale, best described as: an honest day's work for an honest 100 years' pay. So we are now, as the decade turns, at the labor intensive stage where workers averaging about $200,000 a year (football) are at least mockingly jealous of workers averaging more than $500,000 a year (baseball). It's a great country.

Mark Davis, relief pitcher, San Diego Padres. Saved 44 games in 1989. Very good year. Year, singular. In a wink, he's the highest paid player ever.

Signed with the Kansas City Royals at midweek for $13 million over four years. Financially, it was the fifth-best offer he received. "It wasn't the money," Davis said. He actually said that. Pascual Perez, pitcher (sort of), Montreal Expos.

Went 9-13 after withstanding demotion from starting rotation in 1989. Formerly served time in Caribbean prison on drug charges. Two-time cocaine loser on baseball's disciplinary charts. Signed with the New York Yankees for $5.7 million for three years. The guy can't get a break.

"Our revulsion comes when we reflect on it personally," said Gerald Clyde, assistant professor of labor studies and industrial relations at Penn State. "We think, 'Hey', I'm busting my When you look at it in the context of highly paid entertainer, it's different." Yes, we're finally getting around to the big, ugly question (not to mention the point of all this): Is anybody worth this kind of money. And the answer is: yes, like it or not. Baseball players are worth it. Sometimes football players.

Sometimes basketball players. Sometimes hockey players and boxers and golfers and tennis players. They are worth it, unequivocally, irrevocably, but in For The Pittsburgh Press CANTON, Ohio Joe Micchia played as if he belonged in the building across the street. But that building is the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Mic- chia is just a college quarterback. But, oh, what a quarterback he has been.

Yesterday afternoon on a snow-covered field at Fawcett Stadium, Micchia led Westminster College to its second consecutive NAIA Division II national championship with a 51-30 victory against the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in front of 3,728 chilled fans. The title was Westminster's fifth since the NAIA divided its playoffs into Division I and II in 1970 and extended the Titans' winning streak to 27 games, the longest of any team in either the NCAA or the NAIA. Also, the 51 points by Westminster (13-0) tied Findlay College's NAIA Division II record for most points in a championship game. The points that allowed Westminster to tie the record came when cornerback Louis Berry intercepted a two-point conversion pass from Dennis Goettl and returned it 98 yards. The play counted for two points for Westminster.

But Micchia is the big reason the Titans haven't lost since Ronald Reagan was in the White House. He has started 27 games since transferring from Youngs-town State two years ago. He finished as the top passer in Westminster history with 4,619 yards. But unless a National Football League team is willing to take a chance on a 6-1, 200-pound quarterback with a strong right arm and a huge heart, Micchia's football career is over. "This is a great feeling, but it's also a sad one.

I'll miss these guys. But this (winning the title) was our team goal since the beginning of the season. We had to go out and establish an identity. We just took one game at a time." Micchia didn't warm up in the sub-freezing temperatures until his team had fallen behind 14-0. At that point, he was just 1 of 9 passing for 40 yards.

But he found his touch, finishing with 219 yards and four touchdowns on 18-of-33 passing. "Probably the only good thing to come out of this is that he (Micchia) is graduating," said Wisconsin-La Crosse Coach Roger Hairing, whose team was victim- a strictly economic sense. "None of the owners are paying these salaries expecting to lose money," Clyde said. "They might recognize that they could lose on that, player, but not overall." Gerald W. Scully, in his revealing book, "The Business of Major League Baseball," cites this example: "A .400 club (winning percentage) earned $12.68 million (in 1984) and a .600 club earned $19.02 million for their respective performances," Scully wrote.

"That's a difference of $6.34 million. A win out of a 162-game schedule is equal to an additional 6.2 points in club win percentage. Thus, an extra victory was worth $195,653. Now, consider the effect of revenues of adding a hitter of the quality of Andre Dawson In 1987, Dawson contributed 11.1 percent of the at-bats and .063 of the team slugging percentage. Given the relationship between slugging percentage and wins, those 63 points conservatively were worth 11 games to the Chicago Cubs.

The marginal revenue of 11 games was about $2.2 million By this economic standard such players are not overpaid." Of course, it's not so much that someone could be paid like that and be worth it; what really annoys us is that they are worth it because of us America pays Mark Davis $3.25 million per year to relieve the Kansas City Royals, and pays its Secretary of State 80K. It's because we'd rather watch a taut ninth inning any day than watch James Baker go deep in a cabinet meeting. "Ultimately," said Clyde, "it means Americans have an insatiable appetite for baseball. In a sense, we really are responsible. But it's not something that has to be resented.

It's clear these people are scarce, that they're abilities are a scarce commodity. I think with some business people it's not clear what it is they have that gets them a $40 million salary. What? Maybe their image or their scarce management skills? If we're going to question baseball salaries we're going to have to question a lot of things." Phil Long for The Pittsburgh Press Westminster's Joe Micchia outruns Andy Pretasky, picking up first down "Maybe we used the shotgun a little more, but we planned to do that anyway." The shotgun was something different for Westminster. It was the first time the Titans used that formation this season. Fusco said he implemented the shotgun while sitting in the Seattle airport after Westminster defeated Central Washington, 21-10, in the semifinal game a week earlier.

"We put it in because I had stretched some ligaments in my thumb and we thought the shotgun would help protect it," said Micchia. "If I had known it was going to be that successful, I would have injured my thumb two years ago." That wouldn't have been necessary. Micchia built a fine career taking his snaps from under center. ized by three Micchia touchdown passes in last year's title game, won by Westminster, 21-14. "He's the best we've seen, that's for sure.

He beat us two years in a row. No one else can say that." After falling behind, 14-0, on two 1-yard plunges by Kyle Reddy, Westminster got a 22-yard kick-off return by Mark Aiken to the Titans' 40-yard line. Ten plays later, the Titans had their first touchdown, a 2-yard pass from Micchia to Dave Foley. But the Eagles (12-2) fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Westminster's Rob LaBar recovered at the Wisconsin-La Crosse 37. It took the Titans just seven plays to capitalize on that mistake, Brad Tokar sweeping around right end from 2 yards away.

Rob Dancu's conversion tied the score at 14-14. Wisconsin-La Crosse took a 17-14 lead when Chris Schumacher kicked a 20-yard field goal with 18 seconds remaining in the first half. They were the last points the Eagles scored until 11:34 remained in the game. But by then it was too late. Westminster scored 28 unanswered points to take a 42-17 lead.

Goettl completed 15 of 27 passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns. Dean Washington caught six for 106 yards, one a 25-yarder for Wisconsin-La Crosse's last touchdown. It was the attempted conversion pass following that score that Berry returned for Westminster's final points. "We didn't do anything different in the second half," said Westminster Coach Joe Fusco, who has an 18-year record of 143-32-3. The Pittsburgh Press I) hUUIbUWL CONTEST DEADLINE: NOON, DEC.

29, 1989 SEND YOUR FAVORITE GOLFER TO SEE THE NEXT GENERATION OF CHAMPIONS. Oregon rally nets 27-24 win Associated Press SHREVEPORT, La. Oregon made its first postseason trip in 26 years a success last night, rallying from a two-touchdown deficit to defeat Tulsa, 27-24, in the Independence Bowl on Gregg McCallum's 20-yard field goal with three minutes left. McCallum's winning kick came after Bill Musgrave, who passed for 320 yards and two touchdowns, led ROUNDUP HOLIDAY BOWL Penn State rj Brioham Young TIE JOHN HANCOCK BOWL Pitt Texas PEACH BOWL Georgia Syracuse GATOR BOWL West Virginia Clemson FLORIDA CITRUS BOWL Virginia Illinois COTTON BOWL Arkansas Tennessee 0 TIE FIESTA BOWL Nebraska Florida State ROSE BOWL Michigan Southern Cal SUGAR BOWL Miami Alabama BEN HOGAN QUICKSILVER OPEN ORANGE BOWL Colorado Notre Dame p( BREAKER: Predict total points scored in Pitt-Texas game This Christmas give your favorile golfer a ticket to see the pros in action, right here in Pittsburgh. 7f BEN I HOGAN TOUR The Ben llogan Quicksilver Open will be played May 29th through June 3rd, 1990 at Quicksilver Golf Club.

For Series Badges, use the form below, or call 800-462-8634 for complete ticket information. Name the Ducks to the Tulsa 1. The drive began on the Oregon 48 after the Ducks stopped Tulsa on fourth-and-1 with 7:48 remaining. Musgrave brought the Ducks back from a 24-10 deficit to tie the game on a 1-yard run and a 9-yard pass to Joe Reitzug. Oregon (8-4) was appearing in its first postseason game since the 1963 Sun Bowl, which capped the Ducks' last eight-victory season.

Tulsa finished 6-6. Georgia Southern 37 Stephen F. Austin 34 STATESBORO, Ga. Mike Dowis kicked a 20-yard field goal with 1:41 left to give top-ranked Georgia Southern the NCAA Division I-AA championship. It was unbeaten Georgia Southern's third national title in five years as the Eagles became the first school this century to win 15 games in a season.

Dowis' game-winning kick was set up when Taz Dixon intercepted Stephen F. Austin quarterback Todd Hammel on the Lumberjacks' 30. Third-ranked Stephen F. Austin -(12-2-1) had taken a 34-27 lead 2:28 into the final period when Hammel threw his third touchdown pass of the game, a 46-yarder to Larry Centers. Carson-Newman 34 Emporia State 20 JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.

-Robert Hardy rushed for 218 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead defending champion Carson-Newman (12-1) to the NAIA Division I championship. The victory marked Carson-Newman's third NAIA championship in four years and its fifth of the decade. Emporia State ended 10-3. Street State City Sr kftk t'wnnt nift iHo'il Con1 mo Wi.ri.... II fl (ireat idea! Send Series Phone i gift me Budgets) at $40 each Zip-Code 1 Fr3 for a total of $.

Check or money order enclosed. Made payable to The Ben llogan Quicksilver Open Bill my Kxp. Date Card No. Signature: Name Address City Quicksilver 1. The obiect of The Press FootSowl Contest is to select the winners of 10 ma-ior bowl games.

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