The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 41

Hoe Anfieto Shoes Tuesday, September 12, 1989 Part III 5 Exchanging Technology Team of Local Youths Teaches Soviets How to Play Ball on Tour to East Europe the Olympians," Meiers said. "These guys are being groomed to be the first crop of coaches." Alternate sources of baseball knowledge are available. A pitcher in Leningrad asked Bushart to help him develop a forkball and he obliged. It wasn't the Soviet's first trick pitch. "He threw me a knuckleball and it dropped off the table," Bushart recalled.

"I asked him where he learned it and he said from reading Jim Bouton's book, 'Ball Sharing culture came as easily as exchanging pitching tips. Bushart handed out a shoe box full of baseball cards to opposing players and had ample opportunity to barter off the field as well. Bushart exchanged T-s'hirts and a pair of old shorts for an authentic soldier's cap, a Soviet flag, a fur hat and assorted souvenirs. But the memory of defeating the Red Army team will endure longer than any memento. "The first two games, we had no intensity," he said.

"But for the Red Army game, we were amped. We came out like it was a championship game." In the first inning, he struck out the leadoff batter, got the next batter on a comebacker and struck out the No. 3 hitter, an enormous man with a thick beard. "He took the most hellacious cut I've ever seen on strike 3, a curve down and in," Bushart said. "I K'ed him struck him out three times." "I only invite players who are interested in teaching the game to people who have little proficiency," he said.

"The players have to be talented, so we can demonstrate quality baseball, but possessing quality character is foremost" Bushart, who was recommended to Meiers by Thousand Oaks High Coach Jim Hansen, fit the requirements. "I needed a left-handed pitcher and I'd heard from scouts that John was real good," Meiers said. "His coach assured me that he was the type of person we were looking for. John was a class act all the way." Bushart and his teammates, for example, kept their complaints to a minimum when they were served hot dogs, peas and warm cola for breakfast their first morning in Moscow. And their hosts at the People's Friendship University were "very friendly, they really worked hard to make our trip the best," Bushart said.

The players stayed five to a room in student dorms at the university. In 1989, clearly, the Soviets are trying to catch up on the diamond, although most are rough cuts. The nation's first ballpark, at Moscow State University, was dedicated recently but the Ambassadors played their games on soccer and archery fields at state-run Olympic training faculties. Pitchers' mounds were nothing more than rubber mats and baselines were drawn with masking tape. Most of the Soviet players were in their mid-20s and had been recruited from other sports.

They then were farmed out to the fledgling baseball teams. The Ambassadors defeated the People's Friendship University team, 18-2, and the Moscow University Aeronautics team, 30-3, before beating the Red Army the best Soviet team and Leningrad. The Ambassadors, composed mainly of players from Arcadia and San Marino, hit 13 home runs in the first two games. "One of the outfielders on the Aeronautics team started playing behind the fence," Bushart said. Yet when the Ambassadors began to ease up late in the game, an irate Soviet official complained to Meiers.

"From a good-will standpoint we didn't want to embarrass them," the coach said. "But they insisted that the game was not interesting if we stopped playing hard. They wanted to see double plays, running catches, hard swings, everything." The Soviets obviously considered the play a necessary part of learning a complex game. "It blew me away, how much they know already," Meiers said. "I was unbelievably impressed.

Their skills just need to catch up with their knowledge." As baseball fever firms its grip, the country is firming its resolve to produce a strong national team. The Soviet Baseball Federation has tripled to 50 teams and 1,500 players in the three years it has fielded teams. This fall, two of the nation's 28 special youth academies for sports prodigies will be staffed with baseball coaches. "The players now will never be capable of winning an Olympic medal by the turn of the century. Baseball has been a demonstration sport in the last two Olympics and will be a medal sport at Barcelona, in 1992.

"I hope the Americans stay champions in this century," Soviet sports specialist Irakly Ku-tateladze told the New York Times. "In the next century, we shall see." The Ambassadors, who instructed Soviet players at clinics in debris-strewn warehouses on rainy days and weathered primitive playing facilities, heard the same boast. 'We shall Bushart said, imitating the pet Soviet phrase. "That was their low-key way of popping off. We heard that before our game with the Red Army.

'You are good players, but we shall The Soviets got to see firsthand the array of pitches Bushart, 18, will bring to Cal State Northridge next year as a freshman. In 5 innings against the Red Army, he struck out 10 and gave up only two hits and two earned runs. That victory Aug. 8 was the Ambassadors' third in as many games against teams from Moscow, first stop on the tour. The team then took a train to Leningrad, defeated the team there, 12-0, then took a bus to Helsinki, Finland, and a cruise ship across the Baltic Sea to Stockholm, Sweden.

The only game the Ambassadors lost was a 5-2 decision to the Swedes. "The purpose of the tour was to promote peace and good-will," said Meiers, who has compiled a By STEVE HENSON, Times Staff Writer What's with all these weapons wc have pointed at the Soviet Union? In the name of goodwill, only one arm was needed to defeat the Red Army the lean left arm of John Bushart Bushart, a pitcher from Thousand Oaks, turned back the Red Army baseball team, 7-3, during a recent two-week barnstorming tour of the Soviet Union, Finland and Sweden with a team called the Baseball Ambassadors. The secret? Pssst. The Soviets can't touch a curve. Can't do much with a country fastball, either.

It didn't take much to figure that out after the first couple of days. "They were big and they were great athletes, but they had absolutely no baseball skill," Bushart said. Yet what the Soviets lack in fundamentals, they make up for in curiosity and enthusiasm for the American pastime. "One of their coaches said they like the game because it reminds them of chess," Bushart said. The fundamentals will come, Soviet officials are certain, as long as U.S.

teams continue to share the game's nuances in the spirit of gtasnost. A stream of teams from the United States has made the trip this summer and a collection of minor leaguers from the Eastern League went this month. The Soviets have been playing baseball seriously for three years and their goal is to build a team The first two games, we had no intensity. But for the Red Army game, we were JOHN BUSHART record of 270-96 during 14 seasons as coach at Arcadia High School. Over the last eight years, Meiers has taken Ambassador teams to Europe, China, Japan, Fiji and Australia.

American League Roundup ONDECK Homers Help Orioles Beat White Sox, 6-3 ADQOl New York, at Anaheim Stadium, 2 games 3 jj' TV SportsChannel, tonight and Wednesday. Radio KMPC (710). XPRS 1090), KRSO (590). Records Angels 82-6 1 Yankees 67-78. Rocord vs.

Yankee 4-6. Angel update The Angels aren't exactly making a run at division-leading Oakland, but they are hanging tough in the American League West. Sunday, it took them 14 innings but they came up with their 30th come-from-behind victory and remain five games behind the Athletics. Claudell Washington, who missed two games during the last series with the Yankees due to a "family matter," is back in the lineup and sparking the offense. He's scored 13 runs in his last 14 games.

Despite going 1-7 against Boston and New York on their last road trip, the Angels have already established a club record with a 48-30 record against American League East opponents, besting the previous mark of 45-39 in 1 985. Yankee update New York's four-game sweep of the Angels over the Labor Day weekend ignited a Yankse streak that has seen them win nine of their past 1 1 games. Former Dodger Steve Sax leads the Yankee regulars with a .321 average (fourth best in the league) and he's played in all but three of New York's games this year. Don Mattingly is among the league leaders in RBIs (96). Together, the right side of the Yankee infield has combined for 358 hits.

Hitting has not been a problem for the Yankees, but pitching has. Their team earned-run average is more than 4.50 and opponents are hitting better than .280 against them. Pitching matchups The Angels' Mike Witt (8-13) vs. the Yankees' Walt Terrell (4-4) tonight at Bert Blyleven (15-4) vs. Greg Cadaret (5-4) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

only 1V6 innings and gave up three runs, two earned, and four hits. The Orioles took a 3-2 lead with an unearned run in the second. Mike Devereaux led off with a single, took second on Rosenberg's wild pickoff and scored on a single by Craig Worthington. Kansas City 6, Minnesota 1 Larry McWilliams, making his first league start, gave up three hits in six innings and ended his nine-game losing streak as the Royals won at Kansas City. The Royals pulled to within four games of first-place Oakland in the West.

McWilliams, 35, was acquired in a trade Sept. 2 from the Philadelphia Phillies, where he was 2-11 and had not won since May 13. Seattle 2, Boston 1 The Mariners ended an 11 -game home losing streak beating the Red Sox, 2-1, on six strong innings' by Brian Holman and Mike Schooler's team-record 27th save. The Mariners stopped a six-game losing string and sent Boston to its sixth straight defeat. executive.

He seems to be very frank, very honest, very open." Wilpon, who owns 50 of the Mets, said he first was introduced to Vincent by Giamatti several years ago at a Mets game. "I'm certainly very much in support of Fay Vincent as a person and as one who had the qualifications and qualities a commissioner should have," Wilpon said. "He's a very impressive guy and has an impressive background. He's intuitive, has very high integrity. He's thoughtful and very bright He's a nice person.

Sometime's it's very hard to find a person who's both good and nice." Umpire catcher Coble warns Minnesota's Tim Drummond and Webster after pitcher hit Bo Jackson Monday. Drew Lenny Vincent Will Be Elected Commissioner, Source Says ORIGINAL 2 fofcWU-fl losses I -rMrvfeL I z5A WORLD FAMOUSC I r7 Vi I iJcoh Ibk "Word of Mouth" HAMBURGERS FAX WarftnOUM mmimm amunm ntm en l.flMflal MU MOI1TIT Un SMM 1J1S Ml SH. jnygjjwijtajujfegggsTB? Mickey Tettleton and Cal Ripken homered helping Jeff Ballard become the season's first American League pitcher to beat every other team Monday night as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Chicago White Sox, 6-3. Tettleton, who started for the first time since Aug. 4, gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead with his 23rd home run of the season, and first since Aug.

2, in the first inning. He went on the disabled list for a knee injury Aug. 5 for nearly a month. Ripken, who drove in the Orioles' first run with a sacrifice fly, broke the game open with a two-run homer in the fifth for a 6-2 lead. Ripken has three home runs and 10 RBIs in his last nine games.

Ballard, the league's winningest left-hander, improved to 17-7. Gregg Olson pitched the ninth for his 25th save. The White Sox pulled within 6-3 on a run-scoring double by Ivan Calderon in the sixth. Ron Karkov-ice had Chicago's other RBI, driving in a run with a single in the second. Steve Rosenberg, 4-12, lasted meet today at Milwaukee and the owners from each league will meet separately Wednesday.

A commissioner can be elected only at a joint meeting of the leagues and must receive three-quarters of the votes, including at least five from each league. Peter O'Malley, Dodger president, and Fred Wilpon, New York Met president, praised Vincent on Monday but declined to predict what the owners would do. "Although a lot of us have known him only nine months, he has impressed us more and more as we've gotten to know him," said O'Malley, who is on the executive council. "He's a very able, proven Gioiosa graph appearances. One of the tax counts against Gioiosa involves a $47,646 Pik Six payoff from Turfway Park in northern Kentucky that Gioiosa cashed and claimed on his taxes.

Three witnesses testified that Rose owned the majority share of the ticket Rose wasn't called as a witness. Weinberg tried to use that to Gioiosa's advantage. "The question is, what did Pete Rose do?" Weinberg said. "Did he also report the We don't know what Pete Rose did. The 300-zx cotrjnnn Associated Pren NEW YORK GB-Fay Vincent will be elected to succeed Bart Giamatti as baseball commissioner on Thursday, a source familiar with the owners' plans told Associated Press Monday.

Vincent, the deputy commissioner under Giamatti, probably will be elected to serve a 4 -year term, until April 1, 1994, said the source, who declined to be identified. "It will be smooth, simple. No opposition," the source said. A quarterly meeting of owners is scheduled for Thursday at Milwaukee. Baseball's nine-man executive committee, which has been running the sport since Giamatti's death on Sept 1, is scheduled to favor to the man he admired.

"Is that a conspiracy to defraud the government or is that the result of a decade-long friendship?" Weinberg said. The 12-member jury began deliberating Monday in Gioiosa's trial on charges of tax evasion and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Rose, who hasn't been charged with any crime, is under investigation by a federal grand jury in Cincinnati looking into whether the former Cincinnati Reds' manager claimed all his income from gambling, memorabilia sales and auto ftMNsitsJ Stoctvwiics rex rs MUM Fay Vincent Closing Arguments Made in Case JO FULL tMtWIWWMII ii ii a WM TOSHIBA'S DD-2810 Suggested Retail Price $1,695 MUM CINCINNATI (iBTLawyers for Thomas Gioiosa tried to convince a U.S. District Court jury Monday that he cashed a winning racetrack ticket for Pete Rose out of friendship, not as part of a tax-fraud scheme. Gioiosa's lawyers said in their closing arguments that federal prosecutors failed to prove a conspiracy between Gioiosa and Rose, who lived together from 1979-84, to defraud the government.

Defense lawyer Martin Weinberg said Gioiosa cashed a $47,646 race-track ticket for Rose as a government hasn't produced Pete Rose's tax return." The government wasn't interested in arguing the point Friday, generally avoiding mention of Rose. Instead, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hunt suggested to the jury that Gioiosa was trying to hide his income from cocaine involvement and illegal gambling. "He needed to cover up the illegal money that he was making that he couldn't report," Hunt said. "Here was the perfect opportunity for him to seize that chance to defraud the IRS." Systems 345 W.

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