The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 16

Friday, May 18, 1984 Theaters Section O's release Jim Palmes' Cry i oil Brooks says his former teammate can still Brooks Robinson says Jim Palmer can still be an effective pitcher with somebody other than the Orioles. "He is one of the great pitchers in the game," Robinson said Thursday at a press conference at Greenville Municipal Stadium. "But he needs to get a lot of work and he won't get that work in Baltimore." "I think Palmer will end up with Toronto or New York or somebody," Robinson said. "And I think if he pitches regularly, he'll continue to do a good job. In the right situation, he can still win you 15 or 16 games." Ernie Kastner BALTIMORE (AP) Jim Palmer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner in 19 years with the Baltimore Orioles, was released Thursday at an emotional news conference that had both the veteran pitcher and his boss fighting tears.

Palmer, used as a spot starter and infrequent relief pitcher this year, had asked for his release so he could continue his quest for 300 career victories. But later Thursday, he said he was leaning toward retirement so he could spend more time with his family. The Orioles have offered Palmer a non-playing job in their organization. But Palmer, who has made his face and figure familiar in a series of underwear ads, said he had many options open, including films and TV work. At the news conference, Palmer said, "I still think I can pitch.

I have a desire to do that." He has 268 career victories, win games Peters was almost as emotional. "Jim Palmer has been much more than a great pitcher for the Orioles," he said. "He has always had the Orioles' best interest at heart." Palmer's career ERA of 2.86 is the fifth best in major league history. but is 0-3 with a 9.17 earned run average this season. The 38-year-old right-hander broke down four times during the news conference.

After the final time, he thanked reporters and club employees and left. Baltimore General Manager Hank Fans Aiave rgAif to enow toe ca The late Dode Phillips, a charter member of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame, was telling a story one night about a minor league baseball experience. He was the runner on first base when the next batter hit a towering ball into the outfield. Phillips was certain it.would fall for a hit. So he took off in hopes of scoring, but when he was around second base and halfway to third, "I saw the ball had been caught, and I cut right back across to beat the throw from the ,4) The Associated Press Jim Palmer fights back tears a press conference Thursday stros' Hurler -nits u-braves outfield back to first.

I beat it but when the first baseman caught the throw, the umpire yelled, 'You're "I jumped up, but before I could say a word, the umpire said, 'Phillips, you're too nice a guy to make an ass out of yourself; you're Foster By Ernie Kastner (Thf Nms sports staff G-Braves box, Page 2F For the second consecutive night the Greenville Braves went up against a hot pitcher. And for the second consecutive night, the Braves lost. The score Thursday night was 4-1 and once again Greenville didn't manage a run until the ninth inning. The hot pitcher was Columbus' Mark Knudson, who allowed only four hits in going the distance. Knudson, 2-1, struck out four and walked only two.

"He kept the ball down," said Greenville's Doc Estes, who drove in Greenville's only run with a grounder. "He was getting the ball over and making us hit his pitch." Knudson's control was so strong he went to three balls on only six of the 33 men he faced. "As long as he kept putting the ball where he wanted it, he had the upper hand," Estes said. "Instead of being able to sit back and wait on a pitch you could drive, you had to swing at what you were getting and most of that was down in the strike zone." Knudson's performance overshadowed somewhat another strong outing by Greenville's Andre Treadway. Now 2-4 despite a 2.20 earned-run average, Treadway gave up only one run in six innings before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh.

Treadway struck out four and didn't walk a batter, although he gave up seven hits, three in the sixth inning. "I had a pretty good night," Treadway said. "(Ty) Gainey hit a good pitch (for a triple) and that turned out to be it." The Astros, now leading this four-game series 2-1, scored their first run in the sixth when Gainey, a native of Cheraw, tripled to open the inning. Vern Followell followed with a single to drive him in. Columbus scored three more in the seventh off Greenville reliever Roy North.

With one out, Rick Colbert doubled and, after a walk to Glenn Carpenter, moved to third on an infield hit by Knudson. Gainey and Followell followed with walks which forced home two of the runs and the third scored on an Eric Bullock single. The Astros tried to score two runs on Bullock's hit, but the throw from Estes to first baseman Tommy Thompson to catcher Glen Bock-horn nailed Gainey at the plate. The Braves finally got on the scoreboard in the ninth when Carlos Rios, who led off with a triple to right center, scored on Estes' grounder to short. The loss was Greenville's fourth in the eight-game home stand which ends with Friday's 7:15 p.m.

game with Columbus. The Braves have yet to put together a winning home stand and the best they can do this time is .500. Greenville is 9-13 at home, 8-7 on the road. Ci, hv: Si A 5 Nfyv The News Fronk Peorce Greenville Braves right-hander Andre Treadway delivers a pitch hard-luck hurler lost Thursday despite giving up Just one run In six Innings Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson pays visit to Greenville, shares memories of his four World Series appearances out because you didn't retouch second Some people in the stands thought the ump had been struck blind, and there, as Phillips related it, was a good case for the spectators to get a quick explanation for the umpire's call. And it is not alone.

Every single season in probably every refereed or umpired sport, there are prominent games involving critical calls or rulings. That's not bad, but it is bad that (1) the officials absorb a lot of blame because their position isn't explained, and (2) the spectator doesn't get to know all he'd like to know about what he's just seen. And there's no better reason for that than that some leagues and athletic administrators believe their world is better served by a lack of information on those calls than by an explanation. Thursday, Ken Germann, commissioner of the Southern Conference, said his league was one of many which instructs its game officials not to go beyond a rule "interpretation" with the press. That does not include answering why he called pass interference on a play (which could be answered by saying, "The defensive man tripped the or any other response on what foul was called and why.

Germann said it was the general feeling that no explanation was better, and the reasons he gave were (1) ensuing controversy, (2) that the official's response might be inaccurately presented, and (3) "The coaches are not supposed to comment, either." Ho, ho, ho. The disagreement on the wisdom of keeping officials gagged is what a bunch of us coaches, officials and writers sat around and debated in a wide open meeting recently in Kansas City. Matter of priorities It's the writers' position that the man who sits in bumper-to-bumper traffic for an hour, coughs up $20 to $30 for a pair of tickets to see what is going on, is entitled to all the information that can be made available. Jimmy Johnson, football coach at Oklahoma State, was one of the strongest defenders of no referee-press dialogue. "I would be against the media having conversations with the officials directly after the ballgame," said Johnson.

"The media makes it a heck of a lot more controversial than it might be." One of Johnson's observations was that he had sat in the stands some, that he didn't enjoy sitting in the stands, "because everybody surrounding me has an opinion on what play should have been called, the official missed that call, the coach should have done this, that player screwed up and should be jerked out of the ball game. The official made the wrong call there. So they have got opinions about everything." It would be interesting how many tickets would be bought and how much money some of the people in sports would be making with a public that had no strong opinions or didn't get aroused about their game. Umpires and referees are part of the games. They wear numbers in some leagues, are identified by name, and they're entitled to have the people judging their performance to at least understand what their side of a call is.

And the fans who pay the freight are entitled to it, too. Bruce Baldwin, the general manager of the Greenville baseball team, discussing this, said when a play might be misunderstood, he has a policy of informing the spectators by a message on the stadium's electric scoreboard. There's a word for what Baldwin is doing. It's called enlightenment. While everyone else thinks about the Orioles' youngsters (including then 22-year-old Jim Palmer) outduel-ing Koufax, Don Drysdale and Claude Osteen, the thing that stands out in Robinson's mind is something that happened in the first inning of the first game.

"What happened in that first inning set the tone for the entire series," he said. "Frank (Robinson) and I hit back-to-back homers. Then, the Dodgers made six errors behind Koufax in the second game and we won the third and fourth games by I -0 scores. "We still hold the record for the lowest team batting average for a winning team in the World Series. The Dodgers, of course, hold the record for the lowest team batting average for a losing team." Then, in 1969, the Orioles ran into a miracle.

"That 1969 team was probably the best team I ever played on," Robinson said. "But the Mets just did ever- See Brooks, Page 2F By Ernie Kastner News staff writer Brooks Robinson played in four World Series with the Baltimore Orioles and every one of them has a special meaning for him. Against Los Angeles in 1966, Robinson remembers the youngsters of the Orioles knocking off the Sandy Koufax-led Dodgers. In 1969, it was the highly favored Orioles making heroes out of a bunch of no-names called the New York Mets. In 1970, it was Robinson making one spectacular play after another while the Orioles beat the Cincinnati Reds in five games.

And in 1971, it was the play of Roberto Clemente and a Pirates team that nipped the O's in seven. "I feel fortunate to have played in four World Series," Robinson said Thursday at a press conference held to announce a special June 28 promotion at Greenville Municipal Stadium. "Each one was exciting in a special way." The Newt Alan DeVortey Ex-Oriole great Brooks Robinson Clemson freshman nets 2 NCAA tennis wins it window of a van, en route to a hospital for X-rays of an ankle swollen nearly twice its normal size. It was a sudden, painfully disappointing conclusion to Rudeen's well honored collegiate career. His hope had been to earn All-America honors for a third season.

As an unseeded "I feel so sorry for him," said Chamberlain, who later lost his second-round match to Todd Witsken of Southern Cal, 6-3, 6-4. "He's a hell of a guy, and it's sad that he had to go out like this in his senior year. I hate winning that way. I was up a break, but I'd certainly rather win it on my own than having my opponent (injure) his ankle." Clemson coach Chuck Knese was somewhat philosophical. "He ended it hustling for the ball.

Better that than the other way. "I'm so proud of what Rick has done. He's a guy who just hustles all the time and has gotten great mileage out of his talent. So I don't look at this as a shame; he's had a great career and he went out hustling." Kriese did, however, express disappointment in Rudeen not having a chance to come back, when he thought he could have. Through a record 172 career vic- By Chris Smith ghr Nrun sports slat ATHENS, Ga.

As Lawson Duncan marched through the NCAA tennis tournament's first two rounds Thursday, Rick Rudeen literally couldn't walk past the first. Either way, though, Clemson University was well represented. Lawson was awesome with his consistency and wicked topspin, wrecking a disabled Pat Serret of Arkansas 6-0. 6-0, and then disabling a healthy Tomm Warneke of Trinity, 6-1, 6-4. Since his two-set victory here over 7th-ranked Dan Goldie of Stanford last Saturday, Duncan in this, his first NCAA tournament has shown no regard for opponents' age, ranking, size or health.

Which further qualifies his No. 3 seeding and award as the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches' freshman of the year. Duncan returns to Athens Friday at 9 a.m. for a third-round match against Fernando Perez of LSU. Rudeen, however, will not be back.

The last he saw of the University of George's courts was through the player, that would have required two more victories. However, it ended as he chased a cross-court shot by Arizona's Paul Chamberlin. In reaching for the ball, Rudeen tumbled and rolled against the side fence, immediately grabbing his left ankle and moaning in pain. He eventually was earned off the court and taken for X-rays. The diagnosis was a severe sprain.

And Chamberlin was'eft holding a hollow 7-5, 3-2retired victory. Se NCAA tennis, Page 9F 4.