The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 15

INSIDE 1 6 Big league roundups 1 7 Marino in camp 1 9-25 Classified (The CEimes Tuesday, July 28, 1987 Boxer's speed! kiMs AmigeDs Shreveport outfielder scores winning run on Midland error MORNING LINE W.J. Mclntyre By DAVID LAWRENCE Times Correspondent Shreveport's Dee Dixon will take it any way he can. Dixon helped himself to first and second base and let Midland catcher Doug Davis help him to third and home in the ninth inning, leading the Captains to a 4-3 Texas League baseball victory over the Midland Angels at Fair Grounds Field Monday night. 12 summers put Oliveras across field With two outs in the ninth, Dixon eked out a base hit off Midland reliever Miguel Garcia, 8-5. Dixon barely beat Angel shortstop John Hotchkiss' throw to first.

"I'm working on a new thing," Dixon said of the hit. "I'm trying to smack it at the shortstop when he's playing real deep. Anything in the gap (between short and third base) is a base hit." With Kirt Manwaring at bat, Dixon started on a steal of second, Davis came up without the ball, threw wild past third CAPTAINS ON THE AIR Midland Angels at Shreveport Captains, 7:20 p.m. (pregame), 7:30 p.m. (first pitch), KEEL, 7 10-AM.

Shreveport, however, remains 1 games behind Jackson in the Texas League East. Jackson defeated San Antonio 7-3. Midland remains a half game ahead of El Paso, which lost to Tulsa, 8-3, in the TL West. The 1975 Captains' baseball card shows Max Oliveras in a menacing posture, bat cocked over his right shoulder and a proper scowl arched above his manicured moustache. There is a large No.

2 printed on the back of his blouse. Across the front of his cap, in block letters, it says SHRV. That was not a season for sartorial splendor, obviously. SHRV? Max Oliveras now manages Midland, this week's night visitor at Fair Grounds Field. He is confronted with the picture on arrival Saturday.

He laughs. So do the Angels as they pass the card around the visitors' locker room. Pictures don't lie. That was how it was the summer of 75, the last time Oliveras was in our midst. The Captains of Sealy and Langford, Nicosia and the Nelsons, Mitchell Page.

Of Frank Grundler and Paul Djakonow, and Harry Saferight. Maxie's back in town Saturday, for a first time in 12 years, Oliveras was on old and familiar ground. "I hear a lot about FWraTv tha new hall narlr ho cave in Spanish-flavored accent. "I was so anxious to come here. This was a good experience for me." The "experience" was that 75 Texas League season, the summer the Pittsburgh Pirates broke alliance with their Eastern League connection, Thet-ford Mines, and moved into ancient SPAR Stadium.

Oliveras had nlaveri in mi "Hlftler i and Dixon never stopped. "When I saw the ball get by the third baseman I wasn't going to stop," Dixon said. "I didn't even think of the left fielder being there, I just kept on running." Jackson took a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Stan Holmes' three-run homer. Jim Thomas opened the inning with a single and was sacrificed to second by Bill Geivett. One out later Reggie Montgomery walked to put runners at first See CAPTAINS, Page 16 Sweeney bucking computer THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.

(AP) The only thing that stands betweeen Kevin Sweeney and a spot as a reserve quarterback on the Dallas Cowboys' roster is his size. The computers say NFL quarterbacks aren't supposed to make it when they stand only 6 feet tall. That's why 175 other players were taken ahead of Sweeney on NFL draft day. Dombrowski is back. Page 1 7 "We're hoping Kevin will be an exception," said Cowboys' President Tex Schramm.

"He has already displayed some exceptional skills in training camp." Sweeney, who broke Doug Flutie's NCAA career passing record with 10,623 yards and had 66 career touchdown passes at Fresno State, has drawn praise from Coach Tom Landry. "He has a strong arm and also has shown the ability to lob the ball into the hands of the receivers on deep patterns," Landry said. "He also is a competitor. You can see that." Sweeney was impressive Sunday in a scrimmage against the Los Angeles Raiders. He hit 10 of 14 passes for 163 yards, including a 62-yard strike to Everett Gay.

"He looked pretty good for his first outing," Landry said. "He made some good decisions." "I was a little jittery at first in my first professional-type game," Sweeney said. "But I settled down. I really love our offense and I think I'll keep getting better." Sweeney spent three weeks in Dallas learning the Cowboys' playbook after he was drafted in the seventh round. "I know the odds are a little long for me so I wanted to learn all I could about the offense," he said.

Sweeney is no stranger in the Cowboys' training camp. He used to visit camp as a kid with his father, Jim, the head football coach at Fresno State. The younger Sweeney kept busy catching punts from quarterback Danny White. "He'd catch Danny's punts and come home with red scrapes all over his arms," Jim Sweeney said. "Kevin has always loved the Cowboys and now he has his chance to be one." With White and Steve Pelluer almost assured of two quarterback places on the roster, Sweeney must oust veteran Paul McDonald to earn the third position.

Reggie Collier was released to give Sweeney a chance to make the team. The process has been too much for his father to watch, Kevin Sweeney said. "I couldn't believe Dad didn't see the scrimmage against the Raiders," he said. "I guess he feels he's putting pressure on me. Mom was here though." The elder Sweeney was playing golf.

Jim Sweeney left camp saying, "There's enough pressure on Kevin without him looking around and seeing old Dad on the sidelines." fim (u It 7 II Wy 7 FPatTilley fc JCVy 'I I don't have a lot of '''y Aa strength andl'm not I XV very fast. But I tell kids I'm a great example of iff what you can do with JL' hard work, Time artRon Rtc Cards' Tilley fails physical, says pro career may be over Max Oliveras 105 games for Tim Murtaugh at Thetf ord Mines. He played the field, so to speak. Twenty-nine games in the outfield, 21 at first base, five at second base, 19 at third, 11 at short. With the Captains, he'd appear in 78 games, playing most of his games at second (38) and in the outfield (25).

Oliveras came stamped "utilityman." He says he still has the photo taken of him by a Times' photographer in which he is holding a catcher's mitt in one hand, a first baseman's glove on one knee and an infielder's glove on the other knee, with several other gloves laid on the ground in front of him and a catcher's mask thrown back on his head. He is asked, in reflection, if spreading himself so thin may not have handicapped his major league ambitions. He had, after all, played alongside Willie Randolph in Canada and at SPAR he turned double plays with the likes of Mike Edwards, who'd go up with Oakland, and Jimmy Sexton, who played for, among other clubs, the A's and Astros. Oliveras nods his head in the negative. "I needed the playing time," he says.

"In the long run, it's helped me out a lot in being a manager." Clemente early patron "Roberto Clemente used to tell me," the 38-year-old Oliveras says of younger days in Puerto Rico, 'Never be satisfied, look for the Of another benefactor, he says, "I learned from Jose Pagan. He told me to be honest with my players. I have only three rules. Be on time, give 100 percent and don't do anything to shame the team." Oliveras several years ago came under the wing of Baltimore farm director Tom Giordano. It was Giordano who steered him last year into a managing job with the Miami, Marlins.

He took a club with a 4-17 record and for the rest of the season went 70-49. That brought him this spring to Midland. It was Midland which in 1975 bested Shreveport by two games for the Western Division pennant. "We were 9, 10 games out (on the lead) and we flopped," Oliveras remembers. "I was mad, because the people at the ball park here, the Booster Club people, we let them down.

"Finally, I get to come back to Shreveport. The first thing I want to see is the Captain Shreve (hotel). That's where we stayed here." He was sad to learn the Captain Shreve is no more. Pat Tilley's stats PatTilley's pro career stats all came with the St. Louis Cardinals: Year G.

P.C. Yds. Avg. TD 1976 13 26 407 15.7 1 1977 14 5 64 12.8 0 1978 16 62 900 14.5 3 1979 16 57 938 16.5 6 1980 14 68 966 14.2 6 1981 16 66 1,040 15.8 3 1982 9 36 465 12.9 2 1983 16 44 690 15.7 5 1984 16 52 758 14.6 5 1985 16 49 726 14.8 6 1986 3 3 51 17.0 0 Total 149 468 7,005 14.9 37 fusal to retire pertained to benefits. "I'm under contract with the Cardinals for the 1987 season," he told The Times, "and part of the contract is that I must go to all team functions and do what I'm asked to do.

I had to take the preseason physical to see if I could pass or fail it. There was no doubt I was going to flunk it." Asked if he would consider playing for another NFL team once he clears waivers, Tilley said, "I'm not capable of playing football. That's just the bottom line, whether I want to or not." He said he will not be returning to St. Louis unless he is ordered back for re-habiliation work "or if they wanted me to do something to fulfill my contract." During the news conference Monday, Tilley, who prepped at Shreveport's Fair Park High School, looked back at his career spent with the Cardinals. He was drafted in the fourth round in 1976 out of Louisiana Tech where he caught 107 passes for 1,887 yards from 1972-1975.

His size (5-foot-10, 179) was seen as a drawback to his making it in the pros. See TILLEY's, Page 17 From Staff, Wire Reports ST. LOUIS St. Louis Cardinals veteran wide receiver Pat Tilley failed his physical exam Monday, and the National Football League team then placed him on waivers. Tilley, who has a year remaining on his contract to the team, said after the physical that he can't play football this year.

But he stopped short of announcing his retirement. Tilley, who suffered a back injury in the 1986 season, had to attempt to pass the physical exam in order to collect an injury-protection benefit of $65,000 and admitted Monday that his refusal to retire pertained to benefits. "I've failed my physical and I'm unable to play," he said at a news conference. "I'm not retired. I really don't know what the Cardinals are going to do with me at this point" About four hours later, the Cardinals said he had been placed on waivers.

On his return to Shreveport Monday night, Tilley said his back disc problem had cleared up. "But it's still a problem," he said. "I still haven't fully recovered from it." Tilley, who owns and operates The Pro Athlete in Pierre-Bossier Mall and is president of the local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, had to attempt to pass the physical exam in order to collect an injury-protection benefit of $65,000. He admitted Monday that his re 3-way playoff set in Women's Open IIUIIII UtUJIIBMUl II llUjl III nn. III, in.

1 after nine holes and grabbed a share of the lead by sinking a 5-foot birdie putt at the par-3, 130-yard 15th hole. The woman affectionately known as "Big Momma" on the tour then grabbed the lead with a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-5, 493-yard 17th hole. Carner put her second shot on the back fringe of the par-4, 18th hole and boldly went for the cup using her putter after studying the shot by sitting on the hill on the side of the green. The shot slipped six feet by the hole and the par-saver was just short as the crowd groaned. Davies and Okamoto both had long birdie putts at the 17th and 18th holes, with Davies' attempt at No.

17 just lippng out of the cup. All three finished the 72 holes at 3-under-par 285, four shots ahead of Betsy King and Jody Rosenthal, who shot 71 and 72, respectively. Complete scores on Page 18. Ironically, Davies was 7 years old when Carner won her first U.S. Women's Open title in 1971.

Okamoto said she battled her nerves in the fourth round. "My heart was thumping from one to 13," she said through an interpreter. "I was very tense, very nervous." However, she said she never felt she would lose the tournament "To lose, it's such a bad thought to have," Okamoto said. "After 13 1 thought somebody would tie me." For a while it looked like Carner was going to break a two-year victory drought and capture her third Open and 43rd professional victory. She started the round three shots behind Okamoto, the leader heading into the fourth round, and two shots behind Davies.

Carner, who equalled a course-record with her fourth-round 3-under-par 69, pulled within two shots of the leaders EDISON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -JoAnne Carner had the 42nd U.S. Women's Open and a piece of history in her grasp Monday but she made a mistake. Instead of becoming the oldest woman to win a U.S. Open, Carner finished the fourth round of the national cham- Jionship tied with Ayako Okamoto of apan and Laura Davies of England, forcing an 18-hole playoff at 8 a.m.

CDT (oday at the Plaint ield Country Gub. A sudden death playoff will follow if (he round ends in a tie. 5 There was a three-way tie because the 48-year-old Carner three-putted from 25 feet from the fringe of the 18th hole. "All I was really trying to do was just tet it down in two," Carner said. "I just looked at the putt too long.

When I stood fcver it it looked real dark because I was tight against the grain. I made the mis-ake of not walking away and going to took at it again." U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN ON TV Final-hour coverage of tha 1 8-hole playoffs in tha 1987 U.S. Woman's Opan golf tournament, 3 p.m., ABC (Channel 3). The result was the LPGA Hall of Famer hit the putt a little too hard and it went six feet by the hole, and she didn't get it down from there.

When Okamoto and Davies failed to birdie the 18th hole the United States Golf Association had its first three-way playoff in U.S. Women's Open history. There have been five two-way playoffs, the last coming a year ago whe Jane Geddes beat Sally Little. "I am looking forward to the playoff," said Davies, who is scheduled to begin defense of her British Women's Open title on Thursday in Cornwall, England. "It's going to be one of the highlights of my career, playing with JoAnne." AP UlMrpftot Ayako Okamoto will be in a three-way playoff for the U.S.

Women's Open golf championship today..