The Desert Sun from Palm Springs, California • 13

Monday July 25 1983 THE DESERT SUN Piln Springs Calif B1 This time the team that hit the homer lost NEW YORK (AP) Billy Martin laughed aU the way back to the dugout He had saved Ms tramp card for the right spot In the ninth inning of game with the Kansas City Royals after George Brett smashed a potential game-winning two-out two-ran homer off reliever Rich Gossage into the right field stands for a 5-4 lead the New York manager bolted onto the field and protested screaming and pointing at bat Martin had spotted pine tar too far up on hat were ready" said the feisty manager were Just waiting for Mm to do something" The rule says illegal for a foreign substance to be further than 18 inches up the bat handle Martin first noticed it two weeks ago in Kansas City but never said a wend The bat was scrutinized for five minutes and following a conference by the four umpires homer was disallowed he was called out and New York sneaked away with a 4-3 victory at Yankee Stadium seen it said Brett who could have collected his 20th homer of the season could retire now This was the icing on the cake If I had any guts I'd leave the game tomorrow and never play Yankee third baseman Graig Nettles who used to docto his bat with and third base coach Don Zimmer tipped off Martin to Brett's heavily tarred bat during the recent road trip to Stadium another guy in this league a home run hitter who does the same thing" said Zimmer going to catch him hoped not to use it" said Martin whose team has now won nine of its last 10 games a terrible rale hut if it had happened to me I would have accepted it" mouth then widened into a smile turned out to be a lovely Sunday afternoon" he said guess instead of the Goose you could give this save to the When home plate umpire Tim McClelland made the out call ending the game Brett rocketed out of the dugout and charged him Royals Manager Dick Howser ran right behind him followed by the rest of the team Martin standing on the top step of the Yankee lose this said Howser buy it And I like it It knocks you to your knees I'm sick about it and I expect my players to accept it that guy Brinkman I don't like to rip anybody but I'm going to rip him had trouble with him all year Everywhere we go the guy haunts us" Brinkman who measured the length of the pine tar smear by laying it across home plate (17 inches) said was thick tar for 19 inches and light tar for another three or four inches more It was bad went way past the A full report will be completed by Brinkman who said the controversial bat was immediately shipped to the league office after the game going to call Lee the first thing Monday he said have a conference call with all the umpires at Several Royals mumbled obscenities on their way out of the ballpark hate this said shortstop UL Washing-ton wait to get out of said outfielder Amos Otis Gossage faced one batter Brett and notched his 12 th save dugout smiled and watched for several minutes before heading down into the runway and back into the locker room Brett angrily bumping McClelland had to be restrained fay crew chief umpire Joe Brinkman looked like a madman" said Brinkman who grabbed the All-Star third baseman around the neck thought he was going to kill somebody It was not a professional thing to da He lost his composure" A angry exchange which included a frenzied search for the bat in question ensued for 15 minutes Kansas 44-year-old pitcher Gaylord Perry wrestled the bat away from McClelland during the argument and threw it into the dugout where it ended up in the hands of fellow hurler Steve Renko Brinkman along with stadium security rushed after it Renko who said he didn't know what elso to do simply handed it over to Brinkman Howser who will appeal the defeat with the American League office shut the clubhouse door for 20 minutes and telephoned Bob Fisbel secretary and assistant to AL President Lee MacPhail He will send to telegram to MacPhail away in Florida soon as Camel Scoreboard usinessFinance Classifieds Page 4 Page 5 Pages 6-1 1 zz BfrW mm Like spitter doctored bat hardly ever punished acknowledged using a corked bat for two weeks during the 1978 season and Mtting one home ran with it I find peace with that even though a lot of players use Thornton said afterward gave me a tremendous emotional problem I just use something illegal and live with Brett in fact thought Sunday that the umpires were checking for cork Accepting congratulations on the bench he was chuckling knowing that his bat was he thought perfectly legal But he think of the pine tar rule which Nettles was made aware of several years ago when his teammate the late Thurman Munson was called out after an RBI single in Minnesota When the Yankees appealed Sunday it even close no doubt in my said umpire Joe Brinkman the crew chief put it across home plate which is 17 inches and it went way The Yankees might have had less success Sunday had they tried it on the on-deck hitter Hal McRae long-rumored to be what's known in the trade as A few years ago the umpires checked bat They pounded it on the plate They flipped it up and down Finally they cut it in six pieces It was clean tendency to slip a millimeter of so rotating onto the ground or into the air Pine tar can turn those ground balls and popups into line drives Ironically it was a convicted bat doctorer Yankee third base-man Graig Nettles who last week in Kansas City spotted Brett using more than the 18 inches of pine tar the rules allow He relayed the information to Manager Billy Martin and Martin waited for a propitious time like a ninth-inning home ran to make that fact known On Sept 7 1974 playing in Detroit Nettles blooped a base Mt to left and the end of his bat broke off Out spilled six so-called resilient corked rubber that make a ball jump off the bat He was called out but the home run he Mt with that bat earlier in the game stood and gave the Yankees a 1-0 victory are guys who will fix a bat for Nettles once told a reporter it comes back like a Mafia hit gun no serial numbers" Ted Kluszewski the Cincinnati Red slugger of admits to having added nails to his bat providing an extra boost to the ball Former Baltimore Manager Earl Weaver says he once played on a minor league team on which every bat had cork inside Aside from Nettles caught red-handed the only active player to admit using an illegal bat is Andre Thornton who By DAVE GOLDBERG APSfwte Writer Like the spitter the doctored bat is an accepted trick of the baseball trade in which perpetrators almost always go unpunished As Norm Cash the old Detroit Tiger slugger said a couple of years ago: owe my success to expansion pitcMng a short right field fence and my hollow But nobody ever remembers anything like the ninth inning at Yankee Stadium Sunday With two out a man on first and the New York Yankees leading the Kansas City Royals 4-3 George Brett hammered a Goose Gossage fastball into the right field seats to give the Royals a 5-4 lead The Yankees grabbed the bat appealed to the umpires and Brett was called out for having more than the permitted 1 8 inches of pine tar on his bat The Yankees win 4-3 Gossage gets a save for surrendering a home ran to the only batter he faced Pine tar isn't considered a major offense in the world of bat doctoring where nails cork hollowed-out bats and even rubberized balls are standard tools Pine tar is visible too easy to spot But rubbed up onto the Mtting surface it does allow for better contact a ipinning ball contacting a shiny wood surface has a tffiSRSsaxrsra Tigers doing needed i i Dodgers victims of Allen shutout ST LOUIS (AP) Neil Allen suddenly the stopper for the St Louis Cardinals says his second six-hit shutout of the Los Angeles Dodgers meant more than the first think today was a more rewarding one because it put us closer to the said the 25-year-old hurler after a 3-0 mound success Sunday think that sometimes it helps when you get on a contending For Allen 7-8 his second St Louis shutout in five days represented another chapter in a personal fairy tale which began June 15 when he was traded to the Cards by the New York Mets very happy to be here I want to belittle the New York Mets but by July 24 you even want to look at the papers with the said the hurler at least 10 games out Here got a first shutout of Los Angeles came May 20 while he was still in a New York uniform His second was a 99-pitch masterpiece thrown under a blazing sun in 96-degree heat The hard-throwing pitcher struck out five and walked one He was aided by two double plays and doubled home St final run really didn't even want to run to second said Allen whose two-out hit off Jerry Reuss 6-9 scored Ozzie Smith in the second inning felt like I was dodging some hot bullets before it was over When you get down past that seventh inning and get into the eighth I think that pride as a professional that takes Allen whose victory left him with a 5-1 record in eight outings as a starter for the Cards also shaved his earned run average with St Louis to a tidy 202 on a staff that started the day with a collective ERA of 386 got a great said Dodgers' Manager Tom Lasorda thought that the first five innings he was really Back-to-back doubles by Lonnie Smith and Willie McGee staked the right-hander to a 1-0 advantage in the first with McGee moving around to score a second run in the inning on a groundout and passed ball Allen weathered Ken leadoff double and a two-out walk in the Los Angeles fourth Landreaux grounded into a double play after Steve Sax singled to open the sixth and Gilberto Reyes bounced into the second twin killing an inning later following Derrel one-out single The outcome severed a St Louis losing streak at four games leaving Manager Whitey Herzog grateful for a triumph which put the Cards back in third place in National League East standings was a day that 111 remember Not many people shut out the Los Angeles said Allen you're getting your pitchers over you can throw about anything you want to The Dodgers faced host Chicago in an afternoon game today Raiders present big bill to Oakland OAKLAND (AP) City Council members had something else to ponder today as they discussed whether to appeal the outcome of their eminent domain case against the Los Angeles Raiders: a 825 million legal bill from the National Football League team Attorney Joseph Alioto who represented the Raiders in the just-concluded trial says the team could charge the city at least that much for its defense costs and may also file a 325 million suit against Oakland for the role in the antitrust suit On Friday Monterey County Superior Court Judge Nat Agliano ruled the city could not bring the team back to Oakland through the use of eminent domain a process usually used by cities to acquire needed real estate The City Council is scheduled to review the decision today as it decides whether to file an appeal The costs of the trial which have not been released by the city are expected to figure prominently in the discussion ANAHEIM (AP) It certain as is often the case which came first success or the confidence that breeds it But whatever the sequence the Detroit Tigers continue to play like serious contenders in the American League East That was never more evident than in the course of a five-game series with the California Angels in which the Tigers came away with four victories by accomplishing whatever was necessary Having already won twice with pitching and surviving a 13-11 slugfest Detroit went to their leather Sunday for a 4-3 12-inning triumph got to keep winning to stay away from giving up any ground" said catcher Lance Parrish whose leadoff homer in the top of the 12th off Luis Sanchez 8-4 accounted for the difference in the series finale in and week out everyone in the East seems to be Although Chet over-the-fence catch of Rod drive with two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the 12th was the most obvious defensive gem of the day for the Tigers the club performed brilliantly in the field throughout the game But it all would have been for naught had Lemon not been in ideal position to snare 12th-inning drive just started running and when I felt the warning track I was scared that the ball would go said Lemon wanted to make sure when I Jumped that my glove would get over the When he hit the ball Carew did a little jig leaving the box indicating that he was certain he had just Mt a game-winning homer thought it was out and it he said (Lemon) make that catch unless there are two outs which allowed him to play deeper than he normally In that case the latest in a series of pivotal plays occurred with one out in the 12th when Rob Wilfong delivered a pinch-hit single but was out attempting to stretch it into a double Bob Boone followed with a single off Aurelio Lopez 6-4 to 1 ring up Carew not with one out but with two The Angels handed Ken Forsch a 3-0 lead at the end of three innings on Mike run-scoring single in the second and an RBI double by Carew and a run-scoring single by Fred Lynn in the third The comeback began with Larry solo homer in the fourth his 11th of the season Detroit tied the game in the seventh on a run-scoring infield out by Whitaker and an RBI single by Alan Trammell one of his five hits in the game The Angels try to get back on the track tonight in a nationally televised game against the visiting Baltimore Orioles Lefty Tommy John (7-7) has the starting assignment for the Angels righthander Mike Boddicker (6-4) gets the nod for the Orioles Czechs recapture Federation Cup ZURICH Switzerland (AP) It took Czechoslovakia eight years to regain the Federation Cup Urn women's international team tennis trophy Last time in 1975 Martina Navratilova led the Czechs to victory over Australia in Aix-en-Provence France before she defected to the United States and later became a US citizen In Zurich on Sunday Hana Mandlikova and her teammates downed West Germany 2-1 to take the trophy for a second time After Helena Sukova had put Czechoslovakia in front 1-0 by upsetting Claudia Kohde Mandlikova played devastating tennis in the second singles match against Bettina Bunge She took the opening set 6-2 in just 25 minutes and then led 3-0 before Bunge who looked uncharacteristically sluggish around the court defaulted with a pulled hamstring in her left leg That gave the third-seeded Chech team a unbeatable 2-0 lead Htdiaai Mala tar BuaPtioto SAILING AWAY The 1 1th annual Ancient Mariners Boat Race was held Sunday In Long Beach Harbor where 70 wooden sailboats took to the wind Laura Fitzpatrick of Palm Desert hangs over the side of her boat Alura She finished fourth In her group of classic racing sloops.