Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 25

CLASSIFIED ADS section ST. PETERSBURG TIMES TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1976 ED ST. PETERSBURG TIMES Musical managers: meaningless moves Last week the Texas Rangers fired Billy Martin for rea- It xl I A ---L But Williams' managerial skills were clearly shown in 1974 when that same team of Oakland A's won its third straight World Series with Alvin Dark as the manager. Williams left Oakland for California and in spite of his "greatness" as a the Angels are more than 20 games out of first place in the American League West. MEANWHILE, under Dark the A's are coasting along on top of that same American League West by nearly 10 can Even J.

Fred Muss (toft) could manag a major Imqim baaaballtoamrf Divan tha right playara. mum wiutn were in we Desi interests oi me ciud. Last week the New York Yankees fired Bill Virdon for reasons which were "in the best interests of the club." At the same time they fired Virdon the Yankees hired Martin. This would lead me to believe that the "best inter ests of the Yankees are not the same as the "best interests" of the Rangers. Which further leads me to believe that either the Rangers or the Yankees don't want to win the pennant.

THE CEREBRAL machinations of baseball's club owners leave me mystified. Each year the owners play "Musical Managers" with the firm belief that a manager really makes a difference in whether a team finishes in first place or sixth place. In the minor leagues, it does matter. A minor league manager is a teacher and a coach as well as a manager. He I aa tA tusvwL- at Viio ink Maias Innniin ma am ahavo it ntro iaaiIiao But Muggs could manage the Oakland A's and they'd And a major league manager must know how to look serious while wearing a pair of knickers and knee socks.

With the complete lack of mentality required, I'm considering managing a major league baseball team as my next career. Better yet, I'll be an owner. That takes even less intelligence. But that's like saying a mule is dumber than a jackass. A baseball manager could be a worthy addition to a major league club, if the owners would end their policy of hiring only the non-thinkers, non-doers and nondescripts.

There are plenty of excellent managerial prospects roaming around in the minor leagues. Unfortunately, they will roam there forever because managing in the majors is a closed shop. ONE OF THESE days the owners are going to discover that players, not managers, win or lose games. Take Dick Williams please. Williams managed the Oakland A's to two straight world championships.

He was considered the greatest thing ever to make out a lineup card. still be 10 games in front Billy Martin is one of the few managers with a good track record, yet he's gotten more pink slips than paychecks. Martin was fired by Texas, then hired by the Yankees "in the best interests" of both clubs. But it's not quite clear as to just what those "best interests" might be. Ostensibly, Martin was fired to help heal the Rangers' internal wounds.

But Henry Kissinger couldn't ho wounds. VIRDON WAS fired because he couldn't the Yankees' external wounds. But O-i! r.coeru woula have his hands full trying to heal all those wounds. Don't worry about Virdon, though. With baseball's closed shop he'll probably turn up in Atlanta or Houston or Chicago or San Francisco in the next couple of weeks.

And, according to the latest rumors, Virdon could end up in Texas with Martin's old job. In spite of all the shuffling, it's doubtful if anyone will to do all the work for them. A major league manager doesn't need to know a whole lot about anything to become a manager. J. Fred Muggs, the chimp, could do the job if given the right players.

A major league manager must know how to walk from the dugout to the pitcher's mound without tripping over the chalked baselines. A MAJOR league manager must know how to raise his right arm when he wants a righthanded relief pitcher or his left arm for a lefthanded relief pitcher. A major league manager must know how to write so he can make out a lineup card every day. benefit. Martin can't heal the Yankees' external wounds any better than Virdon.

And Virdon can't heal the Rangers' internal wounds any better than Martin. Without the right players, neither of them are going to produce winners. It's time for some new thinking among major league club owners. i i And it's definitely time for some new blood among major league managers. Right, J.

Fred? Jack Molinas (at left in 1 963 photo) was the prime mover in I 1 the fixing and point-shaving jj basketball scandals. -i ZJ to Stick 'em up What goes up must come down, but not necessarily where it should. This foul ball (circle) landed on the dugout just out of the reach of stretching New York Mets Jerry Grote 1 5) and Wayne Garrett. The scrambling fan at left wound up with the ball. UPI 1 tion to the head wound.

The Marcus woman told police as many as four shots may have been fired. Detectives said they did not know if the woman also had been a target or was an accidental victim. Molinas went on to play with the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Pistons, after his college career. He was thrown off the team and barred from the National Basketball Association in 1962 when he admitted betting on Pistons games. IN 1963 HE WAS convicted as the "master fixer" in college basketball bribery scandals that involved nearly 50 players at 27 colleges.

1 Molinas was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison in the bribery case. He was paroled in 1968 and moved to Los Angeles two years later. In a 1974 interview, Molinas described himself as a "wheeler-dealer" engaged in various business enterprises. When he was sentenced in the betting scandal, Judge Joseph Sarafite told Molinas: "In my opinion, you are a completely immoral person. You are the prime mover of the conspiracy, and you were the person most responsible.

You callously used your prestige as a former AU-American basketball player to corrupt college basketball players and defraud the public." LOS ANGELES (AP) Detectives are investigating a possible connection between the ambush slaying of shirts gambling figure Jacob "Jack" Mnas and the unsolved 1974 murder of hif one-time business partner, authorities sf.id Monday. "We are still piecing things together," said Homicide Det. Lt. L. A.

Durrer of the Hollywood Division. "I can't say whether it was a gangland killing, but we are not overlooking the possibility." THE 43-YEAR-OLD Molinas, a 6-foot-5 former Ail-American basketball player at Columbia University, was shot in the back of the head early Sunday as he stood with a woman friend in the backyard of his luxurious Hollywood Hills home. The woman, Shirley Marcus, 35, who had just arrived from her home in New York, was wounded in the neck and was reported in satisfactory condition at UCLA Medical Center. Detectives said Bernard Gusoff, 53, Molinas' partner in a fur importing business, was beaten to death in his apartment here Nov. 15, 1974.

Investigators said they were checking into a report that each of the men had taken, out $500,000 insurance policies payable to the other. An autopsy was planned to determine how many times Molinas was shot in addi 0 LEFT: 9-year-old Jon Sissons Tampa Bay Rowdies star John Sissons has played an instrumental part in his team's winning its division title. Son Jon Sissons also plays a vital role in his team's success. Now they're setting their sites on finding the way to San Jose. RIGHT: 29-year-old John Sissons Sissons Sissons kick experts 1 two minutes," explained Jon.

In England, young boys can become apprentices with pro teams at the age of 15. Jon will be 10 in September, shortly after he returns with his family to England. His father is "on loan" to the Rowdies, and must return to play for First Division Chelsea. "I want him to do whatever he wants to do, but just get a good education," said John, who nonetheless is aware of his son's one desire. "BUT THAT'S not all he's good at," added John.

"He can hit a golf ball 100 yards, he's a natural at tennis in our family I'm ranked No. 1 and he's No. 2 and table tennis, any ball game. "He's very, very persistent," said Sissons. "He'll stay with the ball until he masters it" "I practice a lot at home, playing a game with my friends, helping the other boys learn to play," said Jon.

"They catch on very fast here, and it's nicer here, but I'd rather play in England." Through most of the season, John could not manage to score a goal for the Rowdies while Jon was pouring in four and five at a clip for his youth team. "I always kidded him about that," said Jon. "And that morning I had already scored five goals and I told Dad it was about time to score." That was the day Sissons drilled in his hat trick. Jon hopes his high-scoring father saves a few goals for the playoffs, however, as the Rowdies host a quarterfinal match next week. After all, Jon Sissons and John Sissons both want to find the way to San Joae.

thighs, head has already won the Tampa area title and the North Florida crown, which included contestants from Georgia and Mississippi. Wednesday night, during halftime of the Tampa Bay-Chicago game at Tampa Stadium, while his dad rests for a few moments, Jon Sissons will take on a Miami lad for the overall state title. The winner earns a trip to the skills contest finals in San Jose, to be held during Soccer Super Bowl Aug. 24. "I hope well (the Rowdies) be there, too," said John Sissons.

"I'm to report back to England as soon as the season's over, and if we're knocked out of the playoffs and Jon wins his match, I don't know what well do." The Sissons Sissons act is unlike the typical American father-son duo. Most Dads don't take their 9-year-old sons to football practice and mix it up with the linebackers. "THAT'S WHY he's so good," says Jon's dad. "He's more connected with professional soccer than any kid I know of. I started taking him with me to training when he was three, and now he comes nearly every day, and does all the skills The junior Sissons has become the Rowdies' unofficial mascot.

He juggles the ball as well as most of the players, and his "record" of 88 consecutive hits off his feet, thighs and head came before a crowd of 11,000 at Tampa Stadium as he won the North Florida crown. "I could have had 100, but they gave me only By KEN BLANKENSHIP St. Ptr(burg ThnM Staff Wrltir Sissons Sissons. It's a father-and-son combination like you've never seen before. It's not a vaudeville routine, lawyering partnership, manufacturing conglomerate or baby powder trademark.

The game is soccer, and the principals involved are experts. John Leslie Sissons, 29, a blonde-haired Englishman with Hollywood looks, helps generate the high-powered offense of the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League. Jon David Sissons, 9, a freckle-faced, 4-foot-3W, 60-pound dynamo, was virtually a one-man wrecking crew for the Towne Country Cobras of a Tampa Bay Area Youth Soccer Organization league. Young Jon scored 21 goals in only four games as his team breezed to the league title undefeated. IN RECENT weeks, John Sissons has been the driving legpower of a seven-game Rowdies winning streak (snapped last week), including a club record three-goal, two-assist outburst to lead a 6-1 rout of Baltimore.

In recent weeks, Jon Sissons has concerned himself with winning the National Youth Soccer Skills Contest, soccer's version of football's Punt, Pass Kick competition. The talented youngster, whose forte is juggling the ball keeping the ball airborne by bouncing it off his feet, 9t Pvttrefejwrg ThuM.