The Dispatch from Moline, Illinois • 30

D6 SPORTS THE DISPATCH AND THE ROCK ISLAND ARGUS TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1995 Booed in Philadelphia, at home in Cooperstown Baseball inks i -i i pari! aeai waap mum mmm. immm 1 LAS VEGAS. Nov. St. Andrews Golf Corporation announced the signing of an, agreement with Major League, Baseball Properties for the exclu-, sive operation of Slugger Stadi-; urn baseball batting stadiums.

The first stadium to be built by St. Andrews, the Ail-American Family Sports Park, will be open, by this summer in Las Vegas at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Sahara Avenue on 33 acres of land. The company plans to open nine other facilities throughout Cfotno K.r 1Q07 U-' i i a i TT They booed a man who did much for the city of Philadelphia, always had time for the fans and never boasted or bragged about anything he accomplished. As a youngster I worshiped the hot corner. To me, baseball revolved around life at third base.

My earliest memories were of my idol, Ken Boyer, dashing to his left to cut off a hit or turning on a fastball for one of his 282 lifetime homers. He was a St. Louis Cardinal fans' man. Then there was Robinson, arguably the greatest defensive third baseman ever to play the game. Brooksie made plenty of noise with the stick, but was born with a Rawlings attached to his left hand.

As I grew older, I came to respect George Brett, who defined perfection at third. Using his smooth-through-the-zone-swing. his all-out style of play and his lightning-quick reflexes, Brett gave us all we wanted and a little more for 20 years. And then there was Boyer never made it to Cooperstown. Robinson did and Brett will five years from now.

But Monday, the greatest third baseman the player who gave me the greatest joy to watch play was assured of Monday, Mike Schmidt got what he deserved. So did the fools in Philadelphia. Now, the fools in Philly having something they can really boo about. Mike Schmidt has been served. His Cooperstown ticket was punched on the first try.

Deservedly so, Monday, the man Philadelphia Phillie fans had the audacity to boo on a regular basis for 18 years, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was elected in dominating fashion, much the way he played the game. He garnered the most votes (444) by any player in the 59 years in which the Baseball Writers Association of America has been conducting the balloting. Only Tom Seaver (98.84 percent), Ty Cobb (98.23) and Hank Aaron (97.83) got higher percentages. Serious company, huh? What's even more astonishing and these writers must be more ungrateful Phillie fans is not the number of votes Schmidt received, but that 16 of the record 460 people who cast ballots failed to put his name on the ballot.

No player has been a unanimous choice for the Hall. Time was, when 23 fools failed to vole for Willie Mays. Nineteen failed to vote for Steve Carlton last year. Eleven brain-dead souls didn't even vote for Babe Ruth. The classless goofs in the so-called City of Brotherly Love, booed him mercilessly throughout his career.

A career, I might JOHN MARX add, that loyally started and ended in a Philadelphia uniform. He was elected in dominating fashion, much the way he played the game. They booed a man who lent class, style and grace to the game. A man who is seventh all-time on the major league home run list with 548. They were ignorant enough not to respect a man who won three MVP awards, played in 12 All-Star games, won 10 Gold Gloves, led the Phillies to a World Series title in 1980 and a man who drove in nearly 1,600 runs over his career.

Only Ruth won more home-run titles than the eight Schmidt won. Only Hank Aaron had more 30-home-run seasons than the 13 Schmidt had. Only Brooks Robinson won more Gold Glove Awards at third base than the 10 Schmidt collected. been in professional baseball for 19 years, spending the last three years as manager of the New Britain (Conn.) Red Sox of the Class AA Eastern League. While with the Red Sox affiliate, he compiled a 169-251 record .402 winning percentage.

Dillard, in two seasons with the Bandits, compiled a 113-155 record, a .422 winning percentage. "I'm hopeful that he'll be able to bring this team to its full potential," said River Bandits owner Rick Holtzman. "It was the Astros' decision and I have confidence that they have examined all options and candidates available and that they feel comfortable with the choice they've made. "He was the guy they wanted from the beginning and they went Associated Press Mike Schmidt launches one of his 548 career home runs in this 1989 game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. New Bandits skipper owns Double-A experience season as a pitching coach in the.

Houston organization. Hickey, who pitched for minor league teams' in the White Sox, Dodgers and Astros organizations, spent the last two years with the Osceola Astros of the Gulf Coast (Rookie) League and helped that team to a Gulf Coast League title this past summer. This season also marks Hick: ey's return to the Midwest League. He coached the Burlington Astros in 1991 when they won the first-half Southern Division title. "I'm excited about him," said Holtzman of Hickey.

"He has developed arms at that level and won with them, that's one criteria for winning and that's certainly forme." By Tom Johnston Staff sports writer It took a while longer than expected, but the Quad-City River Bandits had their coaching staff assigned on Monday. And the parent Houston Astros decided to go with two of their own to lead their Class A club here. Jim Pankovits, 39, will be field manager and 32-year-old Jim Hickey will be the team's pitching coach. Nathan Lucero has been named the trainer. Those two replace former manager Steve Dillard and pitching coach Gary Lucas.

The hitting instructor position formerly held by Cesar Cedeno will not be filled. Pankovits returns to the club that made him a fourth-round pick in the 1976 June amateur draft. The former infielder has gets a chance to do here this year as Fred Nelson. Astros director of minor league operations has said that many of last year's Bandits player might be back this season. "My sense is that Pankovits will do well with the team the Astros have put together for us here," said Holtzman.

noting he is encouraged by one Pankovits trait. "One of the ingredients that Pankovits brings to the process is his ability to motivate people with a temper," said Holtzman, who felt Dillard lacked leadership qualities needed for the young team here last season! "He'll be a disciplinarian when it's appropriate; he has that capacity" Hickey. himself a former Houston farmhand, will begin his fifth SCHMIDT FROM PAGE Dl I want to be the best that I can be at anything, be jt giving an interview, a press conference, a golf game, or a baseball career." His focused approach to life, and baseball, led to countless hours in the batting cage under Veterans Stadium. He admitted to changing his approach to hitting five or six times in his career. The public didn't see all that hard work.

Instead, they saw a HIE SPORTS CONNECTION College Pro Games; SPREADS! HOT PICKS! CALL 1-900-370-3636 Ext. 169 18. 24 HourTouch-tone phone AvalonComm. (350) 525 Mninr Baseball Sluccer' Stadium is a battine stadium with proprietary design features developed by St. Andrews.

It is intended to evoke images of clas-, sic baseball stadiums, recreating a major-league experience for its patrons. TTnHnr thn airfnnmnnt thr rnm. pany will have the exclusive right to identify each stadium it builds as a Major League Baseball Slug; ger Stadium. St. Andrews also has the right i to utilize certain Major Odauuciu uaucuiai ui auviw; marks, including the trademarks of the All-Star Game, Division.

1 series, League naiiipiuiisiuy Series and the World Series. "We are pleased with the exclu; sive endorsement provided by, Major League Baseball and look forward to a long-term relation-, of St. Andrews. company's staff has-worked diligently to advance the state-of-the-art baseball entertainment experience with many" innovative features." Initial term of the agreement is three years through Dec. 31, 1997, with extensions to be St.

Andrews is permitted to fran-. chise the stadium if it chooses. The stadium can be at stand- alone sites or as part of the All-, American Family Sports Park. Other planned locations are. Lbs Angeles; Atlanta; Orlando, Denver; Branson, New.

York; Chicago and Dallas. The. agreement also allows for provi- x- 1 tions. St. Andrews' first wmcn is miry unancea, win De unaer construction later month.

The company has had ongoing discussions with several major developers that have demonstrate ed serious interest in including a Major League Baseball Slugger i ii i ii a ULUUlUiU uiiu ui uii i lil 11 11, 1 1V.U1 1 Family Sports Park in their nlannnH fni- enrwiffir ritipc anH 1, i-4 Hnr nv.nl lUbUliVUJ AAA lll- UV.kl hVVAL4A years. St. Andrews' plans for stadium design include a full-sized stadi-' um that recreates manv ot tne features of a modern baseball stadium. Plans include 17 batter boxes -and 17 on-deck circles. Batters will have the option of hitting' three different speed intervals.

Outfield wall replicas of Fenway Park's "Green wall. Baltimore's Camden Chicago's Wrigley Field, The Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, and Yankee Stadium will be designed to hit the balls out of the park. To complete the major-league experience, other plans include1 authentic turnstiles, classic ball- park food and beverage conces-. Sions. baseball memorabilia, eleci tronic scoreboards and specially designed sound systems that pro-1 vide typical baseball sounds', including proprietary-designed umpire calls ot balls and strikes.

utner ieatures oi tne Aii-Ainer-ican Family Sports Park will'" include a golf driving range, a golf training center, pro shop and. clubhouse, go-kart tracks, an arcade, meeting rooms and restaurants. St. Andrews raised $4.5 million in gross proceeds from an initial public offering that became effective on Dec. 13, 1994.

The majority of the proceeds will be used for' the development of the Ail-American Family Sports Park. St. Andrews also franchises 57 retail stores under the name Las Vegas Discount Golf operating in 18 states and two foreign countries. Trivia 4500 Trivia 3500 Sports Trivia 4540 Bible Trivia CITYLINE 757-1000 A FREE service of The Dispatch The Rock Island Argus -The Leader 'I'm hopeful that he'll be able to bring this team to its full Rick Holtzman after him very aggressively. For a coach to go from AA to A ball, they must have really wanted him." Holtzman said it was hard to compare winning percentages of the managers since Pankovits' teams "have not been particularly competitive and that's a talent issue.

A fair way to analyze that would be to see what Pankovits would have done with the teams Dillard managed." And that may. be just what he v- player who played so within himself that he appeared at times to be not trying at all. That, Schmidt said, was the biggest misconception about hint, "If you could equate the a-mount of time and effort put in mentally and physically to succeeding on the baseball field and measure by the amount of dirt on your uniform which a lot of times I know they do around Philadelphia mine would have been black. You would never have been able to see the number on my uniform." Schmidt, who won 10 Gojd Gloves during his career, said he believes he shares the "best third-baseman ever" tag with Brooks Robinson. "I'm quite comfortable with being right there with Brooks," he said.

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