The Herald-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan • 14

PAGE FOURTEEN THE HERALD-PALLADIUM, Benton Harbor St. Joseph, Michigan TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1984 FIRST TITLE SINCE 1945 Cubs Clinch NL East Crown 1 behind the New York Mets into a 4V4-game lead they never lost. The Cubs won their championship with a combination of pitching, power and persistence. Sutcliffe was a streak-stopping starter, fireballing Lee Smith a rally-stopping reliever and six Cubs, including Most Valuable Player candidate Ryne Sandberg, had 80 or more runs batted in. And General Manager Dallas Green, who engineered the Philadelphia Phillies' 1980 NL championship, might have stolen this title away from his old team by trading for former Phillies such as Sandberg, Bowa, and outfielders Keith Moreland, Bob Dernier and Matthews.

The Cubs got solo solo runs in each of the first three innings Monday night. Sandberg lined the first of his two doubles with one out in the first inning before coming home on Matthews' run-scoring single, his league-best 19th game winning RBI of the season. Sutcliffe himself drove in the Cubs' second run of the game with a second-inning single after Bowa singled and advanced on third baseman Jim Morrison's throwing error. Another Morrison throwing error, in the third, scored the Cubs' third run after Sandberg's double, Matthews' walk and Keith Moreland's infield single. PITTSBURGH (AP) Their critics jokingly called them the Flubs, not the Cubs, and claimed a team that insisted on living in the past had no future playing strictly daytime baseball.

But they were wrong, these wguld be Cub-Busters. The Chicago Cubs, the only team in the major leagues that continues to play all-day baseball at home, suddenly has learned how to beat the daylights out of the rest of the National League East. "The Cub-Busters, where are the Cub-Busters?" shortstop Larry Bowa joked Monday night as the Cubs poured champagne and heaped praise on one another following a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates that clinched the NL East championship their first title of any kind in nearly four decades. Since 1945, when the Cubs last won the NL pennant, rooting for Chicago has been downright unbearable. Until now.

"We've come a long way, I'll tell you," said first baseman Leon Durham. What the Cubs did was a job on the rest of the National League. The only team that previously had not won an NL East title since divisional play began in 1969, the Cubs in one magical summer week that their fans will remember for years turned a 4V4-game deficit .1. Caps Dominating Season Sutcliffe CHICAGO (AP) In the Chicago Cubs' fairy tale season, Rick Sutcliffe was Cinderella. Monday night in Pittsburgh, Sutcliffe, 16-1, capped one of the most dominating seasons by a starting pitcher in recent history by beating the Pirates 4-1 on a two-hitter to give Chicago its first National League East Division title in the club's history.

When the towering right-hander came to Chicago from Cleveland on June 14, he brought a 4-5 record and nagging rumors that he was washed up. He captured two of his first three decisions in a Cubs uni a move that prompted Sutcliffe to call Lasorda "a liar" and ransack the manager's office. Sutcliffe remembers those days ruefully and says the only goal he has left in baseball is to win a World Series, "because I had one taken from me in 1981." He was traded to Cleveland and went 14-8 in 1982, along with posting an American League-leading 2.96 ERA. After a 17-11 season last year, Sutcliffe became one of the highest-paid pitchers in baseball, getting a one-year contract reportedly worth more than $900,000. form and then notched the next 13.

His only loss came June 29 at Los Angeles. "You run out of adjectives for a guy who pitches like he does," Chicago Manager Jim Frey said. At 6-foot-7 and 215 pounds, Sutcliffe is an imposing presence on the mound, aided by a fastball that can reach 95 mph. He has struck out 154 batters in 150.1 innings with the Cubs this year, while walking just 39 and hurling three shutouts. His earned run average is 2.69.

Despite his size, the soft-spoken Sutcliffe is reluctant to be called the key in the Cubs' championship i If' I'-TnniiiiM I fjfrl 'il roll. He rarely failed to remind people the Cubs were in first place when he arrived from Cleveland, along with George Frazier and Ron Hassey, in exchange for Mel Hall, Joe Carter and two other players. This latest rejuvenation is his second. Sutcliffe was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1979, when he went 17-10 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he slumped to 3-9 in 1980 and 2-2 in just 47 innings in strike-shortened 1981.

He was left off the Dodgers' post-season roster that year by Dodger Manager Tommy Lasorda, (f WINNING FORM: Chicago Cubs pitcher Rick Sutcliffe won his 16th game of the season for the Cubs Monday night on a two-hitter as Cubs defeated Pirates 4-1 to clinch NL East Division championship. (AP Laserphoto) Scoreboard Shows Party In Chicago PITTSBURGH (AP) The Chicago Cubs have spent their summer watching the scoreboard, wondering each night as they won or lost whether the New York Mets were doing the same. Now, the Cubs the newly crowned champions of the National League East can quit watching the scoreboard. Except they don't want to. After clinching their first championship of any kind since 1945 with a 4-1 victory Monday night over the Pittsburgh Pirates, many of the Cubs gathered to watch the Three Rivers Stadium scoreboard flash a live TV picture of thousands of revelers jamming the streets outside Wrigley Field in Chicago.

As they watched, the Cubs toasted themselves with champagne and exchanged high fives and hugs. "I wish we could have won this in Chicago in front of our fans," Chicago Manager Jim Frey said. "But I'm just happy we were able to do this for our fans. This is just a wonderful, wonderful feeling." Dallas Green, the general manager credited with lifting the Cubs from decades of mediocrity to a pennant contender, was repeatedly doused with champagne as he clasped hands and patted his players on the back. "I think we've proven to Chicago that we can do the job," Green said.

"I'm tickled to death. We have a ways to go yet but I'm confident we're going to get the job done. I have a lot of confidence and I think we can go get San Diego in the playoffs." Outfielder Gary Matthews, who played for the pennant-winning Philadelphia Phillies last season, said, "This one tastes even better. "The Cubs haven't won since 1945 and a lot of people still talk about (their collapse in) 1969," he said. "Well, they won't be talking about that too much more." In their champagne-splattered locker room, the Cubs heaped praise Cub Fever Sweeps Through Chicago CHICAGO (AP) There's an epidemic sweeping the city, but no one's seeking a cure.

It's Cubs fever, and thousands of pennant-hungry fans took to the streets to celebrate their team's first championship in 39 years. More than 10,000 exuberant fans rushed to the gates of the Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, after Monday night's clincher in Pittsburgh. The revelers, many with beer and champagne glistening in their hair, danced and chanted, "We're Number One! We're Number One!" They climbed billboards, stoplights and the outer walls of Wrigley Field. They leaned on horns, set off fireworks and waved Cubs pennants that vendors were selling at a rate of 100 per hour. On Division and Rush streets, bar patrons clogged the strip in a wild celebration.

"I thought I'd be dead before I ever saw something like this," said Bert Campbell, a Cubs fan since 1950. "I cried when the Cubs won tonight. Tears of joy." Gayle Lieberman, a speech therapist, stopped by Murphy's Bleachers, a popular haunt of the long-suffering Cub fan, after work. She left the bar drenched with champagne. "I've waited so long for this I can hardly complain," she said.

There was even a faint cheer on the city's South Side where the final out of the Cubs game was flashed on the big screen at Comiskey Park, home of the Chicago White Sox. In Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Cubs fans danced in the aisles, waved banners and reveled in the joy of their team's long-awaited National League East championship, clinched in a 4-1 victory. They came by car and bus and plane many on the spur of the moment to hoist both banners and beers in boosting a team that has had nothing to celebrate since 1945. "I wish we could have done it in front of our fans," Cubs Manager Jim Frey said. Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko, a die-hard Cubs fan, watched the game at the Billy Goat Tavern in downtown Chicago.

"I'm elated," he said. "I'm bouncing off the ceiling. It's a remarkable moment. and poured beer on each other to celebrate a title that many in baseball thought would never come to a team that still plays all day baseball at home. "They said a team that played in the day couldn't win.

Well, we proved them wrong," said jubilant Manager Jim Frey, who did in one season what a score of predecessors couldn't do bring a title to Chicago. CLINCHING HUG: Chicago Cubs pitcher Rick Sutcliffe (right) is hugged by catcher Jody Davis as third baseman Ron Cey moves in after Cubs clinched the National League East Division title Monday night in Pittsburgh with a 4-1 win. Sutcliffe improved his record with Cubs to 16-1 on a two-hitter. (AP Laserphoto) Royals Sweep Angels Behind Rookies Andretti MIS Winner In the opener, Mike Boddicker, 19-11, scattered 10 hits in joining Detroit's Jack Morris as the win-ningest pitcher in the league. John Shelby homered and drove in three runs and Roenicke and Mike Young added homers as the Birds roughed up Ron Guidry, 10-10.

Tigers 7, Brewers 3 Lou Whitaker and Chet Lemon hit homers and Juan Berenguer, 10-10, survived a shaky first inning to give East champion Detroit its 101st victory of the season. Raiders Rally Behind Plunltett, Nip Chargers Craig Lefferts combined on a three-hitter and San Diego supported them with 17 hits in winning the opener. Mario Ramirez cracked an RBI-single in the 11th inning of the nightcap to send the Padres to a double-header sweep. The two losses gave the Giants 92, the most in their San Francisco history. Mets 7, Phillies 5 Rusty Staub, New York's 40-year-old pinch-hitter deluxe, lined a two-run double to break a 5-5 tie in the eighth inning.

Expos 2, Cardinals 1 Tim Raines, who had entered the game in the top of the ninth as a defensive replacement, delivered a one-out single in the bottom of the ninth that drove in the winning run. Dodgers 5, Astros 1 Pedro Guerrero's 16th homer of the season, a three-run shot in the third inning, backed Jerry Reuss' pitching in Los Angeles. For Life insurance the state Farm SEE: JOE 463-5249 JIM SCHADLER BILL 925-4461 BOB STEMM JON 429-2121 DON ARMSTRONG 983-5447 By The Associated Press The American League West, a have-not division throughout this baseball season, is now the only one without a champion. But a pair of rookie pitchers have done their part to bring the title to the Kansas City Royals. Bret Saberhagen tossed a three-hit, 4-0 victory over the California Angels in the opener of Monday's key doubleheader, and Danny Jackson pitched seven strong innings in a 12-4 Royal triumph in the nightcap.

The sweep at Kansas City gave the Royals a half-game edge over Minnesota, which rode the pitching of Frank Viola to an 8-4 victory over Chicago. California, meanwhile, slipped 34 games off the pace with only six to play. Saberhagen, 10-10, got the only run he needed in the opener on doubles by Frank White and Willie Wilson off California starter Geoff Zahn, 12-10. After Lynn Jones hit a solo homer in the sixth, Hal McRae and Darryl Motley doubled for a run in the seventh and McRae singled in Jones in the eighth. Jackson, 2-6, allowed seven hits and three runs in the nightcap before Mark Huisman finished up.

Motley provided the offense with a two-run double in the third off Angels starter Rick Steirer, 0-1, and a grand slam home run that highlighted a six-run Royals uprising in the sixth. Twins 8, White Sox 4 Viola, 18-12, scattered eight hits, but left after Scott Fletcher's run-scoring single in the bottom of the ninth. Rick Lysander came on to get the final out for his fifth save. The Twins exploded for seven runs in the fifth inning off Chicago's Floyd Bannister, 13-11, with the big blows a three-run homer by Kent Hrbek, his 27th, and a two-run single by Dave Meier. Orioles 8-7, Yankees 1-6 Benny Ayala's opposite-field, three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth capped a five-run Baltimore rally against Yankee relief ace Dave Righetti, 5-6.

Blue Jays 9, Red Sox 8 Cliff Johnson and Jesse Barfield homered in support of Jim Clancy, 13-15, who solidified Toronto's hold on second place. A's 10, Rangeri 6 Rickey Henderson scored four times and Carney Lansford drove in four runs in a game that saw eight pitchers assailed for 27 hits and 17 walks. Padres 7-8, Giants 1-6 Greg Harris, Luis DeLeon and ter guiding Los Angeles 76 yards to a touchdown in the closing moments of a 33-30 triumph over the San Diego Chargers. "It doesn't matter who's wearing the uniforms." The Raiders needed 10 plays to negotiate those 76 yards, with the first 74 coming on passes by Plunkett. As the Los Angeles Coliseum crowd of 76,131 went wild, Marcus Allen dived into the end zone from a yard out with 45 seconds remaining.

Not only did the victory give the Raiders a 4-0 record, enabling them to join Miami and San Francisco as the only unbeaten teams in the National Football League, it extended their mark on Monday nights to 21-2-1 since the prime time series began in 1970. "It's a win, it's Monday night, I'm very pleased with the way things came out, I'm tired," said Los Angeles Coach Tom Flores with a weak smile. "We don't plan to win them in the last quarter, but as long as we can continue to do so, I'll be happy." Plunkett finished the game with 24 completions in 33 attempts for 363 yards, clearly his finest performance so far this year. But it almost wasn't enough. BROOKLYN, Mich.

(AP) Unbelieveably, the battle was shaping up again. In July, on the same two-mile, high-banked oval at Michigan International Speedway, Mario Andretti and Tom Sneva thrilled a large crowd and a national television audience with the closest finish in Indy-car history in the Michigan 500. This time, on a gloomy Monday, concluding the rain-interrupted Detroit News Grand Prix almost 24 hours after it started, Sneva was chasing Andretti again, trying hard to reverse the loss he suffered in July when Andretti managed victory by the blink of an eye a margin of 0.14 seconds. However, just five laps from the end of the 100-lap, 200-mile event, record-setting pole-sitter Johnny Rutherford lost control of his March and whacked the wall. He escaped injury, but the race had to be completed under a caution flag, giving Andretti his sixth victory of the season and improving his CART-PPG point lead over Sneva to 15 (142-127) with three races remaining.

Who Will Quarterback Bears? LAKE FOREST, 111. (AP) Somebody has to start at quarterback for the Chicago Bears against the Dallas Cowboys next Sunday but it won't be Bob Avellini. Avellini, a 10-year veteran, had his first starting opportunity in two years last Sunday, but didn't make the most of it in a 38-9 Bear defeat at Seattle. Bears Coach Mike Ditka has hopes Jim McMa-hon, who has been sidelined with a fractured hand and an injured back, will be ready. Gators Face Severe Sanctions FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

(AP) The NCAA, which turned up 107 violations in a 21-month investigation of the University of Florida football program, will slap the Gators with a severe three-year probation, The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel and News reported. The penalties will include loss of scholarships and sanctions on television appearances and post-season play, the newspaper reported. Lions Have Lots Of Problems PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) There is a very good reason why Monte Clark is known as a players' coach. He has never criticized one us Detroit Lions in public and he probably never will.

"It's like a family," Clark said at his weekly news conference Monday. "You discuss your problems in private, but you don't go tell the neighbors." The Lions have lots of problems to discuss. That was painfully evident after bowing 29-28 to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. "No matter what, I'm not going to lose my poise or dignity," Clark said. Milwaukee's Lanier Retires MILWAUKEE (AP) Bob Lanier didn't want to be told it was time to go.

"Nellie and I had a big talk last season," Lanier said of a meeting with Milwaukee Bucks Coach Don Nelson. "I told him I never wanted him to have to come to me and tell me, 'Dobber, you just can't do it I think a player loses that perspective. "You're always thinking your level of production and contribution is higher than people around you." So after 14 seasons as one of the dominant centers in the National Basketball Association, Lanier decided on his own to retire. He made the announcement Monday at a news conference. LOS ANGELES (AP) Jim Plunkett has been the instigator of many last-gasp victories by the Raiders, both in Oakland and Los Angeles, since he joined the club in 1978.

His explanation for such heroics is almost mystical. "It's Raider tradition," Plunkett said with a smile Monday night af- LMC Collects Volleyball Win Lake Michigan College opened its home volleyball season with a 19-17, 15-2, 15-10 victory over Kalamazoo Valley Monday. Mary Fowler served 18 points, Julie Heator 9 and Renee Surch 7. Top hitters wre Karla Huebner with 27 hits and 17 kills, Fowler with 19 hits and 7 kills, Heator with 17 hits and 9 kills, Lynette Schoen with 11 hits and 2 kills and Lesley Waldron with 9 hits and 7 kills. Huebner was the top blocker with 15.

The Indians had a 89 percent serving percentage and a 65 percent passing mark. LMC, now 2-0 in the league and 5-4 overall, plays at Muskegon 1 mil fata fi a good wjtx.