The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 43

THE SUN SECTION Scoreboard Racing Outdoors FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1983 disapprove JL JL ay A me99 Hatchett; Agent C-7 of O'M; 1 ces it alley lil From Wire Services i i year. "We respect the commissioner's decision, we will certainly abide by it, and, quite frankly, I agree with it," O'Malley said in a statement issued by the Dodgers about an hour after Ruhn's decision was announced. "Baseball and illegal drugs are incompatible, and we will not tolerate the use of these drugs by any of our employees." 'I don't think you should punish someone who has a disease," said Roy Bell, Howe's attorney. Ron Shapiro, Aikens's agent who also represents several Oriole players, said Ruhn's decision "continues the application of less than an even standard." "I also think it failed to take into account the players are paying a heavy price already in repaying their debt to society through the criminal justice system," Shapiro said from his office in Baltimore. Aikens has been taking part in a Baltimore drug rehabilitation program.

Wilson, the 1982 American League batting champion, Martin and Aikens all pleaded guilty in October to a federal misdmeanor charge of attempting to possess cocaine. All were sen-See BASEBALL, 1 Agents for three players suspended by baseball comissioner Bowie Ruhn for drug involvement said they were greatly disappointed in the ruling, while the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who also had a player suspended yesterday, said he supported the get-tough decision. Willie Wilson's agent said the commissioner's decision to suspend the all-star outfielder and two other members of the 1983 Ransas City Details of suspension Al Royals for drug involvement "is an additional blow to the players and their families who have already suffered." Representatives for Wilson, outfielder Jerry Martin and first baseman Willie Aikens all expressed disappointment when Ruhn issued his ruling in New York. The commissioner said the cases would be reviewed May 15, raising the possibility of a reinstatement next season. The players' agents also noted that Ruhn will not be commissioner in May.

But Peter O'Malley, president of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said last night that he supports Ruhn's decision to suspend pitcher Steve Howe for a i crT Baseball's suspended stars 1M. Colt coach calls for a retraction; threatens to sue By Vito Stellino Departed Colt cornerback Derrick Hatchett said last night that he was punched by coach Frank Rush on the day he was released by the club, a charge that Rush vehemently denied in the strongest possible terms. Rush immediately threatened to sue Hatchett if the cornerback doesn't retract the charge. Ron Stanko, Hatchett's agent, said Rush hit Hatchett Nov. 23 shortly before he was put on waivers and claimed by the Houston Oilers.

Hatchett, who will be at Memorial Stadium Sunday when the Oilers play the Colts, confirmed Stanko's charge from his hotel room in Houston last night. Hatchett said that Rush punched him in the jaw in his office and left him with a swollen jaw. "He moved towards me and I grabbed his arms, but I didn't have his arms tight enough and he came over the top and caught me on the jaw. It stunned me. I wasn't expecting it," Hatchett said in describing what he claimed happened when he went to the coach's office to find out why he wasn't playing.

Rush replied in a formal statement: "I deny unequivocally Ron Stanko's accusation as a slanderous act and will consider immediate legal action if it is not retracted. I have a witness to prove it. "Derrick Hatchett's irrational and emotionally out of control behavior on Nov. 23 in an attempt to provoke a confrontation with me resulted in no reaction other than his being placed on no-recall waivers by the Baltimore Colts under terms of Article XVI, Section 4 of the collective bargaining agreement for engaging in personal conduct which, in the judgment of the club, adversely affected or reflected on the club." Ernie Accorsi, the team's general manager, said, "The accusation is preposterous and should be answered immediately by Frank Rush taking legal action." The witness Rush referred to was Bob Ter-pening, a Colt scout who was in the doorway of the office and said he heard the whole conversation. Hatchett claimed that "nobody else was around" when the incident took place at about 8:15 a.m.

Stanko, who said he would consider legal action of his own against Rush, added that he would welcome a lawsuit by the coach. Although Hatchett called the Colts "fools" when they released him, neither he nor the Colts gave any specific information about what happened when Hatchett went into Rush's office Nov. 23. But Stanko was upset that the Boston Globe recently printed an account of what happened during that meeting. The paper gave no sources, simply saying it was the "story circulating around the NFL." Both Rush and Accorsi denied speaking to any representatives of the paper about the incident although reports were filed with the league office.

Stanko said that account "made my client look like a jerk." That account claimed that Hatchett taunted Rush in his office, saying "hit me hit me." But Rush refused to do anything so Hatchett then went to Accorsi's office and screamed to the general manager that Rush hit him in the face. Terpening confirmed Rush's account that he hadn't touched Hatchett and the general manager asked Hatchett to leave the Colt complex. Hatchett appeared to be so "emotionally out of control" as he was screaming that Accorsi feared he wouldn't leave the office. Hatchett and Stanko had a different account. Hatchett claimed the only time he said "hit me" was in Accorsi's office after Rush had already punched him.

"I said, 'why don't you hit me now like you hit me in your I was upset." Hatchett said that when he went into Rush's office, the Colt coach told him to get out and said he'd throw him out if he didn't leave. Hatchett then said, "I'd like to see you try." Hatchett said Rush then moved towards him and Hatchett grabbed his arms. He said after See COLTS, C7, Col. 2 1 I -) WILSON AIKENS HOWE Name HR RBI Avg. Willie Wilson 137 2 33 278 Willie Aikens 125 23 72 .302 Name WL IP ERA Steve Howe 4-7 68.2 1.44 18 Here are the 1983 season statistics of Willie Wilson, Willie Aikens and Steve Howe three of the players suspended for one year yesterday by baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

The fourth player, outfielder Jerry Martin, is not included as he played only 1 3 games, hitting .31 8. The SunPaul Hutchins Colt placekicker Raul Allegre works out in preparation for Sunday's season finale with Houston. Turnovers cost Vols heavily says Majors x4 By Bill Free Sun Staff Correspondent "Derrick Hatchett's irrational and emotionally out of control behavior on Nov. 23 in an attempt to provoke a confrontation with me resulted in no reaction other than his being placed on no-recall waivers by the Baltimore Colts." Frank Kush J- the Citrus Bowl. "I felt we had a good chance to beat all the teams we played this year," Majors said.

"If all things are equal and we're not gratuitous, we can win any game." Tennessee was beaten by Pitt, 13-3, in the opening game of the season, and it was swamped by Auburn, 37-14, in the third game. Turnovers and breakdowns on special teams were key factors in both losses. After the whipping by Auburn, Tennessee won five straight to return to respectability. The highlight of the streak was a 41-34 victory over Alabama in Birmingham. But the fun ended Nov.

12, when See MARYLAND, C4, Col. 3 Orlando, Fla. Whatever happened to the 1983 Tennessee football team that was projected as Top Ten material? "We played Santa Claus in our losses," said Volunteer coach Johnny Majors yesterday. "We were kind and turned the ball over. The other team thought they played well when they got on the bus after beating us, but we helped them out too much." The unranked Vols lost two of their first three games, and had to rally for the 8-3 record which they will take into tomorrow night's 8:10 kickoff against Maryland (also 8-3) in Sun file photo J.

Pat Carter DERRICK HATCHETT Inside sports It's easy to see Altobelli always wears that smile BOB EV1AISEL U.S., Soviets tie The United States Olympic hockey team and the Soviet Selects squad skated to a 4-4 tie in Cincinnati C2 Bouton on Fame ballot Jim Bouton of "Ball Four" fame, is now on the Hall of Fame ballot. He doesn't expect to make it C3 Marino to lead AFC The Miami Dolphins' Dan Marino will start for the AFC in the Pro Bowl, the first time a rookie has ever started at quarterback since the all-star game began in 1950 C7 Auto international The International Race of Champions, a sort of Masters Tournament of auto racing, is a four-race series coming up in 1984 C6 Lamoureux lauded High-scoring Mitch Lamoureux has been named the Skipjacks player of the month. Meanwhile, the Jacks' Bob Gladney is due to undergo surgery on his eye C2 Index WHEN JOE ALTOBELLI first appeared at a Baltimore function as the new manager of the Orioles, he arrived with a bang. Actually, what he did was move his chair back a little too far making room for Earl Weaver on the speaker's platform, resulting in a 4-foot back flip to the floor, which landed him in the hospital. He was in town this week for another series of appearances, winding up yesterday at the YMCA's 130th annual meeting.

Why was this man perpetually smiling, morning, noon and night, probably even in his sleep? "If you don't get fun out of hearing people introduce you as the manager of the World Champion Baltimore Orioles, then you'll never have fun at anything in this world," he said. "I'm going to enjoy every minute of it and hope to do it all over again next year." SEEKING OTHER reasons for the big smile, a professional needier asked, "What was your salary for that first Oriole managing job in Bluefield, Joe?" Lenny Sakata catching, Gary Roe-nicke at third and John Lowenstein at second. That was the game in which Toronto was so anxious to run on Sakata that Tippy Martinez picked three men off first in a row, after which Sakata hit a 3-run homer to win it. I think there was more personal joy involved in that game than in the playoffs and World Series," he said. How does he like the addition of Wayne Gross in the deal for Tim Stoddard? "LIKE IT very much," he said.

"It gives us so many moves, so much more protection. He has a good bat, we can platoon at third, start him and bring in Todd Cruz for defense, use pinch runners to get more speed in the lineup, and still be protected. It is also the first time we've had a legitimate first baseman behind Eddie Murray. We could even platoon Gross and Roenicke there if Eddie happened to miss a few games." With that, Joe Altobelli headed for the door on his way home to Rochester, tired from a whirlwind seriues of appearances, but with the srrile of a happy nm still firmly in plae. cause I was making pretty good money as player-coach in Rochester.

My top salary as minor league manager after six years at Rochester was $20,000. Harry Dalton offered $19,500, and I finally got him to go up $500 so I could see that nice, round $20,000 on the contract." "AND THIS YEAR, the World Series cut alone was $65,000," tossed in the man with the needle. "Can you believe that?" he said, his eyes wider than a kid's seeing Santa Claus for the first time. "Unbelievable, just unbelievable." Is there any wonder this man is smiling? If anybody earned that smile, it is Joe Altobelli. In retrospect, the year seems all so easy, but it really wasn't.

He took over for a sort of living legend, and improved on Earl Weaver's figures of recent years at every step along the road, from the beginning of the season to the end. He did it while surviving two seven-game losing streaks, the biggest disabled-list population the team has ever had and a ton of other problems. And he also did it with an easy-going flair that invariably left the spj light on the players instead Hyatt-Regency yesterday. He told them how much the meant to him growing up in Detroit, how he actually lived in one while playing for Reading in the Eastern League, and really got their attention in his conclusion when he said, "Young people have a tremendous knack for spotting a phony. The fact that you have been around for 130 years tells me all I want to know about your organization." He also did a better job of promoting the city and the mayor than Mayor Schaefer himself could have done without blowing his own horn.

"I was impressed right away with the way the players spoke so highly of the city, the fans and the mayor," he said. "The mayor is the only public official I've ever seen who could come to the ballpark and not get a single boo. Even the president gets a few. And, the players were the first to tell me about him. It tells you something." IN REVIEWING the season, Altobelli said there were "at least six games I'll remember in my rocking chair." He zeroed in on the one where ie had expended his bench to comejom behind, wound up with of himself.

THE ONE RESERVATION some baseball people have is whether his easy-rider approach will continue to do the job over the long haul. A soft stick often does well for a year or so in the wake of a tough guy, but then sometimes falls on its face. That part remains to be seen, but a few things that happened last year left me with the impression Joe can get as tough as he has to be. Altobelli did an excellent job ad-dreig the YMCA people at the Basketball C9 Outdoors C2 Racijfe For the fcrd Tennk IllUtll, liK SdlU Willi a SUdKC of the head. "Halo to take a cut, be-.