Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 50

10 Section 3 Chicago Tribune, Sunday, April 23, 1989 BASEBALL Cubs don't feel so hot in loss to the Mets Cubs notes A f'v cr -'C's in i r-1 i 6 swm New Yoik kii ttx LJI. b. i nortiiern esfi trees, W't .1 meisiire 16 to 0 mcrms in ime tur at che height, and marks them tor harvest Usually they are about CO to feet tal), up to 89 years old. "The marked trees are kited arvl into togs 10 or 14 teet long. Lr are loaded and shipped to a neay 3 At tha mill the togs are exami, jd determine which might be of sufficient quality to make baseball With a large hydraulic chain saw, tf logs are cut Into 40-inch lengths.

vs lacking in quality is diverted to c. uses, such as fumttu 9 and ax hi i i At a glance BIG PLAY: Mitch Webster went to the warning track for a running catch of Mookie Wilson's drive. TOUGH DAY: Shawon Dunston was 0 for 2 with a walk, lost a home run to the wind and made a throwing error. STREAKING: Ryne Sandberg has hit in nine straight games. QUOTABLE: Andre Dawson, on whether the importance of this series moved him to rush back two days after having his knee drained: "It's sti April." NEXT: The Mets again Sunday.

By Alan Solomon Chicago Tribune NEW YORK It was windy. It was cold. It was, in other words, a lot like Chicago. Except the Cubs were winning in Chicago. Cub hitters couldn't do much with Sid Fernandez Saturday afternoon as he and the New York Mets froze them 3-1 before 41,323 in brisk, breezy Shea Stadium.

The game-time temperature was 51 degrees, but it lost a few as the day went on, and a 20-mile-an-hour wind swirling in every conceivable direction made things particularly unpleasant and couple of days off will hurt," Zimmer said. "I think it'll help him, and that's what I've got in mind." Curt Wilkeraon started at third, giving Vance Law a rest. Law, who- pinch-hit and struck out in the eighth, is batting .170 and is 2 for his last 21. Why are the Mets struggling? Starting for them Saturday were Mookie Wilson Gregg Jefferles Gary Carter (.146) and Dave Magadan Ryne Sandberg hasn't committed a throwing error since June 10, 1987. That's 242 games.

Alan Solomon Chicago Tribune NEW YORK Damon Berryhill will be catching Monday night for Iowa. Manager Don Zimmer said Saturday that Berryhill will be assigned to the Cubs' Triple-A farm club for rehabilitation. Zimmer said he didn't know how long Berryhill, recovering from tendinitis in his throwing shoulder, would be there. "This guy played very little in spring training, and he played none here, Zimmer said. "So we'll just play It by ear." Catcher Rick Wrona got a second straight start in place of Joa Girardi.

"The job that Joe did, I don't think a 'It was terrible," said Jerome Walton. "It was worse than my first day at Wrigley." Once again, as in much of this trip, the Cubs just didn't hit. It wasn't the weather's fault. "We played like hell when it was an 8-above wind chill factor," said Zimmer. "We won 'em all.

"Maybe it wasn't cold 1 "It was nasty," said Andre Dawson. Dawson and the wind were key abfhM NtwYorii brhbt CUBS Cubs-Mets, Ch. 9, 12:30 3 0 10 1111 3 0 0 0 3 0 11 4 111 4 0 10 4 0 0 0 2 110 10 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 MWilson rf Dykstra cf JeHeries 2b McReynolde If Hernandez 1b HJohnson aa GCarter Magadan 3b Elster aa Fernandez McDowell 4 0 10 3 0 0 0 4 0 10 4 0 0 0 4 0 10 4 0 10 2 10 0 1000 3 0 10 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 Walton Webster II Sandberg 2b Daweon rf Grac 1b Wilkeraon 3D Dunston aa Stephenson ph Wrona GMaddux PPerry Law ph Pico factors in the biggest hit in the afternoon. It came in the third in ning, right after the Cubs had taken a 1-0 lead. Greg Maddux (0-3), pitching 21 3 32 1 1 Totals Totals whose fastball was hopping, got both Ryne Sandberg and Dawson on infield popups to preserve his lead.

"One thing about Fernandez," Zimmer said. "When he's good, you've got to either learn how to hit his high fastball or take it when it's out of the strike zone. "You start chasing his high fastball, now you're playing into his hands." "It seems like it's right there," said Sandberg, "then you swing and you wind up fouling it back. It's tough." It got tougher later when the sun began to sink. "It was all over when the shadows came out," said Webster.

There was a final gasp in the ninth. Sandberg opened the inning with a single; and New York manager Dave Johnson brought Roger McDowell. Dawson's squib turned into a forceout, but when Mark Grace singled, the Cubs had the tying runs on base. That's where they stayed. McDowell struck out Curt Wilker-son and got pinch-hitter Phil Stephenson on a flyball, bringing cheers from the remaining 5,000 or so freezing Mets rooters.

center field, and the Mets led 2-1. The only other run off Maddux came in the sixth inning, when Keith Hernandez hit a ball toward left when the wind happened to be swirling in that direction, and the hometown breeze plunked the ball into the Cub bullpen. Maddux only went 5 'A innings, but it was a decent 5'A. "He pitched all right," manager Don Zimmer said. "He just didn't knock in enough runs." He knocked in the only one the Cubs could get off Fernandez (2-0).

Shawon Dunston opened the third by drawing a walk, and he went to third on Rick Wrona's hit to left, Wrona hustling to second on McReynolds' throw. Maddux, failing in a bunt try, hit a bouncer to second that was slow enough to get Dunston home. "Zim said try to hit a ground ball to the right side," Maddux said. "Hernandez was back, so I tried to bunt the first time, and that didn't work. Then I lucked out." The Cubs made a ripple in the sixth.

With one out, Walton reached on a bunt single, his fourth of the year, and Mitch Webster walked. But Fernandez, 001 000 0OO1 002 001 0Ot CUBS New Torn well for the second straight start, got the inning off to an unpromising beginning when he walked the Dunston, Grace. LOB CUBS New York a 2B Dykstra. Wllkerson. HR Hernandez (2).

Dykstra 2. No. hitter, Dave Magadan. Magadan, who was batting .176 at the time, went to second on Fernandez's bunt. One out later, Len EN SB SO 3 3 1 0 2 3 0 0 1 ea bbso 1 2 0 0 CUBS IP GMaddux L.0-3 61-3 6 PPerry 12-3 0 Ploo 1 0 New York IP Fernandez W.2-0 4 McDowell 8,2 1 1 1 mm ml Dvkstra lifted a high tly ball Fernandez pitched to 1 batter the 9th.

Umpires Home, DeMutri; First, Tata; Second Froemmlng: Third, Ftlppley. 3:00. I toward Dawson, who went back awkwardly as the ball sailed over his head for a double. "Hp inst cut the wind." Dawson said "He hit the ball cood. If the ball wasn't blowing in, it would've How they scored CUBS THIRD Dunston walked.

Wrona singled, Dunston moving to third, Wrona taking second on the throw. Maddux grounded out, Dunston scoring. One run. METS THIRD Magadan walked. Fernandez sacrificed, Magadan moving to second.

Wilson fHed out. Dykstra doubled, scoring Magadan. Jettertes walked. McReynolda singled, scoring Dykstra. Two runs.

METS SIXTH Hernandez homered. On run. been out ot the ballpark. Dvkstra scored when Kevin McReynolds dumped a single into 4 The choicest logs now go tlirough one of three different processes that eventually win turn them into billets, 40 inches long and 3 Inches in diameter. They look uks rounded wooden fence posts.

In the most preferred but least efficent process, the 40-inch log is stood on end, inspected to determine ttie choicest area of prime sapwood and split with a 10-ton hydraulic wedge into 8 or 10 pieces. This procedure used to be done in the forest with an axe-. It is most preferred because the log splits naturally along its grain. Each piece looks just like a split of firewood 40 inches long. These splits are then carted to a lathe operator wo turns each one into the round billets.

In another method, the 40-irch-long billets are actually cut from the prime sapwood areas of the log by an -Innovative tool known as a tuba saw, which was designed on site by mill founder Irv Norton. It bores through the log and actually draws the sapwood from -within its circumference. About eight or 10 billets can be drawn from each log. The waste is used for firewood. The third process uses a circular saw found In most lumber yards.

saws the log into thick planks of wood, which eventually are cut in 4-Inch by 4-Inch, 40- Inch-long squares and then turned into the round billets. 5 Each of the billets is carefully examined once more at the mill and sorted according to quality. Those of a light color with straight wide, even grain are stacked and strapped for possible use as bats In the major or minor leagues. Lesser quality billets will be used for ordinary retail sales, Softball, youth league and miniature souvenir bat sales. 6 The ends of each billet are painted with a wax to prevent splitting as the wood dries.

They are shipped to Slugger Park, a 7-acre site in Jeffersonvile, just across the Ohio River from Louisville. 7 The billets are air-dried six to eight months. OWhen seasoned, the billets are inspected and sorted again according to quality grade and weight Though they have the same dimensions at this point the billets range in weight from 75 to 85 ounces because of the individual character of the wood. The best are chosen to be turned Into professional bats. Bats Continued from page 1 they are turned and finished into Louisville Sluggers.

They are the storied bats, made for more than a century by used by Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle and 60 percent of today's major leaguers, as well as a I 1 i I lr A til ft- i W'i if JLl V. VA i. A worker at the Hillerich Bradsby Co. plant in Jeffersonville, finishes Louisville Sluggers, the bats used by most major leaguers. 9 Popular models are turned on a lathe using a metal template.

The process takes only seconds. The task for lesser-used varieties is given to a highly skilled lathe operator. He retrieves a model from the thousands in the archive room most closely approximating the dimensions of the bat ordered. They can vary widely, from the 38-Inch, 42 -ounce R-43 bat used by Babe Ruth to the similarty styled 35-inch, 33-ounce bat used by Hank Aaron. out of ash? "It's a good question and the same worry my father has had for many, many years," says Jack Norton.

"The quality trees are fewer and they're tougher to find, but somehow we continue to come up with them." The way ballplayers feel about their bats sometimes verges on voodoo. Orlando Cepeda threw away perfectly good bats after getting hits with them because he believed that each bat contained only Ted Williams came to the plant when it was in Louisville to sort through the wood billets himself. Don Mattingly does the same thing today. Williams was so; persnickety about his bats that once he sent back an order be-! cause the handles didn't feel right. Workers measured and the width was off by 51, 000th of an inch.

Dave Parker, who used to wield the heaviest bat in the majors, a 37-inch, 37-ounce stick, describes how Willie Stargell ordered his bats with somebody else's name! on them. "The year he won the Most Valuable Player Award, 1979, all his bat models had John Cande-laria's name on them," Parker said while trying out one of three ranging in weight from 34'A to 36 ounces, in the batting cage during Oakland's recent visit to Comiskey Park. "I don't know where Stargell got so superstitious," Parker said. "He used to grab a big old ham bone and sit down before every game and bone his bat for about 20. minutes." When told of the Stargell story, Parker's teammate Glenn Hubbard retorted: "That's not superstitious.

That's to make the grain stay together. We got a bone in our clubhouse, and I bone mine." Sandberg said there's a bone in the Cubs clubhouse, and until about five years ago he, too, used it. "In the old days they used to burn a bat with tobacco and pol-. ish it with tobacco juice, because they felt it made the wood har-' der said Jeff Torborg, the White Sox's Ivy League-educated manage er. "Whether this kind of stuff: works or not is in the ballplayer's mind, but you can't really ignore that," says Jack Norton, who was' a fairly good college ballplayer drafted by the Boston Red Sox.

Norton explains the incxpli-" cable the zany attitudes of; ballplayers toward their bats by -comparing them with ancient On-' entaf warriors. "A baseball player has an ethic' with his bat similar to the one a samurai has with his sword," says Norton, gripping his hands slowly, finger by finger, around a Mickey Mantle model in his office. "The sword was tempered in blood. It was part of their soul, an exten-', sion of their body. It had life to it.

"A baseball player is like that, too. His bat is an extension of his soul. There may be some rational reason why the same weight bat and the same length bat will feel different and hit a litlc different to a ballplayer. But on the Uhcr hand, it is just the belief." majority ot those in the minor and rookie leagues. "It's easy to pick out the pros," says Norton.

"You look at the color. It's got to be white. The grain his voice trails off. "It takes years to learn these things. I can't really explain it to you." But after prodding, Norton handles the "pro" and tries again.

"This here is good wood, straight, wide, even grain maybe seven grains to an inch and a nice light color. The wide grain means it's a slow-growth tree and is good, hard wood. The color doesn't make any difference in the hardness of the wood, but the ballplayers like it light, so light wood is good wood. But this is also Ruth wood, heavy." For a second, Norton's gray eyes flash. "Clemente, now he was my favorite.

He used a much lighter wood. This isn't Clemente wood. All the ballplayers want Clemente wood today. But we don't know how to make it. Nature makes it.

"They say the wood isn't as good as it was years ago. Actually, the wood in the good bats is just as good. There just aren't as many as there used to be." A baseball just doesn't have the magic. It is stitched in a factory by middle-aged women who wear their eyeglasses on beaded chains around their necks. But a professional baseball bat, often given the heroic attributes of a weapon of war, is different.

It succeeds naturally from a tiny white ash seedling if the deer don't eat it first. Over the cycle of a man's lifetime, it will reach what foresters call "economic maturity," 70 to 80 feet tall, its girth 16 to 20 inches at chest level. Then, the forester marks it for timber. It is felled, sawed into 10- or 14-foot long logs in the forest, hauled to the Akclcy mill, sawed again into 40-inch long logs, split like firewood and turned into the billets that Norton eyeballs. No bauxite.

No strip mines. No scarred earth. No artificial sticks made of lightweight, aluminum alloys designed by man for rocket trips, with a hollow center filled with foam to deaden the "ping" when it meets a pitched ball. Just natural wood here. And a workaday matter-of-factness by men such as Norton and Joe Tarr, another old-timer who has cruised the forest for 30 years marking white ash for Larimer Norton, a lumber operation on both sides of the border between Pennsylvania and New York.

Hillerich Bradsby bought the mill from Norton nearly 40 years ago and now owns and operates seven mills in the hardwood forests along cither side of the border. Two of them arc used exclusively for batmaking, turning out about 175,000 bats a year for the major and minor ijagues and )v MM fi A1118 tethe I operator takes a billet from the stack that when finished, wil match the weight and length of the model bat The model billet goes on a rack just above and behind the blank. Then the i' strong, consistent growth from year to year. "Then, again, it just might be the genes of the trees we have here, he says. "We really don't know." Consider, too, that quality ash survives only by natural propagation.

Unlike pine and other woods that thrive row upon row in plantations, man can't sow the seeds of the white ash and expect its bounty. And once nature sprouts them, the seedlings are highly susceptible because they are a source of food for the white-tailed deer that roam in abundance on the hillsides. Consider, finally, that though the millions of acres of forestland in Pennsylvania and New York are thick with valued hardwoods, only about percent of it is made up of ash. It is not uncommon for a forest stand in the region to contain an average of one ash per acre. Consider it all.

Now you know that when an 80-year-old ash is felled, it is an event more full of moment than any Roy Hobbs home run. After it is sawed into smaller logs, split like firewood, turned into the billets and finished, one select tree yields enough quality ash to make two or three major league bats. That's right. Two or three, cut only from the prime sapwood of the butt log, the bottom 10- or 14-footer. Roughly, 80,000 trees a year are needed to make 175,000 pro bats.

Over an 80-year harvesting cycle, that's 6.4 million trees. It's simple enough," says Jack Norton, Irv's son, who now supervises the mill operations. "The very best wood, we'll make a bat out of. What isn't good enough, we'll sell into the furniture market." Very fine furniture. Some of it has been displayed in the Library of Congress and the White House.

This wondrous process of natural selection raises the obvious question: Will the forest ever run 800,000 for the retail market, using wood rejected by Norton and others as not good enough for the pros. The company owns about 7,000 acres of forest and also selects ash from millions of acres of timber in private, commercial and governmental holdings in New York and Pennsylvania. Of the four manufacturers who supply the major leagues with bats, is the only one to own its own woodlands and mills, thus nurturing the timber from the forest floor to the clubhouse. Like all of what nature makes, the process is simple but astonishing. Of the tens of thousands of wood species, only white ash will do for baseball bats.

It is a strong, hard wood used in wagon wheels during pioneer days which resists fracturing upon repeated impact and absorbs shock without transmitting it to the arm. Other woods, such as hickory, oak and pecan, are hard enough to give force to a batting stroke, but ash is much lighter, allowing for faster bat speed, a component of how far the batter can drive the baseball. There also is a degree of flex and natural elasticity in ash, which allows it to bend without breaking. This makes it great for pitchforks and ax handles, but also allows it to combine with the powerful swing of a Jose Canseco to drive a baseball farther than a bat made of any other wood. Consider that the ash, a relative of the olive tree, is found throughout the eastern United States, except Florida, and that it also grows well in the temperate regions of Europe and Japan.

But the only ash trees good enough for professional baseball bats arc those on the hillsides and mountains of Pennsylvania and New York. No one knows why, though Tarr, the forester, believes it is the unusual moisture-holding qualities of the soil, which gives thefrxecs I iy iX operator gradually turns the wood, shaving and sanding according to precise specifications, checking the model and the bat with calipers every Inch along the handle and every 1V Inches along the barrel. Throughout the process, the operator weighs the bat frequently so that It wiN match the ballplayer's specifications within an ounce. Iaf The bat is branded with the Louisville 1 Slugger trademark, placed carefully on the flat of the grain, the weakest part of the bat If the player has signed a contract with Hillerich Bradsby, his signature Is also burned Into the bat tf the player Is not under contract his name Is burned into the bat In block lettering. Bats are rolled over a flame to singe the gram.

fl OThe bat Is then sanded and finished I mm with either a varnish or a stain, according to the player's order. Usualty, the bat handle Is unfinished so that the player might apply his own finish, usually pine tar. 4' 1 The bats are packaged and shipped to the team. 13 CNcago Tribune Graphic by Denrtai Odom and Joa Tybor. Some HRerlch Bradsby A i iAi.