Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 53

Chicago Tribune, Sunday, March 18, 1990 Section 3 1 1 BASEBALL Like father, like son: Lau Jr. picks up where dad left off Sox notebook Stadium gave the veteran a warm ovation, which Reuss answered with a vigorous doff of his cap. Greg Walker's surgically repaired throwing shoulder bothered him a little late in the week, probably a case of trying to do too much too soon. "We shut it down for a couple of days," said Walker, who had been throwing 200 feet and more in drills. "All I've got to do is throw the ball to second base and home, and that's what I've got to work for." Sox coach Terry Bevington, switching to third base this season, celebrated his third week off smokeless tobacco.

"I thought I saw a spot on my lip, and it scared me," he said. "I said, 'Forget it, not for Bevington, 33, has been dipping since he was a kid. "I've quit before, but for a month in the off-season," he said. "As soon as I got down here and took the field, I was doing it. "This is the test." someone notices.

A couple of tryouts brought no offers, the phone has been silent for weeks, and it's been tough. "I thought a minor-league contract would be no problem," Trout said. A problem might have been lack of an agent. "I didn't think I needed one," he said. "I thought I spent enough time in the major leagues to know the GMs, know the people to call to ask for an invitation to camp.

I thought I had those credentials." Evidently not Now, it'll take a miracle. The first minor-league exhibition in Ed Smith Stadium is set lor Monday, with the Sox Triple-A Vancouver team matched against Rochester, a Baltimore farm club. Tickets and parking will be a buck each, the cash dribbling to the Sarasota Sports Committee, a big loser in the lockout El It may not mean much, but it was still fascinating to watch Jerry Reuss retire nine straight Double-A players during an in-trasquad game Friday afternoon, mostly on weak ground balls. A half-dozen minor-league pitchers in the stands at Ed Smith "He said, 'Charley, you can make your father proud of you by being the best hitting Lau said. There, was i.no refusing that offer.

Manager Jeff Torborg, with plenty of time to think during his two weeks in Sarasota, has an interesting thought about what he might do when the regular season actually starts. "I've been fooling around with the idea of platooning kids and veterans," said Torborg. "Until you get into the games and get a feel for you don't know if it has merit or not. "i "But I just like the idea of really incorporating the youth, the speed, the enthusiasm with the veteran leadership. If we could get that mix together, that would be pretty good" Former Sox and Cub left-hander Steve Trout, who had been working out with Sox players at Sarasota High School, said Friday hell probably play for Mike Veeck's independent Class A club at Pompano Beach (the former Miami Miracle) and hope By Alan Solomon Chicago Tribune SARASOTA, Fla.

There are at least two special things about the hitting coach of the Utica Blue Sox. His age: 24. His name: Charley Lau Jr. "I have a lot of knowledge," said the son of the late, legendary hitting coach. "I feel like I know the system as well as anybody." Lau's appointment to the Class A job this year, along with that of system-wide hitting coordinator Mike Lum, is part of a plan to implement the Walt Hriniak system throughout the White Sox organization.

Hriniak and the elder Lau shared fundamental philosophies when Hriniak was at Boston and Lau, who died of cancer in 1984, was with Kansas City, the Yankees and the White Sox. "I took the time to find out if Walt was on the right track, if he was teaching the same things," said Charley whose own career was ended by a wrecked knee. "He has that enthusiasm to further enhance what my father laid out "I think I know what he was trying to teach as well as anybody. I tested all the other waters, as far as hitting goes. 1 read all the books.

I always went back to my father's stuff. Nobody broke it down or did it as clear as my father. "But there's little intricacies. You've got to know how fast you can go with a guy." So young Charley is teaching, and young Charley is learning. "I got a head start," he said, with a laugh.

"Maybe by the time I'm 35, I'll be ready to roll That Lau has this job that Hriniak has his job, really is a reflection of Sox Board Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf absolute adoration of Charley Lau Sr. The son talked about Reinsdorf off-season call. Bush's son wonders: Are players unified? Ranger part-owner has his doubts 1 Mr S'i II i I iry i Cub players get lift from playoff bonus By Andrew Bagnato Chicago Tribune MESA, Ariz. The Cubs might soon be happier than ever that they won the National League East last season. i That victory paid each player $30,000 after taxes.

The money will come in handy if the lockout stretches into April and costs the players their first paydays in 1990. The issue has arisen because some players, believe it or not, have said they'll be squeezed if they miss their first check. Cleveland pitcher Doug Jones, for example, said he's waiting for a $5,000 check from the union, mailed this week to each player, so he can pay his bills. "I'll be flat honest, with you," said Jones, who made $307,500 last year. "We're counting pen-hies so this thing doesnt blow up in pur face.

We budgeted through the winter. I think a lot of players are hurting financially." Steve Wilson, the Cubs' co-player representative, said he hasn't heard of any Cubs who are being squeezed. "I don't think anybody's in dire on our club," he said. "I know the Cubs notebook PSWSCtiM'Sf' T-if WiiH rr innrr 4 An optimistic Cubs fan, certain there will be Agence-France Presse photo just-purchased tickets as he leaves the wrlgley Field ticket windows. plenty ot oaseoaii in isau, cnecKs out nis By Andrew Bagnato and Alan Solomon Chicago Tribune Texas Rangers part-owner George W.

Bush, the son of President Bush, wonders whether the players are as unified as the union leadership wants everyone to believe. "I'd like to see a secret ballot of players," Bush said. "I think if there is any democracy at all in the union, the officials will be getting the message that the players want to be out on the field. Maybe that's just the Republican in me. Bush said his father has kept in touch with him to hear any inside information on the lockout The players are going to begin feeling the pain if the lockout drags into the regular season, when their first paychecks arrive.

If the lockout costs the players their first paycheck, the highest-paid Indians would lose big: Keith Hernandez (who has a $1.6 million contract) would lose $123,077 in his first check; Tom Candiotti ($1.05 million) would lose and Doug Jones ($950,000) would lose $73,077. Robin Yount, at $2.7 million, stands to lose $14,835 per day not per gameif there's a lockout during the season. Yount, though, has already received a $1.5 million signing bonus. Former San Diego executive Buzzie Bavasi remembered some- thing Walter Mathau said during a baseball work stoppage years ago. 'Baseball's got it all wrong," the actor said.

"In the movie business, stars make a lot of money and the other actors get scale." The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are the fiercest of rivals, but considering a joint venture for a new spring training site proposed by a Florida ningham, is struggling to shed 10 to 15 pounds, but he's being pushed by a tough father figure in Jimmy Piersall, the organization's roving outfield instructor. "Hell be all right," Piersall said. "I'm going to get him in shape. He runs good for a big guy. Just give him time," Of the many stories about Cunningham's power, the best was told by Frey about the time Cunningham and three other prospects took batting practice in Wytheville, N.C, Each of the first three drove balls over the fence.

Then Cunningham stepped in. "He hit a house across tie street from the park," Frey said. "After watching those other guys, who had good power, it would be like watching an average guy hit and then Mickey Mantle." His listeners begin giving each other glances at this point, but Frey pressed on. "I'm not exaggerating," he said. The person he reminds me most of at that age is Greg Luz-inskt" French toast and Swiss cheese might qualify as foreign food to some American But not Greg Smith, who turned a winter, in Mexico into a sort of cultural field trip, t' -t The Cub infield prospect played in Hermosillo, and he went out of his way to team Spanish.

Smith carried a phrase book with him when he ALHL notebook City, to take part in an open tryout for the Kansas City Royals. But Schwartzle couldn't get far because of the Greyhound bus drivers strike. After four days of hitchhiking and piecing together rides on other bus lines, Schwartzle found himself 6 miles from Haines City on the last day of tryouts. He walked, arriving as the last prospects were leaving the field. Schwartzle begged the Royal coaches to watch him pitch.

They agreed, but after about a dozen pitches told him they weren't interested and thanked him for corning. Deion Sanders, with 43 days in the big leagues, wants $4.5 million over four years from the Yankees, which is what he already gets from the Atlanta Falcons. The Yanks have offered $250,000 plus incentives. His baseball agent, Barry Axel-rod, who also handles Rick Sutcliffe, Mark Grace, Wally Joyner and Mark Harmon, suggested the Yankees trade Sanders to someone who would pay. "Frankly," said Axelrod, "I think other teams would have interest" Frankly, said New York VP George Bradley, they don't "If the Yankees can't sign him," Bradley said, "no one can." The Mets Darryl Strawberry, out of alcohoT rehab and working out in Port St Lucie, has impressed teammate Ron Darling.

"'Humble' is the word that comes to mind," said Darling. "I'm pretty close to Darryl, and I'd have never used that word before." Brian Hendrick, the son of former outfielder George "No Comment" Hendrick, is a redshirt freshman center for the University of California. He hit .420 as a junior at Diamond Bar High School in California, but Dad encouraged him to play hoops. At 6 feet 8 inches and 220 pounds, he probably made the right move. He averaged 15.2 points and 7.4 rebounds a game this season for the Golden Bears, who knocked off Indiana in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Milwaukee General Manager Harry Dalton said that the loss of spring-training time rules out the possibility that Juan Nieves will make the team.

Nieves, who threw a no-hitter in 1987, is coming off rotator-cuff surgery. licensing check will ease the worries. eryone was told last year that this could happen and that they should be prepared. We're fortunate in that we received the playoff bonus." The players don't get paid until the regular season opens. The five highest-paid Cubs stand to Jose wads of cash, I Ryne Sandberg received $900,000 of his $2.1 million salary last year, but still stands to lose $6,976.74 a day before taxes.

Rick Sutcliffe was paid $600,000 of his $2.1 million up front, but he'd lose $8,720.93 a day. I Andre Dawson reportedly was to be paid his fuU $2.1 million this year. i Mitch Williams, who signed for $1,125 million jplus bonuses, would lose $6,540.70 a day. And Shawon Dunston ($1.25 million salary) win their battle to reduce eligibility to two years. General Manager Jim Frey said Dawson and team doctor Michael Schafer have told him that Dawson will be able to return from off-season knee surgery.

But he said the Cubs will survive even if he cant "I have every expectation that Dawson's going to be able to play, and if he can't, somebody else will be out there, just like last year" Frey said "Last year, a day didn't go by without somebody asking, 'Who are you going to play in left field? And we found someone to play there. "WeVe got Marvell Wynne, we've got Dwight Smith, Jerome Walton, Dave Clark. I think we're in a helluva lot better shape this year than we were at this time last year." Ty Griffin might be the third baseman of the future, but Frey is still trying to find one for the present "I've been trying to get a third baseman, but to do that I'd have to give up a catcher or a pitcher or one of our young outfielders, and I don't want to have to do that if I don't have to," Frey said. The Cubs have penciled in a third-base committee of Luis Salazar, Domingo Ramos and Curtis Wilkerson. Lloyd McClendon has said he also wants a shot, but the lost spring training time probably rules that out The HoHoKams said they wouldn't charge admission for minor-league exhibition games at HoHoKam Park.

"I wouldn't feel right charging a buck for that," said Pat Patterson of the HoHoKams. "Give it to the fans." That's not the way Cincinnati owner Marge Schott feels. She plans to charge $3 a head for first-come, first-served seating for Reds' minor-league exhibitions. The Cubs' top 1989 draft pick, Earl Cun- jwould lose b.44 a day. Then there the little guy, of whom there are many on a young Cub team.

If the major-league minimum is $100,000 next season, players making it would lose $581.39 a day, pocket change to developer on a tract south of Gold Glover but real money to a youngster. Ask Damon Berryhill what he thinks of the possibility of missing two weeks of the regular season. Berryhill has put in two years and eight days in the majors. If the lockout wipes out rune was away trom the ballpark. "I didn't want to walk around not knowing anything," said Smith, who took two years of high school Latin.

"It seemed like a good idea to at least give it a try. It was very interesting to live in another country." I Minor-leaguer Gregg Patterson retired after being unable to return from several shoulder sur days, Berryhill would tall a day shy ot three years service, the present arbitration eligibility re quirement Of course, he won have to worry if the players geries. 3 The Yankees train in Ft 'Lauderdale, and the Red Sox are looking to leave their longtime Winter Haven home. 1 Winter Haven could land the Cleveland Indians, who sent officials to Florida this month to inspect sites. The Indians now train in Tucson, more than an hour's drive from the nearest big-league camp.

If the lockout lasts, the Minnesota Twins will be booted out of their major-league camp in Orlando on April 6, when the Double-A Orlando Sunrays begin their Southern League schedule. The Twins will move to their minor-league camp in Ft Myers, where they'll move all of their operations next year. BGive him an for effort. Doug Schwartzle, 25, of Sioux Falls, S.D., set out last week for Haines Ex-Sox Allen confronts his alcoholism Bv Michael Kav (KlAtu Vsm4t ralh, Klauia i ion i win wcuiy itovvo PLANT CITY, Fla. The memo ries haunt Neil Allen.

He remembers iuic imic tic was muggcu ai guupuuu in Kansas City and the games when he saw "three home plates and just laimed for the one in the middle. He constantly relives the countless nights he would never get back to this hotel and would go straight to Yankee owner Steinbrenner target of blackmail scheme the ballpark, or the times he would be "puking and shaking and having the dry heaves in the bullpen" only to have a beer to "stop my hands trom mittenng. But alcohol wasnt the cure; it was the cause. Allen knows that now. He has been clean for more than eight months after he finally admitted a 10-year problem to himself.

phone call to Allen found him indignant that Henderson would finger him in such foolishness. He vowed to get even. Call it denial "I hated him for three or four months, but I'm not mad at Rickey because what he said made me think. When I started getting help, I thought, 'I have to thank the guy, he might have saved my "What I was bitter about toward him is he went public with my problem. I knew I had a problem but I didn't have the guts to go nationwide with it He did." Allen, who has fought his ad-.

diction privately, now publicly admits for the first time that he has had a problem for about 10 years. He started drinking with the Mcts, and the problem was exacerbated when he was traded to the Cardinals for Keith Hernandez in an unpopular trade. Allen used his sour times in St Louis as reasons to drink. As the years went by, the drinking became more frequent. He drank after wins to celebrate and after losses to commiserate.

After a while, he didn't need a reason. He was always the life of the party, buying drinks at the bar, showing up first and leaving last If there was an after-hours joint in town, Neil Allen would find it No one said a word, not even his friends. There's too much alcohol in baseball, so it's tough to differentiate between the guy who has a few and the one with a problem. "Hey, everyone was having a good time with 'Good Time Allen said. But Neil's career was falling apart It nil fame into fnrns fnr Allen last June.

After spending the night drinking in Cleveland, Allen, then with the Indians, stumbled to his hotel, where he had a chance late-nightearly-morning meeting with Rickey Henderson. The two got into a shouting match, with Allen doing most of the yelling. Finally, a voice deep inside said: "Stop! What are you doing?" A few weeks later he was in the Indian farm system rehabilitating a broken hand when a friend, concerned by another stupor, gave Allen a Breathalyzer test The result? "I was .285," Allen recalled. "Someone told me I was one drink from death. That was June 19.

That was my last drink." Allen went for help and spent a month at the Valhalla Clinic in Sarasota, Fla. He now attends AA meetings three to four times a week. "I feel the best I've ever felt," Allen said. "I go to bed about 10 at night and wake up at about 6:30 in the morning and get to the park at 8:30. The only time I ever have a problem is about 5 p.m.

to 7 p.m., you know, what used to be happy hour." Physically he's fine. He's making strides in the Reds camp and still has the nasty curve that pointed him toward greatness. Mentally? He still hurts. "I'm embarrassed not only for me and my family, I'm also embarrassed for what I could have been and what I'm not," he said. "Then I see some of the guys I came along with.

I mean, they're signjjtg $6 million to $7 million contract and they don't have near the notiwitifll 1 hnH. It me in- I out tne jz-year-oia Alien, wno had stints with the White Sox, the Mcts and the Yankees, did not re cover in time. He admits, "I lost my then it was," Steinbrenner said. "But I honest to God felt that I could help this young man to get his life straight" The Daily News said it listened to the tapes and quoted Steinbrenner as telling Spira in a March 2 phone call: "I offered you some money. You said, 'No, George, just give me this much more, just give me a little more, give me All right, I went against everybody's advice, I gave you the 40 to try and help you and they said, they told me: 'Sure as hell, he'U be back trying to get more out of And damned if you didn't" Spira worked for Winfield's charitable foundation without pay and said Winficld loaned him $15,000 to pay off gambling debts, allegedly threatening to kill him if he didn't pay back $18,500.

Winfield denied the charges. Spira says Steinbrenner "promised me the world a job in Tampa, money, room and board, anything I wanted to help bring down Dave." Steinbrenntr denied promising Spira anything From CNoago Trtbun wlret NEW YORK New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is being blackmailed by an unemployed gambler who was involved in Stcinbrenner's legal battle with outfielder Dave Winficld, according to The New York Daily In Sunday's editions, The News said Steinbrenner admitted paying $40,000 on Jan. 8 to Howard Spira. Spira gave Steinbrenner information to use his suit against Winficld, but Steinbrenner said that was not the reason for the payoff. Spira signed an agreement promising never to disclose the payoff, but his threatened to make it public, along with their tape-recorded conversations, unless Steinbrenner gives him an additional $110,000 and ajob at his American Shipbuilding Co.

in Tampa. i Steinbrenner has accused Spira of "extortion in its purest form. Spira is under investigation by the FBI, which raided his Bronx apartment and seized tapes, legal documents and other $cords. "If it was stupidity on my part, tamily to alcohol and I lost my dignity and personal pride in my life. "And I ruined my career.

It might be too late for my marriage, but maybe I can save a part of my career." Allen is piecing his shattered life together in the Cincinnati Reds' minor-league camp in Plant City. Lou Piniclla and Bob Quinn, who knew Allen from their Yankee days, are giving him a second chance to stick with the Reds as the ninth or i AP Lnwptwto Neil Allen: A second chance. side." When Allen's big deal ran out after 1987, suddenly the money wasnt there for him. He had a reputation and he'd earned it "I don't blame the owners," Allen said. "I wouldn't pay someone I couldnt depend on.

Financially, Allen is OK. He signed a $300,000 contract with incentives with the Reds that's contingent upon him making the big-league roster. His divorce will be finalized in three weeks. "I cleaned house and I'm going in a new dirccuoa But the one thing I regret so much in the 10 years is I haven't been a good father to my children, Neil and Courtney. "Maybe thc11 now know I have a problem anJ maybe I can make it un tn them and to mvsclf." i imn puencr.

Alien is actcrmineu ro makeitwork. i Interestingly, it was almost a year ago that Rickey Henderson indicted one of the Yankees "who drank too much" and cost the team tv 198H pennant At that time,.