The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 22

Boston Evening Globe Monday, April 7, 1975 f-i (Question marks remain as Sox head north They made up the greatest outfield in Red Sox history and one of the greatest of all time: Duffy Lewis in left, Tris Speaker in center and Harry Hooper in right. By Peter Gammons Globe Staff As they pulled out of Winter Haven for the Tampa airport and the flight home, there was a last message to the Red Sox on the Holiday Inn marquee: "Congratulations, Tony Conigliaro." Spring training is a time for individual not team performances. Conigliaro survived a spring of myriad ifs by making the club dramatically in the last week and will open tomorrow as the designated hitter. While Conigliaro finished as the story of spring training, the co-story occurred March 12, and was as discouraging as Conigliaro's is encouraging. It was Carlton Fisk's broken arm, and not only does it leave his 1975 contributions to the Red Sox hazy, but seemed to cause a kind of discouragement that hung over Winter Haven until the end.

The players now believe Tony can be what this team desperately needs a strong clean-up Take away Fisk's injury, and it was a reasonably positive spring. Jim Rice was a disappointment in that he didn't hit at all, but Rice has done that every spring in the minors, too, so what it means iin't really clear. They would have liked to have seen Steve Dillard make it, but he still cannot throw. And may never, unfortunately. But if Fisk can come back by July, catch and supply some power, then maybe the Red Sox return home with a right to more optimism than anyone apart from the players seems to have.

"Let them write us off," says Rick Wise. "This is a lot better ball club than anyone gives us credit for." The most positive aspect of the spring aside from Conigliaro was Wise himself. He came to Florida with his career in serious doubt and finished so well that in the last 10 days not once was he asked how he felt. "The shoulder still isn't 100 percent," he says. "It's still a matter of building up the strength so it doesn't get weak after six or seven innings.

I won't be able to go nine for awhile, but in time I will." Reggie Cleveland's work, weight and attitude is encouraging, and so, too, was the way Fred Lynn took the center field job. Picking up a good young infielder like Kim Andrew who can help immediately as a pinch hitter and spare infielder for $25,000 is positive. "We're really starting this season off with a lot less ifs than last year," said Mgr. Darrell Johnson. "Remember, we began then without Fisk, and we had no idea if anyone could replace him.

We didn't know if Bob Montgomery could do the job. We didn't have Tim Blackwell. Our outfield wasn't settled at all, for Dwight Evans as yet hadn't established himself and we didn't have Lynn. Shortstop (with Mario Guerrero) was unsettled. Rico Petrocelli got hurt opening day." And there was Tommy Harper as DH.

There is still some question about the opening day lineup, mainly because they still don't know whether Juan Beniquez's sprained ankle will be ready. "He's going to have it wrapped and try running today said Johnson. If Beniquez can play, the lineup will be: Beniquer. If; Lynn, cf: Yastrzemski, lb; Conigliaro, dh; Petrocelli, 3b: Evans, rf; Montgomery, Burleson, ss; Griffin, 2b: Tiant, p. If Beniquez cannot play, it will have Lynn leading off.

Evans batting second and Berme Carbo hitting sixth and playing left field. As they left behind the Holiday Inn and Winter Haven, the Red Sox did not leave behind all their question marks. Conigliaro still is Question No. 1, whether he can return to close to his salad days when he was becoming one of the best Fenway and clutch hitters in the game. There are Wise and Cleveland, Doug Griffin and, in days ahead, Rice and Fisk.

But, considering the Fisk setback, it was not as bad a spring as the won-lost standings indicate. And tomorrow, starting with the display of what Bostonians will always consider two of their greatest might-have-beens Henry Aaron and Conigliaro begins what should be the best year in the American League East since they went to the divisional setup. LEIGH MOMVILLE A postcard comes to life SALEM, N.H. There still ar? rprmiactc fny antn a wuku I firaPhs. The letters arrive at the modern garden apart- ment on Tiffany Road, the address on the envelope I written in the uneven printing of grammar schoolers.

There is an average of six or seven letters a week. Clearing up playoff picture NHL NBA "See these post cards," Duffy Lewis said yesterday afternoon. "I think some company in Chicago prints and sells them. There I am. That picture was taken in 1910." He is caught forever in tintype, crouching over an I imaginary plate in a self-concsious batting stance.

Kids i. will buy the post card from a mail-order merchandise house, buy a stamp, take the time to write a letter, then send it all to an 87-year-old man for his autograph on a picture that was taken 65 years ago. They never have seen him play, not even on the fuzziest of film. They haven't seen generations of players who have followed I him. It doesn't matter.

Duffy Lewis once played and he was a World Series hero and you can look it up. This is baseball and, if you do it once you do it forever. Baseball is the sport that exists as much on paper as it does in triplet-decked stadiums on a sunshine afternoon. It is the linear sport. Numbers.

Names. Statistics. Facts. Today immediately becomes part of a very long yesterday. Other sports seem to deal with annual explosions.

The Pittsburgh The NHL playoff set-up really isn't as complicated as it seems. It's just rather awesome because there appear to be 137 teams involved. The four divisional winners Philadelphia, Montreal, Buffalo and Vancouverare exempt from the first round. The second and third place teams in each division are then arranged via total points in a one through eight fashion. Here, therefore, are the pairings: Los Angeles (1) vs.

Toronto (8); Boston (2) vs. Chicago (7); Pittsburgh (3) vs. St. Louis (6); and New York Rangers (4) vs. New York Islanders (5).

In case of point ties, the home team and numeral designation were first determined by total victories, the only criterion needed this year. All these are best two-of-three series, and will begin tomorrow night. The four winners will then join the four divisional champions for the second round. Again the teams will be arranged one through eight in order of regular season point total, with 1-8. 2-7, etc.

pairings. Those four series will be best-of-seven. BOB RYAN The NBA playoffs, newly revamped to include 10 teams for the first time in its history, begin tomorrow with two first time participants. Houston will host the New York Knicks in a Eastern Conference series, while Seattle, the other newcomer to the playoffs, will begin play against Detroit. The Knicks arrived in the playoffs by winning a race to the crossing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who dropped a heart-breaking 95-94 decision to Kansas City-Omaha while the Knicks were surprising the Buffalo Braves by a 105-93 score at Madison Square Garden' yesterday afternoon.

That turn of events enabled the Knicks to tie Cleveland with a 40-42 record, and bump the Cavaliers out of a wild card spot by virtue of a 3-1 season's series edge. Phase Two of the playoffs will cet started Thursday. Washington, which tied Boston with a 60-22 record, but had a poorer intra-conference record than the Celtics, will play Buffalo in the beginning of a best-of-seven Eastern Conference series, while over in the West, Chi-caco will play Kansas City-Omaha in another seven game series. The winner of the New York-Houston series will then play Boston in a best-of-seven affair, and the Seattle-Detroit victor will take on Golden State, which had the best record in the West. BOB RYAN Win 1 DUFFY LEWIS The weekend winners.

A. J. Foyt won the Trenton 200 yesterday and clinched his aum tmo ciuo cnampionslup; Chris Evert swept by Martina Navratilova of Czechoslovakia, 6-4, 6-2, Saturday to win the pro tennis title; and Tom Weiskonf me wreaier ureensooro upen yesterday by tiring a final-round 68 and at 275- (AP and UPI photos) Marichal starts. Dodgers fall ateeiers win the Super Bowl, and you immediately ask, "What will happen next year'" The Oakland A's win the World Series, and you wonder where they fit in the past. Baseball is the Victorian gingerbread house on the corner of the sports page.

If you want more dramatic swoops and angles you go elsewhere. If you want to polish fine old wood, you go to baseball. "You've got to have good pitching." Duffy Lewis said yesterday. "Good pitching, good defense, and a mediocre ballclub can go a long way." It was true in 1915 Ik Associated Press LOS ANGELES Juan Marichal, the old Dodger-killer, is still at it only this time he was pitching for them. The veteran righthander, recently signed by the Dodgers after failing to reach agreement on a contract with the Oakland A's, made his spring debut yesterday and was the losing pitcher in the Dodgers' 3-1 exhibition loss to the California Angels.

Marichal gave up three runs, all in the first two innings, and seven hits in six innings. He walked four and struck Li out three, and his performance improved notably after the third inning when his control got betler. Marichal received a mixed reaction from the Dodger Stadium crowd when his name was announced. But he was applauded when he took the mound for the first time, and he received a standing ovation from the fans behind the Dodger dugout when he left the field after his final inning. "I was wild, but I started to get loose after about three innings," Marichal said.

"Then I got my control and I thought I pitched fairly well." REDSQX OPENING DAY TOMORROW 2:00 p.m. BREWERS WITH HENRY AARON MILWAUKEE: WED. 3:30 p.m. Think Kea box and they were champions of the world, true in 1918 when he was in the service and they were champi-i ons for the last time in their history. It will be true to-j morrow when he will drive down to Fenway Park for the first time in eight years and throw out the first ball i of the 1975 Sox season at 2 o'clock.

Maybe the uniforms are tighter and the ball is bouncier and the fielder's gloves are yards longer, but the game is the same. The people are the You don't have to be a genetic marvel to play. You don't I have to be anything special except talented. Could Babe Ruth have done better than Henry Aaron if he were playing today? Would Walter Johnson have handled the A's and the Dodgers and Johnny radial wun ine same emciencyv That's baseball. The and Look to the Leader possibility for debate unlike most modern sports is still very much open.

EVHCHELIKI EASTERN MOUNTAIN SPORTS ANNUAL SPRING SALE (HE The most Would Duffy Lewis at 5 foot-1, 160 pounds be able i to play as a young man today at Fenway. Why not? Today is yesterday. Yesterday is today. I' Cobb W0llld be just a great player today." Lewis said. "He's the greatest I ever saw.

I used to like to play against Detroit just to watch him. When he got on base he'd drive those pitchers crazy. He was the one Player I've seen who never went into a slump. He'd just beat out bunts if hp couldn't do anything else. His aver- age for 20 years was .367, and that was why.

He once told me, 'If you're looking for the fastball, nobody will ever get one by I always followed that." Lewis covers the virtual time span of the sport. Cobb? An opponent, but a friend to be visited on a ride i through California. Johnson? "That big motion, very fast." Ruth? Lewis pinch hit for Ruth, he saw Ruth's first homer and last homer, was once called by Ruth "a i' better hitter than Ted Williams." Hank Aaron? Duffy J. Lewis, working for 25 years as traveling secretary for the Braves of both Boston and Milwaukee, saw Aaron as a rookie. experienced radials on the road.

Ifs Sutton vs. Gullett as real season opens United Press International The dreams of spring training fade into harsh reality today when the baseball season opens on four fronts. Throw out those inflated batting averages and those long home runs. Never mind those miniscule earned run averages which looked so scrumptious in the hot Florida and Arizona sun. They don't count for beans.

As Indians Mgr. Frank Robinson puts it: "Now it's all for real." The 1975 season begins this afternoon in Cincinnati where the Reds entertain the defending champion Dodgers. The game has attracted a sellout crowd of at Riverfront Stadium. While much of the Midwest was hit by heavy snow last week, forcing cancellation of Tuesday openers at Chicago and Detroit, sunny skies with temperatures in the high 50s are predicted at Cincinnati. Don Sutton, a 19-game winner last season will start for the Dodgers and southpaw Don Gullett, a 17-game winner, will go for the Reds.

President Ford, who threw out the first ball at Cincinnati a year ago minutes before Hank Aaron lied Babe Ruth's career home run record, had to turn down an invitation to attend the game, so the ceremonial first ball will be thrown out by Sen. Robert Taft Jr. (R-Ohio). Taft. a native Cincinnatian, will bo making his first public appearance since suffering a heart attack two months ago.

Today's games and probable pitchers llMichelin has more experience in making steel-belted radials than any other tire manufacturer. "Nobody else comes close." For the extra experience that means safety, mileage, and tread on the-road handling control you can feel, specify Michetin first in steelbelted radials. "It's strange," he said. "I was watching Aaron hit for a few days and I thought he had a eh a very good hitter. I asked a sporlswriter who I won't name what he thoucht of him ihe cnnric.

writer said. 'He'll never make the I A framed letter on Lewis's kitchen wall thanks him DISC BRAKE OVER-HAUL MONDAY APRIL 7th TO SATURDAY APRIL 12m MANY VALUES STILL AVAILABLE ALL STOBES WILL HOLDOVER SALE PRICES Amherst, Mass. North Conway, N.H. Burlington, Ardsley, N.Y. -Lake Placid, N.Y., Wellesley.

Mass. (AH Times EDT) (Last Ycar'i Recordi In Met American Cot AMERICAN LEAGUE Kansas City (Busby 22 14) at California (Ryan 22-16), 10:30 p.m. i. ror helping to enlist Aaron in a political campaign. The at the bottom is John F.

Kennedy. A picture shows Ruth and Honus Wagner and Connie Mark and Dill Klcm and Tris Speaker and Lewis at a World War Two benefit. A clipping on the kitchen table is an adit vcrtisement for his vaudeville tour after the 1915 World Series. He appeared at the Pantages Theatre in Oakland, questions, and received $500 a week. ij Tomorrow he will stand in the first-base box with thc first ball of the 1975 season and he will throw a fastball, a curve or "whatever." It won't be a slider be-' oause nobody threw a slider when he played.

He will look around a ballpark that was built in 1912, the mid-jjflo of his career, and the only striking difference will be the lopo that ton eight feet high on the left field jj wall will be missing. There won't be a "Duffy's Cliff" for I he left lo tHgoliale, 5 The ii'M will be much Hie mine. Hits. Runs. Krrors.

take two. hit lo right. The postman probably even will i he delivering another autograph request to Tiffany B0X LACROSSE Parentheses) NATIONAL LEAGUE Los Angeles (Sutton 19- 9) at Cincinnati (Gullett I 17-11), 2:30 p.m. I Montreal (McNally 16- i 10) at St. Louis (Gibson 11-13), 8:33 p.m 'N'p ro at Houston 11-10V Replace front disc pads Resurface front rotors Replace front oil seals Repack front wheel bearing April 28 THEBOSTON a EMS BOSTON 1041 COMM.

AVE. BOS. MA. 02215 (617) 254-4250 M-F 9-9 SAT. EMS BARGAIN BASEMENT 1047 COMM.

AVE. BOS. MA. 02215 (617) 254-4250 M-F SAT. 9-5 Specialists in alignment, brakes, shocks, mufflers, one-op Use your BankAmoncard or Masterchargo.

MEET NEW YORK AT BOSTON GARDEN SCND FOR A BROCHURE 121 NEWBURY ST. BOSTON. MASS. 02116 ri. i i i PLANNING A JOB CHANGE? flf Ct VOUB XECUTIVt IMAGt f.

8UME Br PARNPLL. Sine IW1 Ih culling cd te wcccai lor crw popi mo tend Av, Ntedhm. Mutt. 449-1111. lift.

I n- 4 mi iiiiumn i. in I lie illK)f nud in Ihc Monday and Thursday liicn'mu Clobcs,.