The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 51

pools San Francfero i5camirifr Tues 12, 1981 section Art Spander Herndon's year of content Pete Rose may pass Candlestick Page F3 milestones at Owner of a lifetime 283 batting average and only 19 home runs in five major league seasons, Larry Herndon never had measured up to expectations, his or anyone else's. Now, heading into tonight's opener of a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies in Candlestick Park, the 27-year-old outfielder is batting .355. No other Giant is in the .300 bracket. He is reaching for stardom on his own terms. "The other night in Philadelphia," batting coach Jim Lefebvre related, "he came to me and said he wanted to hit the ball in the air more.

I told him to forget it, to keep on doing what he's been doing. "Everybody talks about goals, like being a 30-30 man stealing 30 bases and hitting 30 home runs. But a man's got to do it himself. If people say he should hit 30 home runs and he hits 20, then he'll start thinking of himself as a failure. "I've always said Larry Herndon would be a quality hitter.

I never said anything about home runs. That will come in time. The main thing now is for him to just keep hitting the ball hard." Even now, when he is among the top hitters in the National League, Herndon apparently can't completely shake the idea that he should do more. A few seasons ago, somebody decided he could be another George Foster. "I didn't accept that kind of stuff," Herndon insisted.

"I just want to be me." But Herndon has set secret goals for himself, and he admits he's still concerned that he has yet to hit one out this season. "I don't want to be just set on one thing," -See Page F2, Col. 2 By John Hillyer Randy Moffitt spoke for the pitching staff as the sleepy Giants boarded a bus that would carry them from an airport to a hotel the other early morn. "Is Herndon on?" Moffitt wondered. "He is? OK, let's go." Before the season, you could have gotten lopsided odds against such words being uttered, even in jest.

i 1 1 Mf llJI I I I 0iOSD(o(o feDflttS 1,15 -iV 4 UD TV UP?" Associated Press The Giants, God and Satan THE TROUBLE, OF course, was that the Giants had to play in New York. That meant The New York Times, with all the news that's fit to print, was obligated to create a feature article. What it created was simply another unneeded problem. When the subject is the Phillies, there may be a story about Mike Schmidt's home runs or Steve Carlton's silence. Material on the Dodgers, if it doesn't center on Steve Garvey, now, of course, dwells on Fernando Valenzuela.

But obviously the personalities on San Francisco's squad were of no interest. Thus. Timesman George Vecsey, although one of America's better sporting journalists, produced an article on, well, the headline says it all: Religion Becomes an Important Part of the Baseball Scene." Right. And maybe Times readers also would like to know that Lindbergh has landed at Le Bourget. The assumption was that in this day of modern communication news travels at a rather decent speed.

Everyone, you guessed, had heard or read about the difficulties in 1979, when the issue of religion in the Giants' locker room became a cause celebre. But you guessed wrong. ONCE MORE THE subject, which had been quiescent, practically dead and buried, was brought to life. Once more we were presented with the term "God Squad," and the references to players some no longer on the Giants who reputedly used religion as a crutch. And, unfortunately, we were also presented with this quote from relief pitcher Gary Lavelle.

acknowledged as the Giants' spiritual leader: "One columnist wrote we were not getting anywhere by praying to Jesus, and that maybe we should try praying to Satan. I remember that column well. I was not really surprised. The Bay Area is the center of devil worship, radical groups and homosexuality in this country. It is a satanic region." We can't all be perfect, can we.

Gary? To his credit, Lavelle said he wasn't misquoted. However, he insists he was misunderstood. The Bay Area, he repeats, has problems, but then so does every large city. "There is a spirit of evil, a satanic spirit influencing the area," said Lavelle. "I mean that from a spiritual level.

That doesn't make the majority of people in the Bay Area bad. It just means that there are forces working on people which may influence them incorrectly. There is a large homosexual population in the Bay Area. I can't condone homosexuality. But if a homosexual came to me for help, I would do my utmost to help him.

The spiritual problems do not make people evil by any means. I just do not condone the way many people live." A couple of years ago some people would not condone the way the Giants played, San Francisco falling apart in the 1979 season after contending for the championship much of 1978. Seeking answers, some sports writers were quick to blame the grow ing membership of "born-again" Christians. NOW, SAY W1LVT you will about a man. claim he cheats on his income tax.

even throws the spitball, but never question his religion or his politics. All you'll ever get is an argument, or worse. For the Giants, it was worse. Unity was shattered, divisiveness emphasized. The world became either us or them.

If a journalist as much as discussed the situation he was accused of being anti-Christian. And the players who deeply believed in their convictions were criticized for their supposed lackadaisical attitudes. According to some, their zeal was put into religion, not baseball. If they went 0-for4 or got knocked out of the box in the first inning, they indicated it wasn't all that important or that it was "God's ill." But that was two years ago. Personnel and attitudes had changed.

The religious players still are religious, but the media seemed to be more enlightened or at least less vindictive. Nobody wrote about Bibles or evangelism. Only about trving to beat Astros. Until' Sunday. That's when the article appeared in The Times, and the bitterness of the past was exhumed.

That's when a disservice was done to the Giants, indeed to everyone. Now we'll be obsessed ith the matter once more. tin EOPLE CAME DOWN hard on us, particuarly the press." said Lavelle. "If they want to label us the God Squad, I don't care as long as that doesn't lead to bad press and bad relations. "Some of the things people have written were absolutely untrue.

I pray. I think prayer in life is very important. I pray for myself. I pray for other people. But I don't pray to the Lord to pitch no-hitters.

"I've never said hat happened was Cod's I believe God gave me a certain ability and he expects me to use that ability to the utmost. I don't believe because I am a Christian I compromise any of my beliefs." In the article, former Giants pitcher John Montefusco says this about Lavelle: "You could see he had competitive spirit. He may hold back his feelings, and maybe that's not healthy, but he's one of the finest people I've ever met in baseball. I think the press took a few things and blew it out of proportion to make those guys look bad." And now two years later it is blowing out of proportion once more. That's what happens when you go to New York.

Gerry Cooney (L) destroys former heavyweight champion Ken Norton with a barrage of punches in the opening round of the scheduled 10-rounder Cooney marches toward title goal admit, however, that he was out when the fight was stopped. Asked if he was unconscious, as Cooney had said, Norton replied, "I think so. Yes." Later, he amplified his remark by saying: "I was conscious. I knew what was happening. I guess I was semiconscious whatever." Norton was awarded the WBC heavyweight title early in 1978 after the Council stripped it from Leon Spinks.

The WBC had ordered Spinks to fight Norton, then the No. 1 contender, but instead, Spinks gave Muhammad Ali a rematch. Now, with his best fights behind him. including his much-celebrated 10-round decision over Ali in San Diego in 1973. Norton's boxing future looked dim.

if he would fight again, Norton responded: "I don't know. I'll talk to my wife about it, and with my children." Cooney, 24. of Huntington, N.Y., said he had expected -See Page F5, Col. 2 Examiner News Services Gerry Cooney said he looked into Ken Norton's eyes, and that what he saw frightened him. With about 30 seconds gone in their scheduled 10-round bout at Madison Square Garden last night, Cooney hit Norton with a hard left on the ropes.

Norton, a former world heavyweight champion, moved into his own corner, dazed. Cooney hit him again, and again, and again until Norton was sitting on the canvas. "I was taught to watch my opponent at all times," Cooney said after the fight. "I watched his eyes. "I don't know how many punches I threw, but I knew he was hurt.

He as unconscious on the ropes. It crossed my mind then that I might hurt him." Referee Tony Perez stopped the fight after it was only 54 seconds old, giving Cooney his ninth consecutive win by knockout and second in a row in the first round. While the loss probably ended the boxing career of the 35-year-old Norton, Cooney's win moved him one step closer to his ultimate goal, the world heavyweight championship. Dennis Rappaport, one of Cooney's managers, said his fighter was "very, very close to a fight with Mike Weaver," the World Boxing Association heavyweight champion. "There'll be a press conference in the near future," Rappaport said.

Cooney now seems to have his choice of title chances. While Rappaport was telling a press conference about the possibility of a Weaver bout, promoter Don King stood at ringside and told anyone within earshot that he would put Cooney up against World Boxing Council titleholder Larry Holmes. The prospects of a HolmesCooney fight are particularly exciting because the unbeaten WBC champ has had few real challenges during his years wearing the belt and has been talking about retiring after a few more fights. Cooney went into the Norton fight as the No. 1 contender for both versions of the heavyweight title.

Norton appeared at a postfight press conference, by all appearances none the worse for the wear. He did A's unawed by eastern clubs this trip By Glenn Schwarz Examiner Staff Writer NEW YORK On their grim East Coast tours last year, the A lost 13 of 18 games and one post-game meal. In addition to getting beat up by the Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles, the young and impressionable As in Baltimore watched their irate manager overturn a table holding the after-work spread. Now, they are confident of winning more often and keeping Billy Martin away from the cold cuts during this initial run through Ne York, Baltimore and Boston, arranged imaginatively around a weekend side trip to Milwaukee. Rick Langford, the A's starting pitcher tonight in the first of three against the soap-opera Yankees, has Oakland's 24-7 credentials to back up his words.

"It's a different situation than last year because we have a better, more experienced team," Langford said. "Now the other teams have to play us, instead of us always worrying about who we were playing. "We're past the stage where other clubs intimidate us. I think we're intimidating clubs now. Nobody is going to get us down." The A's are 64 vs.

clubs from the acclaimed strongest division in the majors, the American League East. Of course, all those games were in Oakland. "We can play anywhere now; the road doesn't bother us," said left fielder Rickey Henderson, pointing to the A's 11-0 away record. "We're relaxed and comfortable wherever we are." "I'm really looking forward to these games," third baseman Wayne Gross said. "We played the Yankees even (2-2); we know we can beat them.

We haven't seen Baltimore or Boston yet, but they haven't been setting the world on fire." How hot the A's get probably will be determined by their success hitting left- handed pitching, the type that often fouled their mood last year. They could face as many as seven starters throwing from that side the next 10 games, kicking off with three in Yankee Stadium Ron Guidry, Tommy John and Rudy May. So far, the A's have hit lefties as well as Martin hoped they would when he traded for Cliff Johnson. With the powerful designated hitter (six homers, 18 RBI) batting third in front of fellow right-handed swingers Tony Armas (nine homers, 25 RBI) and Mike Heath (two homers, 11 RBI), the A's have gone 11-2 against southpaws. John and -See Page F3, Col.

1 Raiders jury: A tough playbook I inside: Rockets claim Celtics are not that good "We've been terrible. How terrible? We spent four days in Cleveland without playing a game. Rain every day. Ever tried to get a date on a Monday afternoon in Cleveland?" George Brett, lamenting about the problems of the Kansas City Royals and himself. But proud Celtics want to save face in Game 5 tonight in the Garden F4 The questionnaire was primarily prepared by NFL attorneys, who have repeatedly expressed concern that the league could get a fair trial here.

Most of the questions deal with names and issues expected to come up in trial. Panelists spent from 40 minutes to 2Vz hours filling out the 30-page form yesterday. The league has previously failed in an attempt for a change of venue. The panel was reduced further to 68 this morning. Of the 11 ho were excused, six were dismissed on the basis of their responses to the questin-naire, and the other five for miscellaneous reasons.

The NFL has not ruled out another attempt to seek to get the trial moved from Los Angeles. The league, in a newly filed document, said an opinion survey taken within this federal district, showed that 78 percent of the -See Page F4, Col. 1 cally-oriented interdisciplinary college course. Questions asked of all prospective jurors in the trial of the Oakland Raiders and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission against the National Football League which began yesterday in US. District Court here.

If you answered you're right In fact, those are three of 72 written questions asked of the remaining 79 candidates for jury duty. Another 50 would-be jurors were dismissed yesterday after they told Judge Harry Pregerson that it would create a hardship to serve as a juror for the expected three to four-month duration of this trial. Many of those who wanted to be excused said they had already made vacation plans. Had the remaining 79 been aware of the written questionnaire in store for them, many might have declared hardship too. State poll shows approval for Raiders move Page F4 Coverage of trial comparable to Sirhan attention Page F4 By Lewis Leader Examiner Staff Writer LOS ANGELES "Do you consider that it is beneficial for you that first run movies are always available in Los Angeles?" "Have you or has any member of your family or any personal acquaintance ever had training in economics?" If the answer is yes, provide details.

"Do you have any close personal acquaintance you consider to be a football fan? A sports fan?" If yes, "Name each such person and state his or her relationship to you." The preceding three questions are (choose one) A) A new US. Government census prepared by an overzealous clerk. B) A "get acquainted" memo passed out to all students in a new psychologi "Ask for a better ballelub. Maury Wills, expressing what he'd do differently for a second chance to manage. Spitball saga continues: A's aren't only ones involved Islanders discount Minnesota I underdog role in NHL finals il Billie Jean King considering I jj jS retirement from tennis IX "But at least he (rookie flash Tim Raines) shos up.

Manager Dick Williams, after declining to compare wunderkind Raines with Ron LeFlore. whom the Expos dropped because of series of absences..