The Shreveport Journal from Shreveport, Louisiana • 29

folkt A 11 14 0 'or I SHREVEPORT JOURNAL 1J r-- 0 19) SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY LA WEDNESDAY JULY 25 1979 i 111 FT It 1 FIDnere Nave the Years Gone SPORTS EDITOR 2 4 44 If'N IF I ::44 iy 1 EE Do ager Walter Morris arranged the first diaper shower in organized baseball for the popular manager "It rained all day till about 4 o'clock in the afternoon" Salty recalls "But 7900 people came that night I'll never forget that" Such crowds were not uncommon Three of Parker's teams beat out Dallas Fort Worth and Houston for the Alvin Gardner Cup that went to the club with the biggest opening-night crowd The 1948 figure was an all-time record at the local ball park: 10059 Ballplayers got married at home plate There were throwing contests for both distance and accuracy running contests home run contests "Take Me Out to the Ball Park" was the theme song of thousands of Shreveporters For four years in a row the average annual attendance was nearly 200000 Now the old park is virtually deserted "It's still in great shape" Salty says "They do an outstanding job of promoting the team here But Where have the years gone Francis James Parker? Has it really been 41 years since you first came to Shreveport with the Tulsa Oilers and returne a couple of months later when Bonneau Peters bought your contract for $100? You still have the sparkling Dutch-Irish eyes the infectious smile the quick laugh the love of baseball that brought you to our town two gener ations ago But the world has turned many times and the clock is now winding down on your 5 0 year in professional baseball THE SELECTION of any all-time Shreveport baseball team would have to start with "Salty" Parker in avt' -401 the third base coaching box where he was stationed for eight years before any of the 4 kids now playing in the Tex-' 4 as League were born "I don't feel that old" i 1 Parker said Tuesday after- noon "But I guess I am The years don't lie" Growing up in the 1940s kids quickly developed a sense of stability where baseball was concerned Unlike the game of musical Salty Parker chairs played now you didn't have to wonder who would be managing the Philadelphia is (Connie Mack) New York Yankees (Joe Mc ar thy Shreveport Sports (Salty Parker) It seeme they ley had always been there My first trip to old Texas League Park before World War II he was in the coaching box 'Prince' Hank Oana pitched Dallas to a 1-0 victory over the local heroes that day clubbing a home run over right-center field fence for the game on Shreveport A half-dozen members of the 1979 ireveport Captains played on a Cedar Rapids team that Parker managed to a division playoff in the Midwest League three years ago Since then he has been the minor league infield instructor for the parent San Francisco Giants and is taking a stroll down memory lane here this week during his annual visit to the big club's double-A affiliate He didn't really want to manage that team partly because he felt he had nothing to prove and had been on enough bus trips and partly because he knew kids had changed considerably in 20 years since his last managing assignment But he wanted to stay in baseball and that Was the only job available at the time "I adjusted" he laughs "and so did they It was sort of a compromise" The results were impressive Although his last two managing assignments were 19 years apart (Dallas in 1957 Cedar Rapids in 1976) Salty was voted Manager of the Year both seasons His '57 Dallas club won 102 games With the exception of a 10-day interim assignment with the New York Mets at the end of the 1967 season when Wes Westrum was fired Parker never had an opportunity to manage at the big league level MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL was a different game when Salty came here in 1938 When the Parkers' first daughter Jean Marie was born near the end of that season Shreveport business man Photo by Jack Barham Francis Parker in 1919 ALTHOUGH HE HAS ALSO worked with the Cleveland Indians (when Mel McGaha was manager Pittsburgh Pirates California Angels Mets and Astros Parker's first assignment in the big leagues was with his current team the Giants "When they went West" he laughs "I went with them" Shreveport holds many fond memories for Salty and his wife Thelma They raised their three girls here (two of them were graduated from LS11) During off-seasons Parker operated a filling station along with Heinie Muller But the memories that stand out above all the others are his association with "Mr Pete" "The finest man I ever met" he says "Ile was a second father to me" It was Peters and an arm injury that ended his playing career for all practical purposes that launched Parker on his career as a manager the year after he came to Shreveport "Ile had a kid shortstop named Gurlock" Salty recalled "and they loaned me to Dallas because Jim Levy was hurt When they sent me back they talked me into managing and I went to Lubbock" There he took over a third-place team and led it to titles in both halves of the season Was that really 40 years ago? "It doesn't seem that long" Salty Parker says shaking his head "It really doesn't" 8 4 owe Stu sveigisiitni IfiIPiiper WI All Were Confused This Time 1 Fred Breining photo by Stan Alost Siveveport's Beth Valuilis makes her 13-14 debut in state meet this weekend Swimmers Get Older (And Better) By TOM KLECKNER Journal Sports Writer It was all just one big Catch 22 Fred Breining would start for the Captains when manager Andy Gilbert learned what he had and the best way to learn what he had was make Breining a long reliever In the past long relievers for Gilbert got plenty of work But Breining managed to get into all of two games pitching three innings No work no start No start no work It seemed like Breining was doomed forever to the limbo of long relief With no other choice Gilbert finally had to give him a start to find out what he had It can now be said that Breining has an excellent forkball and a decent fastball and slider The Amarillo Gold Sox will attest to that as they managed but five hits and a run off Breining Tuesday night at SPAR Stadium dropping an 11-1 decision to the Shreveport Captains Shreveport which has split the first two games of the homestand is now 18-11 in the second half a half-game behind East Division leader Arkansas "My forkball did exceptionally well" Breining said Tuesday night "I didn't think it would be overpowering because I haven't pitched in two or three weeks but it was over I figured to go five or six innings but I surprised myself with my control and he (Gilbert let me go all the way" Breining did not walk a batter until the ninth inning striking out 11 batters in the meantime He opened the game by fanning the first three batters on 10 pitches and did not allow a hit until the fourth when former Shreveport teammate Dick Walterhouse lined a clean single to rig htfield It was Breining's first start since July 9 when he was still a member of Buffalo of the Eastern League in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization He was 5-4 with the AA club Then came the Bill Madlock trade between the Pirates and San Francisco Giants and Breining found himself back in Shreveport where he pitched last year "I can't explain why it took so long to start here" he said "They (Giants) told me I was coining here to pitch but Gilbert says I'm the long reliever I don't pitch much then all of a sudden he says he's gonna give me a start" "I figured being the long relief man he would get a lot of pitching" explained Gilbert "As it turned out he didn't because the pitchers were going all the way It was just a matter of getting to see him pitch" Apparently Gilbert saw all he wanted to Tuesday and said later Breining will stay in the pitching rotation "I was well pleased with his performance out there especially since he hasn't gone that many innings in a game before" he said "Breining was just like a major leaguer until that big inning when he got too much rest" Gilbert was referring to an eight-run sixth which increased the Captains' lead from 3-0 to 11-0 Steve Wilkins and Bob Cummings led off By MIKE TULLY UPI Sports Writer In Brooklyn they call it a Hindu In a lot of places it's known as a do-over Anyway the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates needed one Tuesday night after a weird base-running sequence delayed the game 34 minutes and resulted in a protest by the Pirates who lost 6-5 "It's just a freak situation you might never see again" Cincinnati second baseman Joe Morgan said after Pittsburgh's Lee Lacy was tagged out by shortstop pave Concepcion when he left second base thinking he was out "It's not like Lacy made a mistake The umpires didn't either" With two out in the fourth and three runs in to cut Cincinnati's lead to 4-3 Omar Moreno was batting with runners on first and third As a 3-1 pitch came in to Moreno Lacy broke from first to second and was called out stealing by second base umpire Dick Meantime however the pitch to Moreno was ruled a ball meaning that Lacy was entitled to second But he left the base and was tagged out causing a search for some sort of precedent "There was no rule" said Cincinnati Manager John McNamara "The man left the base at his own risk As far as I'm concerned if had violated a rule then they might have a chance but I don't see where there was any" Pittsburgh Manager Chuck Tanner was calm during the controversy but saved all his steam for later "I know well we have to win the protest" he said "Chub (league president) Feeney is a fair man and I know we'll win Ste lio told me he made a mistake and he said he'll include that in his report" Ste 'lots mistake was calling the play when the decision at home plate meant no decision was necessary The question is whether a player is responsible for an umpire's mistake "The pitch was 3-1 and instinctively made a decision" said crew chief Bob Engel "He called Lacy out which did in fact create some confusion We still ruled there has to be some responsibility on the part of the player Lacy and the coaches have to tell him" "No" answered Tanner "Why the should it be? Don't try to put it on his shoulders" Now it's on Feeney's shoulders Maybe he'll call a Hindu In the game itself Ken Griffey went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and Ray Knight singled in two runs in a four-run first inning to power the Reds Johnny Bench and Dan Driessen also singled in runs as Fred Norman 7-8 notched the victory while Doug Bair earned his 14th save Bruce Kison 6-5 took the loss after being knocked out in the first In other games Houston beat the Chicago Cubs 6-1 St Louis hammered Atlanta 7-3 Los Angeles thrashed Philadelphia 15-3 the New York Mets edged San Francisco 6-5 in 12 innings and San Diego nipped Montreal 4-3 in llinnings At this stage in their careers it won't be a serious problem much longer The older and better swimmers are the less they are affected by changing age-groups In Beth's case there isn't a whole lot of difference between top 11-12 swimmers and the best in her new 13-14 age group In either she's a contender for high point honors She has dropped her 400 meter freestyle time nearly 15 seconds in the last year to 4:426 and has chopped 51'2 seconds off her 200 freestyle time with a best of 2:16 With performances like those she's a threat in any age group Beth an eighth grader at St Joseph's figures some of her stiffest competition will come from teammates Tami Eaton and Lisa Salmela who are swimming unattached this week "We're really competitive" she says A couple of other COSST stars moving up into the 13-14 age group are Gary Nugent and Damon McCoy But Jordan expects both to be threats in the older group along with teammate Mark Feazel Other reasons for the rising COSST of swimming are senior breast stroke standout Andy Bauer hoping to break a string of disqualifications in two consecutivb state meets Nikki Ritzenthaler Stan Lee and Rena Fontenot Realistically Jordan concedes the top two positions to the Dick Bower Swim Team of New Orleans and Baton Rouge YMCA COSST will be challenged by the Baton Rouge Bengals and Green Wave both of whom rely heavily on college talent in senior events for third place Prelims start at 9 am each day Thursday through Sunday Finals start at 3 Friday and 2 the other two days By JERRY BYRD Journal Sports Editor As a general rule odd-year birthdays are as popular with age group swimmers as mumps or poison ivy The obvious reason they are such traumatic experiences is that at the ages of 9 11 13 and 15 they move into older (and presumably tougher) brackets There are "good birthdays" and "bad birthdays" and as far as the 1979 Louisiana State AAU Long Course Swimming Championships at Alexandria this weekend are concerned City of Shreveport --S2 Swim Team coach Butch Jordan has a surplus of the latter -s4 variety Several of his top swimmers have "moved up" leaving a 1 4V4: cloud hanging over COSST's bid to retain the third place i position it secured in this meet last year and the short-course event here this spring Two excellent examples are the brother-sister combo of Paul and Beth Valuilis who both "moved up" last week Paul Valuilis Although they share the same birthday (July 17) Paul and Beth aren't the same age They're two years apart and have been fighting the birthday problem throughout five years of record-breaking swimming performances with walks against starter Eric now 9-8 and were sacrificed along by Tom Runnel Is Amarillo manager Rusty Gerhardt then brought in Kent Hunziker whereupon the roof and just about every: thing else fell in on the Gold Sox Max Venable Wayne Pechek and Craig Landis each singled in runs Ken Barton walked and Howie Mitchell smashed a run-scoring double With the score now 8-0 Gerhardt tried Mark Thurmond with a little better luck Mark Woodbrey struck out for the second out but Wilkins singled in two more and Cummings and Runnells followed with singles to score the final run Venable the 13th batter in the inning flied to center for the final out With a very comfortable lead now Breining went after his shutout but without the effectiveness he had before the long wait on the bench "I was trying to pitch to save my shutout except I was tired I was tired from the sixth inning on" he said Breining lost the shutout in the ninth when Greg Pastors led off with a triple which took a crazy hop around rightfielder Craig Landis in foul territory Pastors then scored on a wild pitch as Brewing was in the process of walking Walterhouse' Brian Greer followed with a one-out single but Joe Hicks hit into a ly-turned double play to end the game "You gotta give credit to the defense This is the best defensive team I've played with in a while" he said "In those first five innings they caught balls that in Buffalo and elsewhere would have been dropped" But Breining is with Shreveport now where he has finally gotten the start he so wanted But if things go right for him he wouldn't be hesitant to make the change back "Right now I'd rather start but up in the big leagues it doesn't matter what I do As long as I make the majors" The Amarillo series continues tonight at SPAR Stadium with Bob Tufts 9-8 going for the Captains against George Stablein 6-10 Game Wile is at 7:30 pm Errors Umpire Wreck Giants SAN FRANCISCO (UPI San Francisco Giants made five errors in losing an extra-inning game to the New York Mets Tuesday night but it was two possible miscues by home plate umpire Dutch Rennert that may have decided the outcome The Mets beat the Giants 6-5 in 12 innings in a game that ran five minutes short of four hours and saw New York use seven pitchers Three of the San Francisco errors made only three of the Met runs earned Rennert earned the Giants' wrath in the second inning when he called John Stearns safe at home on a collision play with San Francisco catcher Marc Hill Stearns tried to score from second safe and a moment later starting pitcher Kevin Kobel lined a hit to score another run and put the Mets on top 3-0 Only one run that inning was earned In the sixth it went the other way Trailing by a run at that point Joe Strain tried to score from second on a single to right by Darrell Evans He made it across with a long slide but after waiting a moment or two Rennert finally signaled Strain was out Television replay showed Strain had scored easily Altobelli and third base coach Dave Bristol went after Rennert who listend patiently and then ejected Altobelli on a single to right by Doug Flynn but Jack Clark had him by three steps with a perfect peg to Hill The San Francisco catcher put the tag on Stearns who then bowled him over Hill didn't go down immediately and when he did he landed on his hand the one holding the ball and the ball hit the ground "The rule says the catcher has to hold the ball a reasonable time in a play like that" said Giants manager Joe Altobelli "It doesn't say anything about him having to hold the ball all night Besides Marc lost the ball not as a result of the collision but because his hand hit the ground first" Anyway Rennert called Stearns 1 11 It 1.