Standard-Speaker from Hazleton, Pennsylvania • Page 40

40 Hazleton Standard-Speaker, Baseball's Wednesday, November 27, 1991 minor league teams struggling Auto Racing Notes to meet stringent guidelines by 1994 Jimmie Lee Solomon, director of minor league relations for Major tween the major and the minor leagues, many cities have to dramatically upgrade their baseball stadium to keep their team. From Durham, N.C., to Med-ford, owners of the 152 minor league stadiums must provide better playing fields and a better environmnt in the stands and lockers. Teams are working under a 1994 deadline to satisfy the list of guidelines that cover everything from seating capacity to length of the concession counters. "We're not pointing fingers at a particular city or league," said By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS AP Sports Writer YAKIMA, Wash.

(AP) The new owners of the baseball team demand a new stadium. They say the old park is outdated. There are threats the team will move. Government officials hold emergency meetings. There is talk of damage to the city's image.

Is this Cleveland, or Chicago? No, it is Yakima, Wash. And the scene may be repeated in dozens of other minor league cities across the U.S. Under the new agreement be League Baseball. "We want the best overall facilities in the minor leagues so kids can play in a safe environment conducive to moving up to major league baseball," Solomon said. Bob Sparks, spokesman for the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues the minors said major league officials are just starting to evaluate the ballparks.

"I have a feeling there will be things here and there that have to DEER SEASON OPENS NEXT MONDAY DIRECT FROM BRITISH MINISTRY OF DEFENSE WAR RESERVE BRITISH ENDFIELD QQ QQ RIFLE 4 0n'y 3w The latest and best of the Royal Enfield series. The strongest, most durable of all the British bolt-action military arms. Not to be confused with old WW I vintage No. 1 SMLE's. This rifle made history from Normandy and Arnhein to Malaya, Korea and Suez.

Fastest, most rugged bolt-action military rifles ever made. Excellent bores, and now offered at a price that eliminates the worry and guesswork in buying military surplus firearms. Luminas won 11 races, Ford Thunderbirds won 10, Oldsmobile Cutlasses five and Pontiac Grand Prix SEs three. Buick Regals were shutout In the emotional moments after 1991 CART Indy-car champion Michael Andretti was introduced at the awards banquet, the 29-year-old paid tribute to his inspiration father and teammate Mario Andretti. Looking over at the elder Andretti, Michael said, "You're the reason I'm standing here.

We share everything. We have a special relationship. You're not only a dad and a team member, but you're a friend." The younger Andretti, who won eight poles and eight of 16 races, earned a CART record $2,461,734. Seven Indy-car drivers earned more than $1 million in 1991, led by Andretti and Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, who was also over $2 million. Somebody was apparently trying to play the snake in Dale Earnhardt's Garden of Eden in the past few weeks, with some nasty rumors circulating about alleged problems in the driver's professional and private life.

Earnhardt and team owner Richard Childress put those stories to rest during the final weekend of the Winston Cup season. Earnhardt "There's been a lot of rumors going around that we were having problems with the team. They got nasty. (This week) was Teresa and my ninth anniversary. We went out and celebrated a nice evening and I haven't seen any problems yet, so all those rumors must not be true.

"Richard and I are getting along as great as ever. He's mad at me because I didn't take him hunting with me. Other than that, he's pretty comfortable with our situation with the team." Childress assured everyone that his team will all be back next season and that Earnhardt will be the driver for at least the next two years. As for the rumors, he said, "The sad part of all these rumors is when they bring in innocent people. It just goes along with the territory, I guess.

When you're successful, people are going to shoot at you from all angles, and there were some pretty low shots. "Dale and I have a good personal relationship. Hopefully, we'll race together from now on. But if he decides to go out and do his own team, I'll be the first to help him getting it going." Bill Venturini's second ARCA stock car championship, clinched November 16 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, is a bit sweeter than his first one because he had to overcome more to get it The 38-year-old driver from Chicago won the first title in 1987, but in June, 1989 he broke his neck in a crash at Michigan International Speedway during a NASCAR Winston Cup race. "The doctors told my wife I'd never race again," Venturini said.

"They never told me that, though. They didn't even want me racing for a whole year, at least. "In 11 weeks, I was out of the halo (brace) I was wearing and, six months to the date, I was testing in Daytona Beach, Fla. That accident never made me think one minute about not racing again. I couldn't wait to get back into a car and now, I've got another championship." be dealt with immediately," Sparks said.

"I think things will work out nicely." But he could not speculate on how many parks will need major overhauls, or even replacement, and what that work would cost In Yakima, a local group trying to purchase the Class A Bears of the Northwest League has asked the county to spend $15 million in public funds for a new stadium. "The only way to ensure the Yakima Bears remain in Yakima in the future is to ensure a new multipurpose stadium is built," said Ron Romaneski, the local businessman spearheading the $800,000 purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers' farm team. Romaneski, who formerly owned the Helena, team of the Pioneer League, warned that the Dodgers might terminate their working agreement with the Bears if the stadium remains substandard. The current Parker Field fails in several categories, with the most glaring being that players and umpires have to walk through the fans to get to the locker rooms, said general manager Steve Ford. That and many other problems are covered in the agreement signed last January.

Other provisions cover size of box seats; a ratio of one toilet per 125 women and one urinal per 125 men; a minimum of four showers in visiting locker rooms and a separate office for the tvisiting manager. There are dozens of others. "We all should be serious about the quality of the facility, the playing field and the lights," said Charlie Eschbach, president of the Class AA Eastern League. "Should we be counting the number of urinals? I'm not sure." The new agreement is not expected to cause major problems in the Eastern League, because the eight teams have been voluntarily upgrading stadiums for the past decade, he said. But things are different in other places: California League president Joe Gagliardi said some stadiums are substandard in the Class A league and some cities could lose teams.

He declined to name those. Some cities without teams are also seeing the agreement as an opportunity, he said. "Some cities that don't have pro baseball at all will probably build in this state a couple of stadiums because they want to attract a professional team," Gagliardi said. That already happened in Vic-torville, which built a stadium and lured a franchise from Riverside, he said. The rookie Pioneer League, based mostly in Montana and Idaho, has several teams that cannot meet the requirements, said president Ralph Nelles.

"This will be devastating to our Nelles said. "Pocatello or Butte, are not going to spend half a million dollars to bring their park up to specs to play minor league ball 35 games a year," Nelles said. The famous Durham Bulls, featured in the movie "Bull Durham," want a new stadium at a site midway between Raleigh and Durham, N.C. Even before the agreement, owners of the Class A Carolina League team were seeking a new park, said stadium operations director Bill Miller. The existing Please see MINOR, page 41 20 OFF ALL HEAVY ORANGE HUNTING CLOTHING Insulated orange and orange camouflage coats, pants and coveralls by Saf-T-Bak, Woods Edge, Remington and others.

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No other driver has won more than three Winston Cup titles. Petty, who has announced he will retire following the 1992 season, last won the series title in 1979, the year Earnhardt won the rookie title and the year before the younger driver won his first championship. "He's a heck of a race car driver," Petty said of Earnhardt. "He is a championship-quality driver. You want somebody to drive that leads races and wins races.

You don't want somebody that wins the championship just because he finishes ahead of somebody else. Dale is definitely a winner." Asked if he is concerned about Earnhardt beating one of his greatest records, Petty said, "Nope. Hey, he's still behind me. He's got two to go. "But it's no big deal to me.

Even if he wins 10, I've still got seven. I'm not competing against him for that. If he gets more, that's fine. More power to him." Petty was asked if it's harder to win championships now than it was when he first began winning them? He joked, "I really don't know, I haven't won one in so long." Seriously, he added, "No, really it's about the same circumstances. What the deal boils down to is how good you are during a particular year against the rest of the competition.

If Earnhardt had had the kind of season he had this year last year, he wouldn't have won the championship. Somebody else would have won it in 1990 because he's had a bad year compared to what he had last year. But so has everybody else that's up there in the point standings. "What it comes down to is that if you're better than the competition, it's no harder to win championships now than it was then." Dale Earnhardt won the 1991 Winston Cup championship with a total of 4,287 points, an average of 148 per race. That is his lowest average in his five championship seasons, although he beat second-place Ricky Rudd by 195 points.

A year ago, Earnhardt won the title with 4,430 points and an average of 153 points. He averaged 150 points in 1980, 154 in 1986 and 162 in 1987. Each race has a maximum of 185 points including five-point bonuses for leading a lap and leading the most laps. Chevrolet drivers have won six of the last eight Winston Cup titles. Besides the four by Earnhardt during that period, Terry Labonte won in 1984 and Darrell Waltrip in 1985.

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4, 1991 334 N. Pennsylvania Ave. Wilkes-Barre 12 to 5 DAILY MALL, HAZLETON..