The Macon Telegraph from Macon, Georgia • 6

7S IMt More coverage of The Masters 3C juiii uBi Ms Baseball 2C 3C 0 Business 7C (HpMicon (Tclccjrapb riday April 12 1991 1U Sports ws ft Harley Bowers I ftf J1 jfl 1 sSx 1 i Return of baseball a smashing success As fans began to arrive at Luther Williams ield at 5 Thursday two hours before tire start of the 1991 season's opener against Colum bus many enjoyed sitting in the new seats looking out over the new field and reminiscing about watch ing games played there in years gone by These were the ones who saw best something spectators wifi be talking about 50 years on down the road What they saw was the rebirth of professional baseball in Macon and Middle Georgia As time for tire contest inched closer baseball enthusiasts who had been without a decent place to watch games and a decent opera tion for years eventually over flowed the stands which seat 3000 And they packed the concession areas and left ticket sellers gasping as they formed lines that remained in place well after the contest start ed The final tally was something more than 4200 It was a smashing testimonial that area fans were ready for good baseball played in a clean arena The Braves responded by per forming magnificently on tlie field rolling to an impressive victory 2 0 It was an awesome evening something to go down in the local sports history books The crowd included Mayor Robinson Bibb County commission chairman Larry Justice many members of City Council headed by President Dave Carter and nu merous other city and county offi cials But the heroes of the day were the every day baseball fans who have longed for a night like this and who had given up on ever see ing it happen again Their pride in the Luther Williams ield was something to behold Illis is the kind of thing that brings people together It certainly brought them togeth er Thursday night a lot closer than anybody had expected as th rubbed shoulders in concession lines Somehow everybody remarried in a genial happy mood There was an immediate (xjsitiv reaction from city officials toward putting back in place bleachers that once stood along the right and left field lines General Manager Ed Holt? and wife Mary among the test in base ball were overwhelmed by the turnout and embarrassed about the difficulty people had in finding seats and buying food and drink Many fans their enthusiasm not one bit dampened purchased tick ets for games the next three days You may know that I was in volved in the pre game ceremonies I was told some time ago about throwing out the first ball an hon or I will long cherish Throughout tlie afternoon as soon as I drove back into town from The Masters people began telling me that they hoped I would Macon Braves win opener By Kamon Simpson The Macon Telegraph It was a game fit for tlie fairy tale it has become Town gains team Team wins game But more than that the first game in Macon Brave history was one of those nights when even tlie mistakes turned in to great plays Tlie Braves captured their first victory 2 0 over the Columbus Indians in front of an overflow crowd of 4402 at Luther Wil liams ield The Braves won with timely hitting a two run home run by centerfielder Lee Heath accounting for the only runs and strong pitching starter Marcos Vasquez Darren Ritter and Shawn Rohr wild combined on a two hitter The most interesting play and perhaps one of the most important came after one of the few In the fifth with Ma con up 2 0 the Indians started to threat en Vasquez became rattled after Columbus first baseman Rod McCall reached base after a strikeout and a passed ball He walked designated hitter Mike Irinckes on five pitches With runners at first and second and no outs leftfielder Mark Chartenet squared to bunt but didn't connt'ct well and sent a short pop up down the first base line Ma con first baseman Iren Gress closed in for the play Had he caught tlie ball Vas quez might have continued to struggle But Gress somehow missed and after tlie ball fell over his shoulder he picked it up to start a wild double play that caught McCall many steps from third and stopped Pinckes short of second Vasquez recovered and didn't allow another base runner before he was relieved in the sev enth trick play really heljied us out Macon manager Roy Majtyka said it wasn't a planned play I can tell you that It was just one of those things that it our way It turned out to be a really big play probably the key play of the game The pitching held them the rest of tlie Vasquez didn't appear overpowering in the first inning particularly after allowing a single to the second batter right fielder Ramon Torres But he came back strong in tlie second inning by strik ing out two of his five for the game and allow another hit struggled finding my strike zone at Vasquez said about the third inning everything settled down Tlie big tiling was the guys were really behind me They made the plays and really did a great job in the field I have to thank tlie team because tlie way they played it real ly calmed me down Vasquez allowed one hit with only one walk and five strikeouts Ritter worked two innings allowing one hit while Rohr wild came on to earn the save with three strikeouts and one walk in tlie ninth in Please see BRAVES 5C LA OJA Ar 'ter' Robert SeayThe Macon 1 elegraph Macon's Juan Williams (left) congratulates Robert Heath after his two run homer 8 Old new top The Masters 1B 1 James BorchuckThe Macon Telegraph A hot Jim Stuart of Macon wipes his face on the 18th green after shooting an 81 at The Masters Thursday Wadkins Gallagher McCumber share lead By Ed Grisamore The Macon Telegraph AUGUSTA Tlie leaderboard at Augusta National was crowded Thursday But nobody was com plaining once they noticed who was on it There was veteran Lanny Wat kins from Dallas proud new father Mark McCumber from Jackson ville la and unheralded Jim Gal lagher Jr from Greenwood Miss And waving near die top were pair of Old Glories Jack Nick laus from Muirfield Ohio and Tom Watson from Mission Hills Kan Yes it was pure American Well at least it was decidedly American It certainly felt patriotic for some to see so many US golfers among the leaders in an event overrun by foreign champions five of tlie last eight years On a sun splashed day under near perfect conditions Wadkins McCumber and Gallagher all fired 5 under par 67s to share first round honors Nicklaus and Watson who have won eight green jackets between them were in a five man logjam one shot back at 68 Perhaps the most surprising first round contenders were Gal lagher playing at The Masters for the first time and a starry eyed Phil Mickelson die US Amateur champ who has been hailed as the game's young superstar Mickelson was in a group at 69 along with Wayne Levi winner of The Masters (irst round leaders) Lanny Wadkins 34 33 67 5 Jim Gallagher Jr 34 33 67 5 Mark McCumber 33 34 67 5 red Couples 34 34 68 4 Tom Watson 34 4 Jack Nicklaus 33 35 68 4 Jumbo Ozaki 35 33 68 4 Jose MOIazabal 35 33 68 4 Wayne Levi 35 3 Mark Brooks 35 34 69 3 a Phil Mickelson 37 3 Scott Simpson 34 35 69 3 four tournaments last year and die PGA Tour player of the year Wadkins playing in Ills 19th Mas ters was in the first group and McCumber whose tiiird child (and first son) was bom last week brought up die rear When die scores came rolling inbetween them 19 of die 21 players wi tiling tliree shots of die lead were from die US' and 25 of die 30 who broke par were Americans Nicklaus battling a cold but beaming with confidence offered a theory conditions were good for American he said as tough get me wrong We have a lot of wonderful players But when the conditions are tougher die foreign players Please see THREE 3C Stuart starts off well then balloons to an 81 do better than President Bush who bounced the ball to the plate in a major league opener Well I did a lot better than expec ted despite being rather nervous Nobody wants to be embarrassed What I know about was the marvelous plaque that was pre sented to me prior to the game and which will be placed permanently somewhere in the entrance These things are nice and greatiy appreciated but what happened last night have happened with out the total backing of the mayor and council the Chamber of Com merce and many other people Not one negative voice has been raised concerning the restoration of this marvelous ballpark And it certainly have happened without the fantastic re sponse from area fans They went overboard in support ing what I had long been telling At lanta Braves officials about the love of sports in Middle Georgia Several top Atlanta officials were on hand and they restrain their enthusiasm So a marriage between Macon and the Braves which should have teen consummated long ago has fi nally taken place One can only hope that it lasts on and on and on By Ed Grisamore The Macon Telegraph AUGUSTA The day started well enough for Jim Stuart Thursday morning If only it could have stayed that way Admitting that Ills nerves were idling quite a bit higher than normal he stood on tlie No 1 tee with a legend named Arnold Palmer and stroked his drive light down the middle as if playing Augusta National on the first day of The Masters was old hat But tlie good soon turned bad then ugly for Stuart a 31 year old insurance agent from Macon and tlie reigning US Mid Amateur champion Tlie dream of his life playing in The Masters was methodically trans formed into a hellish bent green nightmare And by mid afternoon the most wonderful day of his golfing career end soon enough In first round conditions many play ers considered perfect for scoring nothing could have been further from the truth for Stuart Plagued by what he called his worst com petitive putting performance in four years his 9over par 81 plunged him to dregs of tlie scoreboard where he shared last place with another amateur Michael Combs the US Public links champion who shot 81 It earned the two tlie dreaded roles of "dew symbolic of the first tee time of tlie day this morning at 8:45 hit tlie ball well enough to put up a goal said Stuart fighting back tlie disap pointment I had shot a 78 or 80 and had teen slapping tlie ball all over the place my score would have teen easier to live with I had the putts I just make Stuart hit 11 greens in regulation but it was a disaster once he got there His round included 37 putts including four three putts He missed tliree putts of less than 2 feet who was hitting the ball the way I was hitting it could have shot a 70 or better with half a he said just had a bad Please see STUART 3C Timberwolves rout Hawks Hawks box 2C The Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS Tony Campbell scored 27 points and Sam Mitchell added 25 as the Minnesota Timberwolves teat At lanta 112 98 Thursday night for their first back to back victory since January The Timberwolves had not won two straight since victories over New York and Golden State in January Spud Webb scored 23 points for Atlanta which lost for the first time in three games Dominique Wilkins who was averaging 264 points had just six points in the first three quar ters and finished with 14 on 4 of 17 shooting for the Hawks Glenn Rivers added 19 The Timberwolves one of the worst shooting teams at 449 percent hit 55 percent Campbell Tyrone Corbin and Pooh Richardson igni ted a 124 run with four points each that put Minnesota up 73 61 with 4:54 remaining in the third Trailing 91 75 Atlanta rallied with a 9 2 run to pull to 93414 But the Hawks got no closer than 104 97 with 2:43 left on a 3 pointer by Rivers Scott Brooks scored 13 of his 15 points in the second quarter as the Timberwolves led 5Q40 Dodgers beat Atlanta Braves box 2C The Associated Press ATLANTA Ramon Martinez started his season with eight strong innings and Brett Butler got Los Angeles going with three hits Thursday as the Dodgers teat the Atlanta Braves 4 2 for a two game sweep in their opening series Martinez 206 last year and run nerup to Doug Drabek in the Cy Young voting gave up one run on six hits walked none and struck out four He improved to 6 1 life time against the Braves Terry Pendleton homered in the second inning for tlie only run off Maitinez It was tlie first home run at Atlanta ulton County Stadium for Pendleton signed as a free agent by the Braves John Candelaria relieved Marti nez to start the ninth and struck out Dave Justice Jay Howell got the last two outs giving up an un earned run on Tommy dou ble and third baseman Jeff Hamil ton's throwing error The Dodgers reached starter Charlie Leibrandt (0 1) for three runs two unearned in the first in ning.