Pittsburgh Post-Gazette du lieu suivant : Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 152

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE SUNDAY, MAY 11, 1997 SPORTS VOICE BILL FULTON "4 needed more experience, but I think if they would have traded me somewhere, like they did with Jay Buhner or Hal Morris or Al Leiter, things could have been different forme. The guys whom I mentioned, they were stuck in Triple-A with the Yankees until they got traded and now they're all in the big leagues. Buhner and Leiter were my roommates on the road in Triple-A and it was frustrating for them until they got out of the Yankees' system. As soon as that happened, they got spots with other major-league teams. I've always felt that would have happened with me, but you never know.

I still like to see the Yankees do well. Last year, I was pulling for them to win the World Series. There were still a couple guys on that team that I was friends with like Pat Kelly and Jim Leyritz, the catcher now with the California Angels, who hit a big home run in the playoffs. I want to see the old team do well, but if they lost, it wouldn't have been devastating tome. As for coaching nowadays like some ex-pro players, that's really not for me.

I know what to do, but to teach the game to someone else, it's just not me. I'm more of a doer. They've always had real nice youth baseball programs for kids in Penn Hills. There have always been a lot of people playing it in the community and a lot of teams in it. And then you get to high school and they run a nice program there, too.

Neil Gordon was my coach in high school for two years. He did a real nice job running the program. He was really intense. He wants things done his way and you do it or you aren't going to play. He taught us how to play ball and be successful.

But up north here, you only have 20 games scheduled and five of them rained out or snowed out. So pro scouts aren't really going to come around here unless there's someone who is a phenom. That's why I was advised that the best way to pursue a professional career was to go to Florida. I wasn't too sure about committing to a four-year school and that's why I went to Pensacola. The first semester I was there I got drafted by the Orioles.

again. The second time was arthroscopic surgery. But after that, I just couldn't throw a baseball like I used to. About that time, a friend Chuck Ebel, had a friend who owned a business that I own right now. This is a business that has a lot more to it than everybody thinks.

I sell wheels and wheel covers to body shops, dealerships and insurance companies, or anybody who has to do with automotive wheels. There are 19 franchises nationwide and I'm the owjier of the store here. I ship to an area covering nine states. With two full-time employees, which includes myself, and one part-time person, we did a half million dollars worth of business last year. I've been in this business for seven years and had a partner for the first four years.

He eventually got out of it I took it over and it's really taken off. I'm doing very well right now. The business has quadrupled since I started. I've been so busy with the hubcap business, working 45 to 50 hours each week, that my baseball career seems like a long, long time ago. It's been almost 10 years since I pitched with the Yankees, but it almost seems like forever.

I still play recreational softball in the Penn Hills adult slow-pitch softball I play for Carnavores, a bar that opened in Oakmont last year. We used to play for Hippos of Penn Hills, but now it's for another sponsor. I've been playing the past sue years at third base, just to get out and have some fun on the diamond. After I left the Yankees, there were a few Eeople who asked me to play semipro base-all on their teams, such as those in the Federation and Daily News leagues, but I couldn't throw a baseball and it just wouldn't be the same. I've just shied away from things like that The Yankees moved me through their organization pretty fast, moving me up to Class AAA in less than three years after drafting me.

Then I stayed in Triple-A for most ofmy last three years with them. Honestly, I think if I wouldn't have hurt my elbow and if I would have gotten out of the Yankees organization and been with another major league team, I think I'd be in the big leagues right now. The way the Yankees did things back then, they bought their pitchers and their other players with major-league experience when they needed them. But they would never trade me while I was going good in Columbus. They always gave me the line 'You're our future." They would say that there was no room at the major-league level and I still Baseball success at Perm Hills High School is nothing new.

The program is ranked fifth in the WPIAL Class AAA by the Post-Gazette. It has been almost 10 years since Penn Hills graduate Bill Fulton hadhis moment in the spotlight pitching briefly for the New York Yankees in September 1987. A 6foot-3 right-hander, he led the Indians twice to the WPIAL playoffs. Current Penn Hills football coachathletic director Neil Gordon was Pulton's baseball coach as a sophomore and junior. Fulton, a walk-on at Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College, was a surprise draft choice in 1983, just two years after graduating from Penn Hills.

He quickly rose in the Yankees organization, making it to the highest minor- league level with the Class AAA Columbus Clippers of the International League by the spring of 1986. Eighteen months later, he was promoted to the Yankees for the last month of the 1987 season, pitching in relief against the Toronto Blue Jays twice and the Boston Red Sox. An injury to his right elbow, which required two surgeries, prematurely ended Fulton's pro baseball career at age 26 on April 6, 1990 when the Yankees released him out of minor league spring-training camp. Some of Fulton's Columbus Clippers teammates were long-time major league players such as Seattle Mariners AU-Star outfielder Jay Buhner, Florida Marlins pitcher Al Letter and Cincinnati Reds first baseman Hal Morris. Fulton believes he could still be pitching professionally had it not been for an injury that drastically reduced the speed of his pitches.

But he said he has no regrets. Since his release, he has earned a two-year business degree from Community College of Allegheny College, Boyce Campus and is the owner of a successful franchise business, Hubcap Heaven, along Route 51 in Brentwood. Fulton, who lives in Monroeville, talked about his baseball career with David Assad ofTri-State Sports News Service. I used to be able to throw every day when I started playing baseball professionally, but in 1989, my elbow started to hurt quite a bit The tract where my ulnar nerve ran had deteriorated and a bone spur developed and was growing into a tendon. The doctors cut my elbow open in the fall of 1989.

They did major surgery. I started to rehab it and it felt fine until I started throwing up on the mound. That's when I found out I had to have surgery Post-Gazette Former Penn Hills star pitcher Bill Fulton on the mound in 1981. Fulton currently owns and operates Hubcap Heaven along Route 51 in Brentwood. Miata club members savor their hot wheels 4 5 .1 I ilifMi ninrmTniiifun 1 riftrmrrnfivJ li that the car feels as though it is riding on rails.

You don't have to slow down for turns, it stays on the road like it is glued there. The overall sensations of the handling, the shifting, the sound of the engine and being able to have the top down with the whole big sky kind of feeling is an intoxicating combination. In a Miata, you end up taking the long road home whenever you can. And Pittsburgh has some of the finest "Miata roads" found anywhere because the terrain is hilly and the roads tend to be windy. When you take the roads at a decent speed in a car that handles well, it is a real pleasure.

MARY BETH The West Penn Miata Club is a great little group. Even if you get a group of 15 Miatas together, these little cars make such a big impression. You drive down the road and everybody waves to you. The funny thing is that all the cars kind of look the same until you put the people in them, and then they take on different personalities because the drivers come from different walks of life. We've got Realtors, computer people, managers, lawyers, accountants, etc.

The demographics of the club members are usually young couples, like my husband and me, who are without children the Miata only has two seats or older couples whose children are grown. In the club, you'll find a group of people who are 30-something ana a big group who are 50-something. Most of our activities are day trips where we meet and get a train of Miatas going to some event or place of interest. We will often stop and see what there is to see, socialize and eat and then either turn and caravan home or go our separate ways. Some of our events are more like a rally.

We had one event last year called a "Poker Run" where drivers had to figure out on the map how to get to five mystery locations around Pittsburgh. When you arrived at each spot you got a playing card, and at the end of the day, the best hand won. i MIATA, FROM PAGE VE-l be: it's only a two-seater, it is a convertible, it has rear-wheel drive and it is very light, so you'd have all sorts of problems if you tried to use the car in the winter. I was thinking we'd probably have to buy a third car. We left the dealership without buying the car, and I went home and did some research on the car by reading "Consumer Reports." The magazine had nothing but glowing reports about this car, saying that it drives beautifully, it's reliable, and it looks great.

I couldn't come up with any objections, other than that we'd probably need a third car. .1 went away on a business trip and came home to find Mary Beth had bought the car. As she puts it, I actually said "No," I just didn't endorse the purchase. In any event, she bought the car, and I totally fell in love with it I'm just about it. I've never had a car that handles this well and is fairly affordable to boot a new Miata can run anywhere from $19,575 to for the special edition.

We did buy a third vehicle, a truck, but the Miata actually doesn't do too badly in the winter. Many 'people drive their Miatas year -round. I baby this car so much that I wouldn't dream of taking it out in the winter. With a third vehicle, I that option. We joined the West Penn Miata jClub about three years ago when saw an ad in one of the local magazines for an upcoming meeting of the club.

Mary Beth and I llaughed when we saw the ad we thought it was quite hilarious that there would be a club for this car. It especially funny because we icould sort of understand it The car is kind of intoxicating and you find Excuses to take it out for a drive, i The appeal is simple: the car handles like a dream. I've never had a car that felt anything like it The only way to describe it is to say Above: Minister Mark Bolton and his daughter Christine of Franklin Park the pack in their 1991 Miata during a technical session drive at North Park. Right: Miata enthusiasts Pat and Clark Harris of McMurray, cuddle in their British racing green "special edition" 1991 model. Photos by Martha RialPost-Gazette Historically, we've been more of a social organization, but there are some people this year who are interested in racing their Miatas.

Some of our members take part in autocross, a timed event around a designated course in which drivers are not racing alongside another car. The other events members tend to participate in are the Vintage Grand Prix and the Oakmont Car Show, which is coming up in June. The club is really a lot of fun, and I always think it is refreshing to be together with different people with whom you have nothing in common, except for this little car. West Penh Miata Club members and their cars will take part in the Johnstown Cruise next Sunday in 7. Johnstown, Cambria County, the and in the Oakmont Car Show June operators can access me ciuds; Wildflower Walk June 1 at Raccoon 15 in Oakmont home page at http7wvw.fyi.netmi- Creek State Park, Beaver County, For more information, computer ataclub, or call 828-7315..