Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 12

DFTROIT FRFF, PRESS Wednesday. Sept. 25, '74 1-D 0 Kaline Secret A 4 Swing at dies I 1 fi 1 ad Pit if if 11 i Fit5 ft 4 BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sporti Writer BALTIMORE Discipline. As much as anything else, that one attribute has helped make Al Kaline the hitter that he is. "You have to discipline Kaline Tuesday as he awaited that evening's opportunity to become the 12th man in maior leagues to reach 3,000 hits.

"You wait. You dort't swing at bad pitches. You wait for the pitcher to make a good pitch for you to hit. You've got three strikes, you might as well use them up." Of course, if it was actually that easy the whole baseball world wouldn't be watching for Kaline's next hit. THIS BEING Kaline's hometown, his father and mother were among the guests of honor at Tuesday night's game against the Orioles.

"It means almost as much to me as it does to him," admitted Nick Kaline, Al's father. "I'm just his proud father. I don't knew any other way to describe it." A 4 Sift I 1 11 11 hmv --j5 Stags Have Best Chance to Make It AP Photos One of the Baltimore papers devoted half its sports section to a tribute to Kaline Tuesday, recounting again the story of how he rose from local sandlots to major league stardom. Walter Youse, now one of the Orioles' top scouts, managed Kaline when Al starred in American League ball. Tuesday he recalled how Kaline almost became a second baseman or a pitcher.

"The first time I ever saw Al play he was a skinny high school freshman playing second base," Youse remembered. "Back in those days he didn't look like he'd be big enough or strong enough to play the outfield. "Al could pitch, too, back in those days. Maybe that shouldn't surprise anybody because he always had a great arm. But as a teenager he could throw hard and had curveball.

He would definitely have been a professional pitching prospect if he hadn't been such a great outfielder." OPPOSING PLAYERS, including the Orioles, are unanimous in their respect for the Tiger superstar. "I remember the first time I face him," chuckled Jim Palmer, the Birds' ace righthander. "It was my first major league start (in 1965). "The first time up, I struck him out on three pitches. The next time up, he hit a home run.

"I like to watch him hit even against us," continued Palmer. "He's got good rhythm, a picture swing. Other hitters could learn a lot just by watching him. The thing about Kaline is, he'll not only hit your mistakes, he'll hit your good pitches too. He's one of the smartest guess hitters I've ever seen.

"He waits for his pitch. He's a very disciplined hitter. And when he gets his pitch, he rarely misses." "When I first got to the major leagues I learned that pitchers up, here will pitch to your weakness," said Kaline. "So I figured the first thing I had to do was find my weakness. "When I first came up they pitched me high and inside.

I was thin then, I wasn't very strong, and they figured they could take the bat right out of my hands. "So during the winter of 1954, before the '55 season, I tried to build myself up, work on my quickness, make my hands and arms strong." IT WAS NO coincidence that the following season, in 1955, Kaline became the youngest batting king in major league history. "A big influence on me was Steve Souchak," continued Kaline. "He told me that if your're going to swing, attack the ball. Every time you swing, be aggressive.

"Johnny Pesky was another one who helped me. He impressed on me that when you're working in batting practice, learn the strike zone. It's impossible to hit bad pitches. "Billy Hitchcock was a big help spotting mistakes in my swing," he added. "He pitched batting practice to me a lot when I first came up and he'd watch me when he was coaching third base." But, the individual who had perhaps the biggest influence on Kaline's career was Ed Houscknecht.

He -was the incumbent second baseman on the Gordon Stores sandlot team in Baltimore when Kaline joined the club 25 years ago. And Houseknecht was doing such a good job at second that Sherriff Fowble, the man who managed the team, moved Kaline to he outfield. The rest is history. Or, when Al gets one more hit, it will be. Al Kaline, who led the AL in 1955 (left) and as he for io.

3000 BUT SCOTTS STJLL UPSET $100,000 Pact for Adams him back," said Scott. "I don't know what kind of image he'll have in the community now, but what's a damn shame is that this is not what we're trying to project. It's not Bing PAM against the Piston organization. "We're a team," said Scott. "We've, found strength in unity.

And now we're cutting ourselves to little bits over 'things that probably would have comeanyway." Scott maintained he was not against Bing. and Adams asking for money, but felt they should have done it from training camp. "I've been in a situation like this in Baltimore," he Please turn to Page 3D, Col. 3 ment group Bing PAM (Professional Athlete Management) with attorneys Ed Bell, Charles Brown and Aubrey McCutcheon to represent them. The holdouts ensued.

"I owe nothing to Bing PAM," Scott said heatedly. "We're fighting outside forces which are trying to go against what we're working for. And the younger players are listen-ins, that's what is disturbing. "Are these people Bing PAM) going to be there to revitalize us when things go wrong? I'm just sick about dt." SCOTT said, however, he will not hold any personal feelings against Bing. "I would be glad to have promoted was that we stuck together," said Scott, "but this is an inkling that it wasn't really that way.

But for the fi- Kt time, Scolt is worried that all is not well. In his opinion, the holdouts of Adams and Bin? may have KerouFly damaged the Pistons. "We've never aired our laundry in public. Even Stu (Lantz) never brought it out in public when he was unhappy last year and we did nothing to embarrass him. "But when we get down to this kind of holdout stuff, I pet disillusioned.

I always felt it was never necessary to negotiate outside of the family." Bing and Adams went outside the family, however, by engaging Bing's own manage BY CURT SYLVESTER Frtt Press Sports Writer It's not that Ray Scott is going to be unhappy to have forward Don Adams back in a Piston uniform. Or Dave Bing either, for that matter. Adams ended a five-day holdout Tuosrtay by sininr; a one-year contract for an estimated $100,000. Bing, holding out to renegotiate the last two years on his three-year contract, has not signed but likely will within a few days. On the surface, at least, that means rhe Pistons will again be a whole team, with all of the major contributors back from last year's best-ever 52-30 team.

"The thing we've always Wheels' Office Staff Holds a Wake Let's keep this much straight: The Michigan Stags are not the Detroit Wheels nor are they the Detroit Loves. The only connection is that they are one of the three new teams to start up a franchise in Detroit this year. The relationship should end right there. But unfortunately, I dort think it will. I'm afraid the public will group the Stags right in there with the Wheels and the Loves and there will be a great suspicion about their credibility that maybe we're being stuck with another stiff.

This isn't fair at all. But this is a price the, Stags apparently must pay and an obstacle they must overcome. The Stags should be judged on their own merit but I believe there is going to be a great tendency to be suspicious of them, especially now that the, Wheels have gone bankrupt and the Loves are looking around for new owners. Frankly, I don't know if the Stags can make it. I'm not sure once the novelty wears off whether there are erfough dollars in this town to support two hockey teams.

The thing that bothers me most about the Stags is that they don't have a single outstanding player a "name" player to lure people to Cobo Arena. If they had a Howe or a Mahovlich or a Hull, it could be much different. You could go to watch their individual artistry, or merely sit there and reflect on the days past when these players were the mightiest in the game of hockey. But the Stags tell us of Marc Tardif and Larry Johnston and Gerry Desjardins and J.P. LeBIanc and expect us to be impressed and, frankly, that's tough to do.

Of course if they put a big winner on the ice, that could change the whole picture. But this was a last-place club when it was in Los Angeles and it is difficult to imagine them turning it all around merely because they've added a few players and changed locales. How Red Wings Have Changed But unlike the Wheels, who were underfinanced and badly managed, and the Loves, who tried to sell a game that just wasn't saleable, the Stags have many plusses going for them, and I think they've got the best chance of the three to make it. For one thing, they've shook up the Red Wings so much with their mere presence in town that the Wings have changed their entire philosophy of operation. They're now trying to woo both the public and the press, when, in the past, they pretty much thumhed their noses at both.

They had the only game in town and knew it. It Is interesting now to see the changes. I went out to the opening of the Stags' camp in Ann Arbor Tuesday, and on the way back into town I couldn't help but notice the subtle rivalry developing between the two teams. On the Ford Freeway there is a gigantic billboard advertising the Stags. It said: "Go Stags" or something like that and it was amusing to note how strategically placed the sign was, just before the Grand River-Olympia Stadium turn off.

But just I was about to score it 1-0 for the Stags, here came a commercial on WNIC from the Red Wings, advertising, I of all things, season tickets. When did they ever do that before? The said come on down to Olympia and they'll be glad to show you the "choice locations." So at least the Red Wings know the Stags are in town and now it'll be up the Stags to let everyone else know it, too. As I said, they've got some things going for them that the Wheels and the Loves simply didn't have. The big thing is the growing interest in hockey This is a sport which is really flourishing in the Detroit area. There are something like 63 indoor rinks around town for the kids, and many of these are used on an around-the-clock basis.

That's number one. A potential following is out there. Secondly, the Stags have a beautiful place to play. It is located in the heart of downtown and not only is it accessible, but it is also safe. Don't overlook that item.

Hockey's Big Stuff to Kids Moreover, Cobo Arena is right across the river from Windsor, and don't discount that fact either. T5e Stags have sold only 1,500 tickets, which surprises me. I thought they'd have sold more by now. But they say the other tell them not to expect much action until after the middle of September, and maybe they are right. Let's see how this part of it develops.

But right now hockey is a very appealing sport to a lot of people, especially kids, who are sure to bug their parents to see the Stags and the Wings. Unfortunately for the Stags, they have not been able to book any matinee games due to scheduling difficulties, but they intend to appeal to the youngsters through special student prices ($2.50) for specified games. They intend to go out to these rinks and sell their program, and I am sure you will see the Wings doing the same thing. The current Team Canada-Russia series has been the greatest break the World Hockey Association has had to date. Until now, the WHA has been looked upon as a minor league, compared to the NHL, but now there is Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Frank Mahovlich, J.C.

Tremblay, Johnny McKenzie, Bruce MacGregor, Mike Walton, Gerry Cheevers and Ralph Back-strom appearing on the tube, representing God and country against the nasty Reds, and conducting themselves in much more admirable manner than the NHL version of Team Canada, which came to be called "Team Ugly." And then the Stags have John Wilson as their coach. Good, honest John. A factory worker in a factory town. You can believe John when he tells you something. He's got that good, honest face and that straight way of talking.

At lunch Tuesday, everybody got served except Wilson. The young waitress missed one order and it happened to be the head coach's. "It's okay, never mind," he quickly said, so as not to hurt her feelings. 'I'm not hungry anyway," Wilson lied. For his sake, I hope Mark Tardif scores 90 goals.

Nine months and 11 losses after they were born with such fanfare, the Detroit Wheels all but died Tuesday afternoon. Erwin Ziegelman, the club's attorney telephoned the club's office staff and told them to lock the doors, it was all over. Ziegelman, who had been handling most of the negotiations in attempting to pedal the impoverished team, didn't tell them he had just placed the team in bankruptcy. BUT IT CAMl as no wr- prise. When payday rolled around for the office staff days ago, they were not paid.

They still had not been paid Monday and they decided to see if they could force Ziegcl-man's hand by telling him FASHIONSCOPE 74 I Join the city gentry Av' in boots by Freeman. I Country boots that keep pace with i 4f I your city life are part of the new gen- i tihty for fall. A classic sidebuckler in 7f smooth calf, antiqued brown or black it 1 V' HI with a nifty sueded father sole, $46; jfV 4 tVv Sidezipper in rich brown or black kid, l((Mh? $42 Both from' Men's Shoes at ,3 V1wjf Jrxl 111 I ii -Sk. V-i Stags to Be Aggressive Wilson they would not report for work Tuesday unless they were paid before closing time Monday. Ziegelman came up with the money and the office staff was patting itself on the back, when he called and told them to lock up.

Stipulations of the bankruptcy act will not permit sale of the team at least until after an Oct. 3 meeting of creditors. The club also has an option to reorganize its financial structure, but all its money failures suggest this is a forlorn hope. The attorney, who helped put together the group of 32 owners who scrimped week after week to attempt to make ends meet, has stoutly maintained for months that every effort would be made to keep the club in the Detroit area. But in the end he was searching throughout the country for a relocation site, and finding none.

when he called the Wheels' Lafayette Building office Tuesday, there was no question it was all over. The staff locked up and went to a bar across the street, where surrounded by bumper stickers that implored: Go Wheels, they held a wake. There were some tears, but none was shed for the owners losing their investment. The tears were for the players and the coaches and the idea of what the Wheels could have been. HEAD COACH Dan Bois-ture's secretary, Rose Marie Anderson, used to cry in training camp when a player was cut.

She was damp eyed Tuesday, too. "We've all put our life's blood into this since January and it's pretty hard to take right now," she said. There was a touch of bitterness, too. "We were promised Tiger Stadium next year. I don't' know why we couldn't hold off.

As far as I'm concerned the present owners deserve what they are getting. "None of them knew anything about football and half of them couldn't care less. When they didn't become in- Please Turn to Page 4D, Col. 8 BY CHARLIE VINCENT Pre Press Sperts Writer ANN ARBOR In their final season on the West Coast, the Los Angeles Sharks were the worst team in professional hockey. Johnny Wilson, though, isn't interested in trying lo make excuses for the 1973-74 Sharks, who will operate out of Cobo Arena this season as the Detroit Stags.

LAST WINTER the Sharks won just 25 of 78 games, without a single tie. They scored fewer goals and gave up more than any team in the World Hockey Association. "They were a disaster, there's no question about that," Wilson admitted Tuesday as he officially opened the Stags' pre-season training camp at the University of Michigan's Yost Arena. "That's why we've only got about 10 guys from that team still with us. We just had to get rid of most of them," the Stag coach said.

"Now it's a matter of trying to mesh the new guys in with the old and see what we come up with." Please Turn to Page 5D, Col. 1 mens store.