Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 25

Tigers I TV DETROIT FREE PRESS Monday. ST iw miry To Hire a New i 4'c -JZ fa A "Tf lid I 7, 7 v'y '5. "I JJJ v. I mi I t) n. BY CHARLIE VINCENT 'H Prttt tpartt Wriltr Jim Campbell contends hp in still thinking ahout this season, about the 1973 American league East pennant race and the Tigers' chances in it.

And 1974? Well, that's still ways away he points out. "I honestly can't tell you wh.it we'll do about a manager next year," Campbell said after acting manager Joe SJiultz' Tigers nipped Cleveland, 2-1, Sunday afternoon. "I don't know if we'll hire a Tilly Martin type' manager or 'Mayo Smith type' manager. I just don't know. "Right now, I'm so tired I enn't think that far in advance." CAMPBI.LL, WHO fired Martin Sunday morn-Ing with a year and a month remaining on his a year contract, s.tid he would listen to a lot nf advice before iking a decision.

"We have a meeting of our scouts coming up and I'll talk to all them. There are a lot of people In this organization whoe opinoins I respect Rick I-errell, Charlie Metro. I rank Skaff. Jak Tlghe have all been in the business a long time and I'll talk to them. "We've a lot or things to talk out.

We don't always agree, but we dnn't rriticiie each other in public," he said, taking a swipe at Martin, who had been critical of the organization. First, Campbell said there would be no decision until the 1973 season was finished. Later he was asked if there was any possibility ttiat Schulti would be replaced before the end of the season and he replied: "I Ju.st don't know." "We're certainly not conceding by making this move now," he said of Martin'a firing. "Rut if I decided to put Billy back out on the field I'd be phony as hell because my mind was made up," Campbell said. "BILLY AND I had a long meeting just four days before this latest incident and I outlined some of the things we were concerned about then this latest thing happened.

"We can't have people working for us making derogatory remarks about the commissioner and the president of the American League. Frankly, we don't do business that way." Although Campbell had become disenchanted with Martin long ago, he did not recommend to Tiger owner John etzer that they lire Martin until Sunday morning. "I called him and told him what I recommended ricase turn to Page 20, Col. Jim Campbell announces firing of Billy Martin Martin 'Missi Billy Martin fired as Tiger manager Page 1A. IJJsxs 1Mb 1 Billy Had to rJy He Rocked the Boat 'yr Everything was still on Stratford Lane In Bloomfitf Hills Sunday afternoon.

Billy Martin's Crsnbrook Manor townhnuse appeared deserted. Only his dog Patches peered out a window In response to the buzzing of the doorbell. Martin, fired as manager of the Detroit Tigers by Jim Campbell Sunday morning, was nowhere to be He wasn't even around to say: comment." Fans against Martin's firing Page 3A. 1 mf. rtt frni Phot Kattling Hilly as he'll he rcmrmhered by many Tiger fans How TigerPlayers.

Took the Bombshell BY JIM HAWKINS FrM ftii iperH Wrlltr the Al Kaline was underneath htfield What is the surprise? There should be none. From the moment Jim Campbell hired Billy Martin as his manager it was inevitable that one day he would fire him. There would be no retirements or quiK resignations or offers from somebody else. It would be an ax Job, quick and clean. That day came Sunday.

It little sooner than anyone expected, even for Campbell hfmself. He had planned to wait until the season was over. He knew the deed had to be dne and he felt it was better to get it over with now before the situation pit completely out of hand, which it very easily could have if Martin had remained on the job until the end of the season. There could have been all kinds nf explosive situations in tffllving Billy and Campbell. Pure and simple, Campbell bad bad enough of Billy and his ways.

The truth is, Martin had served hispurpose and there was ho more need to keep him around. If he stayed, CampbclUelt he might have wrecked his whole organisation an organization which Campbell has carefully binltover the It was Inevitable that Martin would gof it. When Campbell took him on in the autumn of 1970, he knew he was taking a chance. He was compromising many of his philosophies because the Tigers at that time needed a manager of Martin's nature. They needed somebody to wake up this club, to put some spark back into the old men and keep those turnstiles spinning.

bXi signing autographs, it hap- pened. line. "I thought they were kidd.ng. I certainly never expected this." LIKE ALL of the Tigers, Kaline chose his comments carefully. None of the players would come right out and knock the deposed Tiger manager but none of them really rallied to his defense, either.

"I really can't say I was surprised," admitted Norrn Cash. "But I really don't want to elaborate any more than that." "I'd probably be better off just keeping my mouth shut," said Mirkey Stanley. "I guess if you've been in the game long enough you see this all the time." added Frank Howard. "But I think everybody was surprised. All I know is the man treated me fair." BILL FREEHAN answered question with question.

"How can the players comment when Jim Campbell says the reason he was fired was that extra-curricular, off-the-ficld stuff?" the Tiger catcher asked. "We're just not in a position to comment on that." "Don't ask me," shrugged Mickey Lo-lich, "I'm just an employe." "I'm not a front office executive, so I'm not in a position to judge," chimed In Duke Sims. "I don't know what their criteria is for hiring a manager, so I don't knowr what their criteria is for firing one. "I think they were just looking for an excuse," continued "And if you look; hard enough for an excuse you can fire atiy-' body." vy "HE HAD PROBLEMS with some play-ers," admitted Kaline. "The last couple weeks have been pretty hectic for all of us.

Losing the way we have been, a lot of guys were hot under the collar." Please turn to Page 2D, Col. 1 Even the ground crew kjrfw Billy Martin had been. fired Sunday vfore the Tigers' taf.righrrtelder whofnay someday man-ge-thij' team foup out. Mlekws'fiiway across the field to the Tiger dugouAhen he heard the Cleveland Indians holjring at him. "They'ept yelling, asking me if I was goinaio be the next manager," recalled Ka- 'The Bomb9 Was Exciting 3Z Coach Schultz AT ALL 18 SIBLEY STORES fall campus spectacular our ivinffhcop: Takes Charge BY JIM HAWKINS Frt PrM $porf Wrlltr Just as he did Friday and Saturday, Billy Martin called Joe Schultz Sunday morning with the starting lineup.

As usual, Schultz dressed in the locker room with the rest of the troops. Interim managers don't merit private, paneled offices. As the players stopped by his locker to look at the lineup card, Schultz grinned and encouraged, thm to win Sunday's are really Remember back to that awful September of 1970, the fipT month of Mayo Smith's regime. The team out and out qft on itself. Campbell knew it.

Smith knew it. Even the player knew yv, Morever, they all admitted it and that's you never hear from ballplayers. Or even from a front offirfc. So something had to be done. Somethiru'drastic.

Campbell, whose way is the quiet, efficient way, wht out and hired himself a time bomb. While the bomb was ticking, it was exciting. Campbell decided to defuse it before it exploded in everyone's face. Martin did what he was hired to do. He shook up the team and shook up the town.

He got the Tigers hack into contention, won the American League East, and brought in a lot of dough to the Tigers in his almost three years on the job. In his regime, the Tigers drew 5,032,576, which meant more than $15 million went into the old treasury. Billy, of course, didn't do it all himself. That's the notion of gome. He had some fine players on hisisidc.

It just so happened that these veterans responded to his style of managing. In a way, you might call'H deal because Martin became a bigger celebrity than ever in his time with the Tigers and he also will be paid four year's salary for three year's work a total income approaching a quarter of a million dollars. But he is gone now because he did not fit the mold of this organization. He became too big for everyone, including Campbell, and Campbell is a man who knows he must maintain control over his organization or else he isn't going to have an organization at all. v.Heofo.,..

-pV A campus spectacu- VqTJu 'oa' i Inr in slvl as well -Sk. fvVi- stacked game tor him. I 'e T. "This is my last chance, vou know," Schultz advised them. "And I'd like to go out in a blaze of glory." A few minutes later, Tiger vice president Rick Ferrcil came into the clubhouse carrying the word.

Billy Martin wouldn't be back Monday night. In fact, Billy wouldn't be coming back ever again. Billy Martin had just been fired. price. You can offord to '''fl 7 miss it If todays total look by stacked 75Sfc soles with heels to match to go -ZrO euHs and clothing of today.

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I lW SiARS IINCOIN PARK I 4 I M4t i Jl LINCOLN CENTER 't'! Oh, Tigers Nip Tribe, 2-1 GENERAL MANAGER Jim Campbell had decided Schultz should succeed Martin what's left of this season and the 54-year-old third base coach with the crippled hip took his impromptu promotion with a big grin and a "bleep-bleep." "Everybody wants to be a big league manager," admitted Schultz, "They make more money. "Billy did a good job here," continued the man who managed the Seattle Pilots 1969, earning immortality in Jim Bouton's infamous book "Ball Four." "His record speaks for it-self. Anybody who won a championship one year and finished second the other has done all right. You hate to see anybody lose his job, especially a guy like Martin." Although Schultz will finish out the season, he's not really in the running for the vacant Jibes Went Right to Top Billy was rubbing everyone the wrong way the front office, the farm system, 'the players major and minor the umps, the league official and don't forget good, gray John E. Fetzer, a man of protocol Big John could hardly have been pleased at the way Martin kept criticizing the men at Fetzer's level, meaning the commissioner and the president of the league.

Martin may have been correct in hurling some of his jibes-such as the fact Bowie Kuhn lacked guts in not taking a stand on inter-league play. But these things, when utttered at a managerial level, can only. Ifcause embarra'ssment at the top. Of course if thTigers still needed Martin, he'd still be the manager. But this is a team that is about to undergo some major changes and a different type of man Is needed to handle the players.

The Tigers will be bringing in as many young players as possible over the next few years and what'll be needed is a man of patience, someone who understands young talent and knows how to develop it. This is not Martin's suit. He wants to win now, today, which is fine when you've got this type of player. But Billy is at his best with proven players; What's more, he was rocking the boat too much and he had to go. You can enumerate any number of things Martin did to irritate Campbell.

It seemed like it was something else almost every day a constant turmoil. Martin might be into it with the umpe or arguing with the traveling secretary over what time the bus should leave. Billy himself might take off in another direction than the team without telling Campbell or getting his permission. He might sound off about the Tiger farm system or rip into a eple of writers. He might punch a fan or accuse a rival manager of not playing it fair by trying to beat him.

Billy might show up late or get himself suspended and not be able to show up at all. The problems were endless. Under Martin's regime, the dress and demeanor of the players fell off badly. The players followed Martin's example. If the manager could do it, they could do it.

The truth is, this ball club now talks, acts and dresses in a Tiger manager's job on a full-time basis, That will be Campbell's next decision. And it won't be any easier than thedast one. BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer Oh, by the way, the Tigers also won a ballgame Sunday afternoon. The first base coach was new base coach was new even the manager was new sort of. But that final face sure was familiar as John Hiller (who else?) wrapped up the a 2-1 victory in over the Cleveland Indians for Jim Perry.

The Tigers thus managed one win in the their four-game set with the Tribe. It also was only their third win in the last 10 games as they remained sy2 games out of first place, It was the 30th save of the season for the sensational Please turn to Page 2D, Col. 4 JFafV JSM MiiMiw mail AKBDRLAHD CIHTlB I 'W 4S It WOODWARD 19121 LIVERN0IS LANSING MAU 4Sr I MJ0l CENTER LIVONIA MALL FLINT-EASTLAND MALL I i 1 1 UNIVERSAL MALL MERIDIAN MALL I nMfn MIRACLE MILE CTR. SANAW I -W 1 'jv I fofwi Mfi Mite mwimn II 1 ft I wSq.M. fw.S.r.(.f I MOST STORES OPEN EVENINGS TILL 9.

CAUW02-M25 i i'y I py ff Your lankAmttKotd. Mtnli Ontgt. Orntn. Amwican (wu IS Dalleiiback y- Captures 500 -Page2D Please turn to Page 2D, Col. 1.