Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 63

DETROIT FREE PRESSTHURSDAY, SEPT. 4, 1980 5F Baseball drugs story riles Campbell Farmer has FBI escort after a game, but they're not alcoholics," he said. I Thornton said drugs are a problem in amateur sports as well. "I know of world class-sprinters who have drug problems," he said. "It is in all sports.

But in professional sports, you can do something about it." fellows live at home. "If we did," Campbell said, "of course I would report it to the commissioner." While alcoholism was also mentioned, Campbell said the Tigers have no problems in that area either. "We have some players who might have a few beers sr 7T 7T nr X. if 1 I 1 A A) WAV By BRIAN BRAGG Free Press Snorts Writer White Sox relief ace Ed Farmer, the target of abuse and threats on his life, was under the "unofficial" protection of FBI agents during his three-day stay in Detroit this week. Farmer and Tigers' outfielder Al Cowens, who were the principals in a wild brawl at Comiskey Park last June, both received hate mail and threatening phone calls in the weeks after the incident.

Cowens did not go to Chicago on the Tigers' last trip there. Farmer said his protection in Detroit consisted of four "friends" from the Detroit office of the FBI who were not acting in an official capacity. Other police agencies were not involved. AS ANOTHER precautionary measure, Farmer stayed at a different Detroit hotel from the rest of the White Sox entourage. "I don't want to make a big thing out of this because I don't want to give these people (the letter writers) the public exposure they want," said Farmer, a former Tiger.

"Most of the threats didn't say they were going to kill me, but they'd say things like, 'I can't wait till you die' Farmer said the abusive mail was postmarked from various cities, not just Detroit. "But you don't know where it came from," he added. "It could have been sent to someone else to be mailed in another town. "Cowens told me he had had a rough time," Farmer continued, "and I told him, 'Just multiply that by one and a half for Every time I go to Kansas City, I get it." Cowens was playing for the KC Royals in 1979 when a pitch by Farmer broke the outfielder's jaw. Cowens' resentment of that beaning led to his June 20 attack on Farmer this year.

White Sox reliever Ed Farmer: "Those threats are just stuff conceived by small minds." The two men buried the hatchet Monday night in a peace ceremony at home plate before the game. "Those threats are just stuff conceived by small minds," Farmer said. "I got positive mail, too. I got a letter from a man In Portage, who said he thought I had reached the height of human understanding (by making peace with Cowens)." COWENS SAID he received so much hate mail after the brawl that he couldn't stand to read it all. "I read some of it one night and when I went out to the field I had a bad headache," he said.

"I gave one letter to Rozey (Dave Rozema) and asked him to read it for me. He came back and said he didn't want to tell me what was in it. They called me all kinds of names, and it got so I didn't even want to answer the telephone." Tigers' general manager Jim Campbell said his office had not been notified of the threats to Farmer, and neither had It received any warnings directed at the Chicago pitcher. But he was not surprised to learn that Farmer was being protected. "This is not an unusual thing," he said.

"It happens from time to time. In fact, I've received threats myself." From UPI and Free Press Staff Reports CLEVELAND Every team in major league baseball has some drug abuse and nothing is being done to stop It, Cleveland Indians' first baseman Andre Thornton charged Wednesday. Thornton, who is out with a knee injury this season, made his statement in response to a Cleveland Plain Dealer story which surveyed drug and alcohol use in baseball and other sports. Thorton was particularly critical of a charge from an unnamed baseball executive who said teams made up of black and Latin players run higher risks of a drug problem. The official was quoted as saying: "I know this is going to sound racist, but as a general rule teams with a high concentration of black or Latin players run a higher risk of a drug problem." Thornton replied: "For an executive to say that blacks are more likely to use drugs and not back up that statement with documentation is irresponsible.

As a black ball player, it insults me greatly. "By saying something like that, you unfairly point the finger at every team with five to eight black players," he said. "And you vindicate teams which are 98 percent white. "Drug abuse goes across all races and nationalities. Black players use it.

So do whites and every other race." Thornton was firm, though, in stating his view that a drug culture exists in baseball. "Also," he said, "alcohol-Ism is raging and a lot of players have been using amphetamines since I started as a pro 14 years ago." JIM CAMPBELL, presidentgeneral manager of the Detroit Tigers, took offense at Thornton's accusations. "I don't know what in the hell he knows about the Detroit Tigers," Campbell said Wednesday. "As far as I'm concerned I don't know of any drug problems on our ball club. It really bothers me when these guys make broad sweeping statements like that.

I think they should point out cases and name names. By talking like this they Indict all the ball players." The article in the Plain Dealer did say that of the three major sports, baseball has the smallest drug culture. It referred to a recent study by the Los Angeles Times which claimed that 75 percent of National Basketball Association players use cocaine. The Plain Dealer estimated that 10 to 20 percent of baseball players use cocaine and said football is somewhere between the two sports. Thornton said no single group could be blamed for the drug problem.

"For a long time, drugs were considered a problem of the Inner city and blacks, so there was little done about it," he said. "Now it is in the suburbs. It continues to grow and it does not stop at any one race." He suggested that baseball police itself. "There seems to be an unwritten rule: If you get caught using drugs, then you're in trouble. But if you don't get caught, no one says a thing," he said.

"In this game, we are supposed to set examples for young people." THORNTON SAID baseball teams could stop the drugs by calling in a player they think is using drugs and refusing to play him until he stops. "Drugs are illegal and we should not draw the line between soft drugs (like marijuana) and hard drugs (like cocaine)," he said. "We must stop all of it." Campbell responded that the Tigers do try to police drug problems. "It's not so much peeking in rooms, but every spring we get our minor league players and coaches and our major league players and have more or less a seminar on the hazards of drugs," he said. "It's all set up through the commissioner's office.

"We watch for it. Our managers, coaches and trainers keep their eyes open. We have not had any exper-ences with drugs, but that doesn't mean we can't. The Say Goodyear, ft wj Ihii Can't Be Polyglas! Now QnIW I Whllewall I SALE I PJT, Slz. PRICE ffd D78-14 $42.45 $2.06 E78-14 $44.10 $2.21 F78-14 $46.00 $2.37 G78-14 $47.90 $2.54 H78-14 $50.90 $2 79 G78-15 $49.00 $2 62 H78-15 $52.85 $2.84 L78-15 $56.50 $3.13 Cushion Belt Polyglas Choose the strength of fiberglass cord belts Plus the cushioned ride of resilient polyester Get good road contact with a squirm-fighting tread Plus the mileage of double belted construction JuSt 3 OayS TO Save Sale Ends Saturday! RAIN CHECK II we sell out of your se we will issue you a rain check, assuring fulure delivery at the advertised price.

WMJ Tom Brookens The Original All Season Radial Save Gas Every Mile You Drive (Radial tires roll easier-so Tiempo radlals help save you gas compared to bias-ply or bias-belted tires.) Sweet Lou turning sour on his role with Tigers MAINTAIN STOPPING DISTANCE BRAKE SERVICE YOUR CHOICE PROLONG TIRE LIFE, BOOST MPG FRONT-END ALIGNMENT Tigers edge Sox with wild finish TIGERS, from Page 1F SUMMERS worked the count to 2-and-l and then was hit by an inside fastball, forcing in the first run of the inning to make it 4-2. Manager Sparky Anderson sent Duffy Dyer to the plate as another pinch hitter, and the veteran catcher bounced into a force play as another run scored to narrow the Chicago edge to 4-3. Then it was up to rookie Rick Peters, and the swift outfielder who had thrilled the fans with a dazzling catch earlier in the game had to face righthander Farmer, who leads the White Sox staff with 24 saves. But Peters was equal to the task, lashing a line-drive single to right-center, knotting the score at 4-4. And then, with Alan Trammell at the plate, Farmer unleashed a pitch that was three feet wide of the plate and in the dirt, and the winning run trotted home as Chicago catcher Glenn Borgmann stood by in angry frustration.

The unexpected victory kept the Tigers in fourth place in the American League East, 1 1 games behind the front-running New York Yankees. Tiger starter Dave Rozema, who has had nothing but relief work since mid-July, handled the Sox in the first two innings but was touched for a run in the second. Two singles put runners at the corners, and Western Michigan alumnus Mike Squires brought the run home with a smash off first baseman Wockenfuss that had to be fielded by second baseman Lou Whitaker for the putout. THE TIGERS didn't threaten in the first four innings, but Brookens deadlocked things at 1-1 in the fifth with his seventh home run of the season, a smash into the leftfield upper deck. Rozema couldn't stand the relative prosperity of a tie, however.

Bob Molinaro's leadoff single in the sixth, a wild pitch and Wayne Nordhagen's base hit put the Sox back on top. Nordhagen was caught stealing, but Chicago added another run later in the inning when leftfielder Steve Kemp lost Jim Morrison's liner in the lights for a two-base hit, and Borgmann stroked an RBI single. The Tigers got rid of Hoffman in the bottom of the inning when he walked Trammell and gave up a one-out double to Wockenfuss. But Robinson came out of the bullpen to retire Parrish and Cowens on a strikeout and a popup, respectively. That, as it turned out, was the Tigers' only menace until their last-gasp explosion in the ninth.

Nordhagen's eighth-inning leadoff homer (No. 15) off reliever Pat Underwood seemed to have given the Sox all they needed to get out of town with a split. But it was not to be, and the Chicagoans tumbled to 19 games below the .500 mark and deeper into fifth place in the West. Parts and additional services extra it needed. Chcvcllcs extra.

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Just Say 'Charge It1 Goodyear Revolving Charge Account Use any ol Ihcsn 7 other ways to buy Our Own Customer Cretin Plan Mattet Ciiitrigr Visa Amencan Eipress Card Oaitc Blanche QUALITY INNOVATION WHITAKER, from Page 1F directly. "I don't want to put those things out in the papers," Sparky said. I talk to all of these young players all the time, as much as I can. I talk to Lance (Parrish) almost every day, and I talk to Lou and I talk to (Alan) Trammell. "I care, I truly care about them as men.

I never want to see someone with ability get all fouled up I want to pass them on the street someday and be proud to see them." Whitaker's batting average was below .200 in the early weeks this year as Anderson tried to make him the Tigers' leadoff man to fill the shoes of Ron LeFlore, who had been traded away. The experiment didn't work, as Whitaker was unable to become the base-stealing threat he wanted be. He led the American League in drawing bases on balls for a time, but soon tailed off sharply in that category. In late May, near the time of the threatened players' association strike, Whitaker came down with a mysterious malady that affected his eyesight. The official diagnosis was a virus, but Whitaker admitted the medication he was given did not seem to help.

IT WAS SUGGESTED at the time that the pressure of his unsuccessful start SEE YOUR INDEPENDENT DEALER FOR HIS PRICE AND CREDIT TERMS PRICES AND CREDIT TERMS AS SHOWN AT GOODYEAR SERVICE STORES IN ALL COMMUNITIES SERVED BY THIS NEWSrAPcn SfcHVIUfcS NLI AVAILABLE Al blAMNtU LUtOMUNS tw GAS SAVER Pick up your tire gauge today, and remember proper tire pressure decreases rolling resistance, and that saves gas! CHECK INFLATION OFTEN Whitaker's surprising statements this week, coming as they did on the heels of the Tigers' signing of shortstop Alan Trammell to a seven-year, multi-million-dollar contract, immediately led to speculation that Whitaker is feeling somewhat left out. He and Trammell arrived as the Keystone Kids at the same time, in September of 1977, and they have always been a team. They've always been paid the same salary by the Tigers until now. ANDERSON WAS asked if Whitaker's gloom might have been triggered by Trammell's new contract. "No ball player should ever worry about that on the field.

As long as you do your best. There's no way to control whether you're going to go 0-for-4 or 4-for-4," said the manager. "A player should never say, 'I'm making this many dollars, so I've got to do this or that "Every player is going to have a bad time, a time when he's asking himself, 'What am I doing But in my opinion, Lou Whitaker will never have another year he hits less than .275." Anderson was asked about Whitaker's reference to fans who don't appreciate him, but the Tigers' pilot said he had not heard any abuse from the stands. This was seconded by first base coach Gates Brown, who said he couldn't understand why Whitaker said he felt neglected or spurned by Detroit fans. "I haven't heard the fans getting on him," said Brown.

"I don't know what's bothering him. If I knew, I'd try to help him out, but I don't know." Whitaker has played excellent defense this year, in spite of his problems at the plate, and he still hears the fans' loud cries of 'Lo-o-o-u-u!" every time he makes a play or goes to bat. But in his rambling conversation early Tuesday, Whitaker said: "The fans aren't down on the field. They don't care. They'd rather have someone else now.

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J94-1334 349-0430 3S04202 714-5477 774-4400 IU 40M SIJ-1700 might have affected him more deeply than the Tigers suspected. Whitaker was removed from the lead-off spot and his moody disposition and performance at the plate began to improve. He was platooned for a while with righthanded-hitting Stan Papi, but after a few weeks became the full-time second baseman again. In recent days, Whitaker has begun to hit with more authority and has seemed to be more positive in his outlook. But now, with his young bride expecting their first child next month, another depression is upon him.

"The fans called me Sweet Lou the first two years and now they've turned around," Whitaker said. "My image has always been good, but that could change." Later, he added: "I got ears and I can hear. I'm tired of some of this stuff and I have to handle it by getting out of here or "I'll end up In court because I stuck my face Into someone else's." Earnhardt makes a point in NASCAR's standings DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Despite a seventh-place finish in the disputed Southern 500 at Darlington, S.C., Dale Earnhardt has held on to his lead in the NASCAR points standings. Terry Labonte of High Point, N.C., claimed his first National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing victory in the Labor Day race, NASCAR officials said Tuesday.

David Pearson was named the second-place finisher, followed by Harry Gant, Benny Parsons, Neil Bonnett and Bobby Allison. Detroiters top fast-pitch meet Metro Merchants of Detroit won the Class Women's fast-pitch state softball championship in Albion over the Labor Day weekend with 5-4 win over Saginaw. Sally Chaney led the victory with a two-run lomer in the sixth inning. Said Anderson: "Things build up. You're hurting inside and you know there's two ways, right and wrong, but sometimes you just have to say things you don't want to say.

You've just got to get it out. "I think he has to be excused for this. I think the fans have just got to forgive it.".