Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 48

DETROIT FREE PRESS Wednesday. April 13, '77 1-D lexas rooa Horton nn My ueair Best for Me 5 TVV BY JIM HAWKINS Fre Presi Sport Writer TORONTO There was a smile on Willie Horton's face, but there was also an unmistakable tear in his eye Tuesday afternoon as the burly slugger said goodby to the Tigers. He was in uniform, ready to take the field for batting practice, when Ralph Houk called him into the manager's office and told him he had just been traded to he Texas Rangers for relief pitcher Steve Foucault. An hour later, Willie still hadn't taken off his Detroit uniform. After 12 years as a Tiger, Horton had to be hurt not so much by the sudden trade as by the fact that he had been sitting idle on the bench, a player without a position, for three days before that.

But he hid his emotions well. THERE WAS NO temper tantrum. Willie didn't rip off his shirt or hurl his batting helmet against the clubhouse wall. There didn't seem to be any bitterness at all. Instead, Horton sat calm and composed in front of his locker and quietly discussed his future with the Texas Rangers.

After a while, he gathered up his bats and packed his personal set of weights that he carries with him on the road, in their specially made carrying case. Then he removed his shirt and sat back down to wait for his teammates to finish batting practice and return to the clubhouse, so he could see them all one more time, and say goodby. "As long as I live, I'll be a part of the Tigers, a part of Detroit," said Horton, who was traded after he balked at the idea of spending most of the season sitting on the bench. Tve been a member of this organization since I was 1 7 years old," Horton continued. "I'm never going to outgrow that.

The Tigers and the city of Detroit are two of the most important things in my life. "I'd be lying if I said I'm not going to miss the organization. It been a part of me for too long. That ball park, and the people who work there, will be a part of me until I die. I'll remember them, no matter where I go.

"But it's not like I'll be gone forever," he added. "I'll be coming back. It's going to be kind of funny to look across from the other side of the field and see all the guys who were my friends." IN FACT, WILLIE will see the Tigers in three weeks. That's when the Rangers visit Tiger Stadium May 3-4 for the first time this season. And Horton is convinced he'll be right there, in the Rangers' starting lineup.

"I'm sure Texas didn't get me just to sit around," said Horton. "I'm happy to go. "This whole deal was probably the best thing for me. There was no way I was going to be playing here. Over there, I'm going to be able to play every day.

Staying here and not playing much would have destroyed me. "Actually Ralph did me a big favor by playing me in leftfield so much this spring," continued Horton. "I hadn't played the outfield in almost three years and there was some question in my mind about whether I could. Now I know I can still play the outfield and I think Texas knows that, too." Please turn to Page 4D, Col. 1 I 1 G7 1 From All of ls Thank You, Willie Relief pitcher Steve, Foucault, 27, who came to the Tigers Tuesday as the other man in the Willie Horton trade with the Texas Rang' ers, had an 8-8 record last season.

Trade details on Page 1-A. Free Press Photo We Won't Forget the Old Willie Remember this familiar sight from the good old days? It was homer-hitting leftfielder Willie Horton getting a greeting from teammates like Al Kaline (6), Norm Cash (25) and Dick McAuliff e. Remnants of the Tigers' last championship, they've all since retired from baseball and now Willie's gone from Detroit, too traded Tuesday to the Texas Rangers. Kemp Hot, Tigers Break lce9 6-1 BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer TORONTO It was not only fortunate for the Tigers, but personally appropriate that rookie Steve Kemp picked Tuesday to pound his first major league home run. For one thing, it helped make possible the Tigers' first victory of the season, a 6-1 triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays.

And, after four lamentable losses in a row, that was an accomplishment in itself. But, perhaps more important, for the first time this season, TORONTO Saturday was Willie's day. That's the day the kids were in the ball park, filling up the leftfield seats, calling out to him, talking to him, touching him. He loved Saturdays in the ball park. He could talk to the kids and they could talk to him.

It was the only time he ever felt completely comfortable in his world. Maybe that doesn't sound like much. Maybe it even sounds a little juvenile, a little immature. But Willie Horton was not your average ball player. How many ball players ever spend their time with the ground crew? I don't mean the usual kibitzing that goes on before the start of a ball game.

I mean sitting down and talking to them. Bringing them gifts. Taking them out to dinner. Inviting them to his bar for a drink. Nobody pays much attention to the ground crew.

But Willie Horton did, and they loved him for it. I can only imagine what they're thinking now that their man has been traded. Willie Horton has always needed two things in life. He needed to be loved, and he needed to give love. That's not so easy to do when you are a star on a major league level.

Willie was never like an ordinary ball player. For instance, he was never comfortable on the road with the Tigers. He was like a restless tiger. He could never hang around his hotel room. He didn't and seldom went to the movies.

He had to get out to the ball park. It might be two o'clock in the afternoon six hours before game time but he had to get out there because he felt suffocated around the hotel. What did he do at the ball park? Oh, maybe he ran a little in the outfield. Maybe he did a few exercises. Maybe he just stood around in his longjohns and swung his leaded bat.

But it felt good to him. He felt safe and secure in the ball park, even when it was empty. He Made It the Hard Way And now he is gone and I suppose much of Detroit is upset and even angered at the deal which, on the surface, seems pretty calloused on the part of the Tigers. Let's come right out and say it Willie Horton was always more than a ball player to the people in Detroit. He was the first real black star the Tigers ever had the only one who ever gave the black community a genuine feeling of pride.

He was one of their own, a kid out of the streets who came up the hard way and made it. Who wouldn't be proud of someone like that? You must remember that the Tigers' management turned its back on black players for years. They went more than a decade from when Jackie Robinson broke the color line before they brought a black player to Detroit. admitted Kemp. "After all, he's been so much a part of this team for so long.

"Maybe some people will resent me; maybe they'll feel I should have proved myself the way Willie did. "This is the first time I've ever been in a situation like this, where I'm taking someone else's job," continued Kemp. "It's been on my mind ever since we started spring training. I think maybe the fact that Willie is gone now takes a lot of the pressure off me. "I REALLY LIKE Willie.

I respect him as a person and as a ball player. He was a good fellow. He tried to help me; he gave me advice and he tried to give me some extra confidence. I felt he was behind me all the time. "The way the press has made it sound, I took Willie's job.

But that's not quite right. I actually took Ben Oglivie's job in left, Benji took Rusty Staub's job in right, and Rusty took Willie's job as the designated hitter. "But I realize my name is the new one in the lineup and Willie's is gone," said Kemp. "And I'm quite sure I had something to do with he fact that he was traded. "If I start doing what I'm capable of doing, I think the people will understand what has happened and take it in stride.

If I don't they may resent my being here. "I just hope the guys on the team don't resent me. I think I have the ability to play in the major leagues. I feel I'll do well. I know I can hit major league pitching, and I know I can play the outfield.

I think the organization still has confidence in me, even though I've gotten off to a slow start." CERTAINLY KEMP'S home run Tuesday removed some of the pressure from him personally and from the entire team, which was desperately in need of a win. "I had been pressing," the Tigers' new leftfielder admitted. "I Please turn to Page 4D, Column 1 Kemp gave some indication that he may, indeed, be a hitter worthy to replace Willie Horton in leftfield. Horton had barely had time to pack his bags and leave the ball park when Kemp, batting an almost invisible .067, belted a three-run homer over the right-centerfield fence with Ben Oglivie and Jason Thompson on base. Dave Roberts did the rest, holding the Blue Jays to just four hits, including a home run by Toronto catcher Alan Ashby, to become the Tigers' first pitcher to complete something he started this year.

Kemp, who is wise beyond DIRECT FROM CALIFORNIA Steve Kemp his 22 years, realizes there is bound to be some resentment among fans who wonder what he, a rookie, has done to replace a veteran star like Horton. "I'm sure a lot of people are going to say I'm taking his job," Pistons Shock 'Em, 95-90 Special to the Free Press OAKLAND The Detroit Pistons, after trailing by as many as 18 points in the first half, staged a vicious fourth quarter rally and held Golden State scoreless for the final seven minutes of the game to take a 95-90 victory Tuesday night in the first game of the best-of -three NBA opening round series. With the victory at the Oakland Coliseum, the Pistons need only a victory in the Thursday night game at Cobo Arena to avenge last year's disappointing playoff loss to Golden State and move on to this year's Western Conference semifinals against Los Angeles. Even then, he wasn't accepted. Some felt Ozzie Virgil was more of a Latin, not a true American black.

Billy Bruton played centerf ield with great presence and poise for the Tigers and was a true gentleman. But he didn't light up the skies. Gates Brown was a good guy and Earl Wilson wasnt around long enough, and didn't do enough, to capture the fancy of the fans. But Willie powerful Willie with his mighty and majestic home runs now here was something which could turn on a whole city. They were all wild about him.

But do you want to know something? 1 always thought it was the bunk when people made such a fuss over Willie just because he was black. They didn't know the man at all. He was always just Willie, a friendly guy who never wanted to hurt anyone in his life. He got mixed up at times terribly confused by this commercial world of baseball. He never got a full handle on all the things that were expected of him.

Sometimes his temper got the best of him and he'd blow sky high. But he never brought race, color or creed into any of his outbursts. I don't think he ever thought about it even for a minute. He was just Willie, trying to find his way in a world he never fully understood. How Vll Remember Him The sad thing is that there were those around him blacks who tried to tell him how the white community was taking advantage of him.

This was sad because Willie would listen to anybody, about anything. Anyone who got his ear last knew they would have an impact on him. These people, pretending to be his friends, weren't helping him at all. They were only adding to his inner turmoil. I liked Willie.

I liked him beccause he had alt the basic instincts of honesty, integrity and decency. These traits were ingrained in him and I always liked to think his parents had something to do with it. In his own way, Willie Horton was a very regal man. I don't mean to make this sound like an obituary, but an era has ended for many of us. Willie Horton was a part of the baseball scene In Detroit when it reached some of its greatest heights.

You can talk about all of his exploits the way he tore up the league for seven day in May in 1 965, the way he cooled down the city with his blazing bat in 1968, the way he threw out Lou Brock with that almost unbelievable throw in the World Series, and all of those towering homers into the upper leftfield deck. But I'll remember Willie for something else just for sitting there in front of his locker, sweating profusely in that rubber suit of his, huffing and puffing, and smiling. That's what Willie did best. He had a smile that made you feel good. Finally, I'll remember him for how he handled himself on what surely was one of the darkest days of his life.

I expected him to break down. I thought he might cry. I thought he might even lash out at the management of the Tigers. He did none of these things. He held himself together.

He retained his composure and talked easily about what had just happened to him. Then he went around the room and shook hands with every player on the team, smiling to every one of them. When he came to Steve Kemp's locker, he gave him a firm handshake. "Now do what I told you just relax," Willie said. The kid looked up at him with his eyes as wide as saucers.

"I will," said Kemp. "Thank you." Thank you, Willie. It took a steady, game-long performance by Bob Lanier, plus a strong fourth quarter by Howard Porter and Kevin Porter to help the Pistons overcome the deficit that faced them from the closing minutes of the first quarter until late in the final quarter. With Golden State leading by nine, 86-77, the Porters teamed up for the Pistons next 12 points (Howard scored eight and Kevin four), to pull the Pistons to within one point, 90-89. Lanier put them ahead to stay with a turn-around jumper a minute later and, after a scoreless two minutes, Lanier connected again, th1" on a pass from Chris Ford.

lull SUM SAND W' -AND SHIRT, Mfl', -i stringing mmWmtm ALONG WITH PEBBLE BEACH. California comes up with a shirt 1 1 as natural as your tan in string knit I fe-J i fl acrylic, cotton and polyester. A jJQsbSssA-- Ji beachy beige with thin stripes of blue 7. rti and brown. This style and more, rvi-L- 1 s-saSW I If XL, $21.

The Sportsman, all stores. 1 I iT rf hudaons xsssT'i I Howard Porter And one of the biggest factors was their strong defensive showing in the second half, when they reduced the Golden State output by exactly half from 60 to 30 points. Led by Rick Barry, who hit nine of his first 12 shots and scored 21 points in the first half, the Warriors went up 29-24 after a quarter, stretched their lead to 54-36 late in the second period and finally went to the intermission with a 10-point cushion, 60-50. And Barry's shooting was Please turn to Page 4D, Col. 6 IT WAS Howard Porter who canned the clincher as the 24-second clock ran out in the closing seconds of the game, making the final score 95-90, and leaving the Warriors in the unsavory position of coming to Cobo Arena just one game away from elimination.

Should a third game in the series be necessary, it will be played Sunday afternoon in Oakland. The comeback was, without a doubt, one of the most amazing and Important the Pistons have put together all season. 4.