Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 57

Friday, Jung 15, 1370 2f ill Joanne Lennox (left) from Holland, is trying for her fourth consecutive national sculling title this weekend at Stony Creek Metro Park. Page 3 SPOTS PEOPLE if 11 ii St VI i I 4. rv Li DETROIT f'fCE PfSS For the latest sports scores and results. HORSE RACING TELEVISION COMICS 8-9 12 13-15 DETROIT WILL BE CHAMPS 'BEFORE I LEAVE' ant by rom ises a iger penn parity "I ain't promising nothing this year. But we're gonna do some winning here I wilt be very disappointed if we're not in the playoff for the American League pennant in 1981." Sparky Anderson Taking it is the smartest thing I've ever done in my life.

It really is. "If I can't make this ball club a winner in five years, then I'll walk away and say I failed. And I will have failed. But I don't Intend to fail." ANDERSON SAID a lot of similar things when he took over as manager of the Cincinnati Reds in 1970. And, he admitted Thursday, a lot of people thought at the time that he was crazy for making such brash statements.

"But," he recalled with a grin, "we won 70 out of our first 100 games because I didn't believe we could lose. At the end of the season, when we got into the World Series, people said: 'We wish we had kept those tapes because nobody believed you when you said all those "But I was 35 years old in 1970 and I was naive. I was naive See ANDERSON, Page 6D By JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer Sparky Anderson, the silver-haired savior who is supposed to inspire the Tigers to greatness, took command of his new team Thursday and immediately put himself on the spot. First, he boldly predicted' that the Tigers will be in the American League playoffs by 1981. While that prophecy was sinking in, he brazenly promised to bring a world championship to the corner of Michigan and Trumbull before his contract expires in 1984.

"No club in baseball has more ability for its age than this club," declared Anderson, who was tanned and looked welNrested for a man who hadn't slept a wink because of an all-night flight from California. "The Tigers have the finest young talent in baseball today. 'Tmnbt a Messiah," insisted the 45-year-old Anderson. "I'm not going to walk on water. I'm.

not going to win anything in Detroit. A manager never wins the pennant. The only thing I'm gonna win is what these guys win for me. "But I've promised (Tigers' owner) John Fetzer and I've promised (presidentgeneral manager) Jim Campbell that before, I leave Detroit we will have a world's championship here. "I said last year that.in two or three years, at the most, the Detroit club would be a team everybody in baseball would have to contend with," he recalled.

"And I still believe that. Not just because they've hired me, either. "I ain't promising nothing this year," he continued. "But we're gonna do some Winning here. I swear to God, we are.

"I wHl be very disappointed if we're not in the playoff for the American League pennant in 4,931." STRONG WORDS for a man who.confessed that the Tigers are so young that most of his new players look to him "like college kids." "It'll be a tough grind," admitted Anderson, "but if the kids will just believe in me they can do it. If I can just prove to them that they're as good as they are, we'll be all right. "I didn't go to school to pick my nose or eat my lunch. I know what talent is there. And I know what the results can be, if they're willing to work.

The more my son, Albert, and I studied the players on this ball club, the more I thought Jim Campbell was really a nice man for offering me the job. nrr ni Oeoige Tigers' loss spoils Sparky's debut, 3-2 1 If Sparky's all thai smarl, how come lie didii'l win? The love letters of a sports writer: "If Sparky Anderson is all that smart a manager, how did he let the Cincinnati Reds fall apart after they won the World Series a few years ago? He was calling them the greatest team of all time, but they collapsed and then even he was fired." HARRY ZOROWSKI, Pontiac Maybe it wasn't Sparky's fault. What happened was that 't many of his decorated players got in a money war with management. Reporting for spring training in '77, Sparky discovered he had only three pitchers of the 10 who carried him into the World Series. Even a dugout genius needs some arms and eventually even Sparky lost his charm.

By MICK McCABE Free Press Sports Writer Only one day on the job and already Sparky Anderson has the Detroit Tigers turned around. The Tigers, who had won two straight games for the fired Les Moss and two more for interim manager Dick Tracewski, ended their winning streak Thursday by dropping a 3-2 decision to the Seattle Mariners. The Tigers blew a couple of scoring opportunities late in the game and opened the door for the Mariners to score when Captain Hook (Anderson) replaced Jack Billingham with John Hiller in the ninth inning. Hiller struck out Larry Cox, but former Tiger Leon Roberts tripled off the top of the leftfield fence, narrowly missing a home run. Hiller got the second out by whiffing Mario Mendoza and appeared to be out of trouble when Larry Milbourne hit a ground ball to Aurelio Rodriguez.

But the ball went right under the third baseman's glove and through his legs, allowing Roberts to score the winning run. And sure enough, only a couple of hours on the job, and the reporters wanted to know why Anderson lifted Billingham, who pitched for him in Cincinnati. "I thought Jack pitched real well," Anderson explained. "But it was 2-2 and I 'irO liK is! i I i V'! '-'4 "Heartless. Shameful.

A disgrace to all people. If I were Les Moss, I wouldn't spend another minute with the Tigers." HELEN SPLAVIN, St. Clair Shores He won't, ma'am not unless Jim Campbell has another surprise in mind. "How does Sparky Anderson feel, signing to manage a minor league team like the Tigers? It's quite a comedown from the Reds to Triple AAA." MAX BOYD, Sandusky You missed a step, Max. Sparky was unemployed, the Reds having pulled his plug last winter.

A dollar doesn't go far now "I was no fan of Les. Moss, but don't you think a half-million dollars going to a top pitcher would have done the Tigers more good?" LARRY MITICH, Ann Arbor Don't confuse the numbers, Larry. Sparky will collect a bundle, but it will be in $1 10,000 annual pieces. That kind of money doesn't really buy a top pitcher, or even an ordinary one, these days. Tiv HI Free Press Photos by LONA O'CONNOR Sparky Anderson, in his first game as Tigers' manager, already looks comfortable in the dugout.

At left, the former Cincinnati Reds' manager sizes up a line of his "Do you think Mark (The Bird) Fidrych will be able to new charges Steve Kemp. Rusty Staub and Mark SeeTIGERS, Page6D Wagner. Above, he has Lance Parrish's ear. help the Tigers this season? 'DANTE FISCO, Windsor Possibly, with the aid of an exorcist. Enough old baseball people say pitching is mental to a large degree.

If Sparky can convince the Bird his wing is still there, to let it rip a few times, maybe that would do it. Of course, you also run the risk of destroying this gem and blowing him W- Tl vf Mil This is Captain Hook: 'When I walk out there, that pitcher's gone' 1 llnVP away forever. Eventually, though, the SUV I RirH will Iiiivji tn farA curh a fAct letters "Since Tiger pitcher Pat Under Norm Cash is stricken Former Tigers' star Norm Cash was admitted to Henry Ford Hospital Thursday afternoon after suffering what doctors diagnosed as a slight stroke. Cash, 44, was stricken at his office where he works as a sales representative. He collapsed and was taken to the hospital, where he was in the neurological intensive-care unit.

Cash was given a series of special x-rays. Tigers' team physician Dr. Clarence Livin-good said Thursday night that no further diagnosis will be made until the doctors have had an opportunity to examine those x-rays. The popular first baseman played for the Tigers from 1960, until he retired following the 1974 season. Acquired from the Cleve- over.

That pitcher's gone." His theory of managing: "Someone once asked me the secret to managing. And I told him, 'If you have to ask, don't try You just have to be yourself and believe in what you're doing." The designated hitter: "I'm not in favor of the DH. But I'm in Rome now, so I'm going to do as the Romans do. But I've always felt that if we were to be fair to the fans we would put the DH role up to a vote and let the fans decide. Then, either both leagues should use it or none should." Team rules: "I'm going to find out from the players and coaches what rules they like and what rules they don't like.

Then I'll make my decision. I'm not hard-headed. I try to be flexible enough to change with the times." Free agents: "I've never agreed with people moving around like cattle on the open market. When people come up in an organization and are raised by an organization, there's a different feeling. I say, let's win it from within." BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer Sparky Anderson is a man of many interesting opinions.

And the Tigers' new manager certainly isn't the least bit hesitant to state exactly what is on his mind. As he tried on his No. 7 Tigers' uniform for the first time Thursday, Anderson sounded off on a variety of different subjects. Among them: His role as the Tigers' savior: "Detroit didn't need me. Nobody needed me.

Nobody needs any one individual. Baseball does not need Sparky Anderson. Sparky Anderson needs baseball. This game is bigger than all of us." His firing last fall in Cincinnati: "I think they felt they had to shock that ballclub. And the more I look back on it, I don't think they were so wrong.

They did shock that ball club and I think the Reds are gonna win this year." His habit of yanking pitchers in a hurry, which has earned him the nickname of "Captain "I don't like line drives coming off the bat for too long. I will use my pitching the way I know how to use it, the way I've always used it. And believe me, in my heart I feel that one thing I can do is handle pitching. "I usually don't go out there just to visit. If I do, I run out to the mound.

When I walk out there, watch out. It's all wood's brother Tom wants to leave the Toronto Blue Jays, the team' would be smart to make a pitch to get him for Sparky Anderson's pitching staff." JOE LAMB, Wayne Are you sure? A lot of people felt two Kennedys in the White House were too many. Some felt one. Anyway, it is far too early to tell whether either Underwood could really do it for the Tigers. "As time progressed I felt you were less biased about soccer even though it is evident you still don't particularly like the game.

But I felt eventually the Express were going to make you eat your wofcls. Looks like you won this one, ol' buddy." 9 ALAN SPENCE, Rochester What's to win? I simply maintained soccer has a lot of work to do to capture the masses, that people cannot be expected to flock to a game they know nothing about. At the moment, the Express are in the throes of failure on the field and at the box office. I take no particular joy in that, but I figure it's their problem to prove their worth to our sports audience. Norm Cash land Indians just before the start of the 1960 season, Cash was a success almost immediately.

He became the eighth Tiger to lead the American League hitting when he batted .361 in 1961, smacking 41 homers and driving in 132 runs. i After he retired from baseball, Cash played slow-pitch softball with the Detroit Caesars and worked as a television announcer. jt Jim Hawkins Sparky Anderson wont name the six teams that contacted him about a job, but he identifies some of the teams that didnt. The story is on Page 6D. Open is jammed at the top 5 tie for lead This 11 lee you off 4 iir V1 "Tell me something.

If ERA ever gets passed, will it mean that women will be hitting off the men's tees?" PAT CAROLIN, Birmingham I hope not, because then everybody would know for sure who are the world's worst drivers. stroke back at 71, even par. Inverness, swarmed over by 14,000 fans on a beautiful day for gallerying, gave up birdies grudgingly to everyone but the freewheeling Purtzer and the gambling Hinkle. Hinkle managed five of them, but the key was his controversial birdie trip up the 17th fairway while playing the eighth hole. THE CONTROVERSY and no Open worth its salt would be complete without one concerned this skullduggery by Hinkle and about five others.

The 528-yard eighth hole is a par-five dogleg left with a creek cutting across the fairway. The opportunists drove into the the adjoining 17th fairway and harmlessly to the green, bypassing the dogleg and a creek and making it nothing more than a par-four hole. See OPEN, Page 9D match. But at the finish he still was tied with former champion Lou Graham, Keith Fergus, streaking Andy Bean and Tom Purtzer, who had a crazy, dipsy-doodle eight-birdie day. A HORSE RACE? There were 12 players within one shot of the lead and 27 within three strokes.

But it was a tough day for favorites. Of the leaders, only the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Bean, who won a week ago at much advance following. The popular choice, Tom Watson, struggled in with 75. Jack Nicklaus was merely one shot better at 74. Masters champ Fuzzy Zoeller posted 77.

So did PGA champ John Mahaffey and Lee Trevino. Still, the quintet of leaders will be looking over their shoulders Friday as a another horde of seven players, including such names as Jerry Pate and Tom Weiskopf are merely one tr I jAid-o-i A. fii iiiiMBwiiniiiiiniiii i By JACK SAYLOR Free Press Sports Writer TOLEDO Have you got a large van or a small convention' hall handy? Then you can accommodate the leaders of the U.S. Open championship. Got a pet player? Take a look, he might well be tied for the lead.

In one of the bigger cavalry charges in the 79-year history of this country's premier golf event, five players clippity-clopped to the first turn in a deadlock with one-under-par totals of 70 over the treacherous 6,982 yards of the Inverness Country Club. Lon Hinkle took the high road, the other four took the low road, but they all wound up in the same place tied for first to the race for $50,000 and lasting golf fame. Jflinkle played the wrong fairway for a key birdie and sent the USGA officials on a quick search for a big tree and a shovel to "As a breeder of thoroughbred horses, I found your June 7 column offensive, in particular your reference to the horse industry, which never was more than a cut above a crap And the comment ou Secretariat as a sire proving a bust in the bedroom for months to "Those statements are very general and indicate to me an ignorance on your part about the breeding aspect of the business as to how much care is given these beautiful animate before they are sold to racing people." SARAH P. CAMPBELL, Niles Whoa, there. I've got no knock against babies of any kind or those who have 'em.

Bless 'em all. Once out of the cradle, though, we all lose our halos. Free press kiioio oy junN COlliER Jack Nicklaus took a double bogey on the final hole Thursday to wind up with a 74..