Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 69

SECTION InThis Section The Inside of Sports Page Outdoors wth Opre Page 9 sports Want Ads Pages 10-19 SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1972 Bats FIT! I iger Games Games 0 Pet. Behind Left Boston 79 66 .545 10 DETROIT 80 67 .544 9 Baltimore 77 69 .527 2'2 8 New York 76 70 .521 32 9 Home, oiicn j8i E3 0 0 0 SATURDAY'S RESULTS DETROIT 7, Boston 1. Milwaukee 2, Baltimore 1. New York 5, Cleveland 2, six innings, rain. noon to lunge back within .001 of the lead in the see-saw American League East.

MICKEY LOLICH thought the whole thing was hilarious. The Tiger lefthander, now a 21-game winner, couldn't even remember the last time his teammates gave him'three runs to work with before he ever left the bench. And it has been four long months since the Tigers scored seven times with The- Mick on the mound. Billy Martin considered the contest a howl BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Spoilt Writer BOSTON Quick! What occupies first place, wears red. socks, and loses flyballs in the sun? Why, a two-legged Boston outfielder, of course, Snicker, Okay, so mayhe you didn't think that was terribly funny.

What's important, is that the Tigers, did. They laughed all the way to a 7-1 win over the sunstruck Boston Red Sox Saturday after ing success, too. Imagine, 13 more hits let's see, that makes 37 in three days against the Bosox. And whatever happened to that horrendous hitting slump that had been haunting the club all year? "This "was the big one," admitted Billy. "Real big.

After the way we lost Friday night, after battling all the way to come back with a win like this "Now if we win Sunday it'll be a plus on our Games to Play SEPTEMBER NEW YORK At Cleveland Off BALTIMORE At Milwaukee Off Off its World Series Ticket Time! DETROIT 24 At Boston 25 OFF 26 Off 27 New York 28 New York 29 Milwaukee I 30 Milwaukee Cleveland Cleveland BOSTON Detroit Off Milwaukee (N) Milwaukee Kansai City At Balti. (N) At Balti. (N) (N) At Detroit At Detroit N) (N) side. We'll be all even with Boston in the loss column and we'll have two more wins. But if we lose we're still not in bad shape at all." TWO OF THE Tigers' 13 hits ended up in the net that stretches high into the sky over Fenway Park's infamous and often mon-trous lsitfield wali.

Aurelio Rodriguez and Al Kaline put them there with wicked wallops off Gary Paters in the eighth and ninth innings. But by then Lolich was coasting. The Tigers got him three runs in a hurry in the top of the first, compliments of Sonny Sie-hert and the sun. Rookie leftfielder Dwight Evans began the ballgame by losing Dick McAullife's high fly in the sun. It dropped in for a double.

Centcrfielder Reggie Smith immediately did the same with Kaline's fly to him though at least he did touch the ball before it hit the ground and therefore was assessed an error. THEN SIEI5F.RT took over where the sun left off, walking Gates Brown and Norm Cash to fill the bases and still there was nobody out. Duke Sims, playing in place of the injured Bill Freehan, singled home one run while keeping the sacks jammed. And Jim Northrup followed with a basehit that knocked in one more although rightfieldcr Reggie Smith Please turn to Page 7F, Col. 1 Off Boston (N) Boston N) Off Cleveland OCTOBER I Boston At Baltimore Off i At Detroit (N) I At Cleve.

(T-N) 'At Detroit (N i Off At Detroit 1 Milwaukee 2 Boston (N) 3 Boston (N) 4 Boston Cleveland Milwaukee (N) Milwaukee INI Milwaukee Remittance can he made, payable to the Tigers, by certified check, cashier's check or money orders. Personal checks not certified will be returned and the order rejected. Season ticket holders have been sent ticket applications and their orders will be filled before the public sale opens. The Tigers also will offer single-game bleacher tickets at $1 each and a few tickets for seats with an obstructed view ($10) over-the-counter on a first come-first served basis at Tiger Stadium ticket booths Friday, Oct. 13, at 9 a.m.

the American League park Oct. 17-18-19, all night games. Prices are $15 for box seats, $1(1 for reserved grandstand seats and $8 for reserved upper and lower centerfield pavilion seats. An additional $1 for mailing and handling must accompany each order, along with a stamped addressed return envelope at least 4x9 in size. Orders should not be sent to Tiger Stadium.

The proper address to mail ticket requests is Detroit Tigers, P.O. Box 50-A, Detroit 48232. The Great Race continues, so (he Tigers are announcing the start of another Great Race, one for World Series games that might he played in Detroit. Mail orders only will be accepted for a limited number of box and reserved seats. Tickets will be sold for individual games and customers will be limited to two tickets for one game each.

No mail orders postmarked before Sept. 29 will be accepted. The World Series is slated to open Oct. 14 In the National League park. Games No.

3 and 4, plus 5, if necessary, will be played in Orioles Lose to Brewers, But Yanks Bounce Back Stories on Page 6F HARMON YANKED IN 26-9 LOSS Da MM MSU Upset, 21-16 Throttles U-M Manager of Year Contest Is Close BOSTON The sports writers in Fargo, N. bug Farl Weaver no end. So do the ones in Salt Lake City, Tampa, Peoria and Walla Walla, Wash. These are the ones who get a chance to vote for "Manager of the Year" every baseball, season. They are also the ones who never get to see a major league ball game.

They still get a vote just like the regular baseball writers do, and this sets Weaver to frothing at the mouth. Thaat' because he thinks they're not qualified to vote. It's also because they never vote for him. "Manager of the Year" is one of the stranger awards. It is not official.

It doesn't have the sanction, say, of the MVP or the Cy Young Award, which are voted upon by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The "Manager of the Year" award is one that has been dreamed up by the Associated Press. What they do is put a ballot out on their national sports wire and everybody who has a wire" in their office can vote. Presumably, this means copy boys, desk men who never get out of the office or even the janitor when he comes around late at night to sweep up. So the award really means nothing, except that there is no other such award and there is some acceptance of it whenever the winner is announced.

if! '1 4 4 i i'y'M MM BY CURT SYLYES1F.R Free Press Sports Writer I ANGELES With or without 'a Harmon, it makes little difference Michigan wins either way. Wolverines crushed and shattered young Mark Harmon's confidence on the first two series of the game Saturday and and then rolled to victory over i UCLA team the same way they bowled over opponents when the lad's father, Tom Harmon was a U-M All-American in the late 1910s. Led by sophomore quarterback Dennis Franklin and junior fullback Ed Shuttles-worth, the Wolverines battered out 381 yards rushing and dumped the sixth-ranked Bruins of UCLA, 2S-9, before 57,129 fans at the Coliseum. The team that had knocked off top-ranked Nebraska and Pitt had no chance offensively or defensively against the Wolverines, who went into the game ranked 11th in the nation. Offensively, U-M shoved the ball down the field relentlessly, consuming yardage and the clock greedily and once again spurning the, forward pass.

Franklin needed to throw only six passes, with four completions for 41 yards, to keep the Wolverines scoring in every period. FULLBACK -Shuttles-worth belted the Bruin defense for 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Harry Banks and Clint Haslerig grabbed one each. The Wolverine defense cut off a abruptly and-then, led by linebacker. Tom Kee and wolfman Randy Logan, blunted the vaunted Wishbone offense which had kept UCLA undefeated in its. first two games.

Had it not been for second string quarterback Rod Scrib- ner, the Bruins would have Six IJhcly Choices iVfy-Jj I I I CA 1 11 II I BY CHARLIE VINCENT Free Press Sports Writer EAST LANSING Michi-; gan State's lone consolation Saturday was that the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets don't play in the Big Ten. Stunned by a 77-yard touch--down pass on Georgia Tech's first play from scrimmage, the Spartans stalled, sputtered and wheezed until it was too late and fell to the fired-up -Jackets, 21-16. It was a disappointing opening at home for MSU, coming on the heels of last weekend's impressive 24-0 spelling of Illinois. And the record opening-day crowd of 77,141 in Spartan Stadium rained boos down on. -Duffy Daughterty's Spartans as they tried vainly to get something going.

MICHIGAN STATE two touchdowns on the brand new stadium scoreboards in the fourth period but a last-gasp drive to pull it all out came to an abrupt halt with 1:11 remaining when Randy Rhino intercepted a George Mihaiu pass at the Tech 14. It was Tech's third interception of the day. "They shocked us on the -first play," Daugherty admit-t afterwards, "and we stayed in a state of shock all day long, I think." The "shocker" was a bomb from Tech quarterback Eddie -McAshan to end Jim Robin- son, who sneaked behind MSU cornerback Bill Simpson; caught McAshan's perfect strike, then streaked into the end zone untouched. McASHAN riddled MSU 's highly regarded secondary all day as he completed 16 of 26 for 239 yards and two touchdowns both to Robinson. It was quite a switcheron from a year ago when he failed to complete a pass in Tech's 10-0 win over MSU at Atlanta.

"I've thought about that a thousand times since then," McAshan said in the jbilant Yellow Jacket dressing room. BOTH DAUGHERTY and Georgia Tech coach Bill Fulcher called McAshan's performance the best of his ca-. reer. "It was by far his greatest day as a Georgia Tech football player," Fulcher said. "We had thought Michigan State would be conscious of our running game, and that's why we' went to the air.

They left a lot of ground open up the middle for passes. And we knew If they went to man-to-man cov erage, we could complete the short ones." Daughterty agreed McAshan. deseved full credit for Georgia Tech's showing. "He just did a great job. He Please turn to Page 10F, Cof.

1 AP Photo Georgia Tech's Jim Kobinson eludes MSU's Brad Van Pelt for his 2nd TD hands of the pugnacious Michigan offense. The Wolverines were as close to perfect as imaginable for the first 15 minutes, and four seconds of the game as they plowed relentlessly for two touchdowns. And, who said that Coach been' completely lacking in an attack. The best UCLA could produce for Harmon in the first quarter was a mere six plays, two punts and a minus six yards and by then the Bruins looked to be heading for an early burial at the Bo Schembechler's stubborn ground attack wouldn't work against anybody as potent as the No. 6 team in the country? 'After UCLA's first punt, the Wolverines ground it out for 16 straight plays (almost seven minutes) and 74 yards for the first TD.

EVERYBODY in the back-field got a chance fullback Ed Shuttlesworth on bumps of seven, nine and lesser yardage; tailback Harry Banks for two. and four at a time; Please turn to Page 9 Col. 3 Weaver won three straight American League pennnants but never was named "Manager of the Year." Last season it was Dick Williams, who led the Oakland A's to the top of the American League West. The year before it was Ralph Houk for leading the Yankees to a second-place finish with a collection of ragamuffin athletes. Before that in 1969 it was Ted Williams for the job he did with making the Washington Senators respectable for at least one season.

If you care to go back one more seasono, it was our man Mayo Smith who won the '68 award. But nowhere can you find the name of Weaver on the list. Earl says it doesn't bother him. Every time you see him he tells you it doesn't bother Him. He calls it an idiot poll of idiot writers.

He says he'd much rather be honored by the Boston Baseball writers who happen to have twice named the Baltimore skipper as their "Manager of the Year" in two out of the last three seasons. So now here we come down to the end of 1972, and while Mr. Weaver still gets slightly spastic over the mere mention of "Manager of the Year," the question remains who is it going to be? Right now there seem to be no fewer than six candidates. Not In the order of importance, they are Billy Martin of the Tigers, Weaver, Eddie Kasko of the Red Sox, Houk, Williams (Dick) nd Chuck Tanner of the Chicago White Sox. You can make a case for all of them.

All have done a fine job. Martin, certainly, has to be considered and considered strongly for keeping the Tigers in the middle of The Great Race. Martin, Kasko Earn Vole Just think of this: Martin, is trying to finish on top with a team that doesn't have a single batter with as many as 60 runs batted in at the end of September. That's brutal. Perhaps it is because he never lets anyone play enough to get more RBIs.

More likely it is because nobody has earned the right to play all the time. No way is Billy going to put a decent hitter on the bench just because a pitcher may be righthanded or lefthanded. He has been forced to platoon his players. If anything, he has been victimized by a staggering siege of But yet he has pushed and prodded his players all season long, so that they have a chance to win it all. Weaver has to be considered because the O's still have a chance to win it.

If he can pull it off with all of his hitting problems, he'll have to be given some attention. Here in Boston, Kasko has survived all kinds of pressure from the press and public and has his club in it. In his way, Kasko has done a masterful job just by remaining so calm in the face Please turn to Page 7F, Col. 1 Lions: Here Come Vikes! OK, BY JACK SAYLOR Free Press Sports Writer Bud Grant, The Iceman, has comcth to town with his Minnesota Viking football team and he bringeth virtually the same faces, the Lions have been seeing for lo, these many frustrating years. The players are old (second oldest team in the NFL), but as luck would have it, they, are not tired and this is the team the Lions have to beat if they are harboring vision? of grandeur.

1 The two hard-bitten Central Division rivals clash at 3:05 p.m. Sunday before a capacity crowd of 54,000 in Tiger Stadium and a TV hookup for most of the rest of the country. This accounts for the odd starting time, but it does no good for the blacked-out De-troiters. They must get within eye-shot of in Viking history. It is clear that the Minnesota club makes changes thoughtfully and seldom.

Only two rookies are on the Vikes' 40-man roster, linebacker Jeff- Siemon of Stanford and Ed a i a the 1971 Heisman "bridesmaid" from Cornell. THE ONLY other newcomers are punter Mike Eischeid, who spent five years at Oakland; flanker John Gilliam, another five-year NFL vet; and, of course, quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who returned to the Twin Cities after being farmed out for five years of seasoning with the Giants. Frantic Fran already has hypped up the Viking offense, but Grant still counts heavily on his durable array of runners, Bill Please turn to Page 2F, Col. 1 Cleveland (Channel 8), Leamington (Ontario) cable TV or an outstate station. MICHIGAN CITIES on the Sunday network include Saginaw (Ch.

25), Kalamazoo (Ch. 3), Cadillac (Ch. 9) and Sault St. Marie (Ch. 10).

Because of conflict with the baseball broadcast, the radio version of the lyon-Viking game will be carried on WDEE (1500). The only ones with access to. Tiger Stadium who might not be happy Sunday are the program vendors who needs a program to tell the Vikes Same oT Vikes Eller, Page, Cox, Hilgenberg, Alderman, Krause, Kassulke, Tinglehoff, Brown, Osborn Jim Marshall, for instance, has started 155 straight games every one the Vikings have ever played since their birth as a 1961 expansion team'. He also has started every exhibition game 4.