Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 45

DETROIT FREE PRESS fl Friday, Jan. 9, IS37 The Pistons' tall story: NBANHL Chuck Nevitt, the Pistons' 7-foot-5 backup center, is hoping for more playing time following his best pro outing. Page 5D. Sports Phone (tcoret): 1-976-1313 SCOREBOARD A COMICS Call with tporti nwt: 222-6660 2-6660 I Weekend guide Pages 6D, 7D NFL playoffs: AFC and NFC scouting reports, picks Joe Lapointe: Cheryl Miller debuts as ABC announcer Weekend TV, fishing and skiing forecasts, get up and go No miracles? Fkirfeh Hitch one Catcher lost to Tigers till May By JOHN LOWE Free Press Soorls Writer Lance Parrish has left the Tigers at least until May 1. Parrish and the Tigers failed to agree on a new contract by the midnight deadline Thursday.

Despite a late improvement in the Tigers' offer, the two sides apparently finished almost $3 million apart in guaranteed money. Under baseball rules, the Tigers cannot sign Parrish until May 1,3 weeks into the 1987 season. The all-star catcher can sign with any other team. However, Tigers general manager Bill Lajoie issued a statement just after midnight in which he said the Tigers would "continue to be interested" in signing Parrish on May 1 or later if he was still available. Lajoie had a final, fruitless negotiating session on the phone between 4:30 and 5 p.m.

Thursday with Parrish's agent, Tom Reich. There was no contact between the sides after that. Lajoie said he tried to call Reich "several times" Thursday night to see if Reich and Parrish had a change of heart about the Tigers' offer. But Lajoie, who said he made See LANCE PARRISH, Page 9D Sparky won't count Lance out r-i 1 a I By JOE LAPOINTE Free Press Sporls Writer Tigers teammates expressed strong praise for ex-teammate Lance Parrish as he appeared to leave the team perhaps forever when his free-agent signing deadline with Detroit passed at midnight Thursday. But manager Sparky Anderson said early today that he' not sure Parrish is totally out of the picture.

If Parrish comes back to the Tigers, it can't be before May 1. He has indicated he will seek work with another teair before then. Anderson expressed guarded optimism. "Certainly, we will miss Lance, but we will certainty pursue trying to sign him," Anderson said by phone from his home in California. "Everyone in this organization appreci ates what Lance did for this organization.

If he's gone everybody would miss Lance." See REACTION, Page 8C Parrish not the first to test Tigers, 8D Tigers will platoon at catcher, 8D. Where are the '84 Tigers? 8D. Five free agents sign, 8D. Photostory, 12D. 51 imM mm in i Get used to it right now: A proud Tiger is gone Money talks.

Lance Parrish walks. Did you really expect him to be a Detroit Tiger this morning? Why? Because the others who had threatened to leave had all come back? Not this time. Midnight came and midnight went and there were no phone calls, no salvation, no surprises. The news was no news. No Lance Parrish.

Get used to it now. No Lance Parrish. There should have more commotion. Some walls crumbling. An explosion at Michigan and Trumbull.

Instead, an occasional car drove past a dark Tiger Stadium and the billboard that bears Par-rish's face, while the man himself was secluded in California with his phone off the hook. Money talks, Parrish walks. The catcher felt he deserved more than the Tigers' two-year, $2.4 million offer (second year not guaranteed). No doubt this morning, many agree with him. Too late now.

The Tigers brass, who have been doing this longer than any of us, obviously felt he wasn't worth what he wanted. Today we'll begin to see if anybody else feels the same way. Memories swim to the surface In the office Thursday night, I sat around drinking coffee, waiting for midnight and any last-minute news. How many people flicked their TV sets on at five to midnight, I wondered? We had been through this before last year with Kirk Gibson, last month with Jack Morris. Both returned with minutes to spare.

But Parrish's case was different. The Tiger offer he was turning down was not as significant as the offers accepted by the other guys. If one of the best catchers in baseball can't get at least similar terms from another team, there is something wrong with him that nobody knows. Or something very wrong with baseball. Parrish said he fully intends to sign with some other team.

That is what Jan. 8 is about for the players. The right to free agency. The right to fair market value. But fans don't know about that stuff.

Fans still get attached to players, still let their heartstrings curl around a number and a face. Parrish's number. Parrish's face. Do you remember the "Goose-Busters!" chant that rattled Tiger Stadium that October evening Game 5 of the 1984 World Series when Parrish came up and stroked a seventh-inning home run off Goose Gossage that lit the Detroit party candle? Sure you do. And you'll remember Parrish running to the mound to congratulate his pitchers.

And his body-builder frame, and his public service, and his grin from beneath a thin moustache. And I will remember a time I went to see him during therapy for his injured back. He was in the hospital pool, doing laps. He hated doing laps. "At least you're in the water," I yelled.

"I'd like to see you try it," he yelled back. I found a pair of shorts and jumped in. We did the crawl and sidestroke. Lap after lap. There aren't many athletes I would crawl and sidestroke with.

But it was summer and we were hot and bored and we had a couple "races" in the pool and it helped the session pass. That's the kind of stuff you could pull with Lance Parrish, because he was always slightly amused by the unusual. And after the pool, he had to go through another hour or two of therapy, and then he gave me a lift to my car, and as I got out he said, "Hey, thanks for swimming with me." He probably doesn't even remember that. I remember it. A bat, a glove, a brain But enough.

No eulogies. Parrish passed, he did not pass away. This is business. The Tigers are figuring a 30-year-old catcher with a back problem isn't worth more than a certain gamble. They might be right.

And they might be wrong. But they are done. No more Lance Parrish not until May 1, if you believe in that type of thing. What the Tigers lose is a bat, a glove, a brain. They also lose an Influence.

What some folks call "an intangible." Kirk Gibson brings fire, but Lance Parrish brings confidence, and it is hard to say which you would rather have as contagious on your team. There was not a Tiger I knew of who ever spoke against him. The young guys admired him. The manager and coaches respected him. Parrish had been here 10 seasons, had never played for another major league team.

He said he didn't want to leave. But he left. And he almost surely is not coming back. This Is baseball now. You pack your heart in your bag and you go where things look better.

Money talks. Parrish walks. Everybody loses. MARY SCHROEDERFree Press File Pholo Lance Parrish, shown waving to Tiger Stadium fans after his home run in Game 5 of the 1 984 World Series, has waved goodby to the Tigers at least until May 1. 7 seconds left Bruins tie Wings Demers said.

"I've never seen a game dominated like he did tonight." Of course, Bruins fans were once used to watching another defenseman, Bobby Orr, similarly control games. Demers stopped short of comparing the two, however. "Bobby Orr was one of the great players ever," he said. "Bourque is the great defenseman of the hour in the NHL right now." The goal was Bourque's 1 1th of the season. It came while Boston had a two-man advantage.

Wings defenseman Randy Ladouceur had been penalized for holding with 1:44 remaining and the Bruins pulled goalie Bill Ranford in the final minute. "That call on Randy was a brutal call, just brutal," Demers said. The goal concluded a furious third period in which the Bruins outshot Detroit, 18-4, for a 42-25 edge in regulation. Each team had two shots in the overtime. Detroit's best chance came on a breakaway by Tim Higgins midwaj through the extra period.

His blast from about 20 fee glanced off Ranford's shoulder and sailed over the net Bourque narrowly missed a half-open net in the fina minute. The tie also displayed Detroit's resilience in bouncing back from a tough loss to Toronto Tuesday night, whict ended a seven-game (6-0-1) unbeaten streak. Hanlon, starting for the first time in seven games dating to Dec. 21, stopped 40 shots. "He was awesome," said defenseman Darren Veitch "He made some big, big saves for us." "I'm happy," said Hanlon, who was obviously not happy at all with the tie.

The Bruins nearly tied the game at the 8:40 mark of the third period, but the goal judge who turned on the red light was overruled by referee Bob Hall. See RED WINGS, Page 41 U-M gets first Big Ten win By MICK McCABE Free Press Sports Writer ANN ARBOR The Michigan Wolverines, losers ol their first two Big Ten basketball games, may not be gooc enough to win a third straight conference championship But they showed Thursday night that they'll play some exciting basketball along the way. At times the Wolverines were at their running-an gunning best Thursday as they used Gary Grant's career high 35 points to beat Ohio State, 107-92, before 1 2,686 fans in Crisler Arena. It was the first time the Wolverines (9-5 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten) scored more than 100 points in a Big Ten game since the 1977-78 season. "When you've got one team pressing and one team playing up-tempo, you better score some points or you'll get beat," U-M coach Bill Frieder said.

ee MICHIGAN, Page 5D By KEITH GAVE Free Press Sports Writer BOSTON The Red Wings got what they wanted, but so did Boston's Ray Bourque. The brilliant defenseman scored his second goal of the night with seven seconds remaining in regulation to lift Boston to a 4-4 tie with Detroit. But not even Bourque's heroics could diminish the Wings' accomplishment of the first half of the season: In 40 games, they have earned 40 points, their total in 80 games last year. "I think it's a good, solid accomplishment," Wings coach Jacques Demers said. "But we've got a long way to go." For the moment, he was more impressed with Bourque, who picked off a bouncing puck on a rebound in front of the net and lifted it over embattled goalie Glen Hanlon, off the crossbar and into the net.

"Things went the way Ray Bourque wanted them to go," Spartans swoon against Indiana By JACK SAYLOR Free Press Sports Writer EAST LANSING If these Indiana players all get on the track at the same time, the Big Ten had best beware the Big Red Machine. Coach Bobby Knight spilled some drops in the bleary Hoosier shooting eyes at halftime Thursday and Indiana rolled past Michigan State, 79-60, before 10,004 dismayed Jenison Field House fans who were beginning to envision an upset. But Ail-American Steve Alford, the one Hoosier whose eyes didn't need any help, fueled a torrid 52-point second (half and wound up with 33 points as fourth-ranked Indiana '(11-1) won its second straight Big Ten game. For the Spartans, it was a familiar story, and not even the home-floor advantage or Jud Heathcote's past coaching magic against Knight could stem the fall to their third straight conference loss in a lackluster 5-8 season. MICHIGAN STATE, Page 5D MARY SCHROEDERDetrolt Free Press The Spartans' George Papadakos guards Indiana's Todd Meier Thursday night..