Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 11

Winning is answer to low gate is Braves again in 1991. It had been years i since the team had captured anyone's imagination and they played their games in Fulton-County Stadium an unappetizing facility in a something less than ideal location. Sound familiar? But then it happened. The Braves began to win games in bunches and soon found themselves hanging out with the division leaders. Suddenly the stadium, homely as it is, became the place to be.

The tomahawk chop was born, the Braves became Atlanta's darlings and went to the World Series. After not drawing as many as 20,000 fans in any of their first six games at home, the Braves racked up 16 crowds on the way to 2,140,217 in attendance the first time they drew two million since 1983. And this year has been even bigger box office for the Braves. They have already drawn 1,312,714 through 36home dates an average of 36,464. The Braves have played to 20 sellouts at home, which tops their previous record of 17 sellouts in a season.

It can all be traced to one thing winning. Not cap giveaways, not a state-of-the-art sound system, not better ballpark food, not more bathrooms. The reason the fans are coming to the stadium is because the Braves are playing for pennants. The other stuff is nice. But the Braves are proof that those other things aren't necessary to fill a stadium.

"We found out that if you win, they will come," said Alan Butts of the Braves' public relations staff. I'm sure that a new home for the Tigers, with its posh sky boxes and Boston's Luis Rivera is tagged out by pitcher Mark Leiter at third base Tigers' home-run power is too much for Red Sox down; average goes up Mud Hens win on 5-hitter, 2-0 Free Press Wire Reports MOOSIC, Pa. Jamie Moyer and Ron Rightnowar combined on a five-hitter Tuesday night, giving Toledo a 2-0 victory over Scranton-Wilkes Barre in the International League. Moyer (3-3) gave up five hits and a walk and struck out five in eight innings. Rightnowar got his first save.

The Mud Hens (31-39), the Tigers' Triple-A club, are last in the Western Division. Scranton Wilkes Barre's 41-27 record leads the Eastern Division. Former Cardinal Greg Mathews (3-3) took the loss, pitching a three-hitter and fanning seven. The Hens got two of their three hits in the first inning. Rod Robertson doubled and scored on Jeff Stone's single.

Riccardo Ingram led off the fifth with a home run. luxury suites, would help bring out more fans and generate more revenue. But because that eventuality seems a long way off now, it would behoove the Tigers to put some contending teams on the field if they want to put some fannies in the seats. HERE AND THERE: Scott Livingstone might never be a big RBI man, but he is a contact hitter who can extend innings something the all-or-nothing Tigers' lineup really needs. If it's possible to be an underrated pro athlete in New York, Mel Hall is.

Toronto's Juan Guzman not only wins, he dominates. Five minutes of those White Sox announcers on WGN is enough to start me chewing on my remote control. Tom Brookens' son, Casey, was taken by the Royals in the recent amateur draft. He is a right-handed pitcher out of Chambersburg Area High School in Fayetteville, Pa. If the Blue Jays trade for Jim Abbott, the Tigers should petition the league to change divisions.

JUST ASKING: Along with ESPN's nightly "dinger diary" celebrating the homer hitters, how about a quick rundown of the players who successfully executed sacrifice bunts? Do you think the people who put the 1992 Dodgers together now realize the error of their ways? What's happening to that old gang from the 1984 Tigers? Can someone explain to me how the Oakland Athletics can be in first place? Who is your favorite Houston Astro? Is Mike Ilitch as close to buying the Tigers as some rumors say? How are the plans for your All-Star Game party coming along? ing coach and an interpreter. "This stems from an informal agreement three years ago with the Hanshin Tigers when we permitted them into the instructional league," said Tigers minor league director Joe McDonald. "At their request, we took two players this year. So far one has done all right and the other has struggled, but some of our own players are struggling. It's too early now, but we will look at it and evaluate the players." Niagara Falls manager Larry Par-rish played for Hanshin in 1990.

Amateur All-Star Showcase: The top five amateur baseball organizations in the country have joined forces for the first National Amateur All-Star tournament, to be played June 24-27 next year at Battle Creek's Bailey Park. The tournament will feature the nation's best 16- to 18-year-old players from the PONY, Dixie, Babe Ruth, American Amateur Baseball Congress and National Amateur Baseball Federation leagues. "This is the first time attempting to locate the 20 best players from each amateur program," said Joe Cooper, President of the American Amateur Baseball Congress. "The players will be identified as high draft picks and scholarship athletes. There is a lot of interest from pro and college scouts, and it may even be an opportunity for a young boy to get another shot." The tournament is scheduled for a two-year run, but organizers are hoping it will become an annual event.

Local talent and farm stats, 6D. problems The trials continue today with finals in the men's 800 meters, men's long jump, women's 400 meters and women's 5,000. BRITISH REVOLT: Reynolds isn't the only one looking for help from the courts. A group of British track writers here issued a press release saving they plan to apply to the Supreme Court to overturn the results of the Battle of New Orleans, which took place Jan. 8, 1814.

The Americans won. "We believe that a number of soldiers in Andrew Jackson's army were not eligible to represent the U.S. in competition under Rule 53," said spokesman Cliff Temple of the London Sunday Times. Coma See the Newest, Freshest Faces In Town Ncon-1 tit. 7 B.B.-1 i.H.

Sunday Business Meetings or nscneior parties ENJOY A DELICIOUS MEAL FREE WITH RESERVATIONS FOR (3131 963-7320 5 4 0m MOB mm CALL Those ever-popular Red Sox are in town along with the Famous Chicken so for a few days at least, the old ballpark has a little Ufe to it. In the Tigers' case, a little life translates into a crowd larger than the 11,000 or so that has turned out for most games. Unless the trend somehow reverses itself, the Tigers are in for another disappointing season at the box office. After watching them perform in stadiums bulging with fans in" Toronto and Chicago on their recent trip, the temptation is to use the attendance comparison as further evidence that the Tigers need a new home because the Blue Jays and White Sox are playing in recently-built stadiums wjth lots of fan appeal. But let's try a different comparison, using the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves were in worse shape, attendance-wise, than the Tigers in 1990. And remember, the Tigers were coming off that horrific 59-103 season in, 1989. i The Braves drew 980,129 fans in 1990; the Tigers played to 1,495,785. The poor attendance was nothing new in Atlanta: in 1987-90, the Braves averaged 15,218, 11,159, 12,791 and 12,896. The situation looked bleak for the Hurst sent Last week's cold weather was nothing new to outfielder Jody Hurst.

He has spent the season in a blizzard. Hurst started the season at Triple-A Toledo but struggled at the plate and was demoted to Double-A London last week. "It can really snowball on you," Hurst said. "It got so bad that I was pushing too hard to turn it around." Hurst, 25, expected to start the season at London, but a strong spring training landed him in Toledo. He played 15 exhibition games with the Tigers and batted .240.

But his average in Toledo dipped to .186, the worst in his pro career. "My confidence was really down at the end," Hurst said. "I felt like I was swinging the bat all right, but I just couldn't get anything to fall and I started pressing." When Hurst arrived in London, the weather finally broke. In his first six games he batted .417 (10-for-24) with a double, a triple, two homers, seven RBIs and eight runs. He was named Eastern League player of the week.

"We got the reports on what he was doing in Toledo," said London coach Bruce Fields. "He was getting a lot of breaking balls and off-speed pitches Reynolds flies TRACK, from Page ID olds be allowed to compete internationally before his suspension expires Aug. 12. "My attorneys did their stuff in court and now it's my turn to do it on the track," said Reynolds. "I feel relieved.

Round 1 felt like I was carrying a 50-pound vest on my back. When I got into the stadium, the feeling I got was incredible. I didn't want to run 44.5, but it was uncontrollable." As late as 5 a.m. Tuesday, there was doubt whether a 400-meter race would take place. The IAAF had threatened to suspend any athlete who competed against Reynolds, and nobody except Reynolds' brother, Jeff, was willing to take that risk.

But early Tuesday, the IAAF announced that it would make an exception. I A crowd of 2,000 showed up for the 3 p.m. race the only event of the afternoon and cheered as Reynolds jogged onto the track. More than 50 photographers chronicled his every move. Tad Gormley Stadium was si-; lent when the starting gun sounded.

"It was real scary with all that I attention on our heat," said Hall. "It made me a little nervous, but you can't WORLD HEALTH SPA Sauna Jacuzzi Of) Oriental Massage off 1 EB Opn: 7 Dlyi a.m. MldnlgM 41371 1. 1-M Brlvt 7ilral fi Win $1 275) totkMfy 697-1110 GENE I GUIDI Baseball IoeI' cybulski Farm report JULIAN H. GONZALEZDetroit Free after a second-inning rundown But the Tigers sniffed out the strategy and called for a pitchout, which meant Vaughn was an easy out at third.

Leiter still couldn't escape unscathed, however. After giving up his second walk of the inning to put runners on first and second, Leiter surrendered an RBI single to Luis Rivera and a sacrifice fly to Tony Pena. i The 2-0 Red Sox lead was cut in half in the bottom of the second when Tettleton hammered a 3-2 pitch into the leftfield seats. The Red Sox loaded the bases with one out against Leiter in the third on a walk and two infield hits. Though Leiter wasn't getting hit hard, the Tigers' right-hander was behind in the 1 count to just about every hitter.

That prompted manager Sparky Anderson to remove Leiter in favor of Kiely after Leiter threw a first-pitch ball to Zupcic. The Sox boosted their lead to 4-1 on Zupcic's sacrifice fly and Scott Cooper's single. i i "i i T72 1 7 TIGERS, from Page ID innings, allowing one run. Leiter was making his eighth start since joining the rotation on May 12; he was 3-2 with a 4.40 ERA since then. It was Hesketh's first start against the Tigers this season and his first ever in Tiger Stadium.

Hesketh had been 2-0 with a 2.04 ERA in his last three starts. The Red Sox posed an early threat when Wade Boggs tripled to right-center with two out in the first. But Rob Deer made a shoetop catch on Tom Brunansky's pop fly to right to end the inning. The Red Sox broke through against Leiter in the second, although they did their best to run themselves out of the inning. With Mo Vaughn on second and Bob Zupcic on first and none out, the Red Sox tried the hit-and-run play that served them well in the second inning Monday night.

1 1 i mm m-m and not reacting very well. "But he came down here and has hit the ball hard." Hurst's quick start and his familiarity with London, where he spent parts of 1990 and 1991, has helped ease the disappointment of the demotion. In 1990, he was promoted there midway through the season after batting .301 at Class A Lakeland. He also spent the final two months of last season at London after breaking his hand in spring training. Hurst was drafted in 1989 out of Mississippi State, where he earned All-Southeast Conference honors in 1988 and '89.

He got his degree in computer science and hopes to work in the aerospace industry in Huntsville, when his baseball career is over. Tigers Get True Imports: Cecil Fielder and Bill Gullickson's status as the Tigers' imported players has just been revoked. Although both came to Detroit after playing in Japan, the Tigers now have two genuine imports in their system. Yoshitaro Ban and Kazuharu Ya-mazaki will play this season with the Niagara Falls Rapids, Detroit's Class A affiliate in the New York-Penn League. They are the first Japanese players in the league's 53-year history.

They are right-handed pitchers and belong to the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese League. Ban, 19, 5-foot-ll, 160 pounds, was Hanshin's sixth pick in the 1900 Japanese draft. Yamazaki, 19, 6-0, 172, was the third pick. The players will be accompanied by a pitch past his legal pay attention to who's in Lane 7. My plan was to pace myself off Butch.

I figured he'd go fast." Jeff Reynolds, who didn't qualify for the semifinal, said he felt as vindicated as his brother. "They say Butch doesn't belong here; they're right," the younger Reynolds said. "He's in a class by himself. He wasn't rusty or choppy. He's had so much frustration built up inside him that he had to let go.

He's making a statement to the world." The Reynolds controversy has taken its toll on the entire family, said Butch's father, Harry Sr. "I wouldn't wish what Butch has been through on anyone," Harry Reynolds said. "I can't believe the strength that young man has shown. He's been through two years of hell, and I would have given up long ago. But I've always told Butch that the Lord doesn't give you more than you can bear, and we'll get through this together." TOTALLY FIT SPA MASSAGE TANNING SAUNA STEAMBATH SHOWER EXERCISE Hz 2C3-C344 17 N.

WmAmtH SotwMtl 1 13 Mil Kurt to My. MM.4at 10 MM) A YOSHIKO ORIENTAL SPA SAUNA SHOWER SHIATSU MASSAGE 588-5183 31100 Jor? at 13 Mile EH HA Hi "n9! THE REBROADGAST-ONLY ON HBO. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24 AT 9 PM ETPT 3M 193ersideW. Windsor, Canada.