Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 55

Baseball 8D DETROIT FREE PRESSWEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1987 JimiM 'IiHiiiiiuljhiiiihi hclres' Gwynn excels in another zone i jt wm nmrnm, "yniwpwi'; mmm ftvimmrm 7 1 Gene Guidi Because he often starts his work day just about the time we're brushing our teeth before bed, Tony Gwynn has become one of baseball's best-kept secrets. Gwynn is one of the best all-around Mighty Gwynn San Diego's Tony Gwynn has hit under .300 only one season In his major league career: YEAR AB 1982 190 55 .289 1983 304" 94 .309 1964 606 213 .351 1985 622 197 .317 1987 246 90 ,366 Tot. 2,610 880 .330 didn't land any solid blows. Reds manager Pete Rose, who has been involved in a few on-the-field wrestling matches during his career as a player, wasn't the least impressed with the Jones-Acker matchup. "You call that a fight?" Rose says.

"It was more of a ballet dance." Hardly trade bait: Remember Nick Esasky? He's the Reds first baseman who was rumored to be on his way to the Tigers earlier in the season. Esasky still is the center of some hot trade rumors, but these involve the Braves. Braves general manager Bobby Cox came right out and said he was in the market for Esasky, who has been up-and-down for the Reds after coming back from a broken wrist suffered in spring training. What is Cox using as bait? Former Tigers right-hander Randy O'Neal, who got into a scrap with manager World Series games and All-Star games. But Cullerton's bill is not what the Cubs want.

The Cubs would like permission to play at least 18 games at night because the post-season restrictions wouldn't justify the expense of installing the lights, estimated at $5 million. down on ths fern (Through Monday) Toledo Mud Hens (AAA) players in the game today. But he plays most of his games time zones away from the media mills in the East and plays for the woeful San Diego Padres so his talents go largely unnoticed. In the most recent All-Star balloting, Gwynn ranks no better than seventh among National League outfielders, though he appears headed toward his second batting title in four years. Gwynn, hitting .366 entering Tuesday's games, also has become one of the league's best defensive outfielders.

And he is a clubhouse leader, recently telling crybaby teammate Eric Show that he was "sick and tired of listening" to the pitcher. Gwynn enjoyed a brief moment in the limelight when he won the batting title in 1 984 (he led the majors that year with a .351 average) and played in the World Series against the Tigers. But the Tigers were so dominant that no one remembers much about the Padres. As was the case with Dave Winf ield before Winfield went from the Padres to the Yankees, Gwynn is still waiting to be discovered. Despite playing with one of the worst teams in recent memory, Gwynn says he has no trouble getting motivated.

"I've never played for a team that has played as badly as we've played early in the year," Gwynn says. "It makes it more of a challenge because it's easy to give in to the things that are happening around you." "It's no accident that he's successful," says Padres manager Larry Bowa. "He works hard at it." Even though he carried a .326 career average into this season, Gwynn, 27, continues to leave nothing to chance. He tapes every at-bat on a VCR to study at home, and is usually among the early arrivals at the ballpark so he can take extra hitting practice. In the winter, it's not unusual for him to take 600 swings a day in a batting cage.

Once regarded as a mediocre outfielder at best, Gwynn has improved to the point that he won his first Gold Glove last season. "That was the greatest accomplishment I've had in the big leagues," Gwynn says. Gwynn had 19 assists including three in one game and ranked one behind league leader Glenn Wilson. He led outfielders in putouts with 337. His arrival as a top defensive outfielder capped off sensational season for Gwynn, who: Had 211 hits (first in the league).

Scored 107 runs (tied for first). Hit .329 (third). Compiled a .381 on-base percentage (fifth). Had seven triples (tied for fifth). Had 33 doubles (tied for.

ninth). Stole 37 bases (tied for ninth). Struck out just 35 times in 642 at-bats (second). Gwynn was so consistent that he never went two games without a hit while playing in 160 games. This season has been more of the same for Gwynn, who leads the league in batting average, hits (90), is fifth in runs scored (49), third in on-base percentage and fpurth in stolen bases (24).

Gwynn, who used to sit in the left field seats at San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium and dream about playing for the Padres, says he wants to stay with the team, even though the franchise is in turmoil. Gwynn isn't interested in rocking the boat; his only kick comes from excelling at the game he loves to Play. "There's no greater feeling in the world than taking a pitcher's fastball and turning it around with a couple of more miles per hour on it," Gwynn says. Ballet dancers? With hitters on a record home-run pace, don't be surprised to see more pitchers start aiming for rib cages. For the second straight day Sunday, the Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves were involved in a bench-clearing brawl touched off when batters were hit with pitches.

After Braves pitcher Jim Acker hit Reds outfielder Tracy Jones with a pitch, Acker walked slowly toward home plate and all but invited Jones to do battle. Jones obliged, and the two rolled around on the ground for a while. Jones threw a few punches, but 1 A sf LIU AP Chuck Tanner recently after Tanner told the pitcher he was being sent to the Braves' Triple-A team at Richmond. O'Neal was recalled to the Braves because it's easier to trade a player when he's on the major league roster. But the Reds say they're not interested in O'Neal, who has a reputation of not challenging hitters.

"He'd go to the minors before he'd pitch for me," Rose says. Cubs still in a pickle: As the Chicago Cubs continue to contend in the National League East, the knotty problem of where the team would play its post-season games remains. Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs, doesn't have lights. That wouldn't affect the playoffs, since commissioner Peter Ueberroth could and would see to it that the Cubbies play all their home playoff games during the day. But if the Cubs make it to the World Series, that's where the trouble could begin.

Ueberroth estimated that it would cost somewhere between $7 million and $15 million per game to change the World Series to a day game the loss in night television advertising revenue. The current contract with the networks calls for World Series games to be played at night, and television isn't about to lose money by amending the pact. Illinois State Rep. John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has introduced legislation that would permit installation of lights in Wrigley Field for league playoffs, BATTING Avg. AB 2B HR RBI SB Bruce Fields .313 217 37 68 16 2 21 9 Tim Tolman .308 214 33 66 21 6 38 8 Rey Palacios .289 225 28 65 13 3 29 4 Scott Lusader .284 250 40 71 15 2 34 13 Darnell Coles .280 25 5 7 3 0 5 0 German Rivera .269 208 31 56 12 6 38 5 Billy Bean .265 117 21 31 6 8 22 6 Mike Stenhouse .251 167 19 42 6 4 21 5 Jell Ransom .250 164 23 41 11 4 20 2 Jerry Davis .244 82 7 20 4 0 11 1 Doug Baker .238 164 17 39 5 2 15 2 Scott Earl .230 148 16 34 8 0 17 7 Dwight Lowry .171 41 3 7 0 0 2 0 PITCHING W-L ERA Sv IP BB SO Mike Stenhouse 0-0 00 0 2 0 0 0 NateSnell 2-0 1.96 0 18 19 4 10 Jell Jones 0-0 2.45 1 7 7 18 Bryan Kelly 2-1 3.41 0 29 23 15 16 JohnPacella 2-3 3 67 4 41 40 24 23 Paul Gibson 6-5 3.69 0 85 82 32 59 Don Heinkel 6-3 3.71 1 97 105 19 63 Ricky Wright 2-4 4.00 0 45 45 35 19 Bill Laskey 7-1 4.17 0 54 51 17 43 Steve Searcy 3-4 4 22 0 53 49 32 54 Jed Murray 1-3 5.53 1 40 49 16 20 Ricky Barlow 0-6 6.38 2 48 47 41 26 Glens Falls (AA) San Diego's Tony Gwynn.

who had a .326 career average heading into the season, is one of baseball's best-kept secrets. Generals' individual efforts worthy of attention BATTING Avg. AB 2B HR RBI SB Pedro Chavez .361 208 51 75 12 6 37 3 Connie Rowland .348 66 15 23 3 1 5 0 Tim Leiper ,329 149 27 49 10 3 23 2 Paul Felix .326 95 15 31 4 4 25 0 Chris Morgan .319 232 37 74 15 7 43 2 Bonny Ruiz .307 189 37 58 8 0 23 1 Doug Slrange .298 228 36 66 16 6 36 2 Chris Hoiles .297 182 24 54 7 5 22 1 Mall Slerrazza .295 207 30 61 12 2 14 7 Lee Granger .286 28 7 8 4 0 1 2 Jell Hermann 281 210 35 59 12 6 35 7 Wes Clements .272 202 32 55 13 12 47 1 Freddie Tiburcio .250 28 4 7 2 1 1 2 Dan Dimascio .226 93 13 21 3 3 15 0 PITCHING W-L ERA Sv IP BBSO Charlie Mitchell 0-0 2.12 5 17 8 7 14 Ramon Pena 4-5 2.23 7 48V4 52 14 28 Bill Cooper 3-5 3.71 0 70'i 74 24 36 Kevin Rilz 3-3 4.76 0 75 82 40 32 Balvino Galvez 3-4 5.54 0 39 59 15 16 JohnSmollz 3-5 6.03 0 71 74 47 49 Rod Poissant 3-0 6.84 1 48 73 24 23 ChipMcHugh 4-6 7.01 0 61 82 20 25 Jell Agar 3-4 8.16 1 32 42 18 21 John Dully 2-2 617 1 36Vi 57 13 23 Benny Ruiz 0-0 9.00 0 2 3 4 1 fXj Chris M-''t I tain report HARVEY (MILT KIRK GIBSON CUYLER Hi Lakeland (A) "7JT BATTING Avg. AB 2B HR RBI SB 44 15 11 4 28 25 28 5 49 "8 19 Art 'y0mt mAtiJy Berme Anderson Mark Potlinger Pat Austin Rich Wieljgman Craig Mills Wayne Housie Blane Fox Adam Dempsay Laney Prioleau Rick Daily Rocky Cusack Derek Bastinck Ron Marigny Bob Thomson Doyle Balthazar .335 242 39 81 .317 63 12 20 .315 276 61 87 .312 170 26 53 .306 255 51 78 .273 242 35 66 .254 240 39 61 .248 101 7 25 .241 29 4 7 .208 48 12 10 .200 125 11 25 .200 85 11 17 .197 66 7 13 .188 64 4 12 .167 36 4 6 PITCHING W-L ERASv IP BBSO Chris Powell covers the Fayette-ville Generals, a Tigers Class A farm team, for the Fayetteville IN.C.j Times. FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.

At a glance, the Tigers' entry in the Class A South Atlantic League, the Fayetteville Generals, posted few eye-catching numbers in the first 75 games of the season. After all, the club withered in the stretch drive of a first-half pennant race that included four teams struggling to break .500. Fayetteville wound up in a third-place tie, 4'2 games behind Houston Astros affiliate Ashe-ville, in the league's Northern Division. The Generals, after wedging themselves into first place, lost eight of their last 11 games, finishing 33-37. Still, they have begun the second half of the season with a 4-1 record.

But several individual performances are worth noting. Most promising has been the play of center fielder Milt Cuyler, the Tigers' second pick in the 1986 free agent draft, who turned down an opportunity to play football at Florida State. The Tigers took one look at Cuy ler's speed, factored in his athletic ability and decided to transform the natural right-handed hitter into a switch hitter. "HE ONLY practiced switch hitting in rookie ball," says Tom Gamboa, the organization's minor league field coordinator and Cuyler's manager at Bristol, in 1986, where Cuyler hit a disappointing .230. "Then he went to instructional ball in the fall and he tried it in games.

I don't think he got one hit left-handed." This year, it has been a different story. Cuyler, Fayetteville's leadoff batter, has hit from both sides of the plate. On May 7, he was batting .330 while facing mostly right-handed pitchers. Unfortunately, that was the day he broke a toe and missed 29 games. 1.57 0 23 1.67 2 32VS 1.93 10 37 2.18 0 78 3 26 22 B0 35 14 53 36 48 45 Wade Phillips Mark Lee Dave Cooper Rich Lacko Paul Wenson Scott Schultz Art Raubolt Robinson Garces Ken Gohmann Keith Nicholson Richard Carter Mike Hansen 2- 0 1- 1 3- 3 5-3 5- 3 4- 1 2- 3 2-1 0-2 6- 4 5- 1 4-3 4 0 0 3 0 The Tigers' No.

1 pick a year ago, catcher Phil Clark, also enjoyed a solid first half of the season offensively. After leading the Appalachian League in hitting at .332 in 1986, Clark struggled at the outset this season. But he put together an 18-game hitting streak (including 4-for-4 and 5-for-5 games) in late May and early June, boosting his average from .237 to .311. Through Sunday, he was hitting .302 with eight homers and 48 RBIs. But Clark's defense has hardly been as effective.

The Tigers are grooming Clark, 19, as a catcher. But opposing runners have taken advantage of his two-pump throwing mption, and he also has allowed 13 passed balls while splitting time behind the plate. At times, he's played third base and some outfield. "CLARK LOOKS like he's going to be a hitter," says Fayetteville manager John Lipon, who played nine major league seasons, seven as a Tigers in-fielder in the '40s and '50s. "He's been slow developing as a catcher, but that's normal.

Most catchers take a while to develop, even the good ones." The Tigers' third pick in last year's draft has struggled. Zack Doster, a 19-year-old outfielder who hit .270 at Gastonia in 1986, is sputtering at .222 with two homers and 17 RBIs. "He's had so much trouble with the breaking ball," Gamboa says. "But like a lot of others, it's too early to give up on him." Gamboa puts Doster in a group with Basilio Cabrera (signed from the Dominican Republic) and Darryl Martin (1986 seventh-round pick). All three 2.59 3.20 3.45 3.67 4.31 465 532 631 62 34 31 81 66 1 12' 22 32 46 49 40 29 30 0 0 45 Fayetteville (A) Fayetteville, 1987 PERSONAL 1986 graduate of Southwest Macon (Ga.) High, where he starred in football and baseball name is pronounced Kl-ter.

CAREER: Tigers' second pick In the 1986 June draft switch-hitter hitting .316 through Monday for Class A Fayetteville with 20 FIBfe and 15 stolen bases. HIGHLIGHT: Hit only .230 for Bristol last season, but showed some speed with 12 stolen bases and five triples, second in the Appalachian League "He's got exceptional speed we're teaching him to bunt for a hit and he covers a lot of ground in the outfield," Fayetteville manager John Lipon said. SIDELIGHT: Single and enjoys running. QUOTE: Lipon on Cuyler: "We've shortened his swing a little bit and gotten him to hit the ball the other way. He's shown extra-base power, He's got an acceptable arm.

which should get better. He kind of short-arms the ball like a catcher. Me needs a longer swing, but It doesn't happen overnight." Tigers, 1952-59 PERSONAL Born Dec. 4, 1930, in Milwaukee attended University of Wisconsin signed with the Tigers in 1952 for a $55,000 bonus returned to Milwaukee to manage the Brewers. CAREER: Played much of his career at shortstop, but switched to the outfield hi 1958 rookie of the year in 1953 and led the majors in hits (209) won the batting crown in 1959 but was traded the following spring to the Cleveland tndlans for Rocky Colavito also played with San Francisco.

HIGHLIGHT: During eight-year career with Detroit, batted over .300 seven times. SIDELIGHT: In 1955, proposed to Miss Wisconsin, Dixie Ann QUOTE: Speaking on the sophomore jinx in 1953: "I figure the reason a lot of second-year players run into hitting troubles is because they start trying to outguess the pitcher. They try to read his mind, to call his next pitch, to remember the sequence of pitches he might have thrown to them the year before. I am not ooinq -to do that." Tigers, 1979-87 PERSONAL: Graduated from Waterford Kettering High All-America wide receiver in football and center fielder in basebaS at Michigan State set MSU record in pass receptions, yards gained and touchdowns drafted by St. Louis in played one year of baseball and hit .390 with 16 home runs in 48 games.

CAREER: Has hit 27, 29 and 28 home runs the last three seasons In 19B4, became first Tiger to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in same season MVP of the American League championship series against Kansas City missed most of 1980 season with wrist injury; Injured ankle in 1986 and missed part of this season with Injured ribs HIGHLIGHT; Hit three-run homer off Goose Gossage in Game 5 of 1984 World Series. SIDELIGHT: Married Dec. 21, 1 985, in double ceremony with best friend, former Tiger Dave Rozema. QUOTE: On pressure: '1 thrive for the situations, I want to be up to the plate In a situation like that." BATTING Avg. AB 2B HR RBI SB Tony Lovullo .435 23 7 10 2 3 7 1 Marcos Gonzalez .333 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 Manny Mantrana .323 192 33 62 10 4 27 23 Milt Cuyler .315 184 32 58 5 1 20 15 Randy Luciani .297 118 13 35 8 3 15 1 Phil Clark .295 315 50 93 19 8 48 11 Dean Decillls .286 14 2 4 0 0 2 3 Luis Melendez .276 76 18 21 4 1 12 1 Arney Beyeler .266 267 43 71 4 1 27 12 Ramon Solano .256 133 17 34 4 0 13 5 Paul Foster .251 295 40 74 9 14 54 6 Darryl Martin .251 215 26 54 8 2 24 18 Liliano Castro .248 105 7 26 0 0 7 1 Todd Adkins .244 45 9 11 1 0 8 0 Basilio Cabrera .240 208 29 50 6 1 20 20 Zack Doster .226 217 23 49 6 1 13 8 Al Lieberl .216 97 9 21 2 3 14 1 Bob Bell .095 42 0 4 0 10 JoseValdez .000 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 PITCHING W-L ERASv IP BBSO Hector Berrioa 4-4 2.58 1 45 33 21 48 Steve Parascand 0-2 3.10 2 49 39 29 25 Dan O'Neill 4-1 3.15 5 40 36 12 42 Felix Lirlano 2-1 3.29 0 27'4 25 11 10 JoeSlavik 1-2 3.32 0 21 21 6 18 Ken Williams 5-5 3.33 0 83 89 29 56 Scott Aldred 4-7 3.45 0 86 78 52 73 Carlos Rivera 0-0 3.75 0 12 14 8 2 Darren Hursey 6-6 3.78 0 81 83 34 48 Jose Ramos 1 0-0 4 05 0 13V5 16 7 10 Glenn Belcher 2-1 4.47 2 46 52 26 24 Ron Rlghtnowar 2-2 7.01 6 34 43 16 26 Randy Nosek 1-2 7.07 0 14 15 17 13 RobFriesen 1-3 7 28 0 21 25 18 13 1 Terry foster But he returned a month later, and, after a short slump, has continued to excel offensively and defensively.

Through Sunday, Cuyler, 18, was batting .318, with 14 stolen bases, and he had hit one home run left-handed. In addition, he covers as much territory as any outfielder in the league. "Most people believe the most improved player in our organization is Cuyler," Gamboa says. outfielders have speed and strong arms. Cabrera is hitting .245 and Martin .252.

The Tigers' ninth-round pick last year, right-hander Wade Phillips from the University of Texas, wasted little time proving he was too advanced for the South Atlantic League. In 1 1 starts, he threw two complete-game shutouts and was promoted to Lakelnd in the to a season total of 329, four more than the league record. Lipon hopes part of that problem will be resolved with a new left side of the infield. Ex-UCLA standout Torey Lovullo is at third base, Florida State League with a 5-2 record and league-leading 1.49 ERA. Notebook: No problem has plagued Fayetteville more than defense.

The Generals have committed 176 errors in 75 games, whicfl projects vullo, a fifth-round pick, is a switch hitter who hit three homers in his first seven games, two right-handed. First baseman Paul Foster, a team: mate of Bo Jackson at Auburn, leads Fayetteville in home runs with 14 and in RBIs with 54. He's batting .250. ana uean ueums is the shortstop. Both were drafted earlier this month Lo- 0.