Page 8
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, JUNE 29, 1978
sports
United Press International
NEW YORK — Ted Williams al
ways had this one all-consuming de
sire, this near obsession of his which
continually bugged him.
He wanted to be a pitcher.
One day, Joe Cronin, then play
ing manager with the Red Sox, fi
nally let Williams pitch in a game
that was hopelessly lost and what
brings that back to mind is the
“Monday Night Massacre” in To-
Mark Thurmond
Kyle Hawthorne
Aggies in Japan
Texas A&M baseball players
Mark Thurmond and Kyle
Hawthorne are playing in the
Sixth Annual USA-Japan College
All-Star Series.
The USA team is coached by
Rod Dedeaux, coach at the Uni
versity of California. Dedeaux
brought his USC frojans to the
opening ceremonies at C.E.
“Pat” Olsen Field last season.
The All-Star series is tied at
one game each with five games
remaining.
Thurmond, A&M’s stellar
southpaw, finished last season
with a 13-1 record for the South
west Conference champions.
Hawthorne, the Aggies’ first
baseman, broke two school rec
ords last season. He hit 14 home-
runs and had 53 RBIs.
Both Thurmond and Hawth
orne will be seniors for the 1979
Aggie baseball team.
ronto in which the Blue Jays all but
cremated the Orioles, 24-10, and
Earl Weaver, in total unequivocal
surrender, brought in centerfielder
Larry Harlow and catcher-coach
Elrod Hendricks to pitch.
“Not too many people realize it,
but Ted originally broke into
baseball as a pitcher,” Cronin said
from his summer home in Cape Cod
Tuesday.
“Williams started as a pitcher
with San Diego, but was such a
good-looking hitter that Frank Shel-
lenback, the manager there, put
him in the outfield. After Ted came
to the Red Sox, he’d frequently pre
tend he was pitching to an
imaginary hitter when he’d warm up
before a game on the sidelines. He
was a great pantomimist and he’d
say to whoever was near him, ‘I got
two balls and one strike on this guy,
now watch me throw him a curve
ball low and on the outside.’ And
after he’d throw that curve of his,
he’d jump up and down just like a
little kid and say, ‘Did you see him
miss it!’
“Anyway, we had a big crowd this
day in Boston and we were playing
Detroit,” Cronin recalled. “We
were way behind in the seventh or
eighth inning, and I said to Ted on
the bench, ‘You’ve been popping off
so much about your pitching, I’m
gonna put you in to pitch.’
‘“Good, good!’ he said. He was
really excited. He pitched one in
ning, I believe, and I remember
him striking out Rudy York. Pinky
Higgins singled off him, but to the
best of my recollection, the Tigers
didn’t get any runs off Ted. The fans
loved it. When they left the park,
they were talking about his pitching
rather than the beating we took.”
In Monday night’s contest,
Weaver was criticized by Peter
Bavasi, the Blue Jays’ president,
and by Roy Hartsfield, their man
ager, for turning the game into a
travesty by bringing in Harlow and
Hendricks to pitch, but there is no
rule in the book against it. And
Weaver had ample precedent on his
side.
When Pepper Martin, ordinarily
a third baseman, was with the Car
dinals, Frankie Frisch let him pitch
in relief one day against the Cubs
and Martin was so out of his element
he had to be shown how to stand on
the mound.
Rocky Colavito, who had an arm
like a cannon, came in from the out
field to pitch in a game for the In
dians in 1958. He did the same
thing when he was with the Yankees
10 years later, winding up winning
that contest.
Hendricks had never pitched
anywhere in his life before getting
the call against the Blue Jays
Monday night.
“I take that back,” he told me
Puhl is Astros’ shining star
United Press International
HOUSTON — The pressure is
beginning to mount on National
League batting leader Terry Puhl,
the one bright light in a dim season
for the Houston Astros.
“All this publicity is no big deal,”
Names in the sports world
United Press International
HOUSTON — Bob Watson
blasted a three-run homer to snap a
scoreless tie in the seventh inning
Wednesday night and Tom Dixon
posted his first major league shutout
by stopping the Cincinnati Reds on
four hits in pitching the Houston As
tros to a 3-0 triumph.
DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers
said Wednesday pitcher Mark Fid-
rych went to New York for treat
ment of his sore right shoulder,
which has kept him on the disabled
list since May 1.
The team said the popular right
hander would see Dr. Maurice
Cowen, an orthopedic surgeon for
the New York Yankees, at Lenox
Hill Hospital.
SEATTLE — Track immortal
Jesse Owens detects a growing
interest in running among young
people around the country and
thinks “kids are a lot more dedicated
and disciplined than they were a few
years ago.”
Owens, who won four gold med
als in the 1936 Olympics and be
came the most enduring figure in
the history of track and field, said,
“Young people seemed to have lost
those qualities for a time, but
they’re coming back now.”
NEW YORK — The estranged
wife of Harlem Globetrotter
Meadowlark Lemon was con-
ditionallly released Tuesday at her
sentencing for assaulting him with a
knife during a dispute last April.
She pleaded guilty to simple assault
last month after she was accused of
stabbing Lemon in the back April
25.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge
Louis Necco ordered the discharge
of Willye Lemon, 40, on condition
that she seek psychiatric help and
stay out of further trouble.
says Puhl, 21. “I come to the ball
park just like any other player and
don’t do anything differently. Actu
ally, though, my teammates have
been paying more attention to me
and ribbing me more than they do
anybody else.”
Puhl, a native of Canada who
signed with the Astros for $1,000 in
1973, acknowledged that hitting
.332 near the midpoint of the season
is bringing more attention to him
and and making him think of being
selected to the All-Star Game next
week.
“My parents (in Melville, Sas
katchewan) don’t realize what it’s all
about or even what the All-Star
Game is,” said Puhl.
Of the All-Star Game, Puhl said,
“It’s an honor. I’d love to play. I will
be disappointed if I don’t go.”
Puhl has been by far the Astros’
most consistent player, and his hit
ting could carry him onto the team
for the July 11 All-Star Game. To be
selected, Puhl must be chosen by
Los Angeles Manager Tom LaSorda
as one of three or four alternate out
fielders.
Despite the paltry number of
votes turned in to the league office
by the Astros, the young outfielder
said he liked the All-Star voting sys
tem.
“Yeah, when we start winning,
we’ll start getting votes,” he said.
Puhl has steadily improved his
batting average from .240 early in
the season, despite the league’s
. Astro*
oygfffc.. ■'
Terry Puhl
third basemen moving in to take
away his drag bunts.
“People are playing me smarter,”
he said. “But I feel comfortable at
the plate and I am easilly stroking
the ball to left field. If I continue to
do that, I’ll hit.”
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Williams wanted to pitch
from Toronto. “I pitched a little
softball in the Islands when I was
about 14 years old,” meaning the
Virgin Islands where he’s from.
Hendricks, 37, didn’t do that
badly in his professional debut as a
pitcher, giving up one hit and walk
ing only one in 2 1-3 innings. He
was in the bullpen warming up
Oriole right-hander Dan Stanhouse
when he was notified of his instant
conversion in the fifth inning. To
ronto was in front 24-6 and catcher
Dave Skaggs delivered the message
to Hendricks when he came to the
bullpen from the dugout.
“He said to me, ‘Can you throw
strikes?’ and I told him ‘I’ll try,”’
said Hendricks.
“I didn’t have a finger glove, so I
used Stanhouse’s, ” related the
Orioles’ veteran receiver. “All I did
was go in and throw at the same
speed I use pitching batting practice
and hope no one would hit it back at
me.”
One of the most popular players
in the big leagues, Hendricks took a
lot of goodnatured ribbing from the
other Orioles during his pitching
turn.
One of the Baltimore players
urged him to try the hesitation pitch
Satchel Paige helped make famous.
“I told him no, I can’t do that,”
said always conscientious Elrod
Hendricks. “I know I’m not a
pitcher, but I didn’t really think it
was a joke.”
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