Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1988)
ports Jnjured Dodgers iSl^p w j n g er i es The Battalion Friday, Oct. 21, 1988 Pa CIO 9 iied.Piai hwestAj Snifitaii OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Orel Bcrshiser and the hurtin’ Los Angeles Jodgers did everything they weren’t iipposed to do, stopping the Bash Bunch and stunning the Oakland Ath- ■tics 5-2 Thursday night to win the [world Series in five games. I Hershiser’s four-hitter closed out Hie of the most dramatic turnarounds Kind biggest upsets in baseball history. Je held Jose Canseco and Mark Mc Gwire to a combined 2-for-36 and al- Iwed just five earned runs in his fi nal 101 innings and was voted the jcSeries’ Most Valuable Player. ■ The Dodgers, crippled by injuries B Kirk Gibson, Mike Marshall, Mike iScioscia and John Tudor, weren’t ex- Ipeek'd to stay in the same ballpark as I the Athletics. Instead, Los Angeles I blew the winningest team in the ma jors off the field. ■ Mickey Hatcher and Mike Davis K4ch hit two-run homers that made it Hi in the fourth inning. That was iplenty for Hershiser, who pitched Los Hgeles into the Series with a shutout in Game 7 of the National League 1 playoffs against the heavily favored Hw York Mets and then shut out ^ikland on three hits in Game 2. It was the sixth World Series lampionship for the Dodgers, who kame the first team to win two championships in the 1980s, their last one coming in 1981. It also ended a streak in which 10 different clubs had won the last 10 Series. Los Angeles, the most active team in the off-season, made the moves work. They rebounded from a 73-89 mark the last two years, the greatest improvement of any National League team to win the World Series. Hershiser struck out nine and walked four. He was toughest when it mattered most, twice getting Canseco with two runners on base. Canseco grounded out to end the third with Oakland trailing 2-1. In the eighth, after Stan Javier’s RBI single pulled the Athletics within 5-2, Hershiser walked Dave Henderson and brought Canseco to the plate as the potential tying run. But Hershiser got Canseco, who led the majors in homers and RBI, on a popup and struck out Parker to es cape. Canseco finished 1-for-19 — hit less after his grand slam in Game 1. McGwire, Oakland’s other big basher, went 1-for-17, his only hit a winning home run in Game 3. The Athletics lost for the first time in four World Series appearances since moving to Oakland. They won three straight championships, begin See Dodgers/Page 11 Tradition and towels The Rightin’ Texas Aggie 12th Man on the field By Cray Pixley Assistant Sports Editor Imagine leaving the safety of the stands at Kyle Field to don a maroon and white uniform to be a part of the A&M kickoff team. There are 70,000 fevered fans shouting appro val and waiting to see if you will suc ceed in bringing down a possible Heisman Trophy winner — or fail when he blows by you in a blast of exhaust headed for a TD return. You've been practicing since mak ing the 12th Man Kick-off Team, and now' its time to step onto the Held and prove it doesn’t take a scholarship to contribute something to the Aggie football team. As you take the field, there are feelings of excitement, determin ation and nervousness that must be tempered by level, clear thinking. The ball is set — the kick is up. Your eyes are keyed on the opposing jerseys as you burn down the turf in a burst of energy. . . . In the 1982 football season, the Aggie team went 5-6, and A&M Head Football Coach Jackie Sherrill was a fairly recent addition to a floundering team with a power house crowd of fans. A Southwest Conference title and Cotton Bowl appearance seemed distant years from ever being realized by an Aggie team. While Aggie fans were looking to ward the new coach for some respite for the ailing home team, Sherrill was planning a way to harness stu dent enthusiasm and pump it back into the Aggie team. Seven years ago this fall, he issued an invitation for male students to tryout for a posi tion on the start ing kickoff team for home games. About 250 male students showed up the following February, along with two aspiring female 12th Man candidates who were turned away. To be a pari of the Aggie football team seemed a dream for a good number of men on campus — and a few women too. The 12th Man Kick-off Team was born. “There had been a num ber of injuries, but it was not until I arrived on the field that I learned that Coach Bi-- ble wanted me to put on a football uniform and be ready to play if he needed me. I was ready to play but never was sent into the game.... , E. King Gill At the time, Sherrill said the 12th Man squad was a way for students to identify with someone on the Field who wasn’t a scholarship player. He stated that it would really make a student feel good to know that his roommate went out on Saturday af ternoons and re turned kickoffs. Sherrill’s idea of non-scholarship players covering kickoffs was un heard of, and it horrified many critics who thought the coach should concen trate his efforts on strengthening his “real” football E players instead of ulling players om the untried ranks. Some critics thought it was a suicide move. But Sherrill was concrete in his plans and the 12th Man played the 1983 season. The idea was a resounding success with students on the home campus and similiar 12th Man teams were spawned at universities around the nation. The sight of 12th Man towel-wav- 1 ing athletes is now, . . . well, a tradi tion at Kyle Field — and fast becom ing one at the Cotton Bowl. For six years the 12th Man Kick-off Team has hurled itself down the football field with a killer instinct and a drive to make the fellow students in the stands proud. Throughout the early years of the 12th Man, the team compiled an im pressive list of stats and had better return coverage than the varsity team. Then in 1987 the team hit a patch of bad luck and fell below par. Houston’s James Dixon returned one for 53 yards breaking through the yardage that the 12th Man had jealously guarded for four years. Until that play, the team hadn’t al lowed more than 39 yards or movement past the 50-yard line. The slip was noticed. In that one run, the reputation and prestige of the 12th Man re ceived a blow and seemed headed for a tumble from the pedestal of honor. The problems of the team reached a peak when Sherrill re placed the team with varsity athletes See 12th Man, page 11 aybe “best team” doesn’t necessarily mean “most talent” bargaii rent« epaitm i hid J All I could think about Thursday was the 1954 iveland Indians. The team that cruised to the irican League pennant, winning 111 of 154 in the regular season — still a record, Bn a 162-game world. They were the ist assemblage of baseball studliness since 27 Yankees, everyone said, itncame the Series. And Willie Mays. ie New York Giants were lucky to even be Ithe World Series. It took a dramatic, ninth- Bing home run by Bobby Thompson in a layoff game to get there. And then came The Catch. . . . He Wouldn’t have ever gotten there. Runners Hnfull motion after Vic Wertz’ crushing five to the deepest part of the Polo Grounds — ihowouldn’t be? It was a sure triple. Maybe an aside the-parker. If it stayed in the park in the ffplace. |Willie Mays was on his way to becoming Hal L. Hammons Sports Editor the greatest defensive center fielder — maybe the greatest player — in baseball history. And he got there. Not only that, he doubled up a runner to get the Giants out of the inning. The Indians never recovered. The Giants swept the Series in four. Maybe the Giants were better than people After you’ve shown your folks around, show them this. gave them credit for. Maybe the Indians weren’t ready for a challenge. Maybe they thought too much about the ’27 Yanks. The legendary “Murderer’s Row” of Ruth, Gehrig, and cast of home run machines sauntered into batting practice and literally took the Pittsburgh Pirates out of the Series before the first pitch was thrown.The hapless Pirates sat in amazement as the Yankees powered pitch after pitch after pitch over the fences. They might as well have surrendered then and there. The Indians themselves are the only ones who will ever know for sure. Except maybe for the ’88 Oakland Athletics. A World Series hasn’t looked so lopsided in years. The A’s looked — still look — at least equal to the Los Angeles Dodgers at every position, in every category. Better in most. And it wasn’t just me who thought so. When I told people, “A’s in five,” I meant it. Most people agreed with me. For that matter, a fairly loud voice in the back of my brain is still saying they’ll win in five. Certainly in six. Needless to say, they won’t. But perhaps the sports world needs a story like the ’88 Dodgers. The American public, long awed by outward signs of strength, gets rocked to sleep by a continuous parade of “best-in-the- businesses” walking away with blowout Super Bowl wins and national championships. Sure, an occasional Brigham Young football team or a Villanova basketball program might take a title with weak scheduling or one good game against an obviously better team. But we always can justify the upset away. We always can convince ourselves that the winners weren’t really the best team. But it takes a World Series — a triumph in a best-of-seven format — to make even the most skeptical of critics rethink his position. The New York Mets did it in 1969. It was done to them this year. Maybe it doesn’t take more talent. After all, could anyone think of anything short of Orel Hershiser with an amputation that would have hurt the Dodgers’ chances than what actually happened to them? If something bad could have, it did. Maybe a team outmatched at practically every position, with half of its home run output injured and half its starting pitchers out, isn’t automatically out of it. Maybe pitching Orel Hershiser every day and giving Kirk Gibson a leg transplant isn’t necessary. Maybe being a team just means playing the best. Maybe it’s making the most of your opportunities, knowing your limitations, and performing to the best of your ability. And maybe, just maybe, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the best team in baseball. After they’ve seen where you eat, where you sleep, and where you go to class, show them what’s going to help you study. The IBM® Personal System/2® is the best way to show your parents just how serious you are about your grades. It’s easy to learn and easy to use, and can help you organize notes, revise papers, produce high-quality graphics, and more. And if you’re eligible, you’ll even get the IBM PS/2 at up to 40% off. So after you’ve shown them around, show them what counts. M icroComputerCenter Computer Soles and Supplies MSC 845-4081 ill Personal System/2 are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. "r/e^/ T'h/g if not a tegt/ Jlbig /<r Xaggie^W^/^inema/ Ttme, to f?oc£ it firofH the, D&tfta to tfi& ROBIN WILLIAMS Friday, October 21 7:30/9:45 Saturday, October 22 9:45/Midnight Rudder Theatre $2.00 w/TAMU ID ★ ★★★★★★★ One FREE Soundtrack to be given away at each showing! Courtesy of Record Bar! ★ ★★★★★★★ How funny can you be? Enter our Adrian Cronauer Impersonation Contest, Friday, Oct. 21,12:30pm beside Rudder Fountain. The best impersonator will win a free soundtrack! Call battalion Classified 845-2611