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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1995)
The Battalion • Page 3 Monday • July 31, 1995 ?ps Alexander makes easy transition from A&M to A ball Angels' Davis strikes taunting fan during game MILWAUKEE (AP) — California An gels designated hitter Chili Davis siruck a fan in the face for taunting him during Sunday's game against Mil waukee. The fan, a man in his 20s or 30s, heckled Davis when he was in the on- deck circle in the third inning and Chavis yelled back at him. After the fan continued jawing, ; Davis threw his bat down and ap proached the fan, who remained in his |seat in the front row near the Angels' third-base dugout. Davis struck the s man with an open hand under his |hin, then grabbed his cheek. The man stayed in his seat and did n't return a punch, but he was escorted but of the ballpark by a sheriff's de- ipartment official as the crowd booed. atthews to sign with ilers this week Ik!- HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Oil ers holdout Bruce Matthews has promised to sign with the team this week after agreeing to a four-year, $10.3 million contract. Matthews, who has been to seven consecutive Pro Bowls and has a chance to break Mike Munchak's team lecord of nine, took a step toward pos sible enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "I'll probably sign Monday or Tuesday," said Matthews, who was an unrestricted free agent. "I'm glad it's over, because I'm ready to get back to work. "I'm excited about the season. I wanted to stay in Houston all along," he said. "This (contract) means I should be able to finish my career with the Oilers." □ Drafted by the Houston Astros in the third round, he is now hitting over .300 in Class A. The uniforms are different, the scenery has changed a bit and the bats are now wood, not aluminum. The visu al differences aside however, former Texas A&M outfielder Chad Alexan der’s life has not changed much in the past six months. Alexander, a starting outfielder for A&M for the last two seasons, was drafted in June by the Houston Astros in the third round. He now plays for the Class A Auburn Astros in the New York- Penn League. He was drafted originally in 1992 by the Cincinnati Reds after being named a high school All-Ameri can at Lufkin High School following his senior season. The Reds took Alexander with the first pick overall in the second round that year. Alexander decided to not turn pro immediately however, saying Texas A&M had more to offer him. “I didn’t think I was ready to go to the minor leagues,” Alexander said. “Campus and college life are a part of life and the growing process.” In May, Alexander made the jump from college to the pros as a junior, but he said he was unsure of his decision even after being drafted. “I did not decide to leave school be fore the draft,” Alexander said. “I made my decision to sign a professional con tract during our negotiations.” His statistics show that Alexander made the right decision. The Auburn Astros are in first place in their divi sion, and Alexander has made immedi ate contributions. Through Friday he was second on the team in batting average, hitting .326. He also is second on the team in stolen bases, having been successful in 15 of 20 attempts so far this season. Now that he is established in the mi nors, Alexander said it was worth the wait of three years of college. “There hasn’t been that big of a transition for me,” he said. “I think the college life really got me prepared for minor league baseball.” Despite being sucessful at every lev el he has played on, no one is more sur prised by Alexander’s success than he is. “I thought coming in that it was going to be very difficult,” Alexander said. “After the first couple of games, I got the hang of it. I think the coaching staff at Texas A&M did a very good job of preparing me for minor league base ball.” Alexander was drafted after enjoy ing one of the best offensive seasons in Aggie history. He was the team’s co-Most Valuable Player along with first baseman John Curl, who was drafted this year by the Oakland Athletics. Alexander set a new A&M record for hits in a season with 106, shattering the existing record of 96 by John By- ington in 1987. For his efforts, Alexan- "I think college life really got me ready for minor league baseball." — Chad Alexander Outfielder, Auburn Astros File Photo Former Texas A&M outfielder Chad Alexander takes a lead off of first in a game at Olsen Field this spring. Alexander is currently hitting .326 for the Class A Auburn Astros. der was named a member of the All- Southwest Conference team. One person who was not surprised by Alexander’s immediate impact in the minors is his former manager, A&M Head Baseball Coach Mark John son. “Chad’s always been a hard work er,” Johnson said. “He does everything a coach would want him to do.” The Astros’ season ends in August, and the minor league playoffs will be finished by early September. Alexan der said he is still undecided as to what his plans for the time off will be. “I may go to the instructional leagues (in Arizona) to work on my game,” Alexander said. “If I don’t go however, I plan to attend Texas A&M to finish up my degree.” Rangers recall Ortiz, dump Buechele m ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Third baseman Steve Buechele's homecom ing with the Texas Rangers is over. Buechele, 33, was placed on waivers for the purpose of granting his unconditional release Saturday after going hitless in his last 1 2 at bats. Luis Ortiz, 25, was recalled from Class AAA Oklahoma City to fill Buechele's place at third. Buechele was 3-for-4 for a .125 batting average in nine games, six of them starts, since he was called up from Oklahoma City. Ortiz was batting .306 with two home runs and 20 runs batted in 47 games with the 89ers of the American Association. In another move, the Rangers ac quired outfielder Lou Frazier from the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later. Chicago's Kruk retires after first-inning single BALTIMORE (AP) — John Kruk re tired from the Chicago White Sox on Sunday in the middle of a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Kruk, 34, singled in the first inning .wand was left on base. Frank Thomas pinch-hit for him in the third inning as Kruk was cleaning out his locker and leaving Camden Yards in the middle of the game. "The desire to compete at this level is gone. When that happens, it's time to go," Kruk said in a state ment that was released after the Ori oles' 8-3 victory. It was not a sudden decision; the burly first baseman-designated hitter made up his mind Friday and shared the news with him teammates on Saturday. "Yeah, he wanted to go out with a hit," Chicago manager Terry Beving- ton said. "If he wouldn't have gotten a hit today, he would have waited until he got a hit." Kruk, who signed with the White Sox as a free agent May 12, batted I .308 with two homers and 23 RBIs in 49 games. In his 10-year career with C San Diego, Philadelphia and Chicago, | he hit .300 with 100 homers and 592 i RBIs. He was selected to play in three | All-Star games and participated in one I World Series, in 1993. win game. to injury q Houston will be without its first baseman for 3-4 weeks. SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Houston As tros beat the San Diego Padres 7-1 Sun day, but the victory was a costly one as Jeff Bagwell suffered a broken left hand that will sideline him for at least three weeks. It was the second time in less than a year that Bagwell broke the fourth metacarpal bone when he was hit by a pitch from a San Diego player. This time it was on a fourth-inning pitch from former teammate Brian Williams. Doug Drabek (7-5) won his third straight start, but he wasn’t as sharp as last Tuesday when he threw a three-hitter to beat Hideo Nomo and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He allowed one run on six hits in six innings with one strikeout and no walks. Drabek got the Astros going with his bat, hitting a two-out single off Williams (2-8) to give the Astros a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Dave Magadan opened the inning with a walk and James Mouton hit a one-out double. The Astros scored five in the sev enth on four hits, two walks, an error and a passed ball. Derrick May, pinch hitting for Drabek, started the rally with a bases-loaded single that drove in one run. Brian Hunter had a two- run single and Craig Shipley added an RBI single. Williams (2-8), who came over in last De cember’s 12-player trade between the Astros and Padres, allowed five runs and four hits in six-plus innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. The Padres scored their run in the first inning on consecutive dou bles by Tony Gwynn and Ken Caminiti. After Bagwell was hit, he was examined on the field and took first base but was doubled off when Derek Bell lined out to light. Bag- well was then replaced at first base by Dave Magadan. Bagwell was scheduled to return to Houston on Monday to be exam ined by a team doctor. Bagwell, the unanimous 1994 National League MVP, broke the same bone when he was hit by a pitch from Andy Benes on Aug. 10 in Houston. Bagwell Tyson proves athletes don’t score as role models “/ feel kids can find some body better to look up. to than me. If I had to tell them to look up to someone,it would be Michael Jordan,Hakeem Olaju- won or Shaq O’Neal and those guys.” Mike Tyson, heavyweight boxer and convicted rapist W ell,at least Iron Mike got part of it right. Namely the part about him not being a good role model for anybody, espe cially kids. However, somewhere along the line, Tyson missed the point. Athletes aren’t the an swer. They don’t have to be role models. Nowhere in a player’s contract does it state that. Besides, with all the turmoil currently clouding professional sports, it shouldn’t be too diffi cult to find a better example of a role model. I mean seri ously, when kids say, “I want to be like Mike,” they should not be re ferring to Michael Jordan. He has almost single- handedly spear headed a move ment that has brought the Na tional Basketball Association to its first work stoppage in its history. Jordan has never been one to show active interest in the player’s union. Buck Williams, the president of the union, has been trying to get him, Patrick Ewing and several other promi nent players involved for years. Now Jordan along with this select group of players are working to decertify the union — a union that I feel has always been stronger than any other in professional sports. This dilemma has brought the NBA to a point where the upcoming season could start late or possibly be canceled alto gether. And I thought Jordan was just con fused about his jersey number. Tyson also mentioned Olaju- won, one of the real gentlemen in professional basketball. But Olajuwon is an exception, and no one should assume that oth ers will follow his lead. The simple fact of the matter is that athletes are entertain ers, not babysitters. I think Charles Barkley said it best in a commercial he did a couple of years ago. He proclaimed on camera,for the whole country to see,that he was not a role model and that he gets paid to dunk a bas ketball. He went on to say that it is parents who should be role models. This is where Tyson, in his ultimate wisdom, went astray. Parents are the ones who need to be role models for their kids. This idea of putting the blame on athletes for the job parents are supposed to be do ing is ridiculous. Athletes are here to entertain us, and when their jobs are finished, whether it be on the court or in the field, they become everyday people. They are just as capable of making mistakes as the rest of us and shouldn’t be given harsher treatment or more re sponsibility just because they are always in the public eye. Professional athletes seem to be the perfect scapegoat for parents that are not doing the job that they are suppose to be doing. The fact is, athletes only need to be role models for one group ... their own kids. Jimmy Williams SPORTSWRITERf, Hurdler Wade takes third in Olympic Fest □ The A&M junior fin ished the event with a time of 13.53 seconds. Staff and Wire Reports Seven-tenths of a second is not a lot of time for most people, but it was worth a gold medal to A&M hurdler Larry Wade Sat urday. Wade finished third in the 100-meter hurdles at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Wade finished the event with a time of 13.60 seconds, and was beaten by Dudley Dorival of Trenton, N.J. and Duane Ross of Shelby, N.C. Ross also cost Wade a first- place time at the NCAA Nation al Track and Field Champi onships in June. In other track events, decath- lete Dave Johnson won the bronze medal in the javelin with his best throw ever, 245 feet, 10 inches. He led after the first round, but wasn’t able to hold off Ed Kaminski of Merriam, Kan., whose winning throw of 260 feet was the second best in the coun try this year. “I got the other guys excited,” Johnson joked of his early lead. “I didn’t want them beaten by a decathlete.” Kevin Young, the 1992 Olympic champion Kevin Young and world record-holder in the 400-meter hurdles, finished sixth. His time of 50.66 seconds was well off his world record of 46.78 and nearly two seconds slower than that of the winner, Mau rice Mitchell of Chicago. Young also ran a leg on the last-place 1,600-meter relay team. te uiii ab' ing 5 ;ion : 0^ For Knockout * %>’ Savings, Nr Put Meineke® In Your Corner George Foreman World Heavyweight Ctianmion B EXHAUST E BRAKES E SHOCKS E STRUTS E SPRINGS E C.U. JOINTS ! All Parts ! Does not apply to labor One Coupon Per Vehicle I Expires 10-15-95 • MEINEKE® I memeke Discount Mufflers EXHAUST • BRAKES • SHOCKS STRUTS • SPRINGS • C.V. 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