The Battalion
Monday • August 4, 1997
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Houston fans
need lesson
in team loyalty
H ouston has to be one of
the great sports myster
ies in the world. Al
though the city has seen many
quality teams come and go over
the past 40 years, the support
that those teams have received
is less than what most avid
sports fans call acceptable.
This year’s Houston Astros
are a
prime ex
ample of
why there
is a gener
al feeling
amongst
sports
fans that
Houstoni
ans don’t
support
their
teams. The Astros, who are in
the midst of a pennant drive
and a red-hot second half, have
yet to gather any real support
from their fans. In what may
have been the most important
game of the season last
Wednesday night against the St.
Louis Cardinals, only 28,000
fans bothered to show up. Daryl
Kile, the most dominant pitcher
in the National League, was on
the mound, and the Astros had
a chance to run their lead to
seven games over the most un
likely team to catch them — no
offense to the Pirates. But
where were the fans?
The stadium issue, the per
ceived gun to the head tactics of
Drayton McLane and the 1994
Major League strike, may have
kept some fans away, but in the
end this team is a hard-working
unit and deserves better fan
support. The bottom line is that
the Astros have been an above
average team for the last six
years, yet the fan support just
has not been there.
The Oilers may have been
the exception to the rule in
Houston, as they consistently
saw good fan support year in
and year out, until the most
hated man in Houston, Bud
Adams, finalized plans to move
the team to the country music
capital of the world, Nashville.
The city would likely have given
Bud his stadium, except Hous
ton had dished out millions
only a few years earlier to im
prove the Astrodome. That
soon proved to be unaccept
able, once Bud saw everyone
else getting shiny, brand new
stadiums. The fans of the Oilers
were consistent, even after the
debacle in Buffalo and many
playoff disappointments.
Please see Dabney on Page 4.
Niekro, Lasorda, Fox, Wells join Hall of Fame
Tommy Lasorda
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) —
The first time Tommy Lasorda saw
Phil Niekro on the mound, he
thought of an old baseball adage.
“They say you don’t want to have
a knuckleballer pitching for you or
against you ,” Lasorda said.
That was Niekro’s problem, too.
It was the one pitch he had mas
tered from his father, growing up in
the coal mine country of eastern
Ohio. And not a lot of baseball peo
ple liked it very much.
On Sunday, when he and Lasor
da went into the Hall of Fame to
gether, the pitcher they called
"Knucksie” recalled how close he
came to being cut because of the
gimmick pitch that got him his first
contract for $500.
“They have those organizational
meetings every winter when they
decide who to keep and who to let
go,” Niekro said. “Five hundred
bucks. You can afford to write that
off. I know a couple of times, Birdie
Tebbetts was the man in the Braves
organization who raised his hand
and said ‘Keep the man.’ ”
So Niekro stayed around, even
tually for 24 years, winning 318
games and gaining election to the
Hall of Fame. Also inducted Sun
day in the tiny hamlet celebrated
as the birthplace of baseball were
infielders Nellie Fox and Willie
Wells, increasing membership in
the shrine to 232. Longtime base
ball writer Charley Feeney and
broadcaster Jimmy Dudley re
ceived media awards.
The single traffic light in down
town Cooperstown worked over
time as thousands of visitors
jammed the town to honor Lasorda,
the longtime Dodgers manager,
and Niekro. Many fans wore shirts
and hats in tribute to Fox, the scrap
py second baseman, and Wells, the
14th Negro League player inducted.
Joanne Fox accepted for her late
husband and Stella Wells accepted
for her father.
Fox, a 12-time All-Star, played 19
major league seasons and was the
American League’s MVP in 1959
Astros slide by New York, 3-2
HOUSTON (AP) — Greg McMichaeTs 0-2 pitch hit
Luis Gonzalez with the bases loaded and two outs in
the bottom of the ninth to force home the winning run
and give the Houston Astros a 3-2 victory over the New
York Mets on Sunday.
With two outs in the ninth, Craig Biggio singled to
center and stole second before McMichael (7-9) walked
pinch-hitter Thomas Howard and Jeff Bagwell to load
the bases.
McMichael hit the left-hand
ed hitting Gonzalez on the right
leg on an 0-2 count to bring in
Biggio with the winning run.
Tom Martin (4-2) pitched
two innings of one-hit ball for
the victory.
Biggio homered and had
three hits for the Astros, who
have won 20 of 25 games and haven’t lost a series after
dropping two of three to Cleveland at the Astrodome
from June 30-July 2. Houston has won or split nine se
ries since.
The Mets have won 10 of 16 games, but finished
their road trip at 5-6.
The Astros tied the game 2-2 in the seventh. Pinch-
hitter Bill Spiers doubled to left and scored one out lat
er when Biggio hit the first pitch from reliever Juan
Acevedo over the center-field fence for his 16th homer
of the season.
New York starter Brian Bohanon allowed three hits
and one walk over 5 1-3 innings, striking out four.
Todd Hundley’s 23rd home run of the season, a shot
over the right-field wall, scored Jason Hardtke for a 2-0
first-inning lead. Hardtke hit a one-out single to left be
fore Hundley connected on a
2-2 fastball from Shane
Reynolds one out later.
Reynolds pitched five in
nings, giving up two runs on
three hits and two walks, with
six strikeouts.
Houston’s Sean Berry
missed a home run leading off
the fifth when his long drive to
left hit a speaker hanging from the Astrodome ceiling
in left field. The ball bounced back towards the infield
and Berry reached second with a double. Bohanon
then retired the side to strand Berry.
Berry is the second player to hit an Astrodome
speaker. Mike Schmidt hit one in center field on June
10,1974. Schmidt was held to a single as his blast struck
the speaker and bounced back to short center.
Johnson struggles in 400-meter semis
ATHENS, Greece (AP) —
Michael Johnson’s defense of his
400-meter title at the world cham
pionships got off to a shaky start
Sunday. He finished fourth in his
second-round heat and barely ad
vanced to the semifinals.
The reigning Olympic and world
champion at both 200 and 400 me
ters eased up too much at the end
of the race and was edged at the line
by Senegal’s Ibrahima Wade.
“I was sure I had a firm grip on
my position. I just didn’t see
(Wade),” Johnson said in a state
ment released by track and field’s
governing body. “It surprised me
that he was suddenly beside me."
The top three from each heat
plus those with the four next fastest
times advance, and Johnson’s time
of45.39 seconds gave him the next-
to-last qualifying spot. He made it
into the semifinals by five-hun
dredths of a second.
With 50 meters left, Johnson was
second behind eventual heat win
ner Jamie Baulch of Britain. But as
the defending champion coasted to
the finish, he was passed by Ugan
da’s Davis Kamoga and outleaned
by the hard-charging Wade.
Baulch and Nigeria’s Clement
Chukwu, both at 45.06, turned in
the top heat times, while Ameri
cans Antonio Pettigrew, the 1991
world champion, Jerome Young
and Tyree Washington also reached
Monday’s semifinals.
Johnson walked away from the
interview area in silence, trailed by
about 50 reporters.
Johnson, who hopes to eventu
ally break Butch Reynolds’ world
record and bring it under 43 sec
onds, had to run two 400 heats on
the same day for the first time.
He has not had an easy season.
In his 150-meter showdown
with 100-meter record-holder
Donovan Bailey on June 1 in
Toronto, Johnson, who holds the
mark for 200 meters, pulled up
with a leg injury that sidelined him
for more than a month.
“I’m not surprised that he’s run
ning this slow,” Young, who took
his heat in 44.87, said of Johnson.
“It’s a rough struggle to come back
from injury.”
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when he led the Chicago White Sox
to their first pennant in 40 years. He
won three Gold Gloves and his 798
consecutive games played at second
base remains a major league record.
He joins his old double play partner,
Luis Aparicio, in the Hall of Fame.
Fox and Aparicio are the fourth
double play combination in Coop
erstown, joining Jackie Robinson
and Pee Wee Reese of the Brooklyn
Dodgers, Joe Cronin and Bobby Do-
err of the Boston Red Sox, and Joe
Tinker and Johnny Evers of the
Chicago Cubs.
Wells batted .331 in 20 years of
Negro League ball. He had 123 ca
reer home runs including 27 in just
88 games to set a Negro League
record in 1929 and led the league
with a .403 batting average the
next year.
Lasorda, whose Dodgers teams
won 1,599 games in 20 seasons, re
called a conversation with Reese
about the 1955 Dodgers, Brooklyn’s
lone world championship team.
“I said, ‘Pee Wee, if I told you one
of the 25 guys on that team that year
would manage the Dodgers to a
world championship in 1981, you’d
put me at No. 25.’ ”
Reese disagreed, telling Lasorda
he would be No. 24.
“Who’s 25th, then?” Lasorda
wondered.
“Amoros,” Reese said, referring
to Cuban outfielder Sandy Amoros.
“He couldn’t speak English.”
Lasorda’s voice broke once when
he talked about longtime Dodgers
executive A1 Campanis, who is ail
ing. He called Campanis, “My men
tor, who taught so much about the
game of baseball and life.”
Niekro’s emotional moment
came when he spoke of his family,
including his brother, Joe, who also
pitched in the major leagues.
“We faced each other nine
times,” he said. “He won five and I
won four. That’s the way it should
be. He’s the baby. He got one hit off
me. He hit one home run in the big
leagues and it was off me. Won a
game, too.”
National Football League
Preseason At A Glance
AMERICAN CONFERENCE
East
W
L
T
Pet.
PF
PA
Indianapolis
1
0
0
1.000
20
16
N.Y. Jets
1
0
0
1.000
31
17
Miami
0
1
0
.000
00
20
New England
0
1
0
.000
3
7
Buffalo
0
2
0
.000
27
51
Central
Pittsburgh
2
0
0
1.000
58
31
Jacksonville
0
0
0
.000
00
00
Baltimore
0
1
0
.000
20
21
Cincinnati
0
1
0
.000
16
20
Tennessee
0
1
0
.000
12
21
West
Denver
1
0
0
1.000
31
10
San Diego
1
0
0
1.000
20
13
Seattle
1
1
0
.500
60
34
Oakland
0
0
0
.000
00
00
Kansas City
0
1
0
.000
14
28
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
East
W
L
I
Pet.
PF
PA
N.Y. Giants
1
0
0
1.000
21
20
Washington
1
0
0
1.000
20
8
Arizona
0
1
0
.000
6
34
Dallas
0
0
0
.000
00
00
Philadelphia
0
1
0
.000
17
31
Central
Green Bay
2
0
0
1.000
27
3
Minnesota
2
0
0
1.000
52
32
Detroit
1
0
0
1.000
20
17
Chicago
1
1
0
.500
37
47
Tampa Bay
0
1
0
.000
08
20
West
New Orleans
1
0
0
1.000
21
12
Carolina
0
0
0
.000
00
00
Atlanta
0
1
0
.000
17
20
St. Louis
0
1
0
.000
6
24
San Francisco
0
1.
0
.000
13
20
Saturday's Games
Washington 20, Tampa Bay 8
Minnesota 24, St. Louis 6
New Orleans 21, Tennessee 12
N.Y. Jets 31, Philadelphia 1 7
N.Y. Giants 21, Baltimore 20
Pittsburgh 28, Kansas City 14
Chicago 20, Buffalo 17, OT
San Diego 20, San Francisco 13
Seattle 34, Arizona 6
Monday's Game
Denver vs. Miami at Mexico City, 8 p.m.
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