Rearview Sports

October 27, 1991: Twins Win the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-27T07:47:00.000-05:00

A perfect 10! Twins capture classic Series
Morris outduels Smoltz to win MVP
The Associated Press
October 28, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — Pinch hitter Gene Larkin hit a game-winning single with the bases loaded in the 10th inning Sunday night as the Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves 1-0 to win one of the most exciting World Series in history.

Series MVP Jack Morris pitched a 7-hitter over 10 innings and won only the third decisive seventh game in World Series history to go into extra innings. The series had a record three extra-inning games and five 1-run games.

The deadlock finally was broken in the 10th. Dan Gladden led off with a bloop double to center off Alejandro Pena and Chuck Knoblauch sacrificed him to third.

Kirby Puckett, who won Game 6 with an 11th-inning homer, and Kent Hrbek were walked intentionally to load the bases.

Larkin, the first player from Columbia University in the majors since Lou Gehrig, then hit a single to left-center, only the second game-ending hit in a seventh game. The other was Bill Mazeroski's homer in 1960.

It was the second Series title in five seasons for the Twins, who once again swept all four Series games in their high-decibel Metrodome. In 1987, the Twins beat St. Louis at home in Games 1 and 2, lost three straight on the road and then came home and swept Games 6 and 7.

The last seventh game to go extra innings was in 1924, when the Washington Senators beat the New York Giants in 12 innings. The other was in 1912, when the Boston Red Sox rallied for 2 runs in the bottom of the 10th to beat the New York Giants 4-3. That actually was Game 8 because of a tie.

Morris and Atlanta's John Smoltz pitched a dandy of a duel, and these turnaround teams went into extra innings for a record third time.

Morris, the winningest pitcher of the 1980s, allowed 7 hits through 9 innings and kept getting out of jams. Smoltz allowed 6 hits in 7 1/3 innings, struck out four and walked one.

Both teams were trying for successful completions of their worst-to-first seasons. Atlanta was at the bottom of baseball in 1990 at 65-97, then went 94-68 this season to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West title.

Minnesota went from 74-88 to 95-67, dethroning the three-time AL champion Oakland Athletics. Then the Twins won the AL playoffs from Toronto in five games.

Just like they did in 1987 against St. Louis, the Twins won the opening two games of the Series at home in their dome, lost three straight on the road, then came back to the Metrodome and forced Game 7.

Morris retired the Braves in order in the first, then gave up a leadoff single to David Justice in the second. Justice, running on the pitch, went to second on Sid Bream's groundout, but was stranded when Brian Hunter struck out and Greg Olson popped out.

Smoltz retired the first five Twins, then allowed consecutive singles to Brian Harper and Shane Mack. Mike Pagliarulo ended the second with a grounder to first.

Atlanta threatened again in the third as Rafael Belliard singled with one out and Morris walked Lonnie Smith. But Terry Pendleton flied to short left and Ron Gant grounded into a forceout.

Greg Gagne doubled down the leftfield line with one out in the bottom of the inning on a 2-2 pitch after falling behind 0-2. Gagne went to third on Chuck Knoblauch's fly to right, but Kirby Puckett, whose 11th-inning homer won Saturday night's game, struck out after Smoltz fell behind 2-0.

Morris once again pitched out of trouble in the eighth. Smith led off with a check-swing single to right. Pendleton doubled to the gap in left-center, but Smith — decoyed by second baseman Knoblauch at shortstop — slowed at second and only made it to third. Two innings earlier, Smith failed to run from first on a 3-2 pitch with two outs.

Gant hit a slow roller to Hrbek at first and was tagged for the first out. Twins manager Tom Kelly visited the mound and Justice was walked intentionally.

Then, with the count at 1-2, Bream bounced to Hrbek at first. Hrbek threw home for the forceout and Harper relayed to first for an inning-ending double play.

Then in the eighth, the Braves got out of a big jam. Pinch hitter Randy Bush led off with a single. Gladden flied to center and Knoblauch singled sharply to right, moving pinch runner Al Newman to third.

Mike Stanton relieved and intentionally walked Puckett, loading the bases. Hrbek then lined to second. Lemke caught the ball and doubled up Knoblauch for the third out.

Stanton got in trouble in the ninth when Davis singled to right after fouling off four two-strike pitches. Harper reached on a bunt single between the mound and first as pinch runner Jarvis Brown took second.

Stanton pulled a back muscle trying to make a play, and Alejandro Pena relieved. Mack grounded to first as Bream started a 3-6-3 double play, with Brown going to third.

Pagliarulo was intentionally walked, but Paul Sorrento hit for Al Newman and struck out.

WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK
Braves may be hurt by free agency
The Associated Press
October 28, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — Free agency is casting a lengthening shadow over the future success of the Pittsburgh Pirates, and one top Atlanta team official is afraid it could spell eventual doom for the Braves, too.

Hank Aaron, a Braves senior vice president, says the same economic forces that probably will drive sluggers Bobby Bonilla and Barry Bonds out of Pittsburgh could take away such emerging Atlanta stars as Tom Glavine and David Justice once they become eligible for free agency in the mid-1990s.

Smaller markets, such as Pittsburgh and Atlanta, lack the local television money to match the resources of big-city franchises like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

"I see what's happening to a city like Pittsburgh, and it doesn't deserve it." Aaron said Sunday before the Braves played Minnesota in Game 7 of the World Series. "Some cities just aren't going to be able to make it.''

The big vs. small discrepancies are among the economic problems being studied by a baseball management-player commission headed by former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Voelker. Revenue sharing is among the steps that the commission may consider.

• Mark Lemke's emergence as the star for the Braves in the Series has thrust him into the spotlight He was the focus of narrower but just as intense interest earlier this year.

According to Atlanta manager Bobby Cox, several teams approached the Braves last spring about the availability of Lemke, who then was listed as one of the last infielders on the Atlanta roster. The answer to all such inquiries: A firm "No."

"We had no interest in trading him." Cox said. "We felt he'd be a valuable part of the team, although we weren't sure how."

• Lemke, batting over .400 and a key in each of the Braves' three home wins last week, was a leading contender for the Series MVP. A rather unusual trophy would accompany that award.

The first Atlanta player to be named Series MVP gets a 300-pound, life-size statue of an American Indian.

• How loud does it get in the Metrodome when the Twins' fans start rocking?

So loud that bullpen coaches can't hear the phones ring when the dugout calls to get a relief pitcher ready.

To make sure they don't miss any important calls, the coaches keep their feet on the phone's handset. That way, they can feel the vibration.

Series big $$$ winner is CBS
The Associated Press
October 28, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — The biggest winner at the World Series may be CBS. The network reported it will make about $40 million extra because Minnesota and Atlanta needed seven games to decide the title.

“It's a major impact," CBS Sports president Neal Pilson said Sunday.

The extra games mean anything from $35 million to $45 million extra.

CBS had plenty of bad luck in 1990, the first season of its four-year, $1.06 billion baseball deal. There was a rain delay during the All-Star Game that pushed its finish past prime time in most of the country. Oakland swept Boston in the AL playoffs and Cincinnati swept the A's in the World Series. Only 14 of a possible 21 postseason games were played.

But this year the audience is up, with an average rating of 22 8 and an average share of 36 for the first five games. That's up 5 percent from last year.

The NL playoffs went to seven games this year and the AL went to five, giving CBS 19 of a possible 21 games.

"We budget for somewhere between five and six games a series," Pilson said/

Pilson and CBS chairman Laurence Tisch have been criticized in the television industry for the baseball deal. Officials from other networks said it raised the prices for rights fees in other sports.

That makes this year's Series especially pleasing for Pilson.

"It's very exciting for us," he said. "I think all of baseball is rejoicing. Our guys are pleased. We were obviously disappointed last year. But we realize no one controls the length of the Series."

The exact amount CBS will earn from the Series depends on the rates of Game 7 ads. Since no one knew the game would exist, it wasn't sold early.

"We were selling Game 7 last week," Pilson said. "There are a number of factors going against each other. You have the lure of Game 7. You know you're going to get a good rating. But advertisers know you have a limited time to sell out."

CBS's rating in the seventh game will be hurt because the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins played opposite on ESPN. The NFL game began an hour before the World Series game.

October 26, 1991: Game 6 of the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-26T07:06:00.000-05:00

For those of you looking to satisfy your Series jones after last night's rainout, you've come to the right place. The RVS Machine is still dialed back to 1991, when 15 years ago today the Twins and Braves hooked up for Game 6.

This game had it all: great individual performances, defense, pitching, base running, Charlie Liebrandt ... everything.

Be sure to scroll down for video of Kirby's Game 6 highlights (and a bizarre rendition of "Take Me out to the Ball Game.")

Puckett, Twins have a blast
HR in 11th pushes Series to Game 7
The Associated Press
October 27, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — Kirby Puckett was just the difference the Minnesota Twins needed to make one of the closest World Series even closer.

Puckett, already a hero for a leaping, run-saving catch and 2 hits and 2 RBI, led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a home run Saturday night to give the Twins a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves and force a decisive seventh game.

Puckett sent Charlie Leibrandt's 2-1 changeup on a line over the left-center field fence.

"They've been throwing me a lot of changeups the whole Series," Puckett said. "I'm such an aggressive-type hitter—I just go up there and hack. I just wanted to make him get the ball up.

"He got it up and I got it out."

Atlanta manager Bobby Cox gambled in bringing in Leibrandt, who started and lost Game 1. Leibrandt was making his first relief appearance in two years and defying baseball odds as a left-hander facing the righty-hitting Puckett.

It was the second extra-inning game of the Series — the first time that's happened since 1975 — and the fourth of six to be decided by 1 run on the winning team's last at-bat.

"I feel like I've been in a 15-round fight," Puckett said. "I'm so drained you can't believe it."

The Twins returned home after three straight losses in Atlanta and improved to 7-0 in Series games at the Metrodome. Jack Morris, among baseball's best big-game pitchers, will start for Minnesota tonight against John Smoltz, who shut out Pittsburgh in Game 7 of the NL playoffs.

The Braves hoped to clinch it behind 21-year-old Steve Avery. He had been winless in 4 starts this season on three days' rest, and the playoff MVP was not able to close it out, allowing 3 runs in 6 innings.

Puckett, the MVP of the AL playoffs, began this game in a 3-for-l8 slump. He changed his luck, and that of the Twins, with a run-scoring triple in the first inning and a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth. He also kept Minnesota ahead with a leaping catch at the fence in the third inning that robbed Ron Gant of extra bases.

Puckett, however, saved his best for last. Leibrandt, who started and lost the opener, made his first relief appearance in two years to start the 11th and Puckett met him with a line drive into the crowd. Rick Aguilera worked around leadoff singles in the 10th and 11th innings for the victory. Twins relievers were shellacked in Atlanta, but shut out the Braves in the final 5 innings.

The World Series has not gone seven games since 1987. That year, the Twins beat St. Louis in the only Series in which the home team won every game, the same scenario this one has followed.

Mark Lemke keyed the Braves' three victories at home, and sparked Atlanta's rally in the seventh inning that tied it 3-3. Lemke led off with a single, making him 9-for-19 in the Series, and Mark Guthrie relieved Scott Erickson. Guthrie struck out pinch hitter Jeff Blauser, but a walk and Terry Pendleton's squib single to the right side of the mound loaded the bases.

Carl Willis replaced Guthrie and got Gant to hit the grounder the Twins needed. But the ball was hit too slowly for Minnesota to turn a double play, and Gant waved safe as he crossed first a shade ahead of the relay as Lemke scored.

Puckett again was at the center of things in the fifth inning, hitting a sacrifice fly for a 3-2 lead.

Dan Gladden fouled off several tough 3-2 pitches before drawing a leadoff walk, and then stole second on the first pitch to Chuck Knoblauch.

Knoblauch tried to hit the other way and succeeded with a flyball to right that sent Gladden to third. Puckett put Minnesota ahead with a fly shy of the warning track in center.

Pendleton hit one much farther to center in the top half of the inning, tying it 2-2.

Pendleton's second homer of the Series was set up by sloppy play on a potential double-play bouncer. Rafael Belliard opened with an infield single off the spongy turf and Lonnie Smith followed with a hard grounder to Scott Leius at third. Leius' throw to second almost pulled Knoblauch off the base, and he was unable to make a smooth relay.

Puckett put the Twins ahead with a triple in the first inning and preserved a 2-0 lead with a great grab in the third.

With one out and a runner on first, Gant hit a long drive to left-center field, and Puckett was off at the crack of the bat.

At the last instant, the 5-foot-8 Puckett leaped at the 13-foot fence and plucked the ball off the Plexiglas.

Morris is exactly who Twins want on the mound in Game 7
The Associated Press
October 27, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins will have the man they want on the mound for Game 7: Jack Morris.

And the Atlanta Braves will have a pitcher with Game 7 experience: John Smoltz.

A veteran and a youngster. With the World Series championship at stake.

Morris said he cherishes the big games. Smoltz said Morris was his idol growing up.

"What I remember most is his competitiveness," Smoltz said earlier in the week. "He went after each batter with 100 percent no matter what the score was."

And 100 percent is Morris' record in the World Series: 3-0 with a no-decision in Game 4 this year.

His World Series ERA is 2.03 in 31 innings. His next victory will make him just the 31st pitcher to win four or more games in the Series.

He's 6-1 in postseason games, and he hasn't lost this year in his last 7 starts. Plus, he's 23-5 in the Metrodome.

"I've learned to appreciate the dome for its environment being climate-controlled," Morris said. "There's no wind and that's more important than cold. At least you don't get stiff and achey without wind and I feel as strong at the end of a game as I did in the beginning."

Smoltz's Game 7 start in the NL playoffs was in the cold at Three Rivers Stadium. But Smoltz was hot, pitching a 6-hitter as Atlanta beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 for the pennant.

"To me, there can't be any greater pressure than I felt in Game 7 of the playoffs," he said.

Smoltz, the only right-hander in Atlanta's starting rotation, was 14-13 during the season with a 3.80 ERA while Morris was 18-12 with a 3.43 ERA.

And he may have one more start left, his team's most important game of the season.

"What could be more exciting that, pitching in two Game 7s in one season," Smoltz said.

Before Game 3, when the Braves were trailing 2-0, Smoltz made a remark that seems rather prescient now.

"I'd much rather not pitch in Game 7," he said, "and have us win in six."

Minnesota's Puckett saves his best performance for last
The Associated Press
October 27, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — Through nine innings, Kirby Puckett did everything but win the game for the Minnesota Twins. He saved that for the 11th.

Puckett tripled in a run in the first. Drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth. And saved a run with a leaping catch against the wall in the third.

Then, in the 11th, Puckett homered off Charlie Leibrandt to give the Twins a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves and send the World Series to a seventh game.

"I feel like I just went 15 rounds," Puckett said. "I'm completely drained."

Puckett entered the game 3-for-l8 in the Series after slumping in Atlanta. In Game 1, he struck out twice against Leibrandt.

"He's one of the impact players in the game," Twins manager Tom Kelly said of his 5-foot-8, 216-pound center fielder. "He can just take over a game offensively and defensively."

After Chuck Knoblauch singled in the first inning, Puckett tripled him home to put the Twins ahead 1-0 against Steve Avery. Puckett scored on Shane Mack's single.

"This was an amazing game," Puckett said. "This whole Series has been that way."

Puckett also saved the Twins with his glove in the third inning on Ron Gant's drive to center with a runner on first. Puckett timed his leap perfectly and plucked the ball just as it was about to hit the Plexiglas fence.

But he wasn't finished.

The Twins and Braves went to extra innings for the second time of the Series and Puckett knew what he wanted from Leibrandt.

"I wanted to lay off the low changeup," Puckett said. "I wanted to get a pitch I could drive."

Leibrandt threw a change and Puckett hit the ball over the left-center field fence to set off a frenzy of Homer Hankies.

"I was pointing to my family as I rounded the bases," Puckett said. "This is a game I will never forget."

October 25, 1991: Second Off Day of the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-25T06:54:00.000-05:00

Braves out to solve Twins' Dome magic
The Associated Press
October 26, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — A day after one of the bigger routs ever in the World Series, the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins dismissed the mismatch and said it meant nothing.

At least, that's what they said.

"I really believe my players, after five to seven minutes, forget about the games," said Twins manager Tom Kelly during Friday's off-day.

"You ask them what the score was and they don't know. I even lost count."

Well, in case he needs reminding, here's what happened: Thursday night the Braves set a record for most runs by an NL team in a World Series game and established another mark with 34 total bases in blasting Minnesota 14-5.

The Braves rolled up the biggest Series score since the New York Yankees trounced Pittsburgh 16-3 in 1960 and, more importantly, took a 3-2 edge in games.

"Whenever we lose, we try to forget about it, too," said David Justice, who homered and drove in 5 runs for Atlanta. "I think that's a good thing to do. But we hope the game carries over."

Steve Avery, the NL playoff MVP, will try to win Atlanta's first World Series championship when he faces Scott Erickson tonight in Game 6 (Ch 2, 7:30 p.m. ).

Avery and Erickson pitched against each other in Game 3 and neither got a decision in Atlanta's 5-4 victory in 12 innings. Avery gave up 4 hits in 7 innings, while Erickson was knocked out in the fifth.

"These people have pitched an awful lot of innings," Kelly said. "You can't be surprised when they get tired."

Kelly's bullpen is also a little fatigued. Since Rick Aguilera gave up the winning run in Game 3, ending a streak of 27 2/3 Series innings without an earned run given up by Twins relievers dating back to 1987, Minnesota's bullpen has allowed 13 earned runs and 15 hits in 7 1/3 innings.

To win this weekend, the Braves will need to overcome Twin peaks – they'll be playing at the Metrodome and against history.

The Twins are 6-0 in World Series games in the dome, including two victories last week.

"I think we improved a lot over the first game we played there," Avery said.

Justice agreed, saying some of the horror stones the Braves had heard simply weren't so.

"When we first came here, we were told that you can't take your eye off the ball and that you can't hear," Justice said. "It's true, you can't hear. But you can take your eye off the ball for a moment when it's on the way down. Just don't do it when the ball is going up."

Justice and second baseman Mark Lemke botched the first ball of Game 2 when Lemke couldn't see it, then couldn't hear Justice calling for it.

But the teams seemed to reverse roles in Atlanta, where the Braves won two close games before ending their home season with Thursday night's bash.

Both the Braves and the Twins are aware that this is the same scenario as in the 1987 World Series. That time, Minnesota won the first two at home, lost three at St Louis and took the last two at the Metrodome.

"It's the only thing I've got to fall back on," Kelly said.

Justice said he had talked earlier in the day with Terry Pendleton, who played for St. Louis in that World Series, about what happened.

"He mentioned it," Justice said. "But to me, that's a negative focus.

"I think the Twins are a better team at home. We know that. But I think, no, I know we can win one of the last two."

Besides, the Braves have been through this before, sort of. Last week, they went into Pittsburgh facing a 3-2 deficit in the NL playoffs. Avery won Game 6 and John Smoltz shut out the Pirates in Game 7 to bring Atlanta its first pennant.

Team nicknames and logos receiving increased criticism
Braves fans' 'tomahawk chop' is focal point
The Associated Press
October 26, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — Persuading sports teams to stop using Indians as mascots may be the second most difficult task for some American Indian groups. First, they must agree among themselves.

World Series protests over the Atlanta fans' "tomahawk chop," which attracted hundreds of people as well as national media attention, are the most visible episode in the debate. Bui Indians say the practice of naming teams after them has been a matter of contention for some time.

• In baseball, the issue came to the fore when the Braves reached the World Series, bringing 50,000 "tomahawk-chopping" fans along. Actress Jane Fonda, who once was arrested at an Indian rights protest, chopped. Former President Jimmy Carter said he didn't think the antics were insulting.

• A spokesman for the Seminole tribe said many tribal members aren't offended by the rituals of Florida State Seminoles fans, who originated the "tomahawk chop” cheer.

• The Kansas City Chiefs say the team's name pays homage to Indians. "I don't believe that it is the intention of any professional football organization to mock Native Americans," spokesman Bob Moore said. "It's not something we take lightly."

• The Washington Redskins and Chicago Blackhawks have taken no action on protests. "Over the long history of the Washington Redskins, the name has reflected positive attributes of the American Indian, such as dedication, courage and pride," the team said in a recent statement.

• Despite growing student opposition, Chief Illiniwek continues to appear at University of Illinois games. Former Illinois Gov. James Thompson and U.S. Sen. Alan Dixon defended the mascot, a student who dresses as an Indian, and the State House passed a resolution describing him as a "revered" and "esteemed" symbol of the university.

• An Indian group in Cleveland sued the Cleveland Indians during the 1970s over the team's logo — a red-faced, long-toothed man with a feather in his cap. The team was named after Louis "Chief" Sockalexis, a Cleveland first baseman who was the first Indian to play major league baseball.

"There are some it bothers and some it doesn't. Me, it doesn't," said Ruby Sam of Cleveland's American Indian Center. "I see both sides.

"It wasn't the name, it was the logo, the smiling Indian with the big nose and the big teeth. That part bothers me."

Other Indians don't mind seeing their culture adopted by whites — even the "tomahawk chop" and war chanting of Braves fans.

"I think it's the greatest thing that ever happened," said Richard Welch, editor of a Cherokee newspaper and a tribal council member.

At the College of William and Mary, a 1989 letter to the editor of a student newspaper questioned the propriety of the school's nickname, "Tribe." Editors contacted Indian chiefs in the Williamsburg, Va., area.

"You tell them that I want to keep the Indian symbol at William and Mary," Earl Bass, chief of the Nansemond Indians, told The Remnant. "I'll stand behind this symbol."

Other teams, however, have responded to Indian concerns.

• Stanford University dropped the nickname "Indians" in 1972. Dartmouth and the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse also have changed their names.

• The Minnesota Board of Education requested in 1989 that high schools with Indian nicknames change them — 20 of 50 did. At Mahnomen, where about half the students are Indian, they decided to keep the nickname "Indians."

"I think you're going to find we all don't agree on everything 100 percent," said Tim Giago, publisher of the Rapid City, S.D.-based Lakota Times, the nation's largest Indian-owned weekly newspaper.

"There are some people who stopped being Indians some time ago and are willing to bend over backwards to fit in whenever possible. But you'll find very few people who have maintained ties with their heritage who will disagree that the actions of Braves fans are repugnant."

October 24, 1991: Game 5 of the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-24T06:56:00.000-05:00

Braves on verge of Series celebration
Justice powers Atlanta to 14-5 rout of Minnesota
The Associated Press
October 25, 1991
ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves made it look easy for a change. Now comes the hardest part.

The Braves breezed within one game of the World Series championship Thursday night, blowing away Minnesota 14-5 when Lonnie Smith and David Justice homered again and Mark Lemke hit 2 more triples.

Justice drove in 5 runs, Smith became the first player since Reggie Jackson in 1977 to homer in three straight Series games, and Brian Hunter also homered as Atlanta ripped 17 hits in taking a 3-2 edge in games.

It was the third-highest score in Series history and the biggest offensive show in 31 years, since the New York Yankees beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 16-3 in Game 2 of 1960. It followed two straight games in which the Braves won in their final at-bat on close plays at the plate, and it gave the 50,878 fans one last chance to chop, chant and cheer. They did it all night in a three-hour celebration.

But to win their first Series ever the Braves will need to leave the Southern comfort for Minnesota's great indoors. Minnesota is 0-9 in Series road games and the Twins have lost 14 straight dating to the 1925 Series, but they are 6-0 at home in the Metrodome, including two wins last week.

The Braves became the eighth World Series team to win three in a row after dropping the first two. Six of those previous seven teams went on to win the title — the glaring exception being the 1987 Twins, who went home and stung St. Louis twice.

Steve Avery, the NL playoff MVP, will face Scott Erickson in Game 6 Saturday night. They were the starters in Game 3, and neither got a decision on a day the Braves won 5-4 in 12 innings.

The Braves led 5-0 after five innings before the Twins chased a suddenly wild Tom Glavine with 3 runs in the sixth.

Atlanta broke it open with a 6-run seventh triggered by Smith's leadoff homer, and added 3 more in the eighth with Hunter's homer putting an exclamation point on the evening.

Justice's homer, off the top of the left-field fence and just beyond Dan Gladden's leap, touched off a 4-run burst in the fourth that saw the Braves hit for the cycle in a span of only five batters. The spurt featured a single that hit a runner, a triple off Chili Davis' glove in right field and Rafael Belliard's rally-capping RBI double.

Atlanta added a run in the fifth on Justice's RBI grounder, giving Glavine 2 more runs than he got in his previous 3 postseason starts combined.

But Glavine, after pitching like a 20-game winner for five innings, suddenly fell apart in the sixth. And it was Glavine, not the Twins' hitters, who was the biggest culprit — he walked four batters, including two with the bases loaded.

Kent Mercker relieved with the bases still loaded, one out and Atlanta ahead 5-2. He got an RBI groundout from Kent Hrbek, now 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position in the Series, but the Braves escaped further damage when Lemke made a nifty pickup of Greg Gagne's hard one hopper to second and softly tossed to Sid Bream for the last out.

Kevin Tapani, who outpitched Glavine in Game 2, stopped Atlanta on a lone single until the fourth, when the game began to come apart.

Ron Gant opened with a sharp single that got the fans cheering, and they stayed up when Justice followed with his second home run of the Series. Only 2 of his 21 homers this year went to the opposite field, and this one made it when it hit the top of the 10-foot fence inches past Gladden's reach, and bounced out.

Tapani, one of the best control pitchers in baseball, then threw four straight balls to Bream, and the Braves tried to put on more pressure with a hit-and-run play. Greg Olson did everything perfectly — almost — as his grounder to the right side nipped Bream for an out.

That brought up the left handed Lemke and he looked out toward right field, where Davis was standing. Davis did not start in the out field all season, but with right fielder Shane Mack in an 0-for-15 skid and because Davis homered as the DH off Glavine in Game 2, Twins manager Tom Kelly started him.

Davis, who has led the AL in errors and tied for the NL lead, had not gotten a ball all evening and had spent the whole night pounding his glove in anticipation when Lemke sent a long drive his way.

Davis got a late jump and reached the ball in the right center field gap, right near the wall. Davis made a backhanded try and the ball glanced off his glove for a triple and a 3-0 lead.

Belliard, the Braves' No 8 hitter, pulled a double into the left field corner to finish the inning. Singles by Terry Pendleton and Gant and Justice's grounder made it 5-0 in the fifth.

Glavine gave back 2 runs in the sixth when, with one out, he walked Chuck Knoblauch, allowed a single to Kirby Puckett, and walked Davis, Brian Harper and Scott Leius in order.

WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK
Tickets for Game 5 a hot commodity
The Associated Press
October 25, 1991
ATLANTA — World Series tickets have been as scarce as Minnesota Twins fans in Atlanta this week, but scalpers prices soared even higher Thursday for the Braves final home game of the year.

Some were asking as much as $700 per ticket for field level seats inside the baselines.

Snaring a ticket for Thursday's game could be "one of the toughest tickets of any sporting event ever" predicted a scalper working out of a parking lot near Atlanta Fulton County Stadium.

“It’s because this city's never had a championship, and also there's a lot of yuppie money here,” said the scalper, who identified himself only as Ronnie. He said the asking price for a ticket to Game 5 was at least $300 per seat.

Getting tickets wasn’t the only problem. At least 15 fans reported their tickets stolen before Wednesday night’s game. "Most of us were hit at the gate right behind the Hank Aaron statue,” said Janet Daniel, who drove in from Nashville, Tenn.

• In this up and down Series, the Twins Kent Hrbek has soared the highest and fallen the furthest. Going into Thursday's Game 5, he was in the absolute pits.

After a 2-for-3 game with a home run, a double and 2 runs scored in the opener, Hrbek was 1 for 12 in Games 2-4. His lone hit was a one out single with Chuck Knoblauch on first in the eighth inning of Game 3, which the Twins lost 5-4 in 12 innings.

• If the series goes seven games, Jack Morris will pitch the finale Sunday for the Twins. And that "distinct possibility' was one reason Morris was lifted at a key spot in Game 4.

Manager Tom Kelly relieved Morris after six innings Wednesday night, with the Twins leading 2-1. The third baiter his replacement, Carl Willis, faced in the bottom of the seventh was Lonnie Smith, who homered to center to tie it at 2-2.

A pitcher of Morns' experience and Series record (career 3-0 with a 2 00 ERA entering the game) might expect to stay in for the late innings of a tight game. But Kelly said Morris already had made too many pitches (89) while pitching on three days' rest instead of the usual four.

October 23, 1991: Game 4 of the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

Braves tie Series in another thriller
Lemke is hero again vs. Twins
The Associated Press
October 24, 1991
ATLANTA — Finally, Brian Harper missed a tag and the Atlanta Braves were safe at home. After two sensational run-saving plays at the plate, the Braves got past Harper and beat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 Wednesday night to even the World Series at two games apiece.

Until the bottom of the ninth, the only way the Braves could reach home was on home runs by Terry Pendleton and Lonnie Smith. Then, with the game tied at 2-2, Game 3 hero Mark Lemke tripled to the base of the wall in left-center field and, after an intentional walk, scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Jerry Willard.

Harper took right-fielder Shane Mack's throw just up the third-base line and hit Lemke with his elbow but just missed him with the glove.

The Braves have led for only six of the 39 innings in the Series so far, but evened it on a play the Twins vehemently protested.

Television replays, though, seemed to show Lemke twisting past Harper just enough to win his second World Series game in the same day. He singled home the winning run in the 12th inning at 12:42 a.m. (EDT) Wednesday.

"I kind of bumped him on the shoulder and went around him," said Lemke. "I was able to get around him and touch the plate with my hand."

After Lemke's one-out triple, Mark Guthrie intentionally walked Jeff Blauser, Steve Bedrosian relieved, and Willard, a 12-year journeyman, stepped up and hit a high fly to right field that pushed the drawn-in Mack back. The ball seemed to hang and blow toward the infield, and Mack got a running start and made a strong throw a few feet up the line.

Harper, who tagged out two runners in the fifth inning, tried to block Lemke with his left hip while catching the ball. He caught a piece of the runner with his body, but home-plate-umpire Terry Tata said he missed with his mitt as Lemke scrambled safely to the plate.

Harper flung his mask and mitt in disgust, and several Twins surrounded the umpires while the Braves gathered around Lemke and Willard.

Mike Stanton, the third Atlanta pitcher, was the winner in Game 4 after going a perfect 1 2/3 innings.

The Braves butchered a bunch of chances in the fifth inning, when Harper helped turn a double, a single and a walk into two outs.

Smith led off with a sharp single, stole second, and Pendleton lined a 3-0 pitch that carried over center fielder Kirby Puckett's head. Smith returned to second to tag up, thinking the ball might be caught, then took off as third-base coach Jimy Williams frantically waved him home.

Puckett made a fast relay to second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, who turned around and seemed startled that Smith, instead of scoring, was only halfway to the plate. Knoblauch double-clutched and bounced his throw home, and it still beat Smith by a wide margin.

Smith tried to run through Harper and planted a pair of forearms in his chest that sent the catcher bowling over backward, but the ball stayed in the mitt.

Pendleton alertly took third on the play and stayed there as Ron Gant walked. With the crowd chanting and Terry Leach hurrying to warm up in the bullpen, Morris bounced a pitch to David Justice. Pendleton tried to score and was out easily when Harper recovered the ball near the plate and made a diving tag.

Mike Pagliarulo put the Twins ahead with a solo home run in the top of the seventh, and Smith tied it at 2-2 in the bottom half with a solo shot.

Pagliarulo, starting for the first time because a right-hander was pitching, sent a 1-2 pitch from John Smoltz over the right-field fence for his third straight hit and second RBI.

Pagliarulo hit Minnesota's seventh homer of the Series, and those have accounted for 11 of the Twins’ 14 runs.

Smith brought the Braves a tie when he homered over the center field fence with two outs off Carl Willis, Atlanta's fourth home run of the Series. Willis relieved starter Jack Morris to start the seventh.

Pagliarulo, never known for his bat control earlier in his career, put the Twins ahead in the second with a soft single after Harper doubled off Justice's glove in right.

WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK
Shorter season likely long way off
The Associated Press
October 24, 1991
ATLANTA — Don't hold your breath waiting for baseball to shorten its season to avoid cold weather. Commissioner Fay Vincent is quickly coming to that conclusion.

Vincent said Wednesday that an "inexact poll" of owners had found "very unfavorable" reaction to his proposal to either play fewer games or more double-headers to lessen the chances of a November World Series some day.

"At first, they thought I was kidding," Vincent said before Game 3 of the Series between Minnesota and Atlanta.

The commissioner said he still intended to bring up the shorter-season proposal at baseball's winter meetings in Miami in December.

• Home definitely is where the wins are in the World Series.

Counting Atlanta's 3-2 victory Wednesday night, home teams have won 21 of the last 27 Series games, a streak dating to Game 5 in 1986.

Two teams have accounted for all of the home losses during that spell of home sweet home — the Oakland Athletics (two each in 1988 and '90) and the San Francisco Giants (two in 1989).

• If home cooking wins Series games, those hotel stays in October are killing the Minnesota Twins. Their franchise forebearers didn't travel well, either.

The Twins never have won a Series road game, losing all three in both 1965 and 1987.

Going farther back in the franchise's history, the Washington Senators lost their last five road World Series games — three in 1925 and two in 1933.

The last pitcher from the Senators or Twins to win on the road in the Series was Walter Johnson, who beat the Pirates in Pittsburgh in Game 1 in 1925.

• Home runs, meanwhile, have kept the Twins from sinking into an offensive swamp.

Of the first 14 Minnesota runs, 11 came on homers. Second baseman Chuck Knoblauch had the only 2 non-homer RBI, with a single in Game 1 and a sacrifice fly in Game 3, until Mike Pagliarulo's RBI single Wednesday night.

• Atlanta's 5-4, 12-inning victory over Minnesota Tuesday night was the highest-rated World Series game since the Los Angeles Dodgers closed out the Oakland Athletics in the fifth game in 1988.

CBS said it drew a national rating of 23.4 and a 39 share, up 21 percent from Game 3 a year ago.

The game also gave CBS a primetime ratings victory over ABC and NBC for the night, the network said.

October 22, 1991: Game 3 of the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-21T17:05:00.000-05:00

Atlanta ends Series drought
Lemke's hit lifts Braves in 12 innings
Associated Press
October 23, 1991
ATLANTA — Mark Lemke blooped a single to left field with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning Tuesday night to score Dave Justice and lift the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 win over Minnesota Wednesday night. The win cut the Twins' Series lead to 2 games to 1.

Chili Davis tied the game with a 2-run homer off Alejandro Pena in the eighth inning, and Minnesota and Atlanta were tied 4-4 after 12 innings.

Rafael Belliard's RBI single in the second tied it and Atlanta went ahead 3-1 on home runs by David Justice in the fourth and Lonnie Smith in the fifth.

Twins reliever David West made it a 3-run lead with a bases-loaded walk in the fifth, but Kirby Puckett homered off Steve Avery in the seventh.

Pinch-hitter Brian Harper reached to open the eighth on Terry Pendleton's error at third and Pena relieved. Davis, batting for the pitcher, hit his second 2-run homer of the Series on Pena's third pitch. It was the 16th pinch homer in Series history.

Pena had been 14-for-l4 in save situations — including 3-for-3 in the playoffs — since Atlanta acquired him from the New York Mets on Aug. 28.

After Davis's one-out homer, Pena gave up singles to Knoblauch and Kent Hrbek, then struck out Puckett and Shane Mack with runners on first and third.

Atlanta got a runner to second with one out in the ninth, but Carl Willis retired Keith Mitchell on a flyout and Ron Gant on a lineout.

Avery, the MVP of the National League playoffs, allowed 4 hits in 7-plus innings and struck out five. He retired 15 in a row after Dan Gladden's leadoff triple to right, a ball that could have been caught.

Scott Erickson (20-8), who started Game 3 of the American League playoffs but didn't get a decision, allowed 3 earned runs and 5 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

It was the youngest Series matchup since 1981, when Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers pitched against Dave Righetti of the Yankees in Game 3.

After Smith's homer, Erickson walked Pendleton and Justice reached on a two-out error by Knoblauch at second.

West relieved, walking Sid Bream to load the bases and then forcing in a run by walking Greg Olson. Terry Leach came in and struck out Mark Lemke to end the inning.

The Twins took their third straight lead of the Series in the first inning after a misplay between Gant in center and Justice in right.

Gladden led off with a drive to right-center. The outfielders, trying to avoid a collision, allowed the ball to pass between them, and it rolled to the fence for a triple. Knoblauch followed with a sacrifice fly.

The run ended a 16 1/3-inning scoreless streak for Avery in the postseason. He won Games 2 and 6 of the playoffs against Pittsburgh.

Atlanta tied the score when Olson walked with two outs in the second, took second on Lemke's single and scored on Belliard's hit to left.

The runners advanced on the throw home but were stranded when Avery, batting because the designated hitter isn't used in the NL city, bounced out.

Minnesota won the first two games of the Series at home in its dome. The Twins won 5-2 Saturday night behind homers from Greg Gagne and Hrbek and 3-2 on Sunday behind home runs from Davis and Scott Leius.

Atlanta's streets were a little cleaner Tuesday, thanks to a bet on the Braves.

Two members of Pittsburgh's City Council, Bernard Regan and Jake Milliones, started sweeping downtown streets as payoff on a wager with two of their Atlanta counterparts over who would win the National League pennant.

When the Braves rallied to win the NL playoffs in seven games last week, Milliones and Regan got ready to clean up.

"We never planned on this, but we are here to fulfill our debt," Milliones told The Atlanta Journal. “I must say, your streets are pretty clean here."

WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK
Leibrandt's scratched from starting rotation
The Associated Press
October 23, 1991
ATLANTA — Charlie Leibrandt was dropped Tuesday from the Atlanta Braves pitching rotation and Tom Glavine will start Game 5 of the World Series if it's needed on Thursday night.

Atlanta manager Bobby Cox made the decision Tuesday prior to Game 3, saying Glavine would be able to pitch on three days' rest.

"He's ready. He only threw 108 pitches," Cox said. "He should be fine."

Leibrandt (15-13) was the loser in Saturday night's opener, allowing 4 runs and 7 hits in 4-plus innings. Glavine pitched a 4-hitter in Game 2, but lost 3-2 on Chili Davis' 2-run homer in the first and Scott Leius' go-ahead homer in the eighth.

Glavine (20-11) said he threw on three days' rest about four times during the season.

"The only difference was that I was a little more tired a little sooner," he said. "When you're going on regular rest, most of the time you're ready to go a day early, anyway. If you had to do it during the length of a season, that would be different."

John Smoltz is scheduled to start Game 4 tonight. Steve Avery, Tuesday night's starter, would pitch if there is a sixth game and Smoltz would come back if Game 7 is necessary.

"That would be the ultimate of all ultimates," Smoltz said.

• Minnesota Twins first baseman Kent Hrbek said Tuesday that he received threatening telephone calls from some Atlanta baseball fans after his takedown of the Braves' Ron Gant in the most controversial play of the World Series' first two games.

Hrbek said a man called his mother, Tina, at her Bloomington, Minn., home about 3:30 a.m. Monday and then called his sister, Kerry, about 30 minutes later.

"He told my mom to watch out for her son when he's down in Atlanta," Hrbek said before Game 3. "It was somebody goofing around, I guess. But it makes you think. Sure, I'm concerned, but I can't take it too seriously."

After he arrived in Atlanta, he said, "I got three or four calls at the hotel today. One guy told me he was Ron Gant and he was going to get me after tonight's game.”

Kevin Hallman of the commissioner's office said security is routinely beefed up before World Series games and said officers have been alerted to the threats.

With two outs in the third inning of Sunday's Game 2 at Minnesota, Gant's single put runners on first and third. Gant took a wide turn around first and drew a throw. He scrambled back to the base but Hrbek made a hard tag and appeared to lift Gant right off the bag. Umpire Drew Coble called Gant out and arguments involving Coble, Gant and Braves manager Bobby Cox ensued.

The Braves, who lost 3-2, might not have scored in the inning, anyway — the next batter, Dave Justice, began the fourth by flying out — and Hrbek and Coble both insisted that Gant came off the base on his own momentum.

Nevertheless, the play received much attention from the fans and in the media. Because it involved Hrbek, who has always fancied pro wrestling, it provided a colorful sidebar to the game's other action.

When Hrbek was introduced before the game, he was greeted by a chorus of boos, but he pumped his right hand toward the crowd and then raised both arms over his head. When he came to bat in the first inning, the boos weren't sustained, but there was a steady chorus of "Cheater, Cheater" from the stands.

• John Smoltz used to watch Jack Morris pitch on television. Tonight they'll be sharing the same set, pitching against each other in Game 4 of the World Series.

Smoltz, another of the Atlanta Braves' young starters, was born in Detroit. The Tigers were his team and Morris, now of the Minnesota Twins, was his hero.

October 21, 1991: First Off Day of the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-21T16:28:00.000-05:00

Braves Hope New Setting Will Be Upsetting to Twins
The Associated Press
October 22, 1991
ATLANTA — It's been nearly three weeks since the Minnesota Twins played outdoors and a lot, lot longer since they played without a designated hitter.

So, does a new site and a new set of rules mean a new result in the World Series?

The Atlanta Braves hope so. They absolutely hated the Metrodome, and for good reason.

They lost one ball in the Teflon roof, saw the Twins lose four balls into the seats and, most importantly, lost the first two games of the Series.

"There's nothing real about that place," Atlanta's Lonnie Smith said. "I know most of us are glad to get out of there."

That's fine, for now. But even if Atlanta sweeps three in a row at its chop shop, starting with Game 3 tonight when Steve Avery faces Scott Erickson (Ch. 2, 7:30 p.m.), it will have to go back to Minnesota and the great indoors.

The Twins, with Sunday night's 3-2 victory, are 6-0 in World Series games at the Metrodome. The Braves may be able to block out the homer hankies and crowd noise at that ballpark, but the fact that no NL teams have won there will rattle around in their heads.

John Smoltz will start Game 4 for Atlanta against Jack Morris and Charlie Leibrandt, hit hard in losing the opener, will pitch Game 5 for the Braves, if necessary.

"It's always tough to play somewhere where you've never played before," said Braves catcher Greg Olson Monday. "You don't know how the ball will carom off the wall. Yesterday, we had trouble with the ball in the outfield in the first inning, and that's a good example as to how being unfamiliar with your surroundings can affect things."

While the Braves took off Monday, the Twins worked out at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

The last time Minnesota played on real grass and under a real sky was Oct. 3 at Chicago in the final week of the season. The Twins saw all the usual things in their first look at Atlanta's ballpark — plenty of foul territory down the lines, tight space behind the plate — but did not think it presented any problems.

"I heard the ball carries well in left-center. We compared it to new Comiskey Park, where the ball carries to right-center," said Twins manager Tom Kelly. "But overall, it's just not that big a deal."

Even Twins reserve infielder Al Newman, who has exactly 1 home run in 1,861 major league at-bats, hit one over the fence in batting practice.

Then again, his only big-league homer came in Atlanta on July 6, 1986, when he connected for Montreal off Zane Smith.

The Twins do not expect power from Newman. They do look for pop from Chili Davis, and that will be a key factor when the Series resumes.

Davis hit 29 home runs with 93 RBI while batting cleanup for the Twins this season, and the switch hitter lined a 2-run homer in the first inning off Tom Glavine in Game 2. But, in what has become the annual October debate, Davis will be on the bench in Atlanta because the DH is not used at NL parks.

"He'll pinch hit," Kelly said. "We'll use him depending on the scenario. Most likely from the right side."

Smith served as the Braves DH in the first two games and went 0-for-6.

Kelly said he would be happy if his pitchers were just able to come through with a decent bunt once in awhile. Avery, meanwhile, went 4-for-4 in a game earlier this season against the New York Mets and is Atlanta's best-hitting pitcher.

After spending the season building a lineup around a DH, now Kelly must deal with the subtleties an NL manager faces — when to bunt, when to pull the pitcher, when to substitute.

Not that Kelly is too concerned.

"Well, I lost sleep worrying about the double-switch last night," Kelly joked. "It's right up there with rocket science."

WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK
Braves say Game 1 loser Leibrandt will start again
The Associated Press
October 22, 1991
ATLANTA — An issue of hot debate at the World Series is whether Atlanta pitcher Charlie Leibrandt, the loser of Game 1, will start another game. Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone indicated strongly Monday that Leibrandt will start again.

"We probably more than likely will keep our rotation 'as is' all the way through," Mazzone said after the team returned to Atlanta.

Leibrandt, normally fourth in the rotation, won 15 games during the season but had the highest ERA (3 82) among Atlanta starters after the All-Star break. Minnesota is using a three-man rotation in the Series.

Asked if Leibrandt would pitch again in the World Series, Mazzone answered emphatically: "Yes!"

• Minnesota reliever Rick Aguilera said he remembered little about Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium from his National League days, and thus could not offer much advice to his teammates about how to play here.

"It's been awhile since I've been here," said Aguilera, who played with the New York Mets from 1985-89

Aguilera was reminded that in a 1986 game against Atlanta, he gave up 3 home runs in one inning at the stadium.

"Well, that wasn't a fun time," he said. "Obviously, it's one you'd like to forget."

• Minnesota manager Tom Kelly isn't happy about losing the benefit of a designated hitter during the three games at the National League ballpark.

And he isn't expecting any batting heroics from his pitchers, who will be coming to the plate for the first time this season. Most will be called upon to bunt.

"They've been bunting and hitting off a machine at 70 mph," Kelly said. "When Mr. Avery or Mr. Smoltz is throwing it up at 90 mph, to expect them to hit it is crazy."

Kelly's DH, Chili Davis, will be riding the bench but is available for pinch hitting. The likely scenario for Davis would be, for example, with two men on and none out, Kelly said.

"I wouldn't send Chili up to bunt," he said.

• Reliever Steve Bedrosian is the only member of the Atlanta Braves 1982 NL West championship team to be around for the '91 World Series. However, Bedrosian is wearing a Minnesota Twins uniform.

"Bedrock" has done pretty well since the Braves traded him He won the Cy Young Award with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1987, and appeared in the 1989 World Series with the San Francisco Giants.

• With the Twins leading the World Series 2-0, it's safe to say Atlanta would like to be in their shoes. But Minnesota manager Tom Kelly said Monday he was envious of the Braves having the day off.

"Bobby Cox probably had the right idea," Kelly said. "We probably should take today off, but we needed to come out and let the hitters get up and take a few swings and they can see the background where the balls are going to be coming at them, catch some ground balls and run around the field and on the field and get used to it."

The Twins gathered in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium's left field about 2:30 p.m. and received a pep talk from Kelly. They then did stretching and throwing exercises and held about an hour's worth of batting practice.

The Braves did not work out on Monday.

• Atlanta catcher Greg Olson feels he's part of history in the making whenever his batterymate is 21-year-old pitching phenomenon Steve Avery.

The left-hander, who won 18 games in the regular season and pitched two crucial shutouts in the NL playoffs, has been compared to Steve Carlton. Olson said he appreciates working with someone who may turn out to be one of the greats of the game.

"There's no doubt in my mind that Steve Avery is going to be one of the best pitchers in all of the major leagues. He's only going to get better," Olson said. "I think he's going to do it for many years to come."

Olson's has the pleasure of working with Avery again tonight, when Avery is scheduled to start Game 3.

• One of the passengers of Delta Air Lines flight 320 leaving Minneapolis after Game 2 had some luggage that definitely could not be carried aboard: a 10-foot tomahawk.

The crew for the Atlanta-bound flight had to carry that one into the cargo hold, too. It wouldn't fit on a luggage cart.

And there was one final bit of baseball flavor added to the fight: the pilot wore a Braves cap.

• Sunday's second game of the World Series got a 21.4 overnight rating, down 9 percent from Game 2 last year.

According to the overnights, samplings from 25 of the nation's biggest markets, the game between Minnesota and Atlanta got a 32 share on CBS.

The rating is the percentage of televisions and the share is the percentage of televisions that are on at the time.

Saturday's opener got a 17.8 overnight rating. National ratings will be available for tonight's game. A national ratings point represents about 921,000 homes.

October 20, 1991: Game 2 of the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-20T07:10:00.000-05:00

Twins take game 2, 3-2. This was the game where Kent Hrbek sort of helped Ron Gant carry his momentum off of first base to end a rally in the third inning. As a Twins fan, I say, great call.

Oh, and how gay is it that George Will has the Major League Baseball logo on his wedding ring?

More power to the Twins
Leius' homer beats Braves
The Associated Press
October 21, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — The pitch from Tom Glavine was down and in, but Scott Leius sent it up and out of the Metrodome.

Leius' improbable homer leading off the eighth inning barely cleared the left-field fence, but it was just enough to give the Twins a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves Sunday night and a 2-0 lead as the World Series moves south for Game 3 Tuesday night.

The Twins, suddenly so strong that even No. 8 hitter Leius reaches the fence, got their other runs on Chili Davis' 2-run homer off a down-and-in Glavine slider in the first inning.

Minnesota now has scored 7 of its 8 runs in two games on 4 homers by four different players, one-third of the way to the Series record of 12 by the 1956 New York Yankees.

The Braves, meanwhile, are struggling as much as the Twins are streaking.

In Game 2, they had runners at second and third with none out against the Twins’ Kevin Tapani in the second inning and scored only once, and they had first-and-third and one out in the eighth and didn't score at all. In two games, the Braves have outhit the Twins 14-13 only to be outscored 8-4.

Their only hope as they go back to Atlanta is that the Twins, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in 1987, have been just as bad on the road in the World Series as they have been good at home — 6-0 in the Metrodome, 0-4 outside it.

On the Twins' side, of 41 teams to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series, 31 have gone on to win.

Steve Avery, the MVP of the NL playoffs after pitching a record 16 1/3 shutout innings, will try to get the Braves back on track when he faces Scott Erickson in Game 3 Tuesday night.

Glavine and Tapani, both winless in the playoffs, each pitched well enough to win. Tapani allowed 2 runs on 7 hits in 8 innings, while Glavine gave up just 4 hits in 8 innings and retired 15 straight batters from the second to the seventh innings.

Rick Aguilera relieved Tapani to start the ninth and struck out Sid Bream. After Brian Hunter singled, Aguilera got Greg Olson and pinch hitter Tommy Gregg on called third strikes for his second save in two days and fifth in the postseason.

Twins relievers have not allowed an earned run in 26 1/3 postseason innings starting in the 1987 World Series.

Kent Hrbek gave the Twins a big lift — literally — in the third inning.

Lonnie Smith was on second base with two outs when Ron Gant singled sharply to left. Smith stopped at third, and Gant took a wide turn when the relay trickled away briefly in the infield.

Tapani, backing up the play, snapped a throw to Hrbek at first, and Gant went in standing up. The 250-pound Hrbek and the 170-pound Gant became wrapped up and Hrbek tagged him as he appeared to push him off the bag.

Hrbek has often said he wants to become a pro wrestler when he retires from baseball, and even has his future nickname picked out — "T-Rex." He apparently won't need to work on his takedown technique.

First-base umpire Drew Coble called Gant out, ending the inning with the Braves trailing 2-1 and Justice on deck.

The Braves, after playing a sound defensive game in the opener, fell victim to the Metrodome's twin terrors on Glavine's first pitch.

Dan Gladden lifted a high fly to shallow right that second baseman Mark Lemke seemed to lose against the white Teflon roof. Right fielder David Justice saw the ball and rushed in, but apparently Lemke could not hear him calling for it.

At the last instant, Lemke spotted the ball and it hit the pocket of his glove, but was jarred loose when Justice ran into him. Justice was charged with the error for getting in Lemke's way.

Glavine had given up runs in the first inning of 7 of his last 9 starts — a total of 15 runs in all — and this time was no exception. Perhaps rattled, he walked Chuck Knoblauch.

Kirby Puckett, who led the majors by grounding into 27 double plays, helped Glavine by bouncing into another one Davis, however, was not so kind, and having seen Glavine in the National League, reacquainted himself with a 383-foot drive over the left-field fence.

WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK
Vincent calls for shorter season; Series overnight TV ratings fade
The Associated Press
October 21, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent, said Sunday he's considering asking major-league owners to reduce the 162-game season, or play more doubleheaders, so the World Series won't be ending close to November.

Vincent is concerned that if the Series between Atlanta and Minnesota goes seven games this season, the last game would be played on Oct. 27. The potential for a climactic problem was not magnified this year since the Twins play in a dome and Atlanta has mild temperatures.

"Suppose we were in Milwaukee?" Vincent asked before Game 2 on Sunday. "I don't care how much you love baseball, you don't want to have such conditions."

The temperature outside the Metrodome on Saturday night was 49 degrees, while inside it was a cozy 68.

Vincent said he would discuss the idea with the owners at the winter meetings in December, but said the chances of reducing the number of games was "probably not great because of the ownership issues involved."

"It's getting too late," Vincent said. "It was freezing in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Years ago, the World Series was over by now."

The regular season ended on Oct. 6 this year, the latest in major-league history.

Vincent also renewed his concerns over the length of games during the 1991 season. To help speed things up, the commissioner said he is asking umpires to start calling the high strikes and follow the strike-zone.

• Saturday night's World Series opener between Minnesota and Atlanta on CBS-TV got a 17.8 overnight rating and a 31 share.

The overnight rating, a sampling from about two dozen major markets, is down from the 20.8 overnight rating from last year's Series opener between Oakland and Cincinnati.

• The price of having the best seats in the house is that you can get too close to the action. Just ask baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent and his family.

A pop foul in the fifth inning of Saturday's first game of the World Series barely made the stands, but it was deep enough to hit Vincent's daughter, Anne, on the head. She was not injured.

"I'll have to practice my catching," she said.

• Baseball is heavily into marketing, with officially licensed products ranging from T-shirts to computer games. Now the logo of Major League Baseball can even be found on a wedding ring.

Vincent said Sunday that his office had given George Will, the political columnist and author of the best-selling book on baseball, "Men at Work," permission to use the logo on his wedding ring.

Vincent said Will's ring probably would be one of a kind. There doesn't seem to be a mass market for officially licensed wedding bands.

• How much have baseball's finances changed in recent years? Some figures in a Minneapolis newspaper column Sunday showed just how much.

The newspaper reported that, when the Twins hosted their first World Series in 1965, gate receipts for Game 1 were $358,160. For Saturday night's game, tickets cost a total of $2.1 million.

But spending by baseball has increased drastically, too. The report said the Twins' payroll in that first Series year totaled about $800,000. The current Minnesota roster includes eight players each making $800,000 or more.

• The panel studying baseball's economic problems has a problem of its own this week. Where to meet?

The panel, made up of management and players union representatives, has a meeting scheduled for Wednesday at Atlanta, where the Series shifts after Game 2.

The meeting originally was set for a downtown hotel until the players found out the establishment was nonunion The panel, headed by former Federal Reserve Board chairman Paul Voelker, moved the meeting to a union hotel in the suburbs.

• Protests outside the Metrodome over the Atlanta Braves' use of American Indian symbols and caricatures have been sprinkled with the statement-bearing banners and placards that demonstrations produce.

One, however, was decidedly schizophrenic.

On the front, the protest sign read: "There is no excuse for racism."

On the back, it read "Win Twins."

October 19, 1991: Game 1 of the Greatest World Series Ever

2006-10-19T07:40:00.000-05:00

Since I don't really care who wins the World Series this year, I'll dial the RVS Blog back 15 years to the fall of 1991, when my favorite adopted team, the Minnesota Twins, were facing off against the Atlanta Braves in the "Worst-to-First" World Series.

So put on a flannel, pop the Black Album or Nevermind into your portable CD player, and let's go back to '91!

Twins pack punch in Game 1
Homers by Gagne and Hrbek spark win over Braves
The Associated Press
October 20, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — Old-fashioned baseball, not the new-fangled stadium, won Game 1 of the World Series for the Minnesota Twins on Saturday night. There were no lost balls in the Metrodome roof, just balls lost in the stadium seats.

The power of Greg Gagne and Kent Hrbek and the pitching of Jack Morris carried the Twins to a 5-2 victory over an Atlanta team still searching for a way to score runs.

Gagne's 3-run homer in the fifth inning broke open a 1-0 game, and a solo home run by Hrbek in the sixth backed 7 strong innings by Morris, one of the game's best big-game pitchers, who is now 6-1 in postseason play.

"I wanted to hit it into the hole, but I hit it out of the park," Gagne said of his homer. "He (Braves starting pitcher Charlie Leibrandt) made me look sick the first time when I struck out."

The Braves' big gamble of starting Leibrandt, rather than 20-game winner Tom Glavine, did not work.

Leibrandt used his World Series experience and his off-speed pitches to keep the Twins off-balance for a while, but Gagne and Hrbek eventually caught up to him as Minnesota ended the Braves' string of 22 straight shutout innings.

Now it's up to Glavine to get Atlanta even when he starts Game 2 tonight against Kevin Tapani.

"It's probably harder to play here, but I didn't think it had a bearing on the game," Braves manager Bobby Cox said.

The excitement level in Minnesota seemed a little down from the 1987 World Series, and so were the decibels — from 125 inside the Metrodome then to 118 this time.

The result, though, was the same as four years ago. The Twins are now 5-0 in the World Series at their place.

"We're home. We're supposed to win," rookie Chuck Knoblauch said after going 3-for-3 with a walk and 2 stolen bases.

Morris, a playoff loser with Detroit at the Metrodome in 1987, found it a lot different.

Morris, born across the Mississippi River in the twin city of St. Paul, got the fans cheering by limiting the Braves to 2 runs on 5 hits in 7-plus innings. He improved to 23-5 lifetime at the Metrodome.

"I was kind of paying attention to all those people," Morris said. "It was getting me excited.

"Early in the game, things were kind of quiet," he said. "I think the fans were waiting for us to get something going and once we did, they had some fun."

That's because Gagne, the quiet Twin, and Hrbek really got the homer hankies swirling.

Leibrandt pitched around trouble all evening, but still only Knoblauch had hurt him, with an RBI single, through four innings.

Then Hrbek opened the fifth with a line double, only the second batter to pull Leibrandt hard. The Braves sensed danger, and while Jim Clancy hurried to warm up, Scott Leius followed by pulling another solid single.

That brought up Gagne, the ninth-place hitter who had scored on Knoblauch's hit in the third. An 0-1 fastball was up and in, and Gagne brought the 55,108 fans to their feet with a shot to deep left field and a 4-0 lead that finished Leibrandt.

After Ron Gant singled home a run in the top of the sixth — only the Braves' sixth run in 42 innings — Hrbek got it back with a much more impressive show, a towering drive off Clancy into the upper deck in right.

Hrbek and Gagne certainly didn't help the public relations campaign intended to dispel the Metrodome's image as the Homer Dome.

The Twins hit just 62 homers at home this year, 16 fewer than on the road.

The Braves tried to come back in the eighth when Lonnie Smith and Jeff Treadway drew leadoff walks.

Mark Guthrie relieved Morris and induced NL batting champion Terry Pendleton to ground into a double play. Rick Aguilera relieved after a walk to David Justice and gave up another RBI single to Gant before getting Sid Bream.

The Twins won for the eighth time in nine postseason games at the Metrodome. They opened the 1987 playoffs and World Series with victories, and started this year's playoffs by beating Toronto.

WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK
Braves' record-setting Smith hopes good fortune continues
Associated Press
October 20, 1991
MINNEAPOLIS — When Lonnie Smith stepped in to face the first pitch from Jack Morris Saturday night at the Metrodome, he made World Series history.

The Atlanta Braves' leadoff batter became the first player to see Series action for four teams.

Smith started his Series experience with the 1980 Philadelphia Phillies, then went with the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1985 Kansas City Royals.

All of those teams came out winners.

"I'm just blessed," Smith said. "It isn't like I led those guys to the World Series. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and I contributed some things along the way."

• This is a return engagement for another Brave, Terry Pendleton, who hopes it's not a case of deja vu.

In 1987, Pendleton was with the Cardinals when they played the Twins in the World Series. Injuries sidelined him most of the time and Minnesota wound up winning in seven games.

"It wasn't as frustrating to lose as it was not being able to participate," Pendleton said.

Pendleton certainly has bounced back well. He's the National League batting champion and a leading contender for the NL's MVP award.

• And the Braves themselves are back where they've been before... sort of.

The Braves are the first franchise to reach the World Series from three different cities — Boston in 1914 and 1918, Milwaukee in 1957-58 and Atlanta this year.

• The Twins surprised a lot of people by winning the American League title this season. Count the Metrodome's top cop among them.

Edwin "Hawk" Washington, the stadium's police chief and security director, says he's shocked to be getting ready to patrol another baseball crowd this late in the year.

"I didn't expect the Twins to be in the World Series," he said. "I don't expect others believed they'd be in it, either. But it's good they are."

If Washington's lucky, he'll see maybe an inning of a game. Then it's back to work, which can stretch into 20-hour days during big events.

• Twins third baseman Mike Pagliarulo has a special fan rooting for him during the Series — and a special thought in his mind. His father, Charles Pagliarulo, is suffering from bladder cancer.

The Minnesota player said he will have his father and grandfather, who also has been treated for cancer, at the games once they switch to Atlanta next week.

• Protests by American Indians over Braves fans' use of tomahawks and war cries have not even scratched the surface of potential demonstrations at this Series, according to a local columnist.

Dan Barreiro of the Star Tribune wrote Saturday that the list of possible picketers ranged from the ridiculous to the... well, more ridiculous.

"We also could have (conservative radio host) Rush Limbaugh disciples adopt the deposed Chief Noc-A-Homa and protest the Indian protest," he said. "We could have unforgiving Vietnam vets decide to protest Hanoi Jane Fonda. We could have old-time movie buffs decide to protest against Braves owner and media mogul Ted Turner for having the brutally bad taste to colorize 'Casablanca.'"

October 18, 1956: Mechanical Brains A Threat to Sports(writers)

2006-10-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

Following up on an earlier post (October 9, 1955), man's uneasiness with electronics continues to permeate the sports pages.

Electronic Sports Gadgets Fall Short
Kingsport News (Tenn.)
By Whitney Martin
(NEW YORK) – It looks like the pro football quarterbacks are going to have to get their signals from puffing guards running our between plays for awhile yet.

The ship-to-shore radio communication system between the bench and the field pilot still does not work too well, not only because of static but because when there is no static the opposition can tune in, making the whole setup about as private as a party line.

We've been a little concerned about the inroads of these electronic devices since last spring when an electronic brain named Datatron forecast the winners of the major league baseball races.

This obviously was a scheme to eliminate sports writers, who since the days of Abner Doubleday have considered it their exclusive right to forecast the results of the races for their appreciative public.

The sports writers have been saved at least temporarily. Datatron proved to be a dope. A $250,000 dope. The sports writers on the whole picked the right pennant winners. Datatron was only half right.

It obviously got a touch of indigestion from what it was fed as it came up with the Detroit Tigers as winner in the American League. The prediction must have been by Bucky Harris, who must have been aware that the only way his club could win would be for three or four other teams to suffer a mass attack of colic or some other incapacitating ailment.

Datatron did hit the Brooklyn Dodgers on the nose. Figuratively speaking, of course. The human who fed the information to the mechanical brain apparently had a pretty good run-down on the Bums.

Here's the way the machinery brain picked the races:

National League: Brooklyn, Cincinnati and New York (tie), Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Pittsburgh.

American League: Detroit, Chicago, New York, Boston and Cleveland (tie), Baltimore, Washington, Kansas City.

It was right on one spot in the National League — Philadelphia for fifth. It did better in the American, as Boston finished fourth and Baltimore, Washington and Kansas City finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively.

It missed badly on the Yankees, possibly being misled by Casey Stengel's double talk, which has confused human brains no little on occasion.

October 17, 1994: His Brain Sufficiently Concussed for Broadcasting, Hoge Announces His Retirement From NFL

2006-10-17T07:22:00.000-05:00

While Bears fans across the country celebrate last night's come-from-behind victory over the Cardinals, let us not forget that 12 years ago was what we Bears fans know simply as "Foggy Tuesday." Yes, the day Merril Hoge retired.

His career in Chicago was brief, but what a legacy: six carries, 24 yards, two concussions and a $1.55 million lawsuit against the Bears' team doctor for failing to re-evaluate him for symptoms of post-concussion syndrome or warn him of the danger of returning to play too soon.

Hoge and his concussed brain now work at ESPN, where they sometimes team up to say funny stuff like this:

Risk too great, so Bears' Hoge decides time is right to retire
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Bob LeGere
October 18, 1994
Rather than risk consequences too frightening to consider, Bears fullback Merril Hoge walked away Monday from the game he has played for the past 22 years while he still had most of his mental faculties.

Still suffering from short-term memory lapses, headaches and general malaise after two concussions in six weeks, the 29-year-old Hoge called it quits after eight seasons in the NFL and just five games with the Bears, who signed him away from the Pittsburgh Steelers as a free agent this past off-season.

"The doctors feel and it's their consensus opinion that the symptoms will pass and he will return to normal daily function like all of us," said Bears trainer Fred Caito. "It's just he's not there yet.

"The risk of him playing further, he's not going to accept that. What would happen to him (if he did), we won't have to get into that because he's not going to take that risk. He will not play any more football."

"The most important thing," Hoge said, "is this is an end to a career, but not an end to a life, and I think that's the thing that needs to be brought out the most. Nobody can play this game forever."

Hoge played eight years, rushing for 3,139 yards on 825 carries (3.8-yard average) and scoring 21 touchdowns. He also caught 254 passes for 2,133 yards and 13 more TDs.

Prior to missing last week's victory over New Orleans, Hoge had played 112 consecutive games, the last two with a broken bone in his hand suffered in the first half of the New York Jets game Sept. 25. He was willing to play with pain but unwilling to play with the possibility of permanent brain damage.

Hoge met with doctors here and in Pittsburgh, and the unanimous opinion was that he should retire.

"I know I can walk away and know I gave everything on every play, on every off-season, on every game that I could give," Hoge said. "Now these unfortunate events happen that have taken me away from the game, but I'll miss my teammates the most — that's what I'll miss the very most — and I think that's what all players miss the most.

"The last two weeks have been hard on me, because I haven't known which way I'm going to have to go, but I do know now, and it's very clear and cut and dried for me. And I'll accept that, and I'll deal with it.

The hardest part of dealing with it may be Hoge's knowledge that he was unable to control his departure from the game.

“I’ve got to b e honest with you," he said. "It was none of my decision. In order for it to be my decision, I would have to go against every doctor that I have seen, and I went to see these guys for the fact that I trust them. But nobody wants their career to end in the middle of the season."

But the aftereffects of the head injuries still remind Hoge on a daily basis that not only did he make the right decision, he made the only logical decision he could.

"I sit here on this bench," he said outside Halas Hall, "and if I laid down, I'd go to sleep right now. My whole body's completely numb right now, I don't feel good, my entire body's been affected, I don't function very well, and they can't say, well in two weeks you're going to get better. Right now, they're saying we know you will (get better), we just don't know when.

"So that's scary enough. Dr (Joseph) Maroon felt that I was lucky not to .suffer anything more than I did from this last one, and he doesn't even want to talk to me about what would happen if it happened again. But one more hit, and it isn't like I can sit here and talk to you anymore, it's like I don't function, period.

"I have that mild effect right now, where I don't function, I'm not normal, and it's an awful feeling, right now I couldn't imagine it being one degree worse than it is right now."

Still, there have been subtle signs of improvement.

"Every morning I wake up I feel a little better,' Hoge said, "but by (afternoon) I'm pretty worn out and ready for the day to be over."

"When will the symptoms clear?" Caito said "They can't give us a definite time. They feel they will, but they don't know when. Two days, two weeks, two months. But when I called him Saturday in Pittsburgh I was so happy because he immediately said, 'Hey Fred, how you doin'?'

"That was the first time in two weeks he recognized it was me calling, and as small as that is, that's significant. I was able to tell the doctors back here he's coming out of it."

Compared to the hours just after the second concussion, that represents major strides.

"In the hospital they asked me about my wife (Toni) and I couldn’t respond," Hoge said. "They asked me if I had a brother, (who was with him at the hospital), and I said, 'No, I don't have a brother.' They said, 'Do you have a little girl (Kori)? I said, 'No, I don't have a little girl.' They asked me for a phone number and I gave them, like 9,10,11,12."

Hoge knows all that now, but he also knows his football career is over.

Hoge leaves game with sense of pride
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Bob LeGere
October 18, 1994
Although post-concussional syndrome and the danger of its recurrence in a more drastic form have ended Merril Hoge's career at 29 after eight seasons, he says he leaves with no regrets.

'The only thing I've looked back at and thought about is that I did everything physically possible that I (had) to to be successful in this league," Hoge said.

His road roommate, Erik Kramer, says the fullback shouldn't have any second thoughts.

"I don't see how a guy who played as long and as well as Merril did would have any regrets," Kramer said. "Merril should feel nothing but pride about his career. I kind of have mixed emotions seeing his career cut short, but he had to make a decision. You can't take your health for granted.”

Hoge will take neither his health nor his career for granted.

"I look back and think that as a young kid, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears were my two favorite teams and Walter Payton was my favorite player," Hoge said "I not only got to associate with Walter Payton and to meet him, but I got to play for the Chicago Bears and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"What kid gets to live that dream?"

Hoge signed a three-year, $2.4 million contract in the off-season to leave Pittsburgh. He will receive the remainder of his 1994 salary, and $370,000 of his signing bonus will count against next year's salary cap.

"I'm not going to cry over spilled milk," added Hoge, who informed teammates of his decision Monday morning before his press conference.

"It wasn't extremely emotional, but it kind of tugged on my heart strings. I don't really want it to be a sad thing because I can get up and walk around. I'm going to be able to function normally. I'm going to get on with my life now. I have a direction now."

That direction will take him away from the playing field, but probably not too far from the game.

"I've worked in the off-season in the broadcasting field, in radio and television, and that's something I've looked at going in that direction. I have a degree in education (from Idaho State).

"Coaching has always been something you kind of think about going into, but I think that takes a special talent and special skills which I don't know if I have. But those two areas interest me, probably the broadcasting area a lot more, and I've worked at that in the off-season more than any other."

For the time being, though, Hoge is expected to maintain close contact with the Bears.

"I plan on being here and coming down here once I can work out," Hoge said. "I just don't plan on being a distraction either. I want to be a support to my teammates. I'm not going to walk in here and say, 'Well, I'm going to go home and kick my feet up.' I'm not going to do that, I'm going to be here to support my teammates."

He probably won't have input into weekly strategy, however.

"In my state right now, I don't think Coach (Dave) Wannstedt wants me to help in any game plan," he said with a smile.

"He'll always be welcome here," Wannstedt said. "Our only concern right now, though, is what's best for Merril and his family. He was a guy you counted on and didn't have to worry about. He was always ready to play."

Wannstedt said the Bears will likely bring in a player off the practice squad to replace Hoge on the roster, but probably not a fullback, where rookie Raymont Harris will continue to serve as Hoge's replacement in the starting lineup with Bob Christian backing him up.

October 13, 1906: Man Grapples With the New and Awesome Responsibility of the Forward Pass

2006-10-13T07:15:00.000-05:00

In the autumn of 1906, the forward pass, or "hand kick" as it was known (it wasn't), was introduced to college football. Incomplete passes were considered turnovers, and passes caught in the endzone were touchbacks, and the ball looked like a lumpy dinosaur egg, but still, it was one of the more revolutionary rule changes in the history of the game.

But there was one problem with the forward pass: Man was not ready to handle this awesome responsibility. As proof, I offer the following article from the Janesville Daily Gazette in Wisconsin, from 100 years ago today, where an unnamed writer offers his unsolicited advice on some of the "neglected" areas of the game: kicking the ball, catching a kicked ball, and, finally, throwing the ball.

His advice on catching is pretty reasonable; his punting advice ... not so much (kicking with your instep? What?). But his paragraph on the forward pass is completely silly. Enjoy.

Advice For Football Players
Reminder of Simple but Important Features That Are Often Neglected.
The Long Pass, Kicking and the Method of Catching the Ball.
Janesville Daily Gazette (Wis.)
October 13, 1906
Many football players are deficient in knowledge of some of the important elementary features of the game, strange to say. The reason is this: Thinking that only the most intricate phases and questions are worthy of more than fleeting attention, they foolishly neglect things that should be well known and at the command of the merest tyro.

For those overconfident players and also for the beginners I will describe three rudimentary features in detail.

They are the long pass, the short, accurate kick and the manner of catching a kicked ball.

First as to the kick, shown in Fig. 1.

The ball should be met by the foot at least three feet from the ground, because otherwise it might be blocked by an opponent.

The outstretched instep should hit the ball square under between the middle of the ball and the end. This gives the ball a forward spin when it hits the ground, and the ball can be sent on a low flight.

Next, the catching of a kicked ball, shown in Fig. 2.

Note that the ball is caught below the chest to one side, and is held by one forearm and the two hands, with the fingers widely spread. This is the ideal catch, but, of course, one cannot always be judged to land just right.

An invariable rule, however, is to catch the ball against the body and with one forearm and two hands. Always get your hands on the ball, and do not try, as some duffers do, to catch the ball with your arms. It is generally well to have one hand below the ball to keep it from slipping through the pocket you make for it. Keep account of your misses in practice and note your improvement.

As to the long pass:

The point of the ball is held in the palm of the hand, with the fingers outspread around it. The ball should be made to sail flat in the air. In passing a ball while on the run it should be thrown almost always with both hands, very much as a basket ball player throws and passes.

October 12, 1996: Cards take 2-1 lead

2006-10-12T06:48:00.000-05:00

Things were looking good for the Cardinals 10 years ago today, after ex-Brave Ron Gant stuck it to the defending World Champs by hitting two homers in a 3-2 win.

Things were looking even better the next night when the Cards won 4-3 to take a 3-1 series lead. But then the Braves won the next 3 games by a combined score of 32-1 to take the National League title. Ouch.

Side Stat: This series featured baseball's oldest and youngest players during the 1996 season: Cardinal Rick Honeycutt, 42 (1954-06-29), and the Braves' Andruw Jones, 19 (1977-04-23).

Cards take 2-1 lead
Doylestown Intelligencer (Pa.)
The Associated Press
October 13, 1996
(ST. LOUIS) - There was a time when Tom Glavine and the Atlanta Braves loved to see Ron Gant hit home runs.

A few more like the two he launched Saturday, however, and the Braves will be watching the World Series from home.

Gant connected twice against the team that abruptly dumped him two years ago because of a broken leg, leading the St. Louis Cardinals past the Braves 3-2 for a surprising 2-1 lead in the NL championship series.

“It's a great feeling," Gant said. "I had a lot of things happen to me in my career with Atlanta, a lot of good and a lot of bad. There's a lot of emotion going through me when I play them.

Yeah, it is sweet because it's against Atlanta, but if it was against the Dodgers, it would be just as sweet."

Before this round of playoffs began, Gant insisted over and over that he viewed the heavily favored Braves as merely another opponent. No one really believed it, though.

"This guy probably wants to 'beat up the Braves more than anybody in the clubhouse," teammate Brian Jordan said.

Gant hit a two-run homer into the Cardinals bullpen in the first inning, then sent a solo shot off Glavine into the shrubs in center field in sixth.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Ronnie," Glavine said. "I always wanted to see him play well — just not against us."

Braves manager Bobby Cox was one of Gant's biggest boosters, too, and hated to see him get released.

"I was there that day when the decision was made and it was very emotional," Cox said. "It was tough because Ronnie is the kind of kid you love."

Helped by the homers, outstanding pitching from winner Donovan Osborne and the bullpen and the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game in the state of Missouri, the Cardinals were able to beat Atlanta at Busch Stadium for the first time in seven games this year.

The Cardinals also won their team-record eighth straight postseason game at home, a string that began in 1987.

The loss left the Braves in an unfamiliar position - trailing in October. The defending World Series champions waltzed through their previous five postseason series, but fell victim to another strong pitching performance by St. Louis and Gant's home runs.

Game 4 is Sunday night, with Andy Benes starting for St Louis and Denny Neagle for Atlanta. The Braves traded for the former All-Star in late August, but he has pitched only one inning in the postseason.

Osborne, whose bizarre year included a car crash, a brief stay in jail and an odd incident in which he cut his finger on a champagne bottle during a clinching celebration, put something positive on his resume — seven strong innings and a big-game win.

"The Braves have had great pitching for five years, but we've got pretty good pitching, too," Osborne said. "Our staff has been underrated the whole year."

Mark Petkovsek relieved with runners on first and second and no outs in the eighth with St. Louis leading 3-1. Javy Lopez had an infield single that loaded the bases and Jermaine Dye, just 2-for-22 in the postseason, lifted a sacrifice fly to sore-armed center fielder Ray Lankford.

But Petkovsek limited the damage, retiring pinch-hitter Terry Pendleton on a soft liner and striking out Jeff Blauser, leaving the No 8 hitter in a 2-for-21 rut in the postseason.

Rick Honeycutt took over to start the ninth and threw only one pitch, getting pinch-hitter Ryan Klesko on a grounder

Dennis Eckersley then relieved and got the last two outs for a save, setting off a celebration among the red clad crowd of 56,769.

It seemed fitting that Gant and Osborne were teammates in victory. They both missed the entire 1994 season because of injuries.

October 10, 1931: In Rematch of '30 Series, Cards Beat A's in 7 to Take Title

2006-10-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

The same two teams faced off during the 1930 World Series, with the A's coming out on top.

The only day-to-day player in the Cardinals' lineup who was different in 1931 was Pepper Martin , a 27-year-old rookie who spent seven years in the Minor Leagues and led his team during this series in runs scored, hits, doubles, runs batted in and stolen bases.

Martin is the subject of one of my favorite baseball quotes, attributed to a rival National League infielder, who had this to say about Martin's aggresive, all-out style of play: "Once we had three guys chasing him around in a run-down, and we were the ones who felt surrounded."

1931 was the beginning of the dead-ball era, with the league's overall batting average dropping from .303 in 1930 to .277. Still, the Athletics' Al Simmons led the A.L. with a .390 average (Babe Ruth was second at .373; in the National League, Chick Hafey of the Cardinals led the league at .349.)

St. Louis Cardinals Win World Series
A's Defeated 4-2 In Deciding Game
'Pepper’ Martin Goes Hitless As Grimes Bests George Earnshaw; Hallahan To Rescue
Port Arthur News (Texas)
By Allen Gould (A.P.)
October 11, 1931
(SPORTSMAN'S PARK, ST. LOUIS) - In a finish that alternated thrills and chills for the home forces, the Cardinals recaptured the banner of the world baseball championship today, bringing it back to the National league after a lapse of five years.

Conquer Earnshaw
The national league champions, in a spirited comeback, conquered their nemesis, none other than George Earnshaw, and whipped the Athletics 4 to 2 in the seventh and deciding game of the prolonged battle. It gave the Cardinals the decision, four games to three, duplicating their margin of triumph over the Yankees In 1926.

Old Burleigh Grimes, the 37-year-old master of the spitball, was the hero of the final victory for the Red Birds. He scored his second triumph of the series over the Mackmen, to average his 1930 setbacks, but weakened in the ninth and was relieved by Southpaw Bill Hallahan.

Hallahan To Rescue
Hallahan, who twice had whipped the Athletics, came to the rescue with two out, the tying run on first base, and ended the game by forcing Max Bishop to fly out to Pepper Martin.

It was an exciting climax, as the A's put on a belated drive with two out, due mainly to the wildness of Grimes, whose strength was fast ebbing and who appeared to feel the strain of hurling with a battered little finger on his right hand, hurt by a line drive in last Monday’s game.

Old Burleigh, fighting every step of the way, out-guessing and outsmarting the A's with his spitter, yielded only five hits and no runs whatever In the first eight innings. He had the big sluggers, Al Simmons and Jimmy Foxx looking foolish at the plate as he fought to keep the four-run lead that his mates, led by Little Andy High and George Watkins, had piled up off Earnshaw in the first three innings.

Watkins had driven the small crowd—numbering only 20,605 and occupying barely half the stands—into a frenzy with a home run drive over the right field pavilion in the third inning.

Loses Control
But old Burleigh was feeling the weight of years as the game drew toward its close in somewhat drab fashion. His control began to slip, and it took all his craft to pull himself out of a hole in the eighth after he had reached his peak in the seventh by striking out Simmons, Foxx and Dykes.

The A’s wasted two passes in the eighth, and then Simmons, first up in the ninth, drew another walk. It appeared all over when Foxx fouled out to Wilson and Miller rapped a double-play ball to Gelbert. Simmons was forced out, but Umpire McGowan, at first, ruled Miller safe on a close play, and the Cards were checked as they started to gallop off the field with the victory they thought was won.

This break was the signal for a brief but exciting revival of the A's sagging hopes. Dykes walked and Williams bounced a single over High's head filling the bases. Hallahan was warming up furiously on the sidelines. Grimes wearily was trying to battle his way out of the last hole, and the Cards were anxiously on their toes.

Roger Cramer, pinch hitting for Rube Walberg, who had replaced Earnshaw in the eighth inning, pumped a short single to center. Miller and Dykes scurried over the plate. The Cardinals hastily called a council of war and Grimes yielded the box to Hallahan. Old Burleigh had done his best, but for the second time the ninth inning was a trifle too much for him.

He was willing to call it a day, rather than risk further damage.

Two On Base
Williams was on second, Cramer on first, as Hallahan came in; the count reached three and two on Bishop as the crowd and players waited tensely. Hallahan shot a curve that the A's second baseman drove toward left center. With the crack of the bat Martin was off and easily grabbed the ball for the final putout.

It was a fitting climax to a battle for baseball honors that surged back and forth in highly dramatic fashion before these Cardinals finally broke down the rule of the Athletics after two triumphant years; ended the American league's streak of world series triumphs at four straight; blasted Connie Mack's dream of a string of three conquests: brought the games highest honors to their grizzled pilot, Charles (Gabby) Street, at the close of his second big league managerial year, and, for themselves, clinched the winners share, amounting to $4,484 per man. Right fielder George Watkins’ home run drive of Earnshaw turned out to be worth just about $45,000, representing the aggregate difference between the winners’ and losers’ share of the financial spoils.

Million Dollar Show
The series closed as the first million dollar baseball big show in fire years, as the receipts for seven games totaled $1,030,723.

The final turnout of only 20,605 cash customers, however, was the smallest in about 20 years, as was the "gate" of only $82,165. It was particularly surprising as Sportsman's park had been filled almost to capacity for the sixth game yesterday with an attendance of 40,000, at which the Athletics squared the series with a one-sided victory.

The Cardinal triumph was an upset to the "dope." Earnshaw's previous mastery over the Cardinals had installed the A's as favorites to pull the series out of the fire, but the law of averages caught up with big George, just as it had trapped Pepper Martin, the rookie sensation, who went hitless today for the second straight time.

Earnshaw Outpitched
Earnshaw was outpitched by Grimes, but the Athletics contributed to their own downfall in the first inning by poor work. Shortstop Dib Williams misjudged two pop flies at the outset off the bats of Andy High and George Watkins. Both went for Texas leaguer singles, and the Cardinals took advantage of a wild pitch by Earnshaw and a bad throw by Jimmie Foxx to push over their first two runs.

Frisch sacrificed High to third and Watkins to second as the Cards pressed their advantage. With Martin up, Earnshaw bore down too hard and a loose throw got away from Cochrane, permitting High to run home and Watkins to reach third.

Then Pepper walked and stole second, his fifth theft of the series, as the crowd yelled. Then Cochrane dropped the third strike on Ernest Orsatti, who was playing in place of Chick Hafey, batting champion of the National league but benched for the final game because of his light stick-work.

The A's backstop threw out Orsatti at first, but Watkins raced home as Foxx's return throw was low and got away from Cochrane. Bottomley fanned for the end of this rally.

High, the substitute third sacker and lead off man, who got three hits altogether, started the third inning with a line single to center. Watkins then poled a fast ball over the roof of the right field pavilion.

The Cards collected only four hits off Earnshaw and one off Walberg in the eighth, but they made them count. Earnshaw didn’t allow a hit, issue a pass or permit another man to reach first after Watkins’ circuit drive. He mowed 13 Red Birds down in order before he retired after the seventh for a pinch hitter.

Fans Seven
He fanned seven, including Orsatti three times and Bottomley twice, but this effectiveness came too late to save the ball game.

Led by Bing Miller, who rapped out three of the seven hits off Grimes, the A’s made comparatively few scoring gestures.

Simmons and Miller singled, with only one out, in the second; Miller and Williams did the same thing in the fifth, but Grimes was invincible. Earnshaw was permitted to hit in the pinch, in the fifth, and bounced into a double play. Miller’s third hit was wasted.

October 9, 1955: Electronics Invade Gridiron As Trick Helmet Picks Up Signals

2006-10-08T19:32:00.000-05:00

Electronics Invade Gridiron As Trick Helmet Picks Up Signals
Gettysburg Gazette (Pa.)
The Associated Press
October 10, 1955
(CHICAGO) - Four years ago an imaginative admiral wrote a fiction story on how his beloved Navy football team upset Army by using signals expedited from the stands by a former star quarterback.

Admiral Dan Gallery's piece in a weekly magazine was received as an amusing story by football folk at that time.

Today, pro football is astir over the electronic invasion of the gridiron.

Not unlike Gallery's fictitious Navy team, the Chicago Cardinals have used a similar device of sending instructions to players on the field. The Cardinals, it should be remembered, lost five of six exhibition games without use of electronics.

But with the gadgets, they upset the Cleveland Browns and the New York Giants and are on top of the Eastern Division of the National Football League. The Cardinals admit it has been a big help, especially on defense.

"We can spot the enemy's offensive alignment bettor from the press box," said assistant coach Chuck Ddulls, "and tell our defensive signal caller what to expect."

There are no wires to the Cardinal device—the "Audiopage" developed by the Philco Corp. An electronic piece about the size of a silver dollar is installed in the helmet and wire cables are set in the turf encircling the field. The ground cables amplify the voice from the press box to the player who carries the device in his helmet.

Cleveland uses a similar gadget and the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants reportedly plan to install similar equipment.

The Philco people say anybody can buy the $79.50 helmet device—even opposing players—and pick up the exact signal being relayed to the team employing the system.

October 4, 1990: Chris Chelios Makes His Blackhawks Debut

2006-10-03T20:28:00.001-05:00

The Hawks would go on to win the Presidents' Trophy with 106 points (49-23-8), then go on to lose to the Minnesota Northstars in six games in the first round of the playoffs. Bastards.

Chelios, Graham light up opening night for Hawks
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Tim Sassone
October 5, 1990
Chris Chelios proved to be a showstopper for the Blackhawks on opening night.

While you can't expect Hawks fans to ever forget Denis Savard, Chelios showed that he's also something pretty special by getting a goal and 2 assists Thursday in a 4-3 victory over the New York Rangers in the season opener at Chicago Stadium.

Dirk Graham added 2 goals, including a short-handed tally destined for the highlight tape.

The offense supplied by Chelios and Graham was enough to back the steady play of goaltender Ed Belfour, who made 27 saves much to the delight of the 18,472 in attendance who chanted "Eddie, Eddie,” with every stop.

"It's a big win first of all," said Chelios, who came to the Hawks in the blockbuster deal for Savard last June. "I was real nervous, so it's good to get this one out of the way."

Chelios' forceful play at both ends of the ice seemed to rub off on his teammates. The Hawks killed all 8 New York power plays and held the Rangers to just 6 shots on goal in the first period.

"There's always a link to the way your best players play," said head coach Mike Keenan. "Chelios was a strong force tonight."

Chelios was on the ice for all 4 Hawks goals and none of the Rangers'.

"As much as we're going to miss Savvy, it's nice to have Chris around," said Trent Yawney, who added the Hawks' other goal. "He's got that instinct you can't teach. He always makes the right play."

Not everyone thinks the Hawks are going to miss Savard all that much.

"They're not going to miss Savard as much as they think they are," said Rangers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck. "Chelios is a real game-breaker."

The game wasn't as close as the final score would indicate The Rangers scored twice in the last minute but never seriously threatened to tie it up.

"It was a fair team effort for the most part," Keenan said.

The Hawks led 3-1 after two periods thanks to Graham.

Graham's first goal came at 17:18 of the first period and tied the score at 1-1 His second came short-handed at 18:59 of the second period. It was a thing of beauty, giving the Hawks a 3-1 lead.

Graham picked up a loose puck at his own blue line and took off down the right wing. Once in the New York zone, he faked a slap shot, walked around defenseman Brian Leetch and flipped the puck over a sprawled Vanbiesbrouck.

"It was just a 1-on-l situation," Graham said. "We were short-handed, so if I had lost the puck it was no big deal.”

Bernie Nicholls gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 13:13 of the first period, but Graham tied it four minutes later.

Chelios carried the puck from behind his own net into the Ringers' zone and found Graham all alone on the right side. Graham simply redirected the puck past Vanbiesbrouck.

Yawney put the Hawks ahead with a power-play goal at 6:19 of the second period. Vanbiesbrouck made a sliding pad save on Brian Noonan, but before he could get up, Yawney pounced on the rebound and fired it high into the net.

The Hawks increased their lead to 4-1 just 41 seconds into the third period when Chelios scored on a slapper from the point.

Belfour's busiest period was the second when he stopped 14 New York shots.

"I m not satisfied with the way I played, but it's a start," Belfour said.

Belfour was the sixth different goaltender to start a season opener for the Hawks in the last six years. Alain Chevrier started the opener last year, Jimmy Waitein 1988, Bob Mason in 1987, Bob Sauve in 1986 and Murray Bannerman in 1985.

September 27, 1993: Bo Knows the Sox Are 12 Years Away

2006-09-26T20:18:00.000-05:00

Ahh ... 1993. Nirvana and Pearl Jam were the new Rolling Stones and Beatles (respectively), Hillary was in the White House, and we still had fun saying "Bo knows [fill in the blank]."

Bo knows White Sox are AL West champions
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Mark Ruda
September 28, 1993
The White Sox were expected to win the American League West this year, but not anywhere near the way they did Monday night.

In a 4-2 win at Comiskey Park over the Seattle Mariners, the same team they beat 10 years ago to win their last divisional crown:

• Bo Jackson, written off by almost everyone except trainer Herm Schneider when he tried to return to baseball with an artificial hip, belted a towering 3-run homer that wafted into the first row in Comiskey Park's left-field bleachers.

• Left-hander Wilson Alvarez (15-8), sent to Class AAA Nashville six weeks ago to work on his uncontrollable walk total, won his seventh straight start while his scoreless streak was snapped at 31 innings.

• And Kirk McCaskill, who started the season as the No. 2 starter before being demoted to the bullpen, retired all four hitters he faced for his second career save.

At 9:48 p.m., Dave Valle flied out to right fielder Ellis Burks, who along with Jackson was one of Schneider's off-season rehab cases, putting the White Sox in the AL playoffs against the Toronto Blue Jays, who became the second divisional champion in the major leagues this year by winning shortly thereafter at Milwaukee County Stadium. Game 1 is at Comiskey Park Oct 5.

"Yes, we did prove the critics wrong," said Jackson who ran a victory lap around the field after the game. "The road has been a long, hard one, not only for myself, but for Ozzie (Guillen), too."

After missing all of 1992, Jackson homered in his first at-bat of the year in the home opener. He homered in the first game of Sunday's double-header, but with a chance to clinch the title with the bases loaded in the eighth inning of Game 2, bounced to the mound.

Jackson also popped up with the bases loaded in the fourth inning Monday night. But with two outs in the sixth, two on and a 3-0 count against left-hander Dave Fleming, Jackson lofted a towering fly to left field With the aid of a 9-mph westerly wind, it carried into the first row of the bleacher seats for a homerun.

"It was a popup. It just kept carrying, carrying and carrying, until it was somewhere over the wall,'' said Jackson, who had the green light from manager Gene Lamont. "I won't try to top this. It's great. I'll enjoy this tonight, and whatever happens tomorrow, happens."

"What a way to start it and what a way to finish it," Schneider said. "It was a beautiful moment."

Meanwhile, Alvarez shut out the Mariners until Rich Amaral lofted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly with no outs in the eighth. Since returning from Nashville, Alvarez has a 1.51 ERA with 48 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings.

"They did me a favor sending me down to get my confidence back. That was a good idea," Alvarez said. "Lately, I just throw the ball over the plate I tried to pitch tonight like it was a normal game."

But it was no normal game.

"You go all year, from spring training on, and this is what you want," said Lamont, who endured almost constant criticism while finishing in first place in his second year as manager. "We stayed with the path we'd chosen. We had to be patient. I knew we had a good enough team to win. Tonight, we celebrate, and get ready for Tuesday. I couldn't be happier."

Neither could McCaskill, who bristled at his demotion in June after going 4-7 with a 5.60 ERA.

"I loved it, but I'm sort of torn," said McCaskill, carrying a 1.55 ERA in his last 12 appearances. "Roberto (Hernandez) has done such a good job for us, and he should've been out there to finish it. But it's something that I'll never forget. It's the most thrilling moment I've had in baseball."

McCaskill fanned Mike Blowers to end the 2-run eighth, leaving runners at the corners. He struck out Bret Boone to open the ninth, took a toss from Joey Cora to retire pinch hitter Dave Magadan and then got Valle to send the White Sox into postseason play for the sixth time in franchise history.

"I went to McCaskill because (Mariners manager Lou Pinella) had those left-handers on the bench," Lamont said "He's done a great job for us."

White Sox ride 'Bomentum' to postseason play
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Mike Imrem
September 28, 1993
Call it Bomentum.

That's what fueled the Comiskey Park celebration Monday night.

That's what enabled the White Sox to clinch the American League West title.

And that's what will drive the Sox right into next week's playoffs.

Bomentum indeed.

What else can you call it after the way the Sox closed out the division with a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Mariners?

Six months after he arrived at spring training as a medical mystery, Bo Jackson continued proving himself a medical marvel.

Few believed he could ever play in the major leagues on an artificial hip, yet at the ultimate moment in the Sox' title run he was able to make the major leagues his personal showcase.

Bo was only teasing Sunday when he grounded back to the pitcher with the bases loaded to squander the Sox' first chance to clinch.

All he was doing was raising the stakes, intensifying the drama, extending the anticipation.

For all anybody knew, Bo was going to let this thing stew a few more days and keep all of Chicago wondering how and when he would climax it.

But no, he was ready already Monday night.

Bo's moment came in the sixth inning of a scoreless tie, with the Sox, the crowd and the city getting anxious to settle the division once and for all.

Two on, two out, 3-0 count, Bo facing Seattle's Dave Fleming.

Bo-boom!

His Royal Bo-ness lofted a majestic flyball in search of the Mars probe. It started out looking like the highest easy out of all-time, then like a very long out, then like a ... dang if that sucker didn't ride the wind into the first row of the left-field seats.

Bo watched, and watched, and watched it finally go out. Then he threw a fist in the air, clapped, adjusted his helmet, threw another fist in the air, clapped again.

At 8:43 p.m., a Sox clincher that had been just a matter of time became a matter of 65 minutes.

At 9:48, reliever Kirk McCaskill coaxed a game-ending flyball to right field and didn't even wait for it to be caught. He just turned toward home plate, clenched a victory fist and headed toward the arms of catcher Ron Karkovice.

It was time for the celebration to explode.

The crowd roared as the White Sox assembled near the mound, with Bo on the fringes just as he was in spring training.

Suddenly, though, he was in the middle of all the hugs, just as he was in that clinching sixth inning seven months later.

Cameras surrounded him the way they did when on his own two hips he won the Heisman Trophy, became an NFL Pro Bowl player, an all-star in baseball and made all those posters for Nike.

Bo Pied-Pipered them all back into the dugout as the crowd of 42,116 fans who had been so reserved for so long this season roared as loud as possible with temperatures below 50 degrees.

They were well-behaved, confining themselves to the stands except for a single goofball who challenged five security personnel and lost. It turned out the mounted police were just along for the ride.

The fans hung around and kept cheering and singing and waving their disgusting white socks for their deserving White Sox . . . until the players began returning to the field one by one.

First Ellis Burks, who caught that final flyball. Then Jack McDowell, waving at the fans way out in the right-field stands. Then Robin Ventura with a bottle of champagne. Then Karkovice. Then Bo.

Nobody rises to the moment better than he does, and nobody enjoys celebrating it more than he does.

Bo waved a while, but that was just the start

His adrenaline began carrying him on a victory lap down the left-field line, on a right turn toward the outfield, all along the warning track and back down the right-field line toward home plate.

All the while, he was waving a white sock and a Sox division-championship cap and he carried them all the way back into the Sox clubhouse to join his teammates.

Now it’s on to next week’s playoffs against Toronto, with a potent dose of Bomentum clearly on the White Sox’ side.

September 26, 1989: Cubs Tease! Cubs Tease! Cubs Tease!

2006-09-25T17:52:00.000-05:00

Has it been 17 years already?

This was a fun year. While you knew what you were getting with Mark Grace, Ryne Sandberg, Shawon Dunston, Andre Dawson, Rick Sutcliffe and Greg Maddux, there were so many wildcards on this team. Mitch Williams was a surprise. Mike Bielecki had a career year. Jerome Walton was rookie of the year; Dwight Smith could have been if he played a full season. Lloyd McClendon came up mid-year and hit the ball great. They traded for Luis Salazar at the deadline and he hit .325 in 26 games.

But of course they got steamrolled in 5 by San Francisco. It would be nine years until they made the playoffs again, but it would be 14 years until we experienced some real good hurt again ... '84 hurt.

But '89 hurt, too.

Try to remember the good through these articles ... pretend the ending hasn't been written yet.

Side Story: "Living Dolls," the sitcom Mike Imrem comically suggests might surpass "The Cosby Show" in the ratings now that the Cubs had won the division, was a spin-off from "Who's the Boss?" It starred Leah Remini ("King of Queens") as a friend of Samantha who moves to New York to work in a modeling agency for a friend of Angela. Halle Berry was a regular. It lasted one season.

Side Story II: Vance Law, the lone Mormon mentioned in these articles, is head coach of BYU's baseball team.

Cubs get job done in NL East
Right up to end, division champs win key games
Daily Herald (Ill.)
BY JEFF NORDLUND
September 27, 1989
MONTREAL - Who woulda thunk it?

The Cubs, a team no one picked to do anything, instead did what every team sets out to do: They won their division.

"No one can say we backed into this," said Mark Grace, dripping with champagne from the post game celebration.

"We beat New York when we had to beat them," the first baseman said. "We beat Montreal when we had to beat them. And we beat St. Louis when we had to beat them."

The Cubs, it turned out, were best when they had to win. After falling within a half-game of second-place St. Louis Sept. 8, they have gone 11-5. The Cardinals have gone 8-10.

The Cubs left their competition in a cloud of dust and, after Tuesday night's 3-2 victory over the Expos, the spray of champagne.

"I can't say enough about these guys," said manager Don Zimmer, his voice. hoarse and his uniform drenched. "I haven't got a hit. I haven't thrown a pitch. These guys did it all. I'll never be on a club like this again."

Tuesday's clincher was another in which hustle, pitching, timely hitting and luck played a part. In other words, it was a typical Cubs win. Earlier, the Pirates had beaten the Cardinals to give the Cubs a chance to party.

Ryne Sandberg scored all the way from first base on Dwight Smith's eighth-inning single that right fielder Hubie Brooks hobbled briefly. The eighth-inning run broke a 2-2 tie.

"This team was an underdog," Sandberg said. "But it has a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of hustle. We've had our tough times, but we never gave up. A lot of that comes from Don Zimmer."

The eighth-inning rally started with two outs. Sandberg singled to left off starter Dennis Martinez (16-7). Then, he broke with a pitch that Dwight Smith singled to right.

Sandberg easily advanced to third. And, when third-base coach Chuck Cottier saw Brooks bobble the ball, he sent the runner home. Sandberg scored standing up.

"Ryne was coming hard," Cottier said. "When I saw Hubie bobble the ball, I knew he could make it with his speed, even though Hubie has an above-average arm."

Fittingly, the game ended with the excitement of a foiled Expos rally in the ninth. The threat required Mitch Williams (36th save) to rescue starter Greg Maddux (19-12).

With a runner at third base, Williams struck out pinch hitter Mike Fitzgerald to end the game.

"He swung at a nice, high, bad pitch," Williams said. "He chased it. And I love him for it."

The out unleashed a wild celebration that began at the pitcher's mound and eventually resumed in the clubhouse in a champagne-sprayed hug fest.

The Cubs opened a 2-0 lead after 4 ½ innings.

But the Expos tied it with a 2-run sixth. Marquis Grissom, Andres Galarraga and Brooks opened with singles. Nelson Santovenia's sacrifice fly completed the rally.

Until then, super sub Rick Wrona looked like the hitting hero. The catcher tripled in the second to score Shawon Dunston from first.

Sandberg lined a doubled off the left-field wall with one out in the sixth and made it 2-0 when Smith followed with an opposite-field bloop single.

Cubs speed and aggressiveness may be among the club's most overlooked assets. Most runners wouldn't have scored on Brooks' bobble. And not many third-base coaches would have gambled on a bad throw.

"I was running hard into third base," Sandberg said. "I picked up the third-base coach and he waved me to go all the way."

Cottier smiled afterward.

"That's the way Zim likes it," he said. "Make things happen."

Cubs throw a corker of a postgame clinching party
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Jeff Nordlund
September 27, 1989
MONTREAL - The beauty of the Cubs isn't the quality of baseball they play. It's the wide-eyed fun they have doing it.

So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that once they clinched the NL East title Tuesday night against the Expos, they would throw one wild-and-crazy celebration.

They did.

"I think we know that this is one of the great moments in our baseball lives," said catcher Rick Wrona, who in many ways epitomizes the "Who Are Those Guys?" Cubs.

There was nothing forced about this champagne-shaking and beer-shampooing clubhouse party. The kids' enthusiasm had even quiet veterans Andre Dawson and Ryne Sandberg joining in.

"Right now, we're not on top of the world, but we've hung in there as a ballclub and now no one can take this away from us," Dawson said.

The corks popped immediately after the players returned from their on-the-field celebration. The clubhouse was brightly lit with television lights and crowded with reporters.

Players circled for a half-hour, hugging, congratulating and pouring drinks over one another's heads.

"This was just what the doctor ordered," rookie Dwight Smith said of the clinching victory. "Now we don't have to go to St. Louis and worry about winning those games. This is a young ballclub, and I want to do this again next year and again the year after that."

It was suggested during the pennant race that the Cubs' youngsters didn't know what they were accomplishing and, therefore, were immune to pressure. There may be some truth to that.

"We were talking about how great it would be to win for the veterans," rookie Jerome Walton said. "They've been good for us all year."

Young players, after all, frequently think this can happen again and again. It just doesn't always work out that way.

Mark Grace, in only his second major-league season, may have hit the point when he talked about Tuesday's win and how it related to the entire season.

A key bobble by Montreal right fielder Hubie Brooks led to the win.

"It's unbelievable," Grace said. "We're champions of the NL East. It's, been that kind of season. Take Hubie's bobble. Hubie doesn't bobble that ball ever. But he hobbled this one. It was just meant to be."

A .214 hitter this year at Class AAA Iowa, Wrona has been a star since he was called up in August. He complimented manager Don Zimmer.

"I love the way he tries to make things happen," Wrona said. "On my second at-bat (Tuesday), it was a hit-and-run. But (Dennis Martinez) threw a slider in the dirt and I couldn't do anything with it.

"I struck out (and the runner was out stealing). But I came into the dugout and Zim said, 'That's OK. It was a dirt ball, and you couldn't do anything about it.'

"Hit and run, steal bases, slide, dive, get dirty. That's the way he likes the game played."

Sandberg also credited the manager.

"Don Zimmer never gives up," Sandberg said. "And we played that way every day. I think we got some wins from it."

Roving bands of Cubs sneaked up on unsuspecting teammates and doused them. Then the mobs grew bolder and did the same to Zimmer and general manager Jim Frey.

Vance Law, a Mormon, sipped a soft drink as he circled. The WGN-TV monitor was tuned to the scene outside Wrigley Field.

"I wish we could be there," Zimmer said.

Steve Wilson, another Cubs rookie, looked over the room after 15 minutes of celebrating and said what most of the baseball world probably is saying today:

"I can't believe this is happening."

CUBS NOTEBOOK
Zimmer's message to Craig: We'll show up for playoffs
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Jeff Nordlund
September 27, 1989
MONTREAL - Manager Don Zimmer has a message for his friend, Giants manager Roger Craig.

"I read where Roger Craig, after his team rallied from being down by 9 runs and then scoring 5 runs in the ninth, said, 'We'll not only win the division, we'll win the pennant,'" said the Cubs' manager.

"Well, we won't lose any games by forfeit. We will show up (for the playoffs opener) Wednesday."

A Cubs-Giants matchup in the NLCS should be a beauty. The teams were 3-3 at Wrigley Field and 3-3 at Candlestick Park. They have nearly identical records. And they rank 1-2 in runs scored.

Plus, Zimmer and Craig are longtime friends. Zimmer coached for Craig's Giants only two years ago,

"Just to think," Zimmer said as the Cubs' clinching celebration went on, "Two years ago I was doing the same thing with Roger and the Giants."

• Dave Martinez said Tuesday that, contrary to the versions of umpire Paul Runge and Expos teammate Tim Raines, the ball didn't roll from his glove after he made what appeared to be a diving catch of Andre Dawson's flyball Monday.

"I watched the replay 20 times," the ex-Cub said. "The ball never left my glove. But the glove left my hand."

If the glove came off, even though it still contained the ball, that also constituted no catch. That was how the play was ruled. Dawson ended up with an inside-the-park homer.

Martinez separated his left shoulder making the dive and is out for the season.

• Jerome Walton, who has missed the last eight games with a sore hamstring, said he probably will return today. He said he wants to be careful since this is the same hamstring that kept him out of action for a month earlier in the season.

"It's just not as bad this time," he said. "I think I pulled it."

• Shawon Dunston returned to the lineup Tuesday after a three-game absence with a sore right shoulder.

• Dwight Smith went 3-for-4 Tuesday and is batting .325, which would place him third in the NL batting race. But he has just 366 plate appearances.

To qualify for the race, a player needs 502 appearances by the end of the season.

Impossible, you say? Nothing's impossible anymore
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Mike Imrem
September 27, 1989
MONTREAL - The Cubs celebrated clinching the National League East title Tuesday night, and suddenly nothing in the world is impossible.

Absolutely nothing.

If what came to pass here in Olympic Stadium really happened, Zsa Zsa might pass the bar exam.

Danny Boy Quayle might pass a civics test. Hell, "Living Dolls" might pass "Cosby" in the ratings race.

The 1989 Cubs are champions of the NL East, and no mountain is too high, boys and girls, and no road too long or river too wide.

Now any first grader might grow up to be president, or if he can't wait until he's 35, how about being Doogie Howser M.D.?

With Tuesday night's 3-2 victory over the Expos, the Cubs just might have become the most improbable group of champions ever to grace the game of baseball.

And they'll remain so at least until the Orioles finish off the American League East.

"The thing that's special this year," manager Don Zimmer said, "is nobody expected it."

Among the 11,615 fans in Olympic Stadium were three tour groups that came from Chicago to see through their own eyes — obviously not trusting Channel 9's — whether this quirk was real or rumor.

When news came from Pittsburgh that a St. Louis loss lowered the Cubs' magic number to 1, and the Cubs themselves seemed destined to erase it completely, a City of Chicago flag was unfurled down the left-field line.

The explosion peaked when reliever Mitch Williams threw a fastball past pinch hitter Mike Fitzgerald for the final out.

Catcher Joe Girardi held the ball up, pleading for a favorable call. Plate umpire Dutch Rennert held his right fist up, designating a checked-swing strikeout. Williams threw his arms up toward the roof, signaling the start of the party.

"God, this is too awesome," Williams blurted after being the magnet that drew all of his teammates to the center of the diamond for a joyride to the clubhouse on each others' backs.

Once inside, it was hugs and bubbly for all, Williams pouring champagne on Shawon Dunston and Mike Bielecki on Ryne Sandberg, Rick Sutcliffe embracing Mark Grace, Les Lancaster embracing Jerome Walton ... "I don't wanta get buried," general manager Jim Frey said, approaching the mob scene, stepping back and then, what the hell, jumping in the middle.

"What a wonderful feeling," he kept saying as Tribune Company executives patted him on the back.

Amid popping corks and Cubs romping around the room, memories of spring training invaded the mind's eye.

Six months ago, Tuesday night wasn't even a fantasy. Nobody would dare daydream such an impossible dream for fear it would become an instant nightmare.

"Back in spring training, we were predicted to go nowhere," outfielder Andre Dawson recalled.

The Cubs were as bad as any team can be in March. Even before the exhibition schedule began, they looked horrible just standing around, staggering through sprints and botching fundamentals.

The Cubs at least knew Greg Maddux and Rick Sutcliffe would be in their starting pitching rotation. That was one more settled spot than the outfield could boast.

Dawson appeared to be in a funk, though with as much class as possible.

He never said it, just reflected it - "You mean I'm going to have to play the twilight of my illustrious career on a team with absolutely no chance of getting into the playoffs?"

By Opening Day, not much had occurred to brighten his spirits. The Cubs lost 23 of 32 exhibitions and everybody from the cynical media to Frey to agonizing fans to Zimmer would have gladly accepted a.500 season right there.

In other words, six months ago the Cubs looked like they have most of our lifetimes — pathetic.

And look at them now.

They've gone from pathetic to precious before our very eyes.

The meek have inherited the National League East and the diehards are celebrating nationwide.

Cubs clinch! Cubs clinch! Cubs clinch!
Fans go wild celebrating division title
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Anne Burris Gasior
September 27, 1989
The old familiar electric sign on top of Wrigley Field said it all: CUBS WIN! Not since 1984 has there been such joy in Wrigleyville.

As the Cubs defeated the Montreal Expos 3-2 to clinch the National League East Division championship, the fans went wild. They sang, drenched each other in champagne, exchanged high fives and poured into the streets around the ballpark to let all those within hearing distance know the Cubs had finally done it.

Judy Aldnch of Arlington Heights said she'd spent a lot of time at Murphy's Bleachers waiting for this moment of baseball glory. When it came, she hugged everyone around her and announced, "I may get drunk. I don't normally drink, but I have a bottle of champagne from 1984 with the Cubs' logo on it and I may just go home and stay up all night drinking it."

Throughout Wrigleyville, bars were packed with fans from all over the Chicago area who made the trip confident that the much talked about magic number would dwindle to zero by the end of the night.

That number went down to one at 8:30 p m when the second place St. Louis Cardinals lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates. That loss was sweet to Cub fans who began to celebrate in earnest.

Bob Horvath of Palatine came to Murphy's to watch the game because "In 1984 I was home and saying I wished I was at Wrigley."

Rob Carroll of Addison didn't want to take the chance that the Cubs would not clinch Tuesday night so he made the trip down to Wrigley Field.

And though more than 100 security guards and police were on hand to keep the crowd under control and out of the ball park, Carroll said his fantasy was to somehow get into Wrigley Field and slide into home plate.

Though Carroll's fantasy may not have come true, police did have a tough time keeping the throng from blocking the familiar intersection of Clark and Addison.

September 24, 1995: You Ever Run the Ball ... on Weed?

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Rashaan Salaam's first start as a Bear. Coming off of a 10-carry, 47-yard game against Minnesota, his 16-40 performance (plus a fumble) was a disappointment, although he would go on to set a Bears rookie record for yards with 1,074. He also scored 10 touchdowns and fumbled 11 times.

Defeat nothing but frustrating to Bears
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By John Mullin
September 25, 1995
ST LOUIS—The bye week is coming at a good time, because the Bears will need an extra week to pull themselves back together after this one.

Sunday's 34-28 loss to St Louis left the Rams at 4-0, thanks in part to 10 points off Chicago turnovers, and the Bears at 2-2 and muttering in frustrated disarray.

Coaches talked of players not making plays.

Players were upset with coaching strategies that they feel have taken the aggressiveness out of what has become an erratic defense.

And, as well as the offense played, the game ended on a note that had receiver Jeff Graham fuming angrily about play-calling as the team made its way up the tunnel to the locker room.

Quarterback Erik Kramer, a brilliant 27-for-38 with 4 touchdown passes, no interceptions and 317 passing yards, chose to overrule a play sent in from the sidelines on fourth-and-eight at the Chicago 49 as the Bears tried to keep alive their final drive.

Instead of the called crossing route, Kramer passed to Curtis Conway short of the first-down marker on a play designed to have him turn and run for yardage. Conway was stopped, and so were the Bears

Graham later declined to discuss his comments on play calls. "I don't even want to get into that," Graham said. "Not at all. No comment."

Kramer, though, took responsibility for the change.

"It was a play we did not have called," Kramer said. "In hindsight, probably the play Ron (offensive coordinator Turner) had called was the right one."

Conway said he knew he was short of the first down where he caught the ball, but "that's part of the play, catch the ball and try to run," he added.

"Whoever made the tackle was just right there. I don't think it was a bad read or anything went wrong. They just made a good play."

Not many players on the Bears' defense did, though the reasons may be a matter of some dispute.

After garnering 4 interceptions against Tampa Bay, the Bears' secondary was shut out by the Rams and Chris Miller, who was 21-for-31 for 231 yards before leaving in the fourth quarter with a concussion. But he was lucid enough to recall something that the Bears' defenders saw as well.

Concern with big plays, trick plays, stop-and-go's and other worries appears to have led cautious coaches to play the secondary soft to the point where players believe the defense is on its heels, playing too defensively.

Cause and effect are running together. Cornerbacks Jeremy Lincoln and Donnell Woolford, for example, have struggled at times this year, coaches appear to be playing them looser to avoid being burned, they play tentative, and the downward spiral builds.

The result Sunday was 10 Rams pass plays that gained 12 or more yards, with tight end Troy Drayton open often enough to post a career day of 8 catches for 108 yards.

"We felt we could work in front and in back of their linebackers in the middle of the field and were able to do that pretty well and expose it most of the day," Miller said.

The defensive problems were hardly confined to the secondary. Tackle Jim Flanigan and end Albert Fontenot got to Miller for sacks, and linebacker Vinson Smith knocked him out of the game with a concussion on a near-sack.

But the defense could not stop a suddenly thundering Jerome Bettis, who had 60 yards in the second half after just 14 in the first, and receivers were able to work free as the pass rush could not get to Miller soon enough.

"Mostly it was all those situations where they stayed in 'standard' people running the ball or kept everybody in and protected, and ran one or two-man routes," said defensive coordinator Bob Slowik.

"We can't get any pressure and they get 1-on-l and convert."

"I think so," Woolford said. "Anytime you can catch a 10-yard comeback or curl and nobody's around, that's leaving the guys in the secondary out in the wash.

"He (Miller) had a lot of time, but you've got to credit that to his offensive line."

The Rams got an early jump on the Bears with no help at all from their offense.

One play after Kramer and Graham hooked up on a 49-yard catch-and-run to open the game, the ball dropped out of Kramer's hands and rolled loose on the carpet, where safety Toby Wright picked it up.

Wright outran the Bears' offense for a 73-y.ird touchdown, the Rams' 13th takeaway of the season without a giveaway. It gave St. Louis a 7-0 lead just 55 seconds into the game.

The Bears were still in a giving mood two possessions later, and it cost them. Rashaan Salaam was hard hit by Rams linebacker Roman Phifer at the Chicago 24 and committed his second fumble in as many weeks.

St. Louis recovered and was up 10-0 on a 45-yard Steve McLaughlin field goal.

"We played into their hands the way the game starts, with 2 turnovers and spotting them 10 points," said Bears coach Dave Wannstedt. "You can't do that on the road with this type of crowd."

The Bears had the crowd back out of the game by halftime as they came back to lead 21-17 But the Rams covered 67 yards in 14 plays on their opening drive of the second half, scoring on a 6 yard pass from Miller to ex-Bear Marv Cook.

They ran their lead to 31-21 on their next possession, going 69 yards in six plays and finishing with a Miller-to-Drayton pass for the final 12 yards.

"We had a chance to make a few tackles and didn't do it. They blocked us at times, we just didn't rise up and make a play," Wannstedt said. "We just didn't get it done.

"The thing is, we had a chance today to take a little step forward and didn't do it, so we're in there in the middle of the pack."

GAME BALL
Rams quarterback Chris Miller found all of the numerous soft spots in the Bears defense, completing 21 of 31 passes for 231 yards and 3 touchdowns.

GOAT
Todd Sauerbrun. To date, the Bears have gotten no more production from their second-round pick than they might expect from an undrafted free agent. None of his five kickoffs got within spitting distance of the end zone, and his punts were worse.

KEY PLAY
On fourth-and-eight just after the two-minute warning, Erik Kramer connected with Curtis Conway at the Rams' 45, where he was stopped immediately two yards short of first down to end the Bears' final threat

NEXT
The Bears have a bye week before hosting the expansion Carolina Panthers on Oct. 8 at noon.

Miller has way with Bears until 'the hit' sends him to sideline
Daily Herald
By Tim Sassone
September 25, 1995
ST. LOUIS — This may be the home city to Anheuser-Busch, but it was Miller time Sunday afternoon.

It was quarterback Chris Miller who deftly picked apart the Bears' defense for 231 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Rams went 4-0 with their 34-28 victory.

Miller even sat out the final 9:42 with a possible concussion after being drilled by Vinson Smith. Miller played like he was unconscious even before the hit.

"Chris was great," said Rams coach Rich Brooks. "I thought our offense came of age. It was clearly our best offensive game of the year, but it had to be or we wouldn't have won because it wasn't the best game from our defense."

It's the Rams' defense that was largely responsible for their 3-0 start with 12 takeaways. On Sunday the Rams gave up 364 yards to the Bears and let Erik Kramer throw for 317 and 4 touchdowns, but the big-play defense still forced 2 turnovers and converted the first one into 6 points.

That was Toby Wright's 73-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown on the Bears' second play from scrimmage after Kramer lost the ball in the backfield.

"Everybody on this defense is looking for it now, to come up with that takeaway," Wright said. "I hope it's becoming a habit."

The Rams think they went a long way toward winning the game in the third quarter when they took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown to go ahead 24-21.

"I think that drive showed a lot of courage," said running back Jerome Bettis. "We showed we can come back from a deficit and not just wait for a takeaway."

The drive-capping score came when Miller lobbed a l-yarder to tight end Marv Cook, the ex-Bear, on a gutsy fourth-and-1 play when Brooks decided against trying a field goal that would have made it a 1-point deficit for the Rams.

"I initially said 'kick' until I learned we had less than a foot and I immediately changed my mind," Brooks said. "I felt they might think we'd run if we were real short and we had the play action ready to go."

"That was a great call," Miller said. "They had their ears pinned back thinking run and we sold it real good."

Miller completed 5 of 7 passes for 53 yards during the key 67-yard scoring drive to open the second half.

He finished the game 21 of 31 with many of his throws exposing a soft spot in the middle of the Bear defense.

"The thing we wanted to do today was come out and prove we were legit and not just a pushover," Miller said.

Miller was still groggy in the locker room afterward from Smith's forearm hit and had difficulty moving his neck. He thought Smith should have been penalized.

"I believe so," said Miller, who has a history of concussions. "I was watching the ball and the next thing I know it feels like I'm getting hit over the head with a baseball bat."

"I thought that's what these new rules wore supposed to eliminate," Brooks said.

Smith, of course, pleaded innocent.

"I just hit him with my elbow and I think most of what happened to him was when he hit the ground and his head bounced up off the turf," Smith said. "I didn't think it was that fierce."

Rams adjust — and Bettis pounds Bears
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Bob LeGere
September 25, 1995
ST. LOUIS - A slight halftime adjustment in the Rams' running game made a big difference in Jerome Bettis' effectiveness and helped St. Louis rally past the Bears in the second half on Sunday.

The 245-pound battering Ram was held to 14 yards on 7 first-half carries as St Louis managed just 128 total yards but still trailed by just 21-17 only because they turned 2 Bears turnovers into 10 points.

"They came out with a different running play and we didn't adjust soon enough," said Bears strong-side linebacker Vinson Smith, who had 5 tackles, 4 of them solo.

"(Bettis) got the momentum, and once he gets downfield, he's probably one of the better players. Because of his size, he's able to run the ball and smash it up in there and he was able to do that. By the time we were able to adjust to what they were doing, he had had a real nice third quarter."

In the second half, Bettis carried 15 times for 60 yards and made the Bears' defense respect the threat of the run more, forcing them to concentrate less on stopping the pass.

After being stopped for no gain on his first carry after the break, Bettis ripped off gains of 7,7,5 and 6 yards in the Rams' 14-play, 67-yard drive that recaptured the lead 24-21. On the Rams' next possession, Bettis ran for 14 and 5 yards to set up what proved to be the winning TD.

"They start ed running a counter play, pinching the linebackers in side and getting (Bettis) out to the perimeter where he could use his size to his advantage against the defensive backs," Smith said.

While Bettis' second-half numbers weren't stunning, his effectiveness allowed tight end Troy Drayton to establish career bests with 8 catches and 106 yards. Wide receiver Isaac Bruce had a personal-high 6 receptions, which were good for 83 yards, as the Bears had to worry more about stopping the run than they had in the first half.

"That makes it hard to make calls from upstairs down to the defensive coaches when we're sitting on our heels and we don't know what they're going to do," said Bears cornerback Donnell Woolford. "We've got to put enough men on the line of scrimmage and that leaves the corners out to dry and the free safety out to dry and they can catch a bunch of underneath balls.

"Jerome's a great running back. We shut him down in the first half but he came out steamrolling in the second half."

The combination of an effective running game and a shrewd veteran quarterback (Chris Miller) proved too much as the Rams pounded out 211 second-half yards.

"Chris is a very smart quarterback," Smith said. "He knows how to make plays, he knows how to get people the ball. He's a very intelligent player who knows how to play the game. If he sees something that he thinks is a weakness, he's going to make sure he makes you pay for it And I think he found some weaknesses in the third quarter and did some of the things he wanted to do."

That kept the Bears from doing what they wanted to do.

"Bettis did a good job in the second half making everybody come up on (the line of scrimmage)," Woolford said. "Then, when they suck everybody up, the field is wide open so they can run out there and turn around and catch the ball.

"One thing we wanted to do was keep everything in front of us and make the tackles. We thought if we did that we could win the game, but evidently it didn't happen that way."

Salaam leaves much to be desired on, off the field
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Mike Imrem
September 25, 1995
ST LOUIS—Rashaan Salaam buttoned his red plaid flannel shirt late Sunday afternoon.

No, not to the top and, yes, it did have a collar.

I offer this in an effort to provide at least some details of Salaam's debut as the Bears' starting running back.

Somebody has to because he wouldn't.

That's just one of the obvious differences between the next Walter Payton and the only Walter Payton.

You see, as a young running back Payton was more likely to explain his sputtering performances than his spectacular ones.

He had no idea how to describe that little move where he was pinned behind the line of scrimmage, shook a leg away from a linebacker and turned a 3-yard loss into an 8-yard gain.

Payton, however, was perfectly capable of telling everybody what went wrong when it did ... as it did in his own first NFL start.

Because of that you kind of had confidence Walter Payton's head was where it belonged and he'd be all right.

Salaam didn't play well Sunday in his very own first NFL start. When asked later whether he was talking he said, "Never, ever."

Where Rashaan Salaam's head is will remain a mystery until the Bears next game Oct 8 against Carolina.

By the way, he wore light brown trousers after contributing to the Bears' 34-28 defeat to the St Louis Rams.

Salaam wasn't necessarily the worst of the Bears' rookies in this worst of Bears losses.

Todd Sauerbrun at least shared the distinction, if you want to count punters as football players.

Salaam isn't a punter, Even at a mere 20 years of age he's the Heisman Trophy winner from Colorado, the great bright hope of his team's rushing offense, the Bears' next great running back.

The sooner the better.

In Salaam's much-anticipated first pro start he ran 16 times for 40 yards and a 2.5-yard average per carry.

"He's ready," Bears coach Dave Wannstedt continued to insist afterward but then added, "He needs work, he needs repetitions, he needs to see the lights."

With the bulbs still off, Salaam continued his irritating habit of turning the ball over by fumbling his fifth carry, and did I mention he wore a gold necklace out of the building.

"The ball came out," confirmed Wannstedt, who won the debate with Salaam, who didn't seem to notice it did.

When asked a week earlier about his fumbling, Salaam explained, "Accidents happen."

After this latest mishap and Wannstedt's subsequent animated lecture, Salaam earned the ball like it was the last egg in the world, wrapping both arms around it like it was Halle Barry, protecting it like it was Connie Chung's first-born.

Salaam appeared to lose his confidence, and his coaches appeared to consider his running more a threat to the Bears than to the Rams.

He was in and out of the lineup after that even though more trusted runners Robert Green, Lewis Tillman and Raymont Harris are injured.

"We gotta get healthy," Wannstedt said. "We've had three running backs start in three consecutive weeks."

Salaam wasn't in on many passing downs against the Rams because the Bears don't have faith in his receiving ability. And the way the running game was, going, most downs were passing downs.

Erik Kramer threw 38 times while the Bears ran only 20 times. He accounted for 317 passing yards while the running game accounted for 47.

Just as the Bulls have trouble winning when Michael Jordan scores more then 50 points, the Bears have trouble winning when the quarterback throws for more than 300 yards.

The Bears needed balance in their offense but couldn't generate any. The Rams, meanwhile, rushed for 106 yards, 74 from Jerome Bettis, just enough to win.

Afterward Salaam carried out a black piece of luggage with a Colorado Buffalo on it.

The next Walter Payton has a ways to go before he reminds you of Walter Payton on or off the field.

September 23, 1990: Illini's Griffith Sets NCAA Record with 8 TD in Single Game

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Sixteen years later, this record still stands.

Griffith scored 15 TDs in 1990 to finish with 33 in his career, most in Illini history (15 in one season is an Illini record, too). He finished third in rushing yards with 2,485, behind Jim Grabowski (2,878) and Thomas Rooks (2,887), but has since been surpassed by Rocky Harvey (2,711), Antoineio Harris (2,985), and Robert Holcombe (4,105).

Griffith had an 8-year NFL career as a fullback, winning two Super Bowl rings with Denver. He scored two rushing touchdowns in Super Bowl XXXIII.

Side Stat 1: Rockey Harvey set the record for touchdown runs in a game (6) for the United Indoor Football League's Fort Wayne Freedom on March 20, 2004, versus Evansville.

Side Stat II: The NCAA record for touchdown passes in a single game is ... 11, by David Klinger in 1990, versus Eastern Washington. In 33 NFL games, Klinger threw 16 touchdown passes.

Griffith's 8 TDs lift Illinois past SIU
Daily Herald (Ill.)
BY TONY GARCIA
September 23, 1990
CHAMPAIGN - Howard Griffith always wanted a game like this. But he didn't want it against a good friend.

Griffith scored an NCAA-record 8 touchdowns in the Illini's 56-21 win over Southern Illinois in front of 64,469 fans Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

"I really didn't want to do it against a guy like (SIU) coach Bob Smith," said Griffith. "He's a tremendous motivator. He's helped me; he's been an inspiration since I've been in football. I wished it would have happened to anyone else but him."

Griffith, a former walk-on at Illinois, surpassed the immortal Harold "Red" Grange for scoring in a single game at Illinois with his sixth touchdown, an 18-yard blast through the right side in the third quarter.

On his eighth touchdown of the day, a 3-yard shot off right tackle, Griffith passed Arnold Boykin of Mississippi for most touchdowns in a game, and surpassed Jim Brown's single-game record of 43 points for Syracuse.

Smith was an Illini assistant coach in 1988 when Griffith made his mark with the football program, and helped him become the dominant back he is today.

"To think he was a walk-on when he came to Illinois makes it more impressive," said Smith.

Besides his 208 yards on 21 carries — fourth-best in Illini history — Griffith also caught 3 passes for 44 yards.

"(Howard) is an outstanding young man," said Illinois head coach John Mackovic. "I'm as proud of him as anyone on this football team because of the way he's persevered. He didn't have a great start here. Now he's a co-captain, and he's in a great position to graduate on time."

Ironically, the only school to offer a scholarship to Griffith was Southern Illinois. The 5-foot-11, 215-pound senior from Chicago Julian High School wanted to prove he could play in the Big Ten and bypassed the Carbondale school.

"They were the only school who believed I could play football," Griffith said.

Griffith leapfrogged from eighth to second on the Illinois career touchdown list with 27, putting him 4 behind Grange.

September 21, 1989: Cubs Magic Number Down to 6

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Cubs lost to the Phillies last night, but 17 years ago ... different story.

Side Stat: Doug Dascenzo, one of the heroes of this game, made four relief appearances over 2 seasons (1990-1991), pitching 5 innings without giving up a run. He was 5'8" ... he must have looked ridiculous on the mound.

Cubs bounce back in big way against Phils
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Jeff Nordlund
September 22, 1989
Team meetings are for losers.

And a day after theirs, the Cubs played like winners while handing the Phillies a 9-1 defeat Thursday.

The impressiveness of the victory speaks more of the team's resiliency than of what was said at Tuesday's pitcher-catcher confab.

But that discussion deserves its due, since Greg Maddux (18-12) was the hero. He went the distance, the first outing of more than 5 innings by a Cubs starter in a week.

"That meeting, it's over," manager Don Zimmer said. "It wasn't the first meeting I ever had. And I've said all the things before."

"The meeting helped," Maddux said. "But what Zimmer said is what we've been talking about all year. We just weren’t doing it.”

The outing gave the first-place Cubs a breather in an NL East race that has become more exciting than most expected a week ago. This was only the Cubs' second win in the last six games. The Cardinals fell to 4 games back.

"We needed a win badly," Maddux said. "Let's not fool anybody. The Cardinals aren't losing, so we have to start winning."

Though Maddux lost his shutout in the eighth, it didn't diminish the magnitude of the performance. His 6-hitter was just what the club needed to rest its bullpen.

"We were hoping for 9 innings," Zimmer said. "The last two or three days, with our starter getting knocked out early, we needed 17 pitchers. This came at a good time.”

Pitching every fifth day, Maddux can make 2 more starts. That would give him a shot at 20 wins. But the last start would be Sunday, Oct. 1, the final day of the season.

If the Cubs have clinched, they may not want him pitching so near the opener of the NL playoffs on Wednesday, Oct 4. He's the likely choice to start Game 1.

The Cubs collected 17 hits, giving them 35 for the two-game series. None was bigger than Andre Dawson's 3-run homer off Terry Mulholland (4-7) in the fourth.

"I hit the ball hard" said Dawson, who watched the ball leave the park before beginning His trot, "that's all that matters. I can't guide the ball. And I don't know where it's going to fall."

Rick Wrona and Doug Dascenzo, the mighty mites, also played big roles, though with hits not nearly as massive.

Wrona's broken-bat RBI single opened the scoring in the second. And Dascenzo legged out an infield hit that kept the fourth inning alive for Dawson.

"I've been told it was the play of the game," Wrona joked of his hit.

"You're supposed to run as hard as you can, and that's what I did," Dascenzo said of his hit.

The Cubs were like cannonballs on the basepaths; once they got started, it was tough to stop them. They were especially adept at taking extra bases:

• On Wrona's second-inning single to left, Lloyd McClendon scored from second, Shawon Dunston went from first to third, and Wrona took second on the throw.

• On Dascenzo's fourth-inning infield hit, Wrona went from first to third

• On Dascenzo's fifth-inning single to center, Wrona scored from second and Maddux raced from first to third. Dascenzo then sprinted to third on Ryne Sandberg's single to left.

The only time Cubs hustle hurt was when McClendon was out by 15 feet trying to stretch a double into a triple in the sixth. But the Cubs already led 9-0.

September 20, 1961: The Asterisk Is Born

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I hate Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire. I hate them for juicing, and I hate them for making it impossible for me to truly get behind Ryan Howard's amazing year (57 and counting).

Side Story: I always think of Yogi Berra as just some retard who people attribute mildly clever anecdotes, but he is a hall of famer, and look at the year he had in 1950: 597 AB, .322 BA, 28 HR, 124 RBI, 12 Strikeouts! He struck out 12 times in 597 at bats. Let me say that again: He struck out 12 times in 597 at bats. AFLAC!!!

Maris' Bid Ends at 59
Syracuse Post Standard (N.Y.)
The Associated Press
September 21, 1961
BALTIMORE- Roger Maris hit his 59th home run Wednesday night, in the third inning, but missed No. 60 when a long drive to right went foul in the seventh and failed to tie Babe Ruth's 60-homer record while the New York Yankees clinched their 26th American League pennant.

Battling to tie or surpass Ruth's 1927 record — the greatest of all baseball prizes — Maris tagged Milt Pappas' 2-1 pitch in the third inning for No. 59, the line drive carrying into the stands over the 380-foot marker.

The homer sent the Yankees into a 2-0 lead and the New Yorkers never relinquished the edge as they beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-2 and clinched their 11th pennant in the last 13 years, and the first for rookie Manager Ralph Houk.

Long Shot Hooks Out
Maris came up for the second time after homer No. 59 in the seventh inning and took a called strike from reliever Dick Hall before sending a long shot to right that had the crowd on its feet. The shot hooked foul by about 25 feet.

Hall then got Maris to hit a towering fly to deep right center that chased right fielder Earl Robinson back before he caught it, 20 feet short of the wall.

In his final appearance, Maris faced knuckleballing reliever Hoyt Wilhelm. He fouled one back, then started to check his swing on the second pitch. But he couldn't hold back and topped a soft roller along the first base line. Wilhelm picked it up, jogged over to first and made the tag on Maris himself.

He's Disgusted; Fans Cheer
Maris threw his batting helmet away in disgust while the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

That ended Maris' chances to tie or surpass Ruth's record under the official 154-decision limit imposed by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick. Maris, who lined to right in the first inning before stirring tine crowd with his 59th homer, has eight games left on the American League's expanded schedule in which to surpass Ruth's total.

Ralph Terry (15-3), who clinched the pennant for the Yankees last year, got the job done again with a four-hitter that made Houk the first rookie manager in 15 years to win a major league flag. Houk succeeded Casey Stengel at the Yankee helm this year.

Ed Dyer of the St. Louis Cardinals was the last first-year skipper to win a pennant, in 1946. Mickey Cochrane, in 1934 with the Detroit Tigers, was the last AL rookie field boss to do it.

Roger Helps Wrap It Up
The Yankees wrapped it up with three runs in the third when Maris led off with his 59th homer and Yogi Berra followed with his 21st, a little to the left of Maris'. Johnny Blanchard then singled and scored when Elston Howard doubled to right center.

Hall replaced Pappas (12-9) at. that point and got the final two outs.

The Yankees had opened the scoring in the second on Bill Skowron's triple to right and Clete Boyer's single through the middle.

The Orioles were able to get to Terry only in the sixth when they scored twice. With one out, Ron Hansen singled through short, and Hall and Brooks Robinson followed with singles that scored Hansen. Jerry Adair hit into a forceout that scored Hall when Bobby Richardson dropped the ball after making the out.

Strikes Out Gentile
Terry then walked Jackie Brandt, but got out of the inning by striking out Jim Gentile.

That was the last Oriole threat. Terry set the Orioles down without a hit in every other inning but the fourth when Adair blooped a single to shallow left for the first Baltimore hit.

Terry set the Orioles down 1-2-3 in the ninth and the Yankees raced off the field to pop open the champagne that had been kept on ice since Tuesday when the Yanks failed to clinch by splitting a doubleheader with Baltimore.

Maris lost a homer here on July 17 when he hit one in the fourth inning here but had it stricken from the record books when the game was rained out.

Second to Wallop 59
He is only the second man ever to hit 59 homers—Ruth did it in 1921.

No. 59 for Maris pulled him in front of two other great sluggers who had threatened Ruth's 60-homer mark—Jimmy Foxx and Hank Greenberg. Foxx hit 58 with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1932 and Greenberg hit the same number for the Detroit Tigers in 1938.

The homer was his first of the season at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium and only his second against Orioles' pitching this year. It also was only his fourth hit in 28 official trips to the plate at Baltimore, getting three singles prior to No. 59.

It was the 31st home run on the road for Roger, who has hit 28 at Yankee Stadium.

The Remaining Foes
The Yankees eight remaining games include the series closer at Baltimore Thursday night, two games at Boston, two at home with Baltimore and then a three-game finale in Yankee Stadium with Boston.

Maris, who has been walked 89 times and struck out 78 times, has hit 13 home runs against the Chicago White Sox, nine against Washington, eight against Cleveland and Detroit, six against Boston, five against Kansas City and four apiece off Minnesota and Los Angeles pitchers, plus his two against Baltimore.

Ruth had 138 bases on balls and struck out 89 times in 1927.

World Series Next Target
Roger ‘Very Relieved’
Syracuse Post Standard (N.Y.)
The Associated Press
September 21, 1961
BALTIMORE (AP)—Roger Maris, who hit his 59th home run Wednesday night but fell one homer short of Babe Ruth's glamorous 34-year-old record, said he was “very relieved” that the 154th game had been completed.

"Now that it's all over,” Roger said, "I'll try to get straightened out for the Series. Any homers I hit now will just be fine and dandy."

Maris hit his 59th homer, a drive of about 390 feet, in his second time at bat against Baltimore Oriole starter Milt Pappas in the third inning.

In the fourth inning he lined a drive which went into the stands about eight feet foul and some 15 feet short of the right field bleachers.

Again in the seventh, he flirted with fame when he hit a long drive deep into the right field bleachers about 25 feet-foul.

He came up again in the climactic ninth against Oriole knuckleball pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm. After fouling one pitch in back of the plate, Maris accidentally hit the ball and it dribbled down the first base line where Wilhelm picked it up and tagged the Yankee slugger.

"The bat never went, but my body did," Maris said. "Naturally I would have liked to have taken a full swing. If I was going to get out, I would have liked to have done it swinging."

Maris said he had but one regret about his last time at bat.

"I wanted to get three good swings whether I hit it or not. The way it turned out, I didn't get one.”

Maris explained he also checked on the first swing when he hit the foul ball.

Asked about the home run he hit here July 17th, a rained-out game which did not count in the record, Maris said, "At the time I didn't think much about it because I didn't think I'd come this close. Now it's a mighty big one."

Referring to Commissioner Ford Frick's edict which said Maris would have to reach Ruth's record in the first 154 games of the lengthened 162-game schedule, Maris said, "He's making the rules, I've got nothing to say about it."

Roger said he had no thought of taking any days off the remainder of the season, adding "I'll take my chances and see what happens."

Manager Ralph Houk said: "We're not going to worry whether Roger is going to play or not. Cincinnati is our next opponent."

While Maris was cornered by most of the newsmen in the dressing room, the rest of the champion Yankees were whooping it up with champagne which they poured over each other in their exhuberance.

"We're going to have fun tonight,” said Houk. "We're not interested in home runs anymore, we're interested only in getting ready for the World Series

September 19, 1993: Today's MLB Debut ... Steve Traschel

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Who led the Cubs in victories in the 1990s? Steve Traschel. Who leads the Mets in victories in the 21st Century: Yeah-huh ... Steve Traschel.

Aside from this, Traschel is most famous for giving up Mark McGwire's 62nd homer in 1998 and for his unfortuante habit of starting 4-hour ballgames.

Side Stat: I forgot how dominant Bryan Harvey was as a closer with California and then Florida. Check out his 1991 and 1993 seasons ... pretty fantastic.

Hammond silences Cubs bats to spoil Trachsel's impressive debut
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Timm Boyle
September 20, 1993
Overweight? Go to a fat farm. Problems with drugs or alcohol? Check into a rehab center. Pitching poorly? Visit Wrigley Field.

The friendly confines is quickly becoming a safe haven for opposing pitchers down on their luck. In a virtual carbon copy of Friday's game, the Florida Marlins knocked off the Cubs 2-1 Sunday in front of an announced crowd of 36,633 to take the series two games to one and the season series 7-6.

Left-hander Chris Hammond became the second struggling Marlins pitcher in three days to return to form in convincing fashion. He held the Cubs to l run on 4 hits and 3 walks in 7 2/3 innings to snap a personal seven-game losing streak.

Matt Turner pitched out of an eighth-inning jam by striking out Sammy Sosa, and Bryan Harvey gained his 45th save in 48 opportunities with a perfect, 3-strikeout ninth.

On Friday, right-hander Jack Armstrong broke a personal 6-game losing skid, shutting out Chicago for 7 1/3 innings before Harvey wrapped up a 2-0 Marlins victory.

Once again, the loss spoiled a strong outing by a Cubs starter. Friday it was Mike Harkey, and this time it was Steve Trachsel, who held the Marlins to 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk in his 7-inning major league debut.

"Steve did a great job. I was impressed with his poise and his mound presence," said Cub manager Jim Lefebvre. "He pitched good enough to win."

"I didn't always have poise," said Trachsel, who was 13-6 with a 3.96 ERA at Iowa this season. "I used to scream and throw the resin bag and kick the dirt, but you can't do that anymore."

Hammond (11-11), who tied for National League pitcher of the month honors in June after posting a 6-0 record and a 2.53 ERA, hadn't won a game since July 2 and his ERA was 5.93 over that time period. But the Cubs (76-74), who had managed just 3 singles against Armstrong on Friday, were putty in Hammond's hands.

Jeff Conine smacked his 11th home run of the season, a solo shot in the first inning, to put Florida ahead to stay. The Marlins made it 2-0 in the fifth when ex-Cub Alex Arias singled and scored on Hammond's suicide squeeze bunt.

The Cubs' lone run came in. the eighth when Glenallen Hill doubled off the glove of a diving Chuck Carr in center field to score Mark Grace.

Matias Carrillo made two sparkling plays in right field, robbing Eddie Zambrano of his first major league hit in the third inning, and denying Trachsel his second consecutive hit in the fourth with diving grabs of line drives.

September 18, 1984: Johnny Ray ... Cub Killer

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Pirates shadow-box Cubs, 6-2
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Mark Ruda
September 19, 1984
If the Cubs want to prove 2:20 p.m. games aren't in the best interests of baseball, they now have the evidence.

They could use Tuesday's game film as Exhibit A. It could provide a preview of things to come if the first two games of the National League Championship Series are moved back one hour.

Baseball and ABC-TV officials are thinking about starting NLCS games one hour beyond the normal Wrigley Field starting time of 1.20 p.m. on Oct. 2 and 3, which for all practical purposes are scheduled to be played between the Cubs and the Padres at Wrigley Field. The network officials want to try to squeeze in as much of their soap operas as they can around the two playoff games.

Tuesday's game between the Cubs and Pittsburgh included four errors and numerous other misplays in the outfield before the Pirates walked off the field with a 6-2 win thanks to Johnny Ray's four RBI.

THE COMBINATION of Tuesday's loss and the second-place New York Mets' 8-5 win at Philadelphia, held the Cubs' magic number for clinching the NL East pennant at 4. That means there won't be any celebration at Wrigley Field this homestand, as the earliest the Cubs can clinch is Friday when they play in St. Louis.

When it comes to the proposed late-starting postseason games, the Cubs have no confidence knowing they played 18 games starting at 3:05 p.m. during the regular season. With the October sun setting sooner every day, playing the outfield during games beginning at noon could become an adventure, and trying to hit a baseball while swinging from the shadows isn't easy, either.

"I don't think anybody has any advantage if we play anything that would start after 2 o'clock. Nobody has it, Except the pitchers," said Cubs right fielder Keith Moreland, who dropped a flyball in the eighth inning as the sun began to set before his eyes.

"That's going to put the sun right over home plate," said Pittsburgh right fielder Doug Frobel, whose sixth-inning error allowed the Cubs' second run to score. "The sun was getting worse as the day was progressing along. Whoever puts the ball in play the most and lets the elements take control of it..."

FROBEL DIDN'T finish his thought, but it was clear that late-starting contests could have some unnatural endings.

"I don't think anybody caught a ball in the outfield and looked real cool," Frobel said, "When you have a high sky like this and the sun's in the middle, it's tough to get underneath the ball like the way you want to do it. You almost have to play with the ball as it comes down."

More often than not, it came down on the side of the Pirates Tuesday.

Leon Durham started a home run derby by hammering his 22nd of the season into the right-field seats with two out in the second. Durham's homer, off Pirates starter John Tudor (10-11), tied his career-high season total reached in 1982.

But after he threw 3 1/3 perfect innings, Cubs starter Dennis Eckersley (8-8) yielded back-to-back homers to Lee Lacy and Ray. Lacy's 12th of the season was his third in as many days and landed in the basket atop the right-field wall.

THE PIRATES got another run off Eckersley, now 0-3 against Pittsburgh, when Ray got his second RBI of the game in the sixth.

Lacy led off with a single, stole second and went to third on Jody Davis' throwing error. Ray grounded to Ryne Sandberg at second, allowing Lacy to score.

In seven innings of work, Eckersley limited the Pirates to just four hits, striking out two and walking one. In his 22 starts, the Cubs have averaged four runs a game compared to almost five for the other starters.

"Unfortunately, we're in a pattern where we haven't scored runs for him," Cubs manager Jim Frey said. "That can turn around at any time. I hope it turns around on his next start."

After holding the Cubs to just three hits while striking out four and walking two, Tudor left the game after five innings complaining of tightness in his left elbow.

RELIEVER DON Robinson was tagged for an unearned run in the sixth when Frobel dropped a two-out flyball off the bat of Ron Cey. The error allowed Gary Matthews, who had walked with one out and stolen his 16th base of the season, to score from second.

Ray drove in two more runs in the eighth with a triple that got past center fielder Bob Dernier and rolled to the wall. It scored Robinson, who led off the inning against reliever George Frazier with a walk, and Lacy, who reached on a bunt single.

The first man Warren Brusstar faced in the eighth, Tony Pena, lofted a flyball that Moreland dropped. Ray scored from third, but Moreland salvaged something from the situation by forcing Jason Thompson at second.

"It's tough out there trying to catch that ball." Durham said. "You can't really fault anyone for dropping a flyball or not being able to pick it up."

September 17, 1995: Bob Probert's Truncated Blackhawk Debut

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Wild debut for Probert as Blackhawks lose to Oilers
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Tim Sassone
September 18, 1995
Bob Probert made his long-awaited Blackhawks debut Sunday night and it's what everyone came to see.

Unfortunately for the United Center crowd of 15,077 that cheered his every move, Probert's first performance as a guy they actually liked was brief.

Probert got ejected at 10:15 of the second period in the exhibition opener won by Edmonton 3-2 after earning a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for high sticking the Oilers' Dennis Bonvie.

Probert whacked Bonvie on the side of the head with his stick during an altercation near the Oilers' bench. It's an incident that could lead to a suspension.

"I don't even think my stick touched him," Probert said. "There was a guy skating toward me and it was just an accidental reflex.

"But it was great being out there again. I just wish I could have made it through the whole game."

The 22-year-old Bonvie, who racked up 422 penalty minutes in the AHL last season, also fought Probert in the first period. Bonvie talked earlier in the week about challenging Probert and didn't waste any time doing so.

"I said to him, 'Let's go. You're either going to make me or break me,'" said Bonvie. "If you're going to go with anybody, you might as well go with the cream of the crop."

Probert didn't think much of Bonvie's challenge.

"I said, 'Yeah, whatever,'" Probert said. "I just have to be more disciplined and pick my spots, especially in the preseason where you're just trying to get in shape."

Hawks fans who hated Probert when he was with Detroit welcomed him with a loud cheer when he took his first shift Sunday. The cheer grew to a roar moments later when Probert dropped the gloves and fought Bonvie.

Probert, playing his first game after a year-long battle with substance abuse, showed some rust but still got in several good shots against Bonvie.

Later in the first period, Probert displayed some of his other skills during a Hawks power play. Coach Craig Hartsburg put Probert in front of the net and the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder was tough for the Oilers to move, twice nearly scoring.

"Until the incident, I thought he played well, and not just the fight," said Hartsburg. "I thought he had an influence on the game. But that incident was typical of us tonight. We were undisciplined as a team and we can't accept that."

Later in the third period, Joe Murphy was ejected for high sticking Tyler Wright. The slash may have broken Wright's jaw.

"I felt like my head was on a golf tee," Wright said.

"It was accidental," Murphy said. "He slashed me in the back and I turned around and slashed him. But he's a small guy and it caught him. I'm not out there trying to maim somebody."

Kip Miller, a 26-year-old free agent center who scored 106 points for IHL-champion Denver last season, got both Hawks goals.

"I'm just trying to play well and hopefully there's a spot for me somewhere on this team," Miller said.

"He's a good little player," Hartsburg said. "He's exciting and does things with the puck a lot of guys can't do."

BLACKHAWKS NOTES
Good first impression on players' minds
Daily Herald (Ill.)
By Tim Sassone
September 18, 2006
Making a good impression quickly with new coach Craig Hartsburg has been on the minds of some Blackhawks throughout the first week of training camp.

"First impressions are always important, especially when you don't know the coach," said Cam Russell. "I'm sure he's talked to people about what has happened here and watched film, but you still have to show him you're capable of doing what you can do."

Veteran Steve Smith thinks all you can do is play your best and leave the decisions up to Hartsburg.

"As a professional, you've got to go about your business and do the job you're paid to do and let the coach decide where you fit in," Smith said.

Hartsburg said he hasn't noticed any Hawks pressing to make an impression.

"I don't think they're trying to do that," Hartsburg said.

• The Hawks have held the line on ticket prices for this season. It represents the first time there hasn't been a raise in ticket prices since 1982-83.

Prices for this season remain $75, $60, $50, $35, $25 and $15. In case you're wondering, prices back in 1982-83 at Chicago Stadium were $13, $10, $7 and $4.

• Craig Hartsburg went with a veteran-filled lineup for Sunday's preseason opener against Edmonton. The lone exceptions were center Kip Miller and left winger Ethan Moreau.

Miller, 26, was signed as a free agent after scoring 106 points for Denver last season in the IHL. Moreau, 19, was the Hawks' No. 1 draft pick (14th overall) in 1994.

Not dressed were Denis Savard, Murray Craven, Brent Grieve, Ivan Droppa and Jimmy Waite.

• Oilers goalie Curtis Joseph, obtained in an off-season trade with St Louis, remains an unsigned free agent and is not in camp.

Joseph, who wants between $2.5 and $3 million a year, will likely be traded before the season starts, according to Oilers sources. The two teams most interested in Joseph appear to be Detroit and the Islanders.

Edmonton will go again with Bill Ranford as its No. 1 goalie

• Horrible scheduling finds the Oilers playing at home tonight against Winnipeg. That's one reason why 10 veterans, including Bill Ranford, Bryan Marchment and Kelly Buchberger, were left at home and didn't face the Hawks.

• The Hawks returned three players to their junior teams, trimming the training camp roster to 34. Sent back were forward Jean-Yves Leroux and defensemen Christian LaFlamme and Kevin McKay.