St. Louis lost 12 of its first 16, but slowly got back into the NL East race. The Cards delivered a subtle message to New York, beating the Mets in two of three last week. Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog must be a genius. Met pitcher Roger McDowell says, “Whitey could win if he’s got his grandmother out there.” Herzog says he’s thinking of putting three Met pitchers on the NL All-Star team: Dwight Gooden, David Cone and Randy Myers. Look for Whitey’s own John Tudor to come on strong. Tudor’s only 2-1, but he’s had six no- decisions while walking only 13 in nine starts. He’s given up more than one earned run only once. Lifetime, Tudor is 57-25 after the All-Star break…
Now that Comissioner Peter Ueberroth has announced he’s done after the 1990 season, make way for A. Bartlett Giamatti, the next commissioner… It’s distressing to learn that owners have already approved a strike fund of almost $100 million. A 1990 work stoppage seems certain… This from Boston manager John McNamara: “If we didn’t pick up (Rick) Cerone in April, we could be 20 games out now.”..
Slugger Jack Clark got his first look at Clemens and was asked who throws harder, Clemens or Dwight Gooden. Clark’s answer was, “No one throws harder than Nolan Ryan.”
Veteran USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux remembers Yale captain/first baseman George Bush. USC beat Yale, two games to one, in the ’48 NCAA final. Bush was in the on-deck circle when teammate Jerry Breen hit into a triple play with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and Yale trailing 3-1. Dedeaux was asked about Bush and told The New York Times, “He was an excellent fielder and a tough out. Our scouting reports indicated he could have trouble with breaking stuff, so that’s what we gave him … I’d put him on my all-opponent team, which means he was pretty good.”..
Hot rumor has Bert Blyleven joining the Blue Jays soon… Tiger GM Bill Lajoie signed free agent outfielder Dwayne Murphy. If history repeats, Murphy will make a comeback and Lajoie again will look smarter than his peers… The Orioles are faced with the same tough decisions the Red Sox have with Jim Rice. Eddie Murray is a shell of himself and he’s got a sore hand. He’s also hitting under .200 with runners in scoring position and recently knocked in only three runs in a 17-game span. Frank Robinson moved Murray to DH last week and got immediate results… Billy Martin likes the attitude of his ’88 Yankees. “They’re pulling for each other as hard as I’ve seen any team pull for each other,” says the Yankee manager. “We’re gonna be awesome when we’re all healthy.” Martin on the plight of being a Yankee manager: “Everybody should sit in this chair sometime, just one time.”..
New Yankee GM Bob Quinn was director of scouting for the Indians for 12 years and gets a lot of credit for the success Cleveland is finally enjoying. The Indians play the Yankees (at New York) for the first time Friday night…
Word out of Philadelphia is that GM Woody Woodward was fired because he didn’t like many of the long-time organization employees who were loyal to team President Bill Giles. St. Louis’ Lee Thomas, San Diego’s Jack McKeon, former star player Joe Morgan, Baltimore GM Roland Hemond, Pittsburgh Assistant GM Larry Doughty and Phils Vice President Tony Siegle are rumored to be candidates for the Philadelphia job. The Phils are talking with front- runner Thomas. Giles said, “My intention is to seek a baseball man and have him hire the new farm director and player-development people.”..
Pittsburgh’s Jose Lind and Baltimore’s Cal Ripken are the only players who have appeared in every inning of every game this year…
More from that Harmony House in Cincinnati: Buddy Bell is talking about retiring and superstars Eric Davis (plagued by a slump and drug rumors) and Kal Daniels are tradeable. “That would be going way out, trading those two, wouldn’t it,” said owner Marge Schott. “That’s all we need — for them to go somewhere else and start hitting like (Dave) Parker or my little sweetheart, Kurt Stillwell.”..
When Kirk Gibson doubled last Sunday, it ended a string of 41 consecutive hits that were singles by the Dodgers… In the last 11 years, there have been three 1-0 games in Atlanta. The Houston Astrodome has housed 30 1-0 games in this decade.
In 1961, it cost $2.1 million to join the American League. In 1977, it cost the Toronto Blue Jays $7.1 million to join. What will the entry fee be in 1991? Here’s a suggestion we tried once before. Instead of exorbitant entry fees for expansion franchises, baseball owners could solve two problems by letting expansion teams join for a nominal fee, then insisting that each one take one or two players of the existing teams’ choices. In other words, if a new team were coming into the league next year, it would have to take Jim Rice and Bob Stanley from Boston, Fred Lynn and Eddie Murray from Baltimore, etc. In this way, clubs would get rid of aging players with big contracts and the new teams would have rosters stocked with name players (not to mention payrolls of $50 million).
