The Mail-Journal, Volume 21, Number 27, Milford, Kosciusko County, 18 July 1984 — Page 8

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THE MAIL-JOURNAL - Wed., July 18,1984

Sports

Yankees' slugger reminisces

Salaries, attitudes have changed baseball since Mantle's days

. By TOM CHARLES Sports Editor Baseball, says Mickey Mantle, is not the same game it was when he retired 15 years ago. To be sure, there are still the annual pennant races, hitting streaks and vendors peddling their wares in the stands. But the spirit of the game has changed. The former New York Yankees’ switch-hitting slugger was in Goshen this week to promote van conversions for Carriage, Inc. of Millersburg. During his stay, he offered his thoughts on the state of baseball today. “I think the game ws more fun when I played,” Mantle said. “Today, everything seems to be like big business. Players have their briefcases, agents and lawyers with them. It gets to be like a big corporation.” Mantle’s criticism is rather ironic in light of the fact his former team is the epitome of baseball’s new image. Under the ownership of George Steinbrenner, the Yankees are now better

Sneva induction set for Tues., July 24

Chris Schenkel, co-founder dent of WKJG-TV and a and president of the Interna- Palace of Sports board tional Palace of Sports Youth member, will conduct the inFoundation, has announced duction ceremonies in the that 1983 King of Sports Tom Palace of Sports throne room. Sneva will be inducted into the Assisting Gates will be George International Palace of Sports Kelly, who was named a Hall of Fame at noon on Tues- Palace All-Time King of day, July 24. Sports on June 30. Sneva. the 1983 Indianapolis According to Marilyn 500 winner and the pole sitter Thrasher, Palace director, for the 1984 race, will be in tickets for the 1 p.m. luncheon North Webster to attend the are available on a first-come, induction ceremonies. He will first-serve basis until Saturalso be the guest of honor at a day, July 21. The tickets cost 1 p.m. luncheon at the Tip- sls and may be purchased pecanoe Country Club. from the Palace of Sports or Hilliard Gates, vice presi- any board member.

£* t - 4CB . ffl v h 33T <B) \< CxJEjMIERk-X , ■■f J ’ **3BBk YOUTH LEAGUE ORIOLES — Pictured above are the Milford Youth League Orioles. Kneeling in front are Shane Bucher. Dave Killian, Jason Vasquez. Chris Leiter and Jeremy Price. In the second row are coach Jerry Wilson. David Rosenberry. Jay Goshert. Jeff Williams. Darrell Doss. Adam Wilson. Toby Harney and coach Don Bucher. Brian Bowser and Jeff Levernier were not present for the photo.

<*L** i A ~ *JF - - •» •» £L /W .JA ,g. MINOR LEAGUE PADRES — Pictured above are the Padres of the Milford Giris’ Minor League. la the front row are Charity Stump, Emily Myers. Trisha Mikel, Pam Joyce, Trisha Hostetler and Anna Myers. In the second row are Shonda Bushong, Kelly Boggs, Annie Batcher, Tricia Wuthrich and Pam Rehborg. Standing in back are coaches Bonnie Nichoii and Jan Mikel.

known for their off-the-field antics than their [day. “All the stories you read in the press really take away from the Yankee image,” he said. “That’s not how I remember the Yankees. We were always like a family when I played. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m getting tired of reading about it.” It is not surprising then that Mantle maintains loose ties with the men in pinstripes. He follows the Yankees from a distance, bound to them only because of the loyalty he feels to manager Yogi Berra, one of his former teammates. “I’m not really a Yankee fan, but I’m still a Yogi Berra fan,” Mantle said. “I pull for the Yankees because of Yogi. He is really the only one on that team who I consider a friend. Outside of Yogi, they are all strangers to me.” Mantle is further estranged from the Yankees by the fact that he has been banned from baseabll as a result of his public

relations work for an Atlantic City, New Jersey, casino. Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn has ordered that he cannot be on a major league payroll because of his work. “I know in my heart that I am not doing anything wrong,” he said. “I don’t even go in the casinos. I simply do public relations work for them.” Mantle also notes that today’s high salaries have changed the game. Playing in an era when athletes represented themselves and could not claim free agency, Mantle never made more than SIOO,OOO in a season. In comparison to today’s salaries, that’s peanuts. “Players make a lot more money than they used to," he said. “As far as I’m concerned, (Yankee outfielder) Dave Winfield’s salary of $1.5 million per

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year over 10 yean is out of line. The $400,000 to $500,000 contracts are probably not out of line because times have changed that much. But some of the salaries are just unreal to me.” k Mantle refuses to speculate on how much money he could make in today’s market. Given his statistics, however, it is certain that his salary would be right up there with the highest in the game. “Compared to some of the guys who are making $1 million a year, I think I could get quite a bit of money,” he said. Injuries plagued Mantle throughout his career with the Bronx Bombers. Although many great players continue to be active into their late 30s, Mantle had to get out of baseball at age 36. “I had just about had it by that

MICKEY MANTLE

iuWB _-JW f >* y 2 ■ HkwßS> Pv ’ Jp fcJw wflKajjfcr ', 1 JLw i s i i Sri HLii MILFORD CUBS — Pictured above are the Cubs of the Milford Youth League. In the front row are Toomny Foote, Dana Murphy, Chad Dippon, Ryan Keiper and Mike Schwartz. la the second row are Shawn Krull, Jacob Miller, Lonnie Bray. Joe Harwood, Tim Schwartz, Brian Schwab and Troy Nicholi. In back are coatees Ron Schwartz and Ron Schwartz. Jr. Cliff Wolf and Matt Beer were not present for the photo. '

J MINOR LEAGUE PHILLIES — Pictured above are the Phillies of the Milford Giris’ Minor League. Pictured in front are Kim Brock, Krista Bnunbaagh, Rita Beer, Britani Stoller and Melanie Hobbs. In tbe seoad row are Denise llllotson, Wendy West, Mori Lange, Kerri Speicher, Michelle Replogle and Erika Lange. In back are conches Rich and Jerrod Stoller.

time,” he said. “My right knee (which he injured in the 1951 World Series) was getting real weak. I didn’t have a really good year after I was 33 years old.” Even the designated hitter rule, had it been in effect at that time, would not have kept Mantle in the game. “My legs were so bad that I could hardly run,” he noted. “I would have needed a designated runner, too.” Despite the injuries, Mantle slugged 536 home runs in his career. He played on some of the best teams in baseball history, winning 10 World Series championships from 1951 until his retirement. “I don’t think you can’t really compare eras,” he said. “But to me, the best teams I’ve ever seen were the 1960 and 1961 Yankees.” But breaking in on the New York scene was not easy for him. Heralded as a new Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth rolled into one, Mantle found that he faced considerable fan and media pressure in the Big Apple. “All the talk about my being the new DiMaggio or Ruth put a lot of pressure on me,” he said. “If I hit .315 that wasn’t good enough. It took awhile to settle down and get used to that.” Another Yankee who faced considerable pressure was Roger Maris. “Maris breaking Ruth’s record of 60 home runs during the 1961 season was the greatest single athletic feat I’ve seen,” Mantle said. “But he had to put up with a lot of pressure. During the last part of the season, the pressure got to be so bad that his hair was falling out.” Despite the pressure that surrounded them, Mantle and Maris provided the Yankees with a dynamic home run punch. Mantle’s philosophy was simple — swing for the fence each time at the plate. “Someone once asked me if it was true that I struck out over

1,700 times in my career,” he said. “I told him that it was true, but each one of those strikeouts was nearly a home run. I swung for the home run each time I hit.” Hitting those home runs was not an easy task in Yankee Stadium. The park’s dimensions were friendly to lefties but made it tough on right handers. Conse-

WHS physicals set for July 18

Wawasee High School has made arrangements for physical examinations for students planning to participate in athletics during the 1964-85 school year. The physicals will be given at the high school on Wednesday, July 18. Girls are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and boys are asked to come at 7 p.m. All students

b a NORTH WEBSTER TIGERS — Shown above are the coaches and players of the Tigers of the k ' North Webster T-Ball League. In the front row are Greg Hormann, Ben Guy, Eric Bowman, Chris Lung, Adam Guy and Joshua Lee. In the second row are Wendy Roberts, Jessica Ponko, Richie Kuhn, Doug Horman and Jeff Hamman. In the back row are the coaches Sue Guy and Sandi Lung. Not pictured is Carri Brown.

quentiy, Mantle put most of his homers into the bleachers from the left side of the plate. Mantle is best remembered for his tape-measure shots to Yankee Stadium’s cavernous center field or off the facade on the right field roof. He parked several balls over the 480-foot mark in center field, some of which were never

should report to the P.E. Annex. Conducting the physicals will be Dr. Michael Williams and Dr. Thomas Krizmanich, both of whom serve as WHS team doctors. There is a sls charge for the examination and this must be paid on July 18. Forms will be available at the school.

Sports shorts

Two weekend tournaments at Cindonway Shores Cindonway Shores, r 5 Syracuse, will host' waterskiing and mixed doubles tennis tournaments this weekend, July 20 and 21. Twenty-four couples are expected to compete in the tennis tournament which gets underway at 8 a.m. on Saturday. The semi-finals and finals are slated to be played on Sunday morning. Approximately 80 skiers are anticipated for the two-day trick and slalom skiing competition. Skiers will be on the water at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Two aces at Big Boulder Two local golfers shot holes-irt-one at Milford’s Big Boulder Golf Course last weekend. Gayla Eash, Syracuse, recorded her ace on the 100-yard third hole. Golfing with her at the time were Janet Ward, Gary Sandry and Jim Pippenger. Larry Hunter, Goshen, aced the 110-yard fifth hole while golfing with his wife. On the day, Hunter shot a four-over-par round of 35. This was the first time a golfer has aced the number five hole. Wawasee grads still active Although their Wawasee High School athletic careers are over, Brian Henson and Carla Clouse are still active in the sporting world. Henson, a standout pitcher on the Warriors’ baseball team, recently hurled for the North All-Stars in the annual Indiana High School Baseball Coaches’ Association All-Star Hall of Fame series in LaPorte. Henson threw two innings of one-hit ball to register the win in the North’s 3-2 victory over the South on Saturday. He returned to the mound on Sunday, striking out two in one inning of work as the North rolled to an 8-0 win. Clouse, a distance runner for the Lady Warriors* track and cross-country teams, was

accurately measured. But those days are now behind him. Mantle now resides in Dallas, Texas and spends a lot of his time fishing or endorsing products for and businesses. “I would like to be remembered as a team player,” he said. “I had the good fortune to play on a lot of winning teams.”

This is the first year that Wawasee has tried this method of giving physicals. According to Traviolia, the setup will be continued next year if it proves to be successful. All high school athletes are required to have a physical examination before they are allowed to participate in sports.

the second woman to cross the finish line in last Saturday’s Bristol Fruithills 10-K run. Clouse’s time of 41:54 was three minutes slower than that of overall winner Betty Hite Nelson. Clause was also the 16-18 age group champion. Decker won't try for Olympic pair U.S. Olympic medal hopeful Mary Decker announced that she will not compete in the 1,500 meters at Los Angeles. Decker, who qualified to’, represent the U.S. in both the 1,500 and 3,000 meters, intends to concentrate her energies on just the 3,000-meter race. Decker has been bothered by an Achilles tendon injury since the Olympic trials. Local golfers in state event Five of Koscuisko County’s top junior golfers competed in the Indiana section of this year’s Big I Insurance Youth Golf Classic at New Palestine on July 16-18. County residents competing in the event were Bryan Beaty, Leesburg; Brian Hepler, Warsaw; Matthew Johnson, Winona Lake; Tony LeCount, Warsaw; and Ford Olinger, Warsaw. Participants in the tournament were selected in local qualifying rounds at 27 sites around the state. More than 1,000 golfers took part in these elimination rounds. The top six finishers in the Indiana section will advance to the 72-hole National IYGC, to be played August 16-21 at the Country Club of Jackson, Jackson, Miss. Girls' golfers to report Aug. 8 Rudy Cesco, girls* golf coach at Wawasee High School has announced that all girls interested in trying out for the 1984 team should report to the Maxwelton Golf Club on Wednesday, Aigust 8 at Ba.m. According to Cesco, all players must have completed physical forms and insurance coverage by this first practice session.