Home runs are flying all over, and so are the allegations of corked bats. White Sox manager Jim Fregosi has been through it before.
”I have seen all different kinds of stuff besides cork,” said Fregosi, who went on to explain what is done to a bat but doesn`t believe that corking will help the ball carry farther. ”For me, the ball carries better if you have more wood,” he said.
There`s nothing like being in first place, or close to first, to keep everybody`s head in the game. Just ask Tigers manager Sparky Anderson. ”You never have a problem in the last month of the season,” he said. ”Everybody is working in the same direction. Sometimes, after the first five or six months, it`s very easy for everybody to start disliking each other.”
Matt Nokes, the Tigers` All-Star rookie catcher, is sixth in slugging percentage (.561) in the American League. ”I like the way he swings the bat,” Fregosi said. ”He`s aggressive.”
The Sox went into Tuesday`s game hitting .294 in their last 13 games. That raised their overall average to .251, a season high.
Tigers coach Vada Pinson celebrated his 49th birthday Tuesday and flew to Oakland to be with his parents, who are ill.
Actor John Cusack was at Tuesday`s game to begin research for a movie he`ll star in about the 1919 White Sox. The movie will be titled ”Eight Men Out,” and shooting will begin in September in Indianapolis. Cusack is a 1984 graduate of Evanston High School.
