Reggie Jackson, the newest Hall of Famer, pulled a rock with his announcement that he prefers his Cooperstown plaque to show him in a Yankee cap. He says he wants to be part of the Mickey Mantle-Roger Maris-Whitey Ford tradition. Poor judgment on his part.
Whether he realizes it or not, his principal identification has been and always will be with the Oakland A’s, not the Yankees. He played 1,045 games with Oakland, 653 with the Yankees. He was the key position-player when the A’s won five consecutive divisional and three World Series titles in the early and mid-1970s.
Charlie Finley, the former Oakland owner, hasn’t expressed himself on Jackson’s decision but he can’t be happy. George Steinbrenner, the Yankee owner, is delighted and apparently will have Reggie’s No. 44 uniform retired.
Old-timers’ game: Jim Bowden, the new Cincinnati front office boss, has been loading up with former big-league field managers: Davey Johnson, Jack McKeon and Bobby Valentine have joined the Reds’ brain department. But does Bowden have a quick trigger finger to dump Tony Perez at the first opportunity? Win or lose, Perez is entitled to a two-year stint.
Book it: The Mets’ front office is bracing itself for another literary assault. Beat writers Bob Klapisch and John Harper, super-sleuths both, have finished a book on the 1992 Mets’ season which, according to the word, has enough explosives for the best-seller list.
Not that Bush: George W. Bush, the President’s oldest son, almost-but-not-quite-fully has recovered from the presidential elections. According to Texas sources, George W. is back up to about 80 percent of his normal self. If so, that’s more than good enough; it put him on a par with the majority of his fellow owners, Cubs and White Sox excepted.
George W. has reiterated his father is retiring from public life and thus is not interested in succeeding interim commissioner Bud Selig as baseball’s ninth czar. Whatever, a commissioner’s search committee is expected to be formed when the owners hold their quarterly meeting in Dallas Tuesday.
The owners shouldn’t give the job to an outsider. It would take him two or three years, half his term, to know who’s who. The owners should anoint someone who already knows the score.
Come to think of it, George W., who is beginning his fifth season as co-owner of the Texas Rangers, would be a good choice. He’s from good stock and, more important, is quick on his feet and has a sense of humor, both absolute necessities.
Who will be left? Five left-handed relief pitchers is two or three more than should be needed but Cub General Manager Larry Himes, if he is a wizard, will hold onto Chuck McElroy. McElroy has a live arm. More than likely, he’s the most sought-after. If taught the changeup, he could go in the starting rotation.
Speaking of Cub pitching, here’s something to chew on: Right-hander Mike Morgan, who joined the club last season, is 13-2 with a 1.35 earned-run average at Wrigley Field; elsewhere, he’s 70-110, with a 4.14 ERA. Obviously, Wrigley Field isn’t a pitcher’s graveyard and confirms the findings of Ned Colletti.
A few years back, when Colletti was the club’s media-relations chief, he kept a season-long weather diary that revealed the wind blows out slightly more than half the time. So you have to wonder if Cy Young winner Greg Maddox will have the same success in Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium where the fences are short and the weather seldom a factor.
Around the league: Outfielder Paul O’Neill, acquired in a deal for Roberto Kelly, made a Freudian slip. Last Thursday, when he saw Yankee Stadium for the first time, O’Neill said, “I’m happy to be part of the Yankee stigma.”
The management-player labor negotiations kick off any day now. Dick Ravitch, the owners’ new negotiator, is expected to go it alone, that is he won’t have any owners at the bargaining table, a good sign. Likewise, it would be a good idea if Don Fehr, the players’ man, does a solo.
Better yet would be to lock Ravitch and Fehr in a metal sweatbox, put their food through a slit in the door and not let them out until an agreement is reached. Otherwise, the whole bargaining process will be charade. Settlement will not be reached until 48 hours before the opening of the 1994 season, if then.
The owners’ Schedule Format Committee, chaired by John Harrington of the Boston Red Sox, has revealed in a preliminary report some of the results of a survey of season-ticket holders. The younger fans, between 18 and 55, he says, are amenable to a further extension of the pennant playoffs. Those 55 and beyond are against change of any kind.
But what’s all the rumbling about big-league baseball’s supposed diminshed popularity? Attendance was down 1.6 percent last year but, nonetheless, was the second highest ever. Also, gate records had been set in six of the previous seasons. So what’s the problem?
Anyway, no matter what the fans say, the television people, at the network not the local level, will call the shot, If they decide they can sell the advertising time for an extra tier of playoffs, they’ll get it.
And, of course, there is Reds owner Marge Schott. Last week she revealed she has donated a $250,000 scholarship for needy minority female students attending the Cincinnati Academy of Physical Education. It’s an interesting number, identical to the amount a club owner can be fined. Does this eliminate the likelihood of the $250,000 fine?
Mrs. Schott also owns a Chevrolet agency and I am wondering why, if she’s such a public menace, General Motors hasn’t fined her and suspended her franchise. Anyway, the word is, Selig plans to take the poor, misguided woman, put her over his lap, give her 50 whacks and let her go.
