European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Steinbrenner clone by George Vecsey new York times George Steinbrenner remembers the conversation he was sitting in the Yan Kee dugout with Thurman Munson several years ago and he i bet you thirty youre pretty Munson but it will Surprise you who inc Best fighter is on this Steinbrenner asked who it was and the rugged Yankee Catcher the new manager of the Yankees is called stick not for anything he Ever did with a Bat in his hands but because he is nearly 6 feet 2 inches tall and a Willowy 182 stick Michael has not been made manager of the Yankees because of his fast but Steinbrenner admits to being aware of the principal owner of the Yankees has cultivated Michael for nearly eight he because he recognized a Good baseball a a Loyal organization because Steinbrenner squeezed out Dick Howser a Good Friend of Michael and a Cowkey manager who won 103 games last season the new manager enters his Job with journalists and other baseball people suggesting Michael is a creation of the would i be a puppet Michael unafraid of the my answer is George Doest want people giving him the answers they think he George wants your new York 2 Yankee manager Gene at and As Yankee Utility infielder in Early h the stars and stripes in some quarters there is the suggestion that Michael would be some kind of robot or a manchurian candidate sent out by Steinbrenner to the with antennae to receive orders from the command Michael laughs at that and there is evidence that he has never been afraid to speak for himself to other Bosses in other people who have known Michael former general managers like Joe Brown and Lee teammates like Fritz Peterson and Bobby and men who have been tutored by like Willie Randolph and Bobby Brown describe him As an astute they remember him As an intense negotiator of his own the worlds leading practitioner of the hid Dunball a sharpened card a clubhouse politician in the Best sense of the word and a teammate who was willing to one night i missed a squeeze against the red sox and Thurman was trapped off Michael Thurman could have let himself get tagged but instead he picked up Speed and ran into Fisk at that started a big and i guess i threw a few punches the tapes revealed Michael flailing away at Carlton who outweighed him and was wearing his catchers when the fighting a few battlers had been banished but Michael was still in the Pat Dobson said the Umpire told him he never noticed Michael with his poker smile edging into his the Umpire told its the Story of my whenever i go to a three ring i always watch the wrong Damn it is True that Steinbrenner has openly admired Michael from Early adventures like the first Contact Between the men came in 1973 when Ron Blomberg inserted a rancid hot dog in Michaels and the shortstop flipped the hot dog near Steinbrenner Box the owner allows As How he might have had a few harsh words to say to All concerned about levity on the it is also True that Steinbrenner brought Michael Back to new York when the infielder was released by Boston in making him an extra then planting him in the upper deck with a Walki talkie to see if the other team was going to use a safety it is also True that Steinbrenner sent Michael to manage the Yankees col Umbus farm where he won 85 games and lost 54 and won the 1979 and it is True that Steinbrenner made him the Yan Kees general manager last season a position that car Ries somewhat less authority under Steinbrenner than under other Absentee but does that make Michael a puppet or a member of management who has been trained by a chief the Way they do things in private out in the real world i dont care whether people think Hes Steinbrun ners Man or Steinbrenner said the other Steinbrenner is the principal Steinbrenner pays the the players Are Stein Brenners i dont care what my people say or think As Long As they if they go 0for there whats wrong with that although some people May choose to focus on the Pup pet Michael has the credentials that most other firs time managers in he Falls into the largest segment of managers infielders of moderate ability Michaels career batting average was who had to learn the game in order to and who became Man agers a few years after their playing careers Gene Earl Sparky Anderson and Leo Durocher All spent their playing careers stooping Over to catch at age Michael is right on Michael came into baseball with the reputation As a Superior basketball player at Kent state he he once jumped to touch a Mark 11 feet 4 inches above the he took a Bonus from the Pittsburgh pirates and in the years to he would perform enough Graceful arabesques around second base to remind himself that he could have been a terrific backcourt i think the kicks scouted me in col Michael after three years in the pirate the Detroit pistons offered me a no Cut which was pretty unusual in those but i had just batted at Hobbs and i was sure i was on my if i had known it would take me five More years to get to the id have gone to Michael appeared in 30 games for the pirates at the end of when he was 28 years after that Sliver of he asked to be saying he could not make enough Money As a Utility you dont see a lot of people come along who can handle themselves the Way Gene recalls Joe the former pirate general i thought very highly of and recognized Bow he and was Lucky to be Able to make a Brown dealt Michael and Bob Bailey to the dodgers for Maury Given a Chance to be a regular Short Michael let the Opportunity Roll right up his making 17 errors in parts of 98 the dodgers sold him to the Yankees after the 1967 and he made 11 errors in parts of 61 games the next i was a Little Michael i let it bother in Michael got another Chance because the Yan Kees just didst have anybody this time his fast hands and feet made him the shortstop he should have he batted which emboldened him to visit Lee Macphail and put his cards on the i had a very High regard for recalls now the president of the american he was a Good helpful to the other he knew How to play the he want afraid to come in and talk to he always negotiated for id Tell i sure wish you were negotiating for stick was a very smart a Good re Calls Fritz Michaels teammate for six he had no he was always in the he knew they held a Gene Michael night with All those fans from new and stick want even a regular at the stick always knew who we should get rid and who we should hed talk about managers on other he was also a Good poker i was used to games for but stick played with Mickey Mantle and Mel Stottlemyre and Thurman for id stay away from those Michael played for Houk from 1968 through for Bill Virdon in then was acquired by Houk for the Detroit tigers in partially to Groom the Young Tiger in 1976 Michael joined the red sox but was dropped in May without playing a he didst Lack for stick was always in the Steinbrenner i first heard of him when i was on the Board of regents in i never saw him play for Kent but he had a reputation As a fierce when we had a few fights not that i Admire fighting stick was always in the when he came Here As a hed always take notes in a Little nobody told him to do it was his hed write Down details about and i know they just didst go in the circular he studied Steinbrenner is a demanding Boss who makes the major decisions normally left to general managers and but he seems to have found a Kindred soul in the Slick old in not going to say i dont feel comfortable with people who reflect my Steinbrenner i think anybody in leadership does but in not looking for somebody to say yes to Gene is Loyal that his greatest asset but hell Tell me if he thinks in i wish i had a Dollar for every time Slick i could the evolution of the Oregon Inlet present location of Inlet source Duke University geology department new storm Over a shifting Inlet new York times by Seth King new York times the Battle of Oregon a classic confrontation Between sports fishermen and the National Park service on one Side and commercial the army corps of engineers and the state of North Carolina on the has entered a new the engineers were making a new attempt at testing the Bottom mud of the inlets shoulders near the first step before starting the million construction of two Long jetties designed to stabilize the treacherous Barrier Island Channel through which the Atlantic Ocean churns into Pamlico and Albemarle the tests began two months after the Interior depart ment informed the corps of engineers that without con Gressional direction it could not Issue construction permits for the jetties because they would threaten the integrity of the National Park services Cape Hatteras seashore and disturb the environment within the pea Island National wildlife Oregon at the is a half Ileide opening in the fragile outer Banks at a Point about five Miles South of Roanoke site of one of the first English settlements on the Atlantic and the resort Village of nags it offers Deepwater fishing trawlers the Only Access to their Pamlico sound ports Between Manteo and More head 115 Miles to the in the last 130 As the outer Banks vicious Winter storms and swirling currents have buffeted the Inlet has moved up and Down the unstable Barrier scarcely a year passes without a score of trawlers and sports fishing boats being driven aground on the inlets shifting sometimes pulling their Crews under with the engineers insist that two Stone jetties of 30ton rocks pushed nearly a mile into the sea and anchored on each shoulder would halt the channels shifting and Lead it into the quiet Waters of the Marine geologists and officials of the National Park service inlets and channels within inlets continue to shift about in their position in spite of so called stabilization by said Orrin a Duke University specialist in Barrier Island geology who was watching the corps of engineers testing Pilkey contended that other efforts to stabilize inlets on the outer at Barnegat Inlet in new Jersey and at had failed to achieve the Oregon Inlet jetties would be another interruption in the natural movement of Sand along the Shoreline and could cause major Beach erosion problems at least 30 Miles North and South of Pilkey he also said that when storms drive Large volumes of water into the the inlets serve As safety allowing this water to blow out Back into the the jetties would prevent Pikey in Stead of the water being blown out through the the jetties could cause a new Inlet to Cut and the most Likely places for this Are a Low area in nags head to the North or the Low areas through the wild Ponds in the wildlife Refuge to the William superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National said recently that the highest rate of natural Beach erosion in his area was along the wildlife Shoreline South of the a favorite sector for sports he said that the jetties would change current flows and prevent natural depositing of Sand along this Shore to replace what is lost to even though the engineers planned to spend million yearly to pump out the Sand expected to collect behind the North the stabilization project would make it that much More difficult for us to manage the seashore and wildlife Harris on the other Side of the the fishermen and the developers insist that without the All their efforts to create a seafood processing and Boa building area on Roanoke Island at Wanchese will be the state has already spent million preparing the Wanchese Harbor area and is expecting at least million Worth of seafood processing construction to begin As soon As the jetties Are the Small Roanoke Island steel and boat works at Wanchese is completing a 112foot fishing the largest it has Ever Ive been asked several times this fall to bid on build ing even bigger said Carl the works direct but How can we build boats that draw 15 feet of water and try to get them through an Inlet Channel that usually Only 10 or 12 feet deep if that Channel int this whole development around Here is going Down the the next phase in the controversy will Start when Walter the districts democratic introduces legislation directing the Interior department to Issue the Access and construction permits to the army corps of the stars and stripes Page 15