European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 8, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary a joyous we come of return of baseball summer started monday. Baseball s Back and not a moment too soon. Forget pucks and punts Tennis Whites and Golf pastels the 24-second clock and the 19-foot pole vault. Shove them All in the recesses of your mind and refer to them Only in an extreme emergency like a rainout. Concentrate instead on the important stuff like Dwight Gooden s explosive fast Ball and Don matting by s blazing Bat two of new York s nicest natural resources. Meet me in St. Louis to Admire acrobatic Ozzie Smith and Hope that his Arm is healthy. Figure out if you can How he fits a vacuum cleaner in his Glove. The wonder of the wizard of of is that he performs his magic on an artificial surface where ground balls come rifling through the infield unencumbered by hazards like grass and dirt. Watch Cincinnati s Pete Rose operate if not at first base then from the Bench conspiring for ways to beat you even while he is confined to the disabled list. The Little boy spirit locked within him is what baseball is All about. Enjoy the Overall excellence of George Brett who hitting and Fielding May be the Best everyday player in the game right now. It was his individual brilliance last october that helped lift the Kansas City royals first to the american league Pennant and then to a world championship in two of the greatest comebacks base Ball has Ever seen. Reflect on these masterpieces. Capture in your mind s Eye Reggie Jackson s Majes tic swing Back for one More perhaps one last season. Relish the awesome abilities of poised Young pitchers like Bret Saberhagen and Orel Hershiser blessed with hurling know How Well beyond their tender years. Marvel at the Speed and daring of Vince Coleman Tim Raines and Rickey Henderson who will steal you Blind with no hesitation whatsoever and regardless of How much attention your Pitcher pays to them. They Are treasures All wonders to be admired. And you can take your own Sweet time doing it too because there s no Rush Here. Unlike the basketball clock at Kemper Arena the ancient scoreboard timepieces in Wrigley Field and Fenway Park can run fast slow or not at All. Nothing As pedestrian As minutes and seconds interferes with baseball. Remember the line from the game s National Anthem. I Don t care if i never get  time never expires on a baseball game. Innings and outs perhaps. But time never. Baseball is the quintessential survivor. Other sports always come along to Challenge it and for a while they seem to succeed. They offer More Speed More violence More this and More that to a generation that has been weaned on the idea that More of anything must be better. Meanwhile baseball plods along obligingly lending its fans out and then eventually welcoming them Back when they realize that no sport can offer More cerebral exercise. Never was baseball s survival More severely tested than last summer when a players strike and drug trials buffeted the game. Predictably however it survived and now with the bad times behind it baseball could once again Prosper. Certainly the parts Are properly positioned for that. With labor contracts in place the Only strikes Well see this summer Are the ones that fall Between the hitters shoulders and Knees. The drug epidemic seems to have peaked and Hope fully now is Over ready to be consigned to a dark Corner of baseball history alongside the Black sox scandal. At least the game is not perched precariously on the Edge of a grand jury Tinderbox watching major league names dragged through the testimony As it was a year ago. That alone is an instant improvement. Now give us a summer of Pine tar and Pennant races a summer of runs hits and errors a summer of baseball. The associated press won t match 1985 record setting hysteria baseball season lacks statistical Charm by Jim Donaghy a sports writer while this year s baseball season May not have the statistical Charm of 1985, the likes of Tom Seaver Pete Rose and Reggie Jack son still have a few revisions to make in their record setting careers. The year 1985 saw Rose pass Tycobb As baseball s All time hit maker Seaver and Phil Niekro reach the 300-Victory plateau Rod Carew make his 3,000th hit Nolan Ryan surpass 4,000 strikeouts Vince Cole Man steal a Rookie record 110 bases and Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs Post num Bers Seldom seen in baseball. So what is left Early season scrutiny will be on califor Nia s Don Sutton who needs Only five Victo Ries to become the 19th Pitcher in the 300 Victory club. Sutton set a record in 1985 by fanning 100 or More batters for the 20th consecutive year. I m not Cut out of the same Mold As Sandy Koufax or Seaver or Steve Carl ton Sutton said. I be always pitched to keep hitters off stride not to overpower them. I consider myself a pretty Good Pitcher and i know i la get there to the Hall of Fame. But it s going to take me longer than some others and i la get there with less fanfare. I like me for who i am and i m pleased to be Able to have played Good enough to talk about winning 300." for Seaver the records continued on opening Day last season with the White sox. Last april 9, he made his 15th opening Day Start breaking a record he had shared with Walter Johnson. The Veteran right hander starts 1986 with 304 career victories. If All goes Well for Seaver this season he should pass Charles Radbourn 308mickey Welch 311 and Gaylord Perry 314. Carlton is tied with Perry for Lith on the All time list and is trying to come Back from shoulder prob lems with Philadelphia. Seaver also leads All Active pitchers with 61 shutouts seventh on the All time list and two behind Warren Spahn. Jackson starts the season with 530 Hom ers eighth on the All time list. The Hall of Fame targets within Jackson s sights this year Are Jimmie Foxx 534 and Mickey Mantle 536. Jackson also needs Only 36 Bis to pass Ernie Banks 1,636 for 15th place on the All time list. Currently 16th on the rib list is 43 year old Tony Perez of the Cincinnati reds with 1,623. And with 377 lifetime homers Perez needs Only three to surpass Orlando Cepeda s record 379 for a latin major leaguer. The Phillies Mike Schmidt 458 and Oakland s Dave Kingman 407 continue their quest for 500 homers which Jackson called my ticket to the Hall of  if i have a big year this year and i m capable of it then i m going to stick around and get those 500 homers Kingman said. Schmidt needs 18 homers to pass Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for the no. 15 spot on the All time list. Last season when Schmidt hit his 30th Homer it marked the 11th time he has hit that Many in a season. Only Hank Aaron 15 time babe Ruth 13 and Foxx 12 have done better. It is hard to imagine there Are still re cords for Rose to Chase he already holds 15 major standards but he needs to score 25 runs to wrest second place from Ruth and Aaron 2,174 on the All time list. Tycobb perhaps Safe from Rose Here is the Leader with 2,245. Rose already is the All time no Leader. Rose is second on the All time doubles list with 738, chasing Tris speaker s 793. I Don t think something has ended Rose said after breaking Cobb s record. A big Milestone has been reached but i m going to keep adding on to the  when Chicago cubs Utility Man Davey Lopes celebrates his 40th birthday on May 3, he will be on a course to set the record for most stolen bases by a 40-year-old player. Honus Wagner holds the Mark at 23. Last season Lopes stole 47 bases in 51 attempts to set a record for 39-year-old players breaking the previous Mark of 20 in 1901 by the White sox s Dummy Hoy. Sure i be lost a bit said Lopes who has 530 career stolen bases. I Don t think it s possible to reach age 40 and not lose  the mets Dwight Gooden who seems destined to rewrite baseball s record Book can become the first Pitcher to strike out 200 or More batters in each of his first three seasons. Last year Gooden joined Herb score As the Only two major league pitchers to. Fan 200 or More batters in each of their first two seasons. Up photo potential Hall of Famer Don Sutton. Less fanfare in route to Cooperstown baseball from Page 21 Thad Bosley and Shawon Dunston had three hits each for the cubs who amassed 19 hits against the rangers. The cubs raked Mike Mason for six runs on seven hits and six walks in four innings. Rookie Pete Incaviglia hit his seventh Homer a Ranger Spring record. Mariners 8, expos 7 Gorman Thomas hit a Solo Homer with one out in the eighth and Ivan Calderon belted a two run shot with two away to rally the mariners. Giants 5, a s 3 Roger Mason pitched four hit Ball for five innings and Catcher Bob Melvin had three hits for san Francisco. Dave King Man homered in the fourth for the Only run off Mason and Rookie Jose Canseco had three of Oakland s nine hits Angels 10, dodgers 8 Ruppert Jones single scored Rick Burle son with the winning run in the eighth in Ning As the Angels Defeated los Angeles before a crowd announced As 61,538 at an Aheim stadium. Padres 8, twins 7 Dane Lorg s tie breaking double in the eighth inning gave the padres their Victory in a game highlighted by the first Spring appearance of Pitcher Lamarr Hoyt who had checked into a substance abuse rehabilitation Center. Hoyt worked the sixth inning and faced one Batter in the seventh before a 23-min Ute rain delay. He allowed a Home run to the first Batter he faced Jeff Reed. Birmingham 5, White sox 3 Tom Moritz Mike Taylor and Mike Yastrzemski son of former Boston red sox Star Carl Yastrzemski hit Home runs to Lead the Barons of the class a Southern league past the White sox their big league Parent club