European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday april 20, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Homer obsolete not by Long is the Home run like the great Plains Bison an obsolete american species an artefact is it endangered destined to exist Only in Cave drawings in 1921, after the Black sox scandal the Home run As delivered by babe Ruth saved baseball. It and he also revolutionized the game. The purists never forgave either of them. Before Ruth and the Home run the game was a Swift Crafty Heady game a scientific Pursuit part chess part chicanery the cats is. The mice. The Ball was Little More than an exaggerated beanbag and the game was a set piece Battle of strategy where artful placing of the Ball and daring base running were Par amount and determined the outcome. Ruth changed All that. He made the game Over in his image. It became a Long Range artillery Duel. Speed deceit cunning were All ruled not to say blasted out of existence. The Era of the Long Ball the big inning came in. The game became an exercise in brute Force. The Small skills All but disappeared. The arts of base stealing and base running died out. You could win a league championship with 19 or fewer steals. What sense was there risking an out when you could just stand there and let anyone of the next eight Guys in the lineup Knock you in with a Home run Good Fielding became secondary. Not even Willie Mays could catch a Home run. That style of play Yankee baseball prevailed for decades. The Yankees won an annual world championship without Ever getting their uniforms dirty. They drafted for Power not finesse. Michael Jack Schmidt of the Philadelphia schmidts who May be the last of the big swingers the final ruthian gasp thinks that the pendulum has swung Clear Back the other Way in 1986. The game has come full Circle. The Home run is on its Way out or at least is in full Retreat. Not Only Are the 50-homers-a-year hitters Dis appearing so Are the 40-a-year. Next maybe will go the 30-a-year. Look at your world series last year Schmidt suggests. You had two teams in there for whom the Home run was almost nonexistent. I think the cardinals had Only 80 Home runs not counting the inside the Park ones. They stole 314 bases. You think the 1927 Yankees stole 314 bases in their entire existence even architecture has conspired against the Power game Schmidt argues. The new symmetrical ballparks no longer have any Green monsters inviting left or right Field targets like the 315-footer in Boston. The Parks today Are a Nice Dull uniform distance away from Home plate to eliminate the cheap Home run. To eliminate any Home run. The Power alleys All resemble Yankee stadium s death Valley. They Rob the game of suspense argues Mike. A four run Lead at Fenway Park in Boston is nothing. A four run Lead at Busch stadium in St. Louis is the end of the game. Artificial surfaces have sounded the Retreat for the Home run game too. The stolen base is Over rated As an offensive weapon says Schmidt. But the managers love those Guys who can  for one thing it gives them something to do. In Ruth s Day a manager s chief Celebration consisted of handing a Bat to a cleanup hitter and saying go hit a three run  today he has More signs  indy race car. Teams have signs for signs in the dugouts these Days. It s not Likely babe Ruth even knew what the team s steal sign was. It s not Likely they had one. The surfaces have made it possible for Fleet Outfield ers to Cut off hits that once would have sailed through the gaps for extra base hits which is another incentive for clubs to draft for Speed rather than Power. All sports Are imitative and baseball no less so. In football if a split to or Wishbone works for one team All adopt it. In baseball when the yanks won with Power every team went looking for 6-3, 240-Pound behemoths with bulging stomachs and 50-ounce bats. But when the game went to the big round ballparks and teams began to win with the Small skills base stealing running Fielding the rest of the game went to that. Relief pitching also worked against the big inning theory of attack. Says Schmidt it used to be you had a Pitcher who had a Good live fastball your first two or three times up but he would lose a Little in the late innings and you could get to him take him out of the  now they take him out of the game. You get some Young Stro Garm coming in there. Look at the dodgers. You got a pen full of Guys throwing 92 Mph in the late  is the new Way any surer route to a Pennant to a dynasty is the quest for Swift punch hitter types of ballplayers a smarter Way to the top Schmidt s own career would argue against that. When Mike came up the Phillies were a spectacularly unsuccessful franchise which had won Only two pennants in 73 years. Since Schmidt joined them they have won five division championships two pennants and their first world series. When Mike came up to the club in 1973, he was batting an anaemic .196 for the year. He tried to steal eight times and was caught two of those times. He struck out 136 times More than once a game and almost once out of every two times at Bat. Managers today would replace that kind with a Rab bit by Mother s Day. But Danny Ozark persevered with Schmidt because he also hit 18 Home runs in that stretch one out of every four of his hits was a Homer. He May be the Only .196 hitter in history to hit 18 Home runs to get a Chance to hit Home runs. Mike is the Best argument in the world for a return to the old ways. The phils patience has paid off in pennants and playoffs. And some time this year Mike Schmidt May hit his 500th Home run. It May be time to take the game put of its hit and run stance and Back to its hit and wait. The Home run is As american As the tin Lizzie or the spirit of St. Louis but it does t deserve to hang in a museum just yet. Contrary to a Large body of opinion it still wins Ball games and pennants. Ask the dodgers. Los Angeles times world cup Golf takes a year off considers changes new York a Lack of common interest among the sponsors was Given As the reason Friday for calling off the 1986 world cup one of the More prestigious International team Golf tournaments. The 32-year-old event was to have been played nov. 20-23, though a site had not been selected. The Iga will continue to study alternatives for the future said Harold l. Clark the chairman of the International Golf association. Iga executive director Burch Riber reached at his Home in Cincinnati said the possibility of cancelling this year s event came up about three weeks before the Mas ters. The decision was made wednesday. The directors wanted to find out and examine what our options Are in today s climate Riber said. There Are so Many new developments tournaments like the skins game that Are to events Media events and the question that s before the Iga is should we go in that direction and change our format around so it is More conducive for a to event or continue As in the past with 32 nations entered. There was serious consideration among the sponsors the Guys who pay for this event where it was going in the future. They thought it might be better to drop out a year and sit Back and make some Long Range plans instead of just going along year by year without a  Riber said he was convinced that a year off would t damage the world cup. He said pea tour commissioner Deane Beman has pledged to protect the tournament s Date on the Competition Calendar. Halldorson up by stroke after 2 heritage rounds up photo Dan Halldorson. Happy just to be under  Hilton head Island . A Canadian Dan Halldorson birdied three holes in a Row in the Early going shot a 68 and Clung to a one stroke Lead Friday at the Halfway Point of the $450,000 sea Pines heritage classic. I have a Good swing Good Tempo. I m hitting the Ball the Way i want to and it feels natural Halldorson said after completing two trips Over the Harbour town Golf links in 134, 8 under Par. That s six straight rounds in the 60s. It d be Nice to do it for two More Days said Halldorson. Earlier he won a tournament in Hattiesburg miss., for players not invited to the masters. But i m very Happy just to be under Par going into saturday Halldorson said. A single stroke off the Pace in the Chase for an $81,000 first place prize was Don Pooley the 1985 Vardon trophy Winner. He birdied five of his first seven holes on the Way to a 5-under-Par 66. Pooley who needed Only 22 putts completed 36 holes in 135, 7 under Par. I knew i was putting Well but i did t know How Well until i added up the putts Pooley said. Fuzzy Zoeller a Winner at Pebble Beach calif., earlier this season shot another 68 on the tight Little course overlooking Cali Bogue sound and was at 136. Chip Beck had a 67 and was at 137. Greg Norman the australian who was runner up in the masters was another shot Back at 138. The group at 139 included former Heri Tage Winner Doug Tewell Mike Sullivan Curtis strange and Roger Maltbie. Maltbie shot a 72 despite a triple bogey seven on the 11th, where he got tangled up in the Trees. Strange had a 70, and Tewell and Sullivan matched 69s. Halldorson has led or shared the Lead All the Way. He chipped to six inches for a Birdie four on the second Hole birdied the next from about five feet and rolled in a 20 footer on the fourth. He played Par Golf Matching two bogeys with As Many birdies on the Back the rest of the Way to stay in front. Joyner sets record in. Kansas re ays Lawrence Kan. A Al Joyner a Gold medallist in the 1984 olympics smashed the meet record in the preliminaries of the 110-meter hurdles Friday in the wind swept Kansas relays. Joyner now an assistant track coach at Arkansas state set the record with a time of 13.50 seconds. The finals of the event were scheduled for saturday in the wrap up of the 61st annual event. Joyner beat the old record of 13.59 set by Wayne Rody of Wisconsin in 1985. A pow Erful South wind dogged the Competition All Day Friday but was expected to Abate somewhat for the conclusion of the meet on saturday. It Felt like i was in practice said Joyner who won the olympic Gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles. I Don t believe my time. The hurdles Are my first love. Right now i m working on my Speed for the triple jump. Today i just told myself i was going to do  the wind Cost Kenny Harrison of Kansas state the meet record in the men s Long jump. Harrison s jump of 26 feet 7 a inches shaded the record of 26-7 set in 1975 by Danny sea of Kansas but the wind was Over the allowable limit and the record does not count