European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 29, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday january 29,1987 the stars and stripes Durocher belongs in Hall of Fame this report might properly be tilled with apologies to the playwright the lion in  nobody Ever loved a Bright Light a face card pretty ankle a natural seven or an 8-Ball in a Corner pocket More than Leo Ernest Durocher nobody liked noise turmoil confusion Dissen Sion any belter. No one liked the Bottom of the ninth the bases loaded a capacity crowd standing and the world series or the Pennant on the line any More than Leo it was his life s blood. It was As the cliche has it what Leo was All about. Leo could t stand quiet. He could t stand to be bored. Where none existed he invented a feud. Leo had the Outlook of a Guy with his own deck boiled Dice or two aces Down. He considered the world a sucker. He was a Wise Guy before the term came into com Mon coinage. He was the original Broadway Joe. He got his shoes shined and his hair Cut every Day. He was immaculately groomed. He never bought a suit off a rack or a hat out of a window in his life. He wore so Many jewels he came into a room like a train into a Tunnel. He always looked As if he were leading a Parade. He had a voice that was a Cross Between ship s whistle and an air Horn on a 16-wheet Rig. Leo never whispered in his life. He always talked As if Hewer announcing the room was on fire. He was a Brash Rookie when he broke into the game and he remained one till he left it. He had no patience with losers and not much with winners either for that matter. Patience was a vice to Leo. Leo wanted action. Leo was a shut up and Deal Guy from the word go. Nothing awed him. He yelled at babe Ruth the first Day he Ever showed up in the big leagues. He cursed a three generations of umpires and commissioners of baseball. When All the world including his wife referred to Branch Rickey As or. Rickey even years after i death Leo always called him Branch. He considered world famous movie stars his equal Sand once almost forcibly kept Spencer Tracy from a european trip because the actor s arrival coincided with the team s winning Streak. Someone once said if Leo went to heaven the first thing he would do would be to try to get god in a games Fin. Leo did t have a shy Bone in his body. Modesty was not his Long suit his style was to attack. Leo went out to meet trouble. He wanted to get the first punch in. Rickey in exasperation once explained that Leo was a mental hoodlum with the infinite capacity for taking a bad situation and making it infinitely  but the owners the press and the sporting Public loved Durocher. He got the game in the papers. Hews no 9-to-5 Guy. He was a .247 hitter who swag gered like a triple Crowner. Pitchers loved him. That was because when they threw a ground Ball Leo went out and got it. Leo was a marvelous fielder. There in t a Pitcher in baseball who would t rather have a gnat shortstop than a great hit Ter in the lineup and Leo was one of the greatest who Ever went after a double play Ball he stayed in the big leagues 17 years on his Glove and brains. Leo was part of the most raucous romantic Rowdy Bunch of ballplayers Ever in one lineup. The St. Louis cardinals Gas House gang of the 1930s was a packet of underpaid superstars who were Thebes team in baseball during that Gaudy Era when hey could keep themselves from self destructing. And Leo led the merry making. Whatever the secret of lop managing inthe big leagues is Leo had it in abundance. He won More than 2 000 games As 8 manager for four differ ent teams. He piloted three of them into the world series. There was never a Dull moment on a Durocher team. He was the skipper of the out manned giants team that won on he jul the Miracle of Coogan Bluff Home run by Bobby Thomson in 1951. He was the manager of the dodgers world series team thai lost when Mickey Owen dropped the third strike for what should have been the final out in 1941. His s4new York giants crushed the Cleveland team that won 111 games More than any other team in the history of the major leagues. And what he is doing outside the halt of Fame i something for the shamans of baseball to explain not me. It s a historical injustice of the first magnitude. If Leo Durocher does t belong in the Hall of Fame neither does to Cobb. If Leo Durocher does t belong in the Hall of Fame what Are Joe Mccarthy Bill Mckechnie Bucky Harris and Larry Mcphail doing there they gave a dinner for Leo last week. The West Wood shrine club honoured him for lifetime achievement in sport Bobby Thomson Willie Mays Tommy Lasorda and All the greats who touched his life were on hand for the festivities. I visited the old lion in Winter at his Lair in Palm Springs the other morning. He s 81, the hair is gone and the eyes arc fading but the voice is still piercing the dugout growl intact. Leo still yells into a phone As if in were an Umpire who just missed an easy Call at second. The stomach is still Flat the tone firm. Leo does t need any shots from life. He still plays i from the Back tees. A huge picture of babe Ruth with his Arm around him hangs in Leo s Den. There Are pictures of her Bert Hoover will Rogers Ernest Hemingway judge Landis. There Are no pictures of former commissioner Al Bert b. Happy Chandler. Happy Chandler you will recall is the com missioner who once barred Leo from baseball for a year. The circumstances were the least bit Blurry. To 1947, a pair of notorious gamblers showed up at a dodgers Yankees exhibition game in Havana. Subsequent investigation showed thai they were the guests of the Yankees management but their appear Ance set off a Chain of bewildering reactions that led somehow to Durocher s being suspended from base Ball for a year any storefront lawyer could have broken the judgment and maybe recovered damages today. But in 1947, baseball was a Law unto itself. Maybe it Stilt is. Friends of Leo Durocher in the councils of baseball have suggested that former commissioner Chandler now on the veterans com Mittee handling the admission of old time baseball players into the Hall of Fame May be settling old scores by blocking Leo s accession. Ii makes Leo feel Young again. Like old times. One More ninth inning. One More Row with the nabobs of the game. One More shouting match with an arbiter. One More where was the Pilch a Bleep Leo belongs in the Hall of Fame. Bui you would t expect Leo the lip to go in there quietly and with dignity like a Pone getting elected or like Stan my Sial or Lou Rehng or Joe Dimaggio now would you that s not Leo s style. He s got to go in there arguing and spitting and kicking dirt and Yelling stick it in his Earl that Hall of Fame looks As if it could use a Little shaking up. And now you re talking Leo s game. Hall from Page 17 Ljury Csonka .8,081 Yards,fi4tds bowls during his 13-year career with the sleepers. He played in 91 consecutive games from 1969 to 1975 and was twice named the nil defensive player of the year in 1972 and 1974. I want my place in history i really do Greene said from Pittsburgh. I thought i had a pretty Good career. 1 thought i played some pretty Good foot Ball he said. A few years ago i would have had a hard time saying thai but i can say it comfortably now. I m just thankful that other people saw it and that t was considered for this great Honor. I appreciate  Johnson rushed for 6.803 Yards and 43 touchdowns during a 13-year career spent with the san Francisco 49m, Detroit Lions sect cars and Houston oilers. He Rushing for More than 1,000 Yards in both 1962. And 1964 with the sleepers and was the leading rusher Wilh the 1957 nil Champion Lions. Johnson said he never gave much thought to making the Hall of Fame Dur ing his playing Days i was optimistic i would make it this time. Some people gave me some indication it would Hap pen this year so i Felt Good about  Dawson became the third former Kan Sas City chiefs player voted into the Hall joining Bobby Bell and Willie Lan ice. Dawson passed for 28,711 Yards and 239 touchdowns during a 19-year career with the steel cars Cleveland Browns Dallas texans and chiefs. He led the texans to the Al championship in 1962, winning league player of the year honors then went on to be named the most valuable player in super bowl Ivas the chiefs upset the Minnesota Vikings. It s terrific it s the top. In does t Tetany better than making the Hall of Fame said Dawson a native of Alli Ance Ohio. "1 grew up in the same county where Canton is. I Hope i Don t have any trouble getting any tickets for the induction. I m one of 11 children and i have a lot of relatives  Upshaw now the executive director of the National football league players association spent his entire 15-Ycar career As guard Wilh the Oakland raiders. The 6-5, ass Pound Upshaw participated in superbowl ii i and Xiv Wilh the raiders. Along Wilh Jim Parker Upshaw be came one of Only two guards from the Modem Era to be inducted. Upshaw waste fourth Raider inducted following George Blanda Jim Otto and Willi Ebrown into the Hall. Maynand joins his old new York Jet Bat Tery mate Joe Namath As the Only former Jet players in the Hall of Fame. Mayan spent 15 seasons with the new York chants new York titans the jews and the St. Louis cardinals catching 663 pases for 11,834 Yards and 88 touchdowns. Sometimes Maynard said i wonder Why former new York giant Charlie Connerly Kyle Rote and come other great Guys thai Haven t been named Are not in there ahead of me. In sometimes makes the person going in then feel a Little bit embarrassed. Enshrinement of the 1987 class will take place at the pro football Hall of Fame on aug. 8. Flu weakened Warner will miss nil pro bowl Seattle up Seattle sea Hawks running bade Curt Warner the most prolific rusher in the acc this season has the flu and won t play in the nil pro bowl sunday at Honolulu team officials a. Warner up i acc offensive player of the year had been named a starter for the acc team after running for 1,481 Yards and 13 touchdowns during the season. His Rushing total was nearly 300 Yards ahead of his nearest acc competitor and was third in the league behind los an Geles rams running Back Eric Dickerson who ran for 1,821 Yards and Joe Morris of the super bowl Champion new York giants who had 1,516. We heard about him having the flu yesterday morning when he called Jim Whittsel the Trainer sea Hawks presi Dent and general manager Mike Mccormack said tuesday. The Trainer then called the doctor. Curt feels weak. He has some sort of viral  Mccormack said Warner s absence from the pro bowl is not connected to contract negotiations Wilh the team. He could Only miss the game for medical reasons otherwise it would be a Viola Tion of the collective bargaining agreement Wilh the players association Mccormack said