European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 5, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday August 5, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary maybe that old curve Ball got to to All right miss Bho about taking a letter to the Good fans of Kansas City All of them. Mark it personal. Don t Tell them who it s from. Dear baseball Fant of Kansas City it has come to my Allan lion Ilia you Are upset at the projected defection of your left fielder. Do Jack son Lollita childish other sport of Evtif. Football. I have Beta advised you arc booing inc Young Man and pelting him with plastic footballs for his Treach , i like that in a baseball fan. It s in he Best traditions of the Wand old game. Baseball fans should care. It s what we re about. It s kind of Anold fashioned virtue and we re old fashioned people right we baseball fans arc All right out of the i9lh Century right and what s wrong with that it was Teller than this one right ii was when ballplayers stayed right where they belonged. They were not Only part of the Community of baseball they were part of he Community period. We took Pride in our Community and we knew he did too. They were playing for Thrif town Pur town. We did t have these mercenaries. The this bal for hire. Have cur Mcball will a Ravel Guys. We had Home town heroes. So i know where you re coming from when you feel rejected by in u Young Man in your Outfield. I mean he s not Only rejecting Kansas City he s rejecting baseball. Horrors it s enough to make a fellow doubt him self. Like How can a Guy give up he greatest game in the world in the greatest Little town in the world to go play ugh thai awful nosebleed and torn cartilage sport what s nest George Bret in Lennis shorts you recall the late Fresco Thompson s line when Ever some Young Man came up to him Lorn Between a future in baseball or football. What do you want a career or a Limp Fresco used to Leer. Apparently. To wants the Limp. Well he s going to the right place. But i would ask you to look at it this Way. Some thing has happened in to j life to convince him he a a a a a a i May not have made the right career Choice after All Limp or no Limp. Consider that something else May be at work Here 1 mean in was Only a month or so ago that to was saying there was no Way he would Ever climb into a football Mil Ever again. You have to think he meant in. At the time. To has t had a life up to now. It s been a a Nicks Sion. God gave him this magnificent body which just made everything that had to do with running jump ing swinging or catching or throwing balls As easy As a fish swimming or a Bird Hying. Do could run with Footpath or throw baseballs these incredible Dis Tances. He had a Choice of careers. Baseball scorned like the most lucrative the most longevity. So to those it. To is not the first great athlete to opt for baseball in these circumstances. Way Back around the Days of the first world War there was this similarly magnificent hunk who came out of a football school in Pennsylvania and he was such a specimen that the King of Sweden no less said sir you arc the great est athlete in the world Jim Thorpe probably was Loo. He did t think they made a game he could t play. Neither As it happens did the new York giants which was a baseball team in those Days. They signed old Jim to a contract and went out and put new nails in the fences. Well sir. Old Jim did t Wear the fences out much. He wore catchers out. And infielders. The word went out and it Hung on him like a Scarlet letter. Jim Thorpe cannot hit the curve Ball in said. Baseball being baseball it became an article of Faith. In went into the lore like Tycobb would Cut you with his spikes. It s part of the myth of the great game. Now i Don l know whether Jim Thorpe could or could t Hil the curve Ditill Llis figures were unimpressive batting averages of .143. I a .231, .237. .248. Butt lore could run with the football. And when the newly formed National football league look the Field Thorpe win signal in u. You May have noticed in the Public prints the other Jay where one of it last Guys to play two sports simultaneously Dave in Busschers. The cd basketball Forward and baseball Pitcher suggested that to Jackson s trouble was thai lie had been introduced to Uncle Charlie inc ballplayers term for the All purpose curve Ball Only the other Day i had lunch with Bob Gibson the Hall of Fame Pitcher. Do you think to Jackson has run into the fastball i asked him. Gibson Shook hit head. The curve Ball. More Likely he Campanula used to Call it Public enemy no. it should be banned like Cigar Clec smoking in numbers Young or. Jackson has Pul up Are not bad .259 batting average in Home runs 45 runs batted has been at Bat 213 limes but 123 of those limes he has struck out. Now that Dwight Gooden s Pedestal has slipped. To May be the real or. K. So i think a Little understanding is called for Here. 1 mean our Young hero May not want logo Down in history As swish Jackson. Or Casey. He May fancy something like or. Inside or or. Outside. Or . A Man has a right to address posterity with his Best , i would t give up. Patience is inc watch word. Spending the of season with the la. Raiders is not is aptly like spending it on a yacht in the Mediterranean. Besides if he thought the curve Ball was Lough to make a living off Wail lilt he runs into Lawrence Taylor. Mcgwire blasts away at Homer Mark by Andrew Pollack Oakland
