European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 9, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday october 9,1987 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Sparky s off the air for world series sad news amid the american league playoffs. It does t Mailer if Sparky Anderson s Detroit tigers win or Iok he won t be doing color commen tary on lbs radio s broadcast of the world series. And All this Lime you thought you faced a Quan Dary. If Sparky s tigers beat the Minnesota twins he would go to the world series As Detroit s manager. If sparky1 tigers lose to the twins he would catch the world series As the lbs radio analyst. Say you re a twins fan who Shivers Over Sparky s Slaughter of the English language. It was enough to make you Root for the ti-1 Gert to keep him off the airwaves. Or you might be a Tiger fanatic who craves Sparky s radio style. You could pull for the twins to gel your Man into the lbs Booth. Bui lbs says no i Sparky this year. Its world series Trio will be Jack Buck John Rooney and Bill White. About All lbs says it i will do with Sparky is interview him. So Fie can j mop wondering about his j radio Days and Start Rewir-1 ing his Detroit relievers. Relief the tigers have trouble spelling it. Tiger Sparky Anderson firemen throw neat. And Oil and matches. And get smoked out at a depressing rate. They did wednesday night in the metronome. As lbs s while warned Early in game a the key to this series will be How Long Sparky can go with his  the Tiger manager could t go As Long As Bucko Fox. He wished. He had to Call on Mike Henneman and Willie Hernandez to douse a twin Brush fire. They turned it into a Blaze. Minnesota thus Lumund a 5-4 deficit in inc eighth inning into an 8-5 Triumph. There went Sparky s Streak of nine straight playoff victories. And there went Sparky s Confidence in Hernandez who was probably so worried about Hil Ling Don Baylor that he ave up the game winning hit to the aging Bench Sitter. What a change from 1984, when Sparky won it All on the left Arm of Hernandez. The manager wrote in his Book bless you Bays after that world championship season i Don t have to be very smart to Call Dawn to the bullpen and ask for Guys like Hernan Dez. All it takes is an in of three. It s a lot More difficult when you Call Down and have to say give me umm. A. A it s pretty Tough when Ever time you Call the bullpen you get a wrong num Ber. I be made the right connection All year Long. My bullpen has made me look like a Genius now Sparky is forced to look great without a stopper. Just like he looked great without a stopper All season. Despite what happens against Minnesota Sparky can Point to 19s7 an his tallest pillar. He took an offence that looked weak in april and coerced it into a major league High 904 runs. Sure he won five division titles four pennants and two world series crowns with Cincinnati. But who credited the reds greatness to Sparky s mind not Many. Here s what baseball researcher Bill James wrote three years after Sparky moved from Cincy to Detroit i really hate to rip Sparky All the time. I m not kidding i detest it. I be reached the Point at which everything the Man docs irritates me but he still seems like a Nice Guy. I m not a negative person. But you be got a Bat club Here that s playing is games a year below their ability. I can t just pre tend 1 Don t see it. Eventually Sparky is going to get fired would t you think and then the truth of what i am saying will became generally  two seasons later Sparky s tigers won it All. While he was swimming in world series Champagne a buddy came up from the interview room and said in the Detroit press Box Sparky in the Hall of  my first reaction was doubts All this Success Sparky or Talent like he wrote in bless you boys you give Bobby Cox then Toronto s manager those two Guys Hernandez and Aurclio Lopez com ing out of the pen and i d Trail him even More than he trailed  contributing to my doubt was Sparky s speech. He did color on lbs s radio broadcasts of inc world series from 1979 to 83, then in 1985 and 86. Here were a couple of his gems Frank while is the greatest second baseman in  "1 like this Guy because he Don t say nothing about  does that sound like a sound manager then something snapped. While hearing his Analy Sis of last year s series i realized Sparky is so bad he s Good. He offered hardly any fresh angles and butchered the language. But i found myself listening for More shaky spark isms. They kept me awake. Sparky had it right All along baseball is show business that s the Way it should  my Friend in the Detroit press Box had it right too. With a shot at a fourth world series title Sparky s headed for Cooperstown. To gun my Soldi Union from Page z1 Al from Page 21 demand for free Agency which had been the major impediment to a settlement. Alien and birth Olsen again were less than specific repeating the Union s Posi Tion that one Issue won t stand in the Way of settlement. Since then both player reps and  officials have suggested that it might be possible to end the walkout in Lime to gel regular on the Field sunday. Management both publicly and privately Nas said the opposite in the unstated but obvious Hope that More players would return to their teams Lead ing to a snowball effect that could end the strike. A total of 130 players of the 1,585 under Union jurisdiction have so far returned. But 26 of this number were on injured reserved or listed As physically unable to perform. Others like Lawrence Taylor and Leonard Marshall of the new York giants have indicated they might be Back next week if there is no settlement. One owner reiterated thursday that he did t expect these talks to end in a settlement so did one important league official Wellington Man co owner of the giants said wednesday i see we be been out two weeks and we re further apart than we were when we went  they re using scare tactics Allen retorted thursday. Several new issues have also surfaced in this round of talks. Jones for example said management now wants a six year contract instead of the three Yean that had informally been agreed upon because the owners Don t want More labor strife so won. Normally the labor contract parallels the television contract which ibis time is for three years. Yesterday it was five years today it s six. We d better gel this thing settled or soon Well have a 15-year contract responded Allen who said he did t think contract length was a major difficulty. Brunansky followed with a double to left to score two More runs. Baylor was thrown out at the plate by shortstop Alan Trammel As he also tried to score on the hit. Tigers manager Sparky Anderson was denied his record Matching 10th consecutive playoff Victory dating Back to the 1975 and 1976 Cincinnati teams. Ander son was chasing the consecutive Victory record of his old archrival Earl Weaver who had 10 in a Row with Baltimore. It was supposed to have been a Battle of Detroit s experience is. Minnesota s youth. Each of Detroit s 10 starters had some postseason experience and none of Minnesota s did. Anderson was in his seventh playoff As a manager twins manager Tom Kelly his first. But Anderson had warned that experience might not be the deciding Factor. Gaulli who homered in his first major league at bal in 1981.hit his first Home run in his first playoff at Bat with one out in the second inning. Gaetti who had 31 homers during the regular season hit a 2-2 pitch from Alexander just to the right Field Side of dead Center. Gaetti hit his second Homer off Alex Ander on the first pitch of the fifth in Ning becoming the sixth player to hit two homers in an Al playoff game. The last was George Brett of Kansas cily who did in on oct. 11, 1985, Brett holds the record with three homers in a Al playoff game on oct. 6,1978. Gene Mcnace hit Home run in his first two world series at Bati for the 1972 Oakland a a but no one had Ever done it before in the playoffs. After Gatli s Homer. Bush the Only left handed hitter in the twins lineup tripled into the right Field Corner and scored on a ground double Down the third base line by Brunansky. Steve Lombardozzi sacrificed Brunansky to third. One out later. Gladden hit a soft single into right Field scoring the third run of the inning and the underdog twins led 4-1. Alexander had Given up just three Home runs in 88w innings since coming to Detroit on aug. 12 in a Trade with Atlanta. Viola meanwhile gave up Solo Hom ers to Mike Heath and Kirk Gibson worked out of a bases loaded Jam in the seventh after allowing just one run then had to leave in the eighth As Detroit took the Lead. Viola 17-10 in he season allowed nine hits in seven plus innings struck out six und walked one in the first play off appearance of his career. No from Page 21 out the most would be base Stealen this season. They know in the Back of their minds that i might pitch out at any time Craig said. But 1 Don t think i be intimidated them  Craig has ordered two Pilch us in the series and both have nailed St. Louis runners. The key to our game is Hilling gel Ling on base cardinals Center fielder Willie Mcgee said. But Good pitching stops Good hitting and tint s what happened  John Tudor bad been St. Louis hot test Pitcher but he did not prevent the giants from seizing control Early. Clark bit a two run Homer in the Sec Ond inning almost losing credit Tor the blow when he came within a stride of passing teammate Candy Maldonado near first base Leonard led off the fourth inning with a borne run to Center Field on an 0-1 pitch. He did the same thing in tuesday night s 5-3 loss after which Leonard loudly said the giants were a belter team. I did t say anything 1 did t be Lieve Leonard said. You saw the real giants  Leonard who has a $50,000 Bonus clause for being the most valuable player in the series had three hits and is five for eight in the two game. He baited. 340 against the cardinals this season. "1 love the Boos Leonard said of the reaction of the Busti stadium crowd 55,331. But it s sure Nice to play Back at  Dravecky did not give up a hit after Tommy Hen s single in the fourth. Jim Lindeman singled m the second for the cardinals other hit. Dravecky managed to avoid trouble despite Lead off walks in four innings. Those were his Only walks and he struck out six. Alice Hammaker is scheduled to piled for the giants in game 3 with either Danny Cox who missed the opener with a stiff neck or Joe Maranc going for St. Louis. Gold Glove shortstop Ozzie Smith let Jose Uribe s bases loaded grounder go through his legs with two outs in the eighth. The two run error put the game out of reach. The giants use of the pit Choul worked in the third inning. Tony Pena was Al first with no out and Tudor was Balling in sacrifice situation. Bui Dravecky pitched out on an 0 i count with Pena running and Catcher Bob Melvin caught him stealing. Maldonado cd off the second with a single and one oui later Clark hit a 1-0 Pilch on a High arc to right Field. Clark had been just one-for-16 a Busch stadium this season and the Home run was the tint allowed by Tuduy in 24vj innings