European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 10, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday july 10, 1988 the stars and stripes commentary Budge Graf and the grand slam in baseball a grand slam is As common As rhinestone. But in Tennis or Golf a grand slam is a velvet Pouch with four different precious jewels. As the australian and French Champion Mats Wilander had an Opportunity for a Tennis grand slam this year. But even As Wilander advanced to the Wimbledon quarterfinals Don Budge doubted that the sturdy swede would win the title. Mats is a Good player he said. But he s not a Jack Kramer or a Pancho Gonzalez or a Rod Laver or a Fred  or a Don Budge. Now 73, the original grand slam Mer and his wife Lori live in tiny Din mans ferry pa., near the Delaware water Gap when he s not taking bows All Over the world on the 50th anniversary of winning the australian French Wimbledon and  championships in the same Calendar year. Rod Laver later did it twice in 1962 and 1969. Maureen Connolly did it in 1953, Margaret court in1970. And now Budge believes Steffi Graf will do it. I saw Steffi at the Wimbledon champions Din Ner Budge said. I told her when not if but when you win the . Open for your grand slam i Hope they la let me present the trophy to  Budge will also Complete his ceremonial grand slam at Flushing Meadow in september. He has Al ready been applauded at the australian French and Wimbledon tournaments. And hell be honoured i Newport r.i., at the International Tennis Hall of Fame where evonne Goola Gong Cawley will be in ducted saturday. I thought John Mcenroe might get the slam afew years ago Budge was saying now. He has More natural Talent than anyone but he never won the French and then he had some prob lems. And it s tougher now to do it than when i did it. There Are six Fellows now who can win any of the four grand slam  his six were Stefan Edberg Ivan Lendl Boris Dave Anderson Becker  Cash Wilander and Mcenroe. Budge sounded As if he liked Becker s chances Thebes. He s so Young and he s having such a Good time but he s got to realize that he must do some thing different Budge said. According to Budge the grand slam is tougher now because of so Many More Good players in a tournament draw of 128. You have players ranked 15th or 20th or 30th,each capable of beating any of the top players on a Given Day he said. Back when Fred Perry was the Best there was Noone else in Contention. Ellsworth vines the same thing. And i was a Little bit above everybody  the kids today Don t take time off to work on their game to move it up a  Bjorn Borg for example won five consecutive titles on Wimbledon s grass but never won . Open. Nine times Bjorn played in the open nine time she did t win Budge said. To me that Means something s wrong. Bjorn had Good discipline. He did t lose because he was t i condition. But if you re great you win anywhere on any surface like Rod Laver did. Laver was really on of the super players. And when i was at the top of my game i never had any hang  about the surface. I d never been to the French until i went Over therein 1938, but i knew i could win on  As the Wimbledon and . Champion in 1937, Budge had been offered $50,000 plus one third of the Gross to turn pro. But i turned Down Jack Harris offer he said. Told him we had won the Davis cup that year and i wanted to defend the cup. And by then i also wanted to try to win All four major titles in the same year. Looking through a record Book i had noticed whatnot even Bill Tilden had done that. What surprised me was that Tilden had never won the  those years people went to Australia by Ocean liner As Budge and his doubles partner Gene Mako  had a 23-Day voyage from los Angeles he said. When we stopped at Honolulu for 10 hours we got off the boat and played a few sets. We also played when we stopped in tango tango and in fijian in Auckland new  Budge Defeated John Bromwich in the Australia final then sailed Home. I had another six Day voyage to Europe for the French and Wimbledon but those trips agreed with me he said. I beat everybody quickly. I d beaten Bromwich in47 minutes. I beat Roderick Menzel of Czechoslovakia in 58 minutes at the French and then i beat Bunn Austin at Wimbledon in under an hour of actual play ing time but we had a 20-minute   the Forest Hills final Budge Defeated Mako in four sets. The next Day Allison Danzig wrote in the Newyork times that i had completed a grand slam the Tennis equivalent of what Bobby Jones had done Ingolf in 1930. The slam helped me get a $75,000 guarantee to turn pro. I made $148,000 in 1939 an had to  Only $2,080 in taxes. And that Forest Hills final in 1938 took Only about an hour and three quarters. That s another thing i like about Steffi Graf. No delays. She does truss around. She plays with a purpose. Most of these players today by the time the match is Over you clothes could go out of  but because of Don Budge the Tennis grand slam will never go out of style. The new York times a half season of baseball s  and Downs by Ben Walker a baseball writer Billy s gone and Mike Schmidt Gar Carter and Fernando Valenzuela could be going fast. Home runs Are Way Down and so Are squawks about balks. Arguments with umpires however Are up. The Chicago White sox Are staying Home and the Minnesota twins Are win Ning on the Road. The Baltimore orioles May not be the worst team in history but they do a Good imitation. And the chicag cubs will soon be seen in a new Light. Another big Story at the All Star break Lively arms not Lively balls. Greg Maddux 22, is tied for the major league Lead with 14 victories. He went 6-14 for the cubs last year. I was just hoping to get Back to .500," he said. This in t something i  Roger Clemens Dwight Gooden and world series map Frank Viola redoing Well As expected. So Are David Cone Greg Swindell John Smiley and John Farrell All of them 25 and under. Cone is also among 17 pitchers to take no hitters into the seventh inning. Ron Robinson Nolan Ryan Mike Scott Doug Drabek Odell Jones and t9mbrowning Are in the More exclusive close Call club they be come within three outs of Cooperstown. No Pitcher has gotten his no hitter  lot of pitchers however have been stopped for not stopping. There have been 622 balks compare to last year s record total of 356, under newly enforced regulations that require pitchers to come to a discernible Stop the set position. The pitchers though have been a least partly responsible for a discernible Stop in balls leaving the Ballpark. In a startling drop almost As stun Ning As last season s increase Home runs Are off 24 percent. At this Point last year 17 teams had hit at least 80 homers. Nine clubs had Martin Schmidt Carter Valenzuela reached 100, led by Baltimore s 113. This year Only three teams have got ten to 80, topped by Minnesota s 85. Some say weather has had an  were More rainout in the first 11/2 months than there were All last season and Damp weather tends to Deaden the Ball. Carter has heard All the theories. A 10-time All Star Carter is in the longest homeless drought of his career. He has gone 149 at bats without his 300th Home run which would make him Only the fourth Catcher to accomplish the feat and is batting .212 since april. I go through a slump and everybody wants to get rid of me said Carter 34. I wonder if the Guys in Philadelphia Are writ ing about How bad Mike Schmidt is or about How Dale Murphy is slumping in Atlanta. Are they ready to retire Dale Murphy Are they ready to retire Mike Schmidt Schmidt 38, has been bothered by nagging injuries and is batting just .234 with six Home runs. Murphy 32, is hit Ting .220 with 13 homers. Also in a rut is Valenzuela. His 5-6record and 4.19 earned run average includes a first inning knockout the ear Liest exit of his career. Montreal s Floyd Youmans once promising Young Pitcher was suspended indefinitely by commissioner Peter Ueberroth for violating terms of his drug rehabilitation program. No telling when Youmans will be Back. Ueberroth meanwhile1 reiterated he will not seek a second term when his contract ends on dec. 31, 1989. Ueber Roth said he will stay through a transition period but not beyond 1990. Billy Martin is one of five managers who have already lost their jobs. It was the fifth time Martin was fired by new York Yankes owner George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner at least waited until the Yankees fell out of first place. Martin despite his squabble with umpires an scrap at a topless Texas bar managed to overcome key injuries and keep the Yan Kees in the american league East Lea for most of the season. At 60, Martin May have finally workout his Welcome in the dugout. His off the Field behaviour plus his reputation for burning out pitching staffs May have caught up with him. Dick Williams who said before the season that this would be his last year was fired by Seattle. Larry Bowa who said he was t Given enough time was sliced by san Diego. Atlanta chopped Chuck Tanner and Baltimore bid goodbye to Cal Ripken  the orioles lost their first six games replacement Frank Robinson saw Balti More lose the next 15 and set a major league record with an 0-21 Start. The orioles Are on a Pace to win about 50 games. The worst record in modern times went to the new York mets in 1962 at 40-120.in june Baltimore drafted Pete Rose jr., although the son of baseball s All time hit Leader May not sign. Pete Rose has had his own  was suspended for a month after shoving Umpire Dave Pallone and has been rumoured to be in jeopardy As Cincinnati s  and Martin Are among several managers and players who have had run ins with umpires this year. The managers and players claim that umpires More frequently heat up disputes and do Little to Cool them them Down the umpires say that s simply not so. One thing seems Clear. Winning the world series was no Fluke for the Minne Sota twins. Last season the twins went 29-52 away from the metronome. This year they re 22-18 on the Road. Minnesota trying to become the firs world series Champion to repeat since the Yankees in 1977-78, still must catch Oakland in the american league West. The athletics Are Strong As  White sox May not be Tough but they were Able to get promises for a new stadium and quell any talk that they would move to St. Petersburg  mets with Gooden Cone Ron Darling and reliever Randy Myers Havethe Best pitching in baseball and might have the Best team. They re comfortably ahead of the disappointing defenders the St. Louis cardinals in the National league East although the cubs will make the most noise when they play Host to Philadelphia on aug. 8 in the first night game at Wrigley  los Angeles dodgers bolstered by the signing of free agent Kirk Gibson Are scoring enough runs to Lead the no West. Al East Champion Detroit despite the loss of Gibson is again ahead although no one would know it listening to tigers manager Sparky  Yankees Are still the team to beat he said As always avoiding the favourites role. We re just hoping to stay