European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 24, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday july 24,1988 the stars and stripes commentary Doehring gets his shot at olympics the margin was slim one centimetre one Quarter of an Inch not even the length 91 your thumbnail. It was enough to Send Jim Doehring and his father to Seoul for the olympics. Doehring finished third in the shot put in the . Olympic trials with a toss of 67 feet 8 a inches edging Ron Baches by that single centimetre for the final shot spot on the team behind Randy Barnes and Gregg Tafralis. Pretty close huh not when you consider what Doehring and his father have been through together. Close is when you re lying in a Hospital bed with your Back broken your jaw wired shut and your face a Maze of compound fractures. Close is when Doc tors Don t know whether you la walk again much less toss the shot. Close is when you re out of commis Sion for a year when they operate on you four or five times when they insert and then remove steel rods in your Backbone. That s close. Six years ago Jim Doehring won a National championship for Saddleback Junior College and seemed poised for a run at the 1984 olympic team. Then in july 1982, he crashed his motorcycle and nearly was killed. For 14 Days Fred Doehring stayed on a cot in the Hospital next to his son s bed praying for Jim s life trying to give him the will to fight Back from his injures. It was a payback really. Years before Fred Doehring s wife and daughter were killed in an Auto Accident that left him near death. As he Lay in the Hospital it was his 11-year-old son who helped him  was t too anxious to go on Fred Doehring says now. But seeing him really fired me  so they Are close this father and son understand ably closer than others might be because of what they have been through together. Jim Doehring worked himself Back from the motorcycle Accident to the Point where he could compete again. He resumed the shot at san Jose state and in 1986 had a personal Best heave of 69 10 /4. The distance is significant because two years earlier in the olympics at los Angeles the games Doehring missed Italy s Alessandro Andrei won the shot put Gold medal with a throw that was 1 /4 inches  Doehring kept encouraging Jim. The payoff came in the olympic trials at Indianapolis where he squeezed by Baches by the narrowest of margins for the final 1988 berth. And when he made the olympic team Jim Doehr ing did t have to think twice about whom he would take to Seoul under the Send the families program sponsored by Seagram s. It was no contest really. We re awfully Good friends Fred Doehring said of his relationship with his son. It will help him at the olympics to know i m around. A dad can t ask for anything  that s what Seagram s had in mind when it Cre ated the families program. It enables America s ath letes to have Friendly faces watching when they go for Seoul s Gold. Two sports federations gymnastics and basketball turned Down the offer. The others enthusiastically embraced the idea. So track Star Carl Lewis mom Evelyn will be there rooting for him to capture More medals. Volleyball player Melissa my Laden is taking her Hus band Chris Kleespies. Norman Bellingham competing in three kayak races will have his Mother Lorraine there. Rower Kevin still s wife Sonia will cheer for him. Teammate Glenn Florio s Stock trader father Robert will take time off from Wall Street to be at the games. Eque Trienne Phyllis Dawson s Mother Grace is going. And 100-meter hurdler Karen Cannon will be there too even though she failed to qualify thurs Day. That s because her husband triple jumper Rob Ert Cannon who beat defending Gold medallist Al Joyner for his berth is taking her along. America s no. 1 shot put qualifier Randy Barnes will have his father Ralph in Seoul with him. Ralph Barnes will probably run into Fred Doehring at the Competition site. They ought to have plenty to talk about. The associated press most new Skippers managing just Fine by Ronald Blum firing the manager. It s baseball s oldest tradition. When the going gets Tough the manager gets going. Bon voyage. Adios. Take a hike. Hit the Road. It s not your fault. The team needed a new direct two. The players can t be fired. But something had to be done. Does it work six teams have switched managers since the Start of the season almost a Quarter of the major leagues. The san Diego padres Boston red sox Atlanta braves and Balti More orioles have gotten better How could the orioles avoid it. The Seattle mariners have gotten worse. The new York Yankees Are about the same. It s a whole lot of fun again coming to the Ballpark Boston s Marty Barrett said. We needed a change of managers or a change in the manager said Seattle s Alvin Davis. There s such a difference you Canh believe it. Everyone is having fun again Mark Grant of the padres said. San Diego 16-30 under Larry Bowa made the biggest turnaround. The padres through Friday were 28-23 under Jack Mckeon. The big thing for me is the Confidence level raised by Jack Mckeon Pitcher de Whitson said thursday. Be fore he took Over a Pitcher would be yanked so fast he did t know what was happening. If i got in the slightest Trou ble i was gone. Now it s changed. Jack won t make a change unless he has to. He has raised my Confidence level a thou Sand percent. Take today. He wanted me to get that Complete game in the worst Way and he waited and  was really Utti git be fore said Pitcher Andy Hawkins. Twas not much fun. We were playing but we were losing and we sure were not Happy. All that has changed. Jack Mckeon makes us feel wanted. He makes us enjoy the game and he is our biggest fan. What More can you ask Boston made the most dramatic rever Sal. The red sox won their first nine games under Joe Morgan to pull from nine games out to 3 i Back. It s almost like coming out of Spring training again Pitcher Mike Smithson said. The air has been cleared. There s sort of a new atmosphere in the club House. We be just played Good baseball winning baseball in the first few games since the change. We be hustled we be made All the plays and the pitchers have made the pitches. When you do All those things you usually win  Mike Greenwell said Morgan made his Agenda Clear. The first Day he said we gotta do the Little things. We gotta make things happen. We gotta steal some bases. We gotta hit and run. We gotta bunt and move Guys Over. And we gotta bring Guys in when we get a Chance " Greenwell  that was stale is out and we be got something fresh and something to be excited about said outfielder Todd , 12-27 under Chuck Tanner is 20-35 under Russ Nixon better but not Bood. I m not trying to criticize anyone but in my opinion i think our club and organization Are much More structured now Catcher Bruce Benedict said. There s always different ways 9f doing things but there s never any big differences because the game itself is Al ways the same said Dale Murphy. Different managers have different techniques but there s really so much you can do. Some things work some thing Don to no matter who the manager  Bruce Sutler has t noticed a change. No effect. I Don t see any change at All he  s really no big Deal said Rookie Pete  new York Yankees who parted with Billy Martin for the eth time reused to mid season shuffles. George up a Joe Morgan s red sox started 9-0. Frank Robinson helped orioles rebound from 0-21. Steinbrenner has changed managers 15 times in 15 years. I Don t think it makes that much of a difference said Willie Randolph who has been around for 13 switches. There have been so Many changes Here it really does t make a difference anymore. We re professionals and we re the ones who have to go out on the Field and do  Seattle 24-33 under Dick Williams has played significantly worse under Jimmy Snyder 15-24 through Friday. But players said the change improved the team. Jimmy has come in with a positive attitude and has opened things up Mark Langston said. We re not sitting Back in some of those situations where we were with Dick. I think the change has helped the team s  even though we Haven t won right away for him Jimmy has a real positive attitude that should pay off eventually second baseman Harold Reynolds said. He s a Good teacher too and we need that As a Young  when Snyder took Over the attitude in the clubhouse was different Pitcher Scott Bankhead said. There in t so much tension. The coaches have a real positive attitude that is rubbing off on the players. It has t shown up in the win column yet but i think Well turn this thing  was 0-6 under Cal Ripken or. The orioles lost their first 15 games under Frank Robinson but since the Streak Are 30-44."the front office is building for the future Relief Pitcher Dave Schmidt said. From eight or 10 weeks ago this team has improved one Hundred per cent Robinson said. Our pitching is More consistent the defense is better and our hitting is much  hopefully we can play Well and let them know that 0-21 should t have happened outfielder Ken Gerhart  Boston s Barrett if we keep winning the tigers and the Yankees Are going to be looking Over their shoulders