European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 4, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday september 4,19bb the stars and stripes Page 25 sports analysis Giamatti baseball s next thinker by Thomas Boswell of inc Washington Post new York when he Speaks Bartlett Gla Ahi has he resonant commanding voice of a Man accustomed la the lectern and podium. As a Profe. Sor of literature at Yale As president or Yale and As National league president his idiosyncratic and often pyrotechnic gift with the language has been source of Power. Giamatti could Charm a subpoena server or bamboozle a supreme court Justice. He can say nothing and make it sound Good i or say something and Knock your socks off. Once in a great while i however Giamatti voice leaps an octave and far a second be comes a High pitched childlike Celebration of Delight. When this Hap pens inc subject is usually his lifelong infatuation with baseball. That Mission not i his academic books Tike his new a free and or. Dared space or any sin Gle a comply ill men in Bis iwo years As no president is the reason thai a week from now. Camalli probably will be elected the next com bar Lett Giamatti missioner of baseball. The sport s owners hired Himin "86 because he had brains and Energy. Now they want him to be the Boss because the sense How deeply he has fallen in love with their game. Gia malts Long affair with baseball has turned into a marriage. When i look this Job. I d seen a lot of baseball in my life cared about it and thought i knew about it. Well. I was in the second Grade in some respects said Giamalis last week Silling behind his Large an Tique wooden desk overlooking Park Avenue. 1 was Happy to accept this i cautiously mad Oner by the National league because i wanted to learn new things Aboul something i cared about. And i care about this said Giamatti. His voice shooting upward on the last five words. How people go about their pleasure is As important to me As How they go about their work. The largest thing i be Learned is the enormous grip thai this game has on people the extent to which it really is very important. It goes Way Dow deep. It really does bind together. Us a cliche and sounds sentimental but i have now seen it from the inside i think i underestimated the depth of this historical  suddenly the voice goes up As though Giamatti were surprised with his Awn unabashed unqualified words and he said baseball is very Good. It i no life threatening. It to nol a pollutant. It is an Unal Loyed Good. Of course there Are passions involved. But passion is Good if it is directed toward a Noble end. There s nothing bad that accrues from baseball. Realizing that has been the most rewarding part Ofalt  sports commissioners Are supposed to rhapsody be. However a fellow who within to minutes drops references to Marcel Proust Robert Frost the Japa Nese Samurai film Ras Homon and the  principle of uncertainty might be expected to protect his intellectual Hanks a trifle belter. That Giamalis will be Peter Ueberroth s hand picked successor As commissioner is almost certain sufficient Voles May be lined up by next week s sum Mer meetings in Montreal Cia Malti could Ihen be come de Facto commissioner Many months before Ueberroth s contract expires after the 1989 season. Bui would Giamatti make a Good commissioner several years ago he laughed uproariously when it was suggested that he might be at one and the tame Lime the most  and under qualified Man on the list of possible replacements for Bowie Kuhn. Certainly Giamati and Ueberroth Are almost antithetical. From negotiating to contracts to Market ing to dealing Wilh drug testing to supervising Crow control Ueberroth came to his Job Wilh enormous experience. In everything he was a problem solver unencumbered by theoretical baggage. Tough combative when necessary imperious when opposing Bossy owners Ueberroth operated on the inductive theory that what Worts is probably what s right. Giamatti is the deductive Type. A flashy deep thinker with a passion for logic and Justice he wants to figure out by mind muscle what is morally an theoretically Correct then pursue it for years when they were both at Yale Giamatti relished playing the Liberal Devil s advocate to conservative judge Robert Bork in frendly dinner debates. Some would say such abstract thinking can make for poor policy. And they might cite Giamati s contributions to the new balk Rule and his 30-Day sus pension of Pete Rose As examples. Giamatti May or May not be qualified to handle the business of baseball labor management wars ownership a fighting Public relations damage control Etc. However he is probably already better qualified to oversee the integrity of Ilic game on the Field than any commissioner in decades. Teachers Are learners first and Giam Allf studies baseball like a future general manager. He already leaves Kuhn and Ueberroth in the dust As a Monolo Gist on technical trends of the game. His idea of heaven is to Grill scouts or umpires for All their bottled up  in the last 20 years baseball has been Lucky in its commissioners. When the game faced Law suits. Supreme court cases and congressional scrutiny of its anti Trust exemption it had a lawyer on top Kuhn. When baseball faced an economic crisis that demanded lower salaries higher attendance and in creased to revenues baseball had a Leader who was a master marketeer an old to hand and perhaps a co conspirator in a perfectly orchestra red example of monopolistic collusion does baseball need a thinker now the guess Here perhaps the Hope is thai the game will be fortunate again. Web Beroth is handling the next Mega to Deal himself and it would be unthinkable for him to retire before a new labor contract exists. After the dust or strike settles comes Gia Matti. What will face him in the 90s? in Large part it Wilt be the theoretical questions baseball has shoved aside because of its turbulent of is there enough talc no available to make expansion a Wise course when and where should it take place should there be realignment and new divisions what Aboul wild cards the worst idea Ever to haunt baseball salons when if Ever will inc do Rule be unified what financial Structure can be built to stabilize salaries at a tolerable level How can teams share revenues to a greater degree As new Parks arc built How can baseball respect its tradition by moving Back inward grass Bock toward irregular Fence configurations and away from dome Parks Giamatti Calls the 1890s inc great age of baseball invention when the Basic Grid of the game was  the 1990s May be an Era of reinvention for baseball. Will the sport of the future be played on grass or turf inside or outside Wilh pure Pennant races or wild cards Wilh 10 men on a Side or nine with flawed umpires or robotic instant replay with Safe stadium conditions or Rowdy crowds like those that infest soccer with 26 teams in two leagues or 32in four a sport cannot ask itself questions More Basic. If baseball Ever needed Clear thinking concise arguing and depth of passion it is now. Rockets hand Barons 2nd straight loss Pitburg a West Germany for the Bilbo in Barons saturday s 16-10 loss against the Rhein main rockets in the Continental sports conference marked the first time since saturday sept. 27, 1969, that the team had started a season Wilh two straight losses. Sembach handed Tilburg that distinction 19 years ago with a 7-6 setback after the Barons opened the season with a 26-22 loss to Rhein main. Lindsey started this year s Tilburg de Cline with a 27-7 lacing last week. Rhein main s opportunistic defense pulled out a week old defensive Flashback a blocked punt id Pul the Barons in the Twilight zone. Defensive end Boyd Vaughn blocked a Brian Johnson punt m the fourth Quarter and carried the Ball in from 20 Yards out to get the rockets off the ground. The rockets used a Block punt last week by Marty Andres and an end zone recovery by Randall Rief to score a touchdown in Raule to a 14-7 overtime Triumph Over Sembach. Nothing happened through three Bilbo. Is. Alre s Robert Wendling on the  going nowhere on three plays air Force football Rhein main posted a Trey when Gary Wallace toed a fourth Down. 25-Yard Field goal Wilh 14 36 to go in the  came Vaughn. With a fourth and forever bit urgent for the pull from its own 20. John son s punt tailed All of two feet right into Vaughn who was there to Block it then pick it up for his 20-Yard to scoot at the 10 40 Mark. With 6 48 to go. Rockets quarterback Tor Hill picked up 21 of his 29 Overall Rushing Yards on a quarterback keeper to. Wallace added the Luck fora 16-0 Lead Bilbury came Back Lesi than a minute later. Quarterback Scott Kayer connected Wilh receiver Darryl dryer at 6 09 for a 57-Yard to strike and Gene Longs acct legged in the two Point conversion. But that was All Lime would allow other than a last second safety More Orless Given to the Barons positioned on his own i Yard line Rhein main Hill conceded two Points 10 comeback Bruce Walls Wilh three seconds logo. Warriors 14, Flym 12 we Brucken West Germany of feral Page ran s4 Yards after taking a lateral from Ray Matthews to score the game winning safety with 14 27 left after Jesse Johnson blocked Lindsey s Point after attempt. Page also intercepted a Kevin Brown pass at the Warrior 28 with 3 28 Lea to Seal the Victory. The plays climaxed a wild one at Wei Brincken in which the Lindsey Fly ers 27-7 victors Over defending Cham Pion Tilburg last week Oul gained the Samors 303 Yards will and still lost. We Brocken 1-1 took advantage of anew Rule change. Blocked conversion kicks were once dead bolls. Now a safety is awarded for blocked kicks returned to the kicking team s end 2one, Lindsey m had just tied the game at12-12 on Brown s 15-Yard run which capped a nine play 64-Yard drive. John son then blocked the Point after attempt. Matthews picked the Ball up at the 2 and headed upfield. He pitched to Page at the we Brocken 46, and Page rumbled the rest of the Way for the winning Points. Johnson a linebacker and Page a Cor of react led a fierce Warrior defens that protected the Lead. In addition to the blocked Pat John Ion bad a blocked punt one sack nine tackles and seven assists Page bad his interception recovered three fumbles and broke up two potential to passes. Steve Shortland and James Mcneil registered one sack apiece. The loss overshadowed a Brilliant Effort by Lindsey s Ryan gales who rushed 30 limes for 187 Yards. His 9-Yard run gave Lindsey a 6-0 Lead in the second Quarter. Wei Brocken tied the game at 6-6 Wilh 9 26 left in the second Quarter when Dar Rel Dillard recovered the punt Johnson blocked in the end zone. The conversion run was slopped Short. The warriors look a 12-6 Lead Wilh 1 08 left in the third on . Foster s 4 Yard run. That Lead stood up until Mathews and Page combined Tor the winning Points. Am sports television pro food ill Miami at Chicago 7 , sunday san Diego my los Angela runs 10 . Sunday radio pro football Miami at Chicago 7 . Sunday san Durga to los att Getty run 10 pin. Sunday