European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 01, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday january 1,1990 the stars and stripes Page 25 commentary the 80s an improbable sports decade with the Calendar moving in to 1990. It s fashionable to assess what has happened since the Calendar was turned to 1980, a decade in sports when Money got bigger but not necessarily better when drug rehab and olympic Boycott entered our vocabulary. It s also fashionable to assess the Best of the dec Ade. Such As the Best athlete. And the obvious Nomi nees arc five whose Success spanned the decade Joe Montana Wayne Gretzky Earvin magic Johnson. Larry Bird Martina Navratilova. All winners All artists on their personal stages. But another athlete performed even More remarkably for much of the decade when Only his neighbors and schoolmates were watching. Jim Abbott was 12 when the Calendar was turned to 1980, a youngster in Junior High school in Flint mich., where he was born on sept. 19, 1967, born without a right hand. But even at 12, he was not Only dreaming of pitch ing in the big leagues but he was also thinking of How he would describe his Success. Whenever i get too impressed with myself he says now "1 try to remember i did t get Here single  after his Boyish face Breaks up with laugh Ter he adds. I be been saving that line since i was 12 years  Jim Abbott is 22 now. Awaiting his second sea son with the California Angels after a 12-12 record As a Rookie who never pitched in the minor leagues. But just As other athletes dominated the decade in his Way he did too. Pitching four no hitters in High school and As a quarterback leading the football team to the state semifinals with four touchdown passes in one game. Pitching the University of Michigan to two big ten titles. Pitching the . Team to the 1988 olympic championship. In a sense Jim Abbott symbolized the 80s in sports a decade when a kid born without a right hand would pitch in the big leagues when the improbable would be the probable. When the Calendar turned into 1980, surely nobody expected that the . Olympic hockey team would win the Gold Dav Anderson medal at Lake Placid by upsetting the soviets. To Jackson would hit 32 homers As an outfielder for running Back for the los Angeles raiders in the the Kansas City royals and Rush for 950 Yards As afo " " same year. Two fillies. Genuine risk in 1980 and winning col ors in 1988. Would win the Kentucky Derby. The acts would win the 1986 world series after a three run i oth inning rally in the sixth game which ended with Moosic Wilson s gentle grounder bouncing Between the legs of Bill Buckner. The red sox first baseman. The giants would win super bowl xxi Wilh Phil Simms completing 22 of 25 passes. Jack Nicklaus would win the masters at age 46. Many sports fans would be wondering about the out come of yachting s America s c up and Golf s Ryder c up. The Edmonton oilers would Trade Wayne circa sky. Muhammad Ali once the liveliest Mouth in sports. Would be mumbling his words because of an illness diag nosed As Parkinson s syndrome. Ali s eventual successor As heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson would find his toughest opponent to be an actress who s now his former wife. Bill Shoemaker would ride a Kentucky Derby Winner at age 54. The raiders would move from Oakland to los Angeles and would consider resuming to Oakland and the Colts would move from Baltimore to Indianapolis. The Yankees would not win another world series. The most popular competitor at the 1988 Winter olym pics in Calgary would be a ski jumper whose nickname was More impressive than his skill Eddie the Eagle. Dan Marino would throw for 48 ads in one season. The Baltimore orioles would open the 1988 season with 21 consecutive losses and Duel the Toronto Blue jays for the american league East title to the final weekend the next season. Michael Jordan would play basketball in midair. The National hockey league would postpone a Stanley cup playoff game because the Boston Garden lights win  methodist would be prohibited from playing  Duran would out punch sugar Ray Leonard in Montreal walk away muttering no Mas in their new Orleans rematch and nine years later in their Las vegas rubber match walk away with More than $7 million while muttering to himself. The world series would be interrupted by an Earth  Hershiser would Pilch 59 consecutive scoreless in  in Ruganis would win an olympic Gold medal at Seoul even though he bloodied his head on the diving Board. The kicks would win Patrick Ewing in a lottery. Pine tar on George Bretl s bal would create an uproar that had a royals Yankees game s being completed a month later. The islanders would win four straight Stanley Cupi. A 17-Ycar-old. Boris Becker would win Wimbledon. Urcla would not win a College basketball title. Another new pro football venture the . Football league would schedule its games in the Spring file an antitrust suit against the nil hear the nil ruled a monopoly and be awarded $3 in trebled damages. Eric Heiden would win five Speed skating Gold medals at Lake Placid. The acts would discover a Pitcher Dwight Goodwn who would produce a 24-4 record and a 1.53 earned run average at age 20.edwin Moses would win 122 consecutive races in the 400-meter hurdles. The Chicago bears would win super bowl xxx with a refrigerator on defense and occasionally at full  a kid born without a right hand would establish himself As a major league Pitcher. Tim new Yoffy times nothing stayed the same for Long in 80s Welcome to the 1990s. If the next 10 years Are anything like the last 10, the one constant in the world of sports will be change. I you Don t like the Way things arc hey stick around. Nothing stayed the same for very Long in the 80s. Why should the 90s be any different perhaps the most dramatic alteration occurred in the wallets of major league athletes. When the last decade began the top salary in sports belonged to Pitcher Nolan Ryan who had just taken baseball to the is million plateau. As the new decade starts Ryan is still making a comfortable $1.4 million but he is now an economic also ran in a business where the is Mil lion Man has become commonplace. A half dozen baseball players Kirby Puckett Rickey Henderson Mark Langston Mark Davis Joe Carter and Robin Yount have pushed past $3 Mil lion for 1990. That s $3 million for one season. The average salary in baseball was about $144,000 when the decade began and nearly s 500,000 when it ended. Nil salaries went from $80,000 to $300,000 the Aba from Between $170,000 and $180,000 to $750,000 the nil from $90,000 to $220,000. If soaring salaries Are the Benchmark by which the 80s will be remembered they were not the Only sub Stantial change in the sports Industry during those 10 tumultuous years. The last decade began in a sea of red while and Blue As America celebrated a dramatic olympic hockey Victory Over the soviet Union. It ended Wilh some of the members of that soviet team and a few of their basketball Brethren who beat the Usa in the 1988 summer olympics playing for learns in inc capitalistic nil and Aba. How s thai for change in 1980, Bowie Kuhn was in charge of baseball Pelc Roc Lac was running football Larry o Brien was inc head Man in the Aba John Ziegler was inc Boss of the nil and Waller Byers was operating inc Mcaa. As the 80s end Ziegler is the Only one still in place. Baseball ruled by just three men Kenesaw Moun Tain Landis Happy Chandler and Ford Frick for nearly half a Century had that Many new commission ers in just five years. Peter Ueberroth fresh from Lurn ing a Profil at the traditionally debt Ridden summer olympics took Over from Kuhn in 1984. He was re Hal Bock placed in 1989 by Renaissance scholar Bart Giamatti who died after just five months in office. Fay Vincent in baseball just one year succeeded Giamatti. Roc Lac completed 30 years in office with a sudden Recti Mcmeni announce Mcnol last March. Bui in look nil owners seven months to Settle on attorney Paul Taglia buc As their new commissioner. In the Aba David Stern succeeded o Brien As com missioner in 1984 and helped turn a struggling league into a huge Money maker. When the 1980s began then a was making $20 million on its lbs to contract. After this season thai figure will shool up to $150 million in a new Deal Wilh Abc. Byers retired Afler 36 years Wilh inc Mcaa replaced in 1987 by Dick Schultz who had been at Helcl in director at Virginia and chairman of the Mcaa basketball tournament committee. During the 80s, the Mcaa tournament enjoyed perhaps the most dramatic growth of any sports event ballooning from 48 teams to 64 in a three week extravaganza thai Generales millions for member ins Litu Lions. When inc decade began to Revenue Lor inc Lourn Ament was $9 million. As it ends the income is $58 million on ils Way to much More Courtesy of a new is billion contract with lbs. The Nal Urc of College basketball itself changed drastically too Wilh the introduction of the 45-Sccondclock and the 3-Point shot producing a faster More wide open game. Both were greeted so optically by traditionalists but the sport has nourished Wilh them reaching new Sci gals of popularity. Perhaps the most significant change in collegiate sports however was inc introduction of tighter Aca Demic and integrity standards. Proposition 48 set minimum Grade Point and curriculum requirements for freshman athletes and kept some top flight recruits on the sidelines for their first year in College. The Mcaa also adopted the death penalty the Multi male punish Cal for schools caught As repeal Rule Breakers. The first program to be shul Down under it provisions was Southern methodist football. The Rush for dollars was obvious in collegiate sports As Well. The Mcaa s College football television monopoly was set aside by the courts opening the Way for schools to sell their own to packages. Expansion was limited during the 80s. But the Aba spread to a number of new cities adding expansion franchises in Charlolle Miami Minnesota and Orlando. The Aba also made the most dramatic Rule change during the decade Wilh inc introduction of the 3-Point shot  from the Rule Book of the old Aba. The Success of the Home run shot in the pro game encouraged College basketball to adopt it As Well. When the decade began drugs were not viewed As a widespread problem. Before 1980, Only one Al Lei hockey player Don Murdoch had been supt ii because of substance abuse. Thai however. W change dramatically Over inc a Cal 10 years Wilh Stosis of players involved. The Saddest cases of All however were basketball Star Len Bias and nil defensive Back Don Rogers. Ueberroth punished 21 baseball players following the Pittsburgh drug trial in March 1986, but the message must have missed Bias and Rogers. Cocaine killed them four months later. In the nil Oakland moved to los Angeles open ing inc Way for subset Ucol transfers of Baltimore to Indianapolis and St. Louis to Phoenix. Rozelle and Tex Schramm longtime president of the Dallas cowboys Gol a controversial instant replay Rule in place allowing Calls on the Field to be reviewed by officials stationed at television monitors. Won and lost records of course Are always subject to change and thai was obvious during inc 80s. In the Aba Detroit had the league s worst record in 1980, but finished the decade As the defending Champion. The Best record in the nil in 1980 belonged to Atlanta Al decade s end however it was a Cal to worst in the league. The new York islanders started a string of four straight Stanley cups in 1980 Al decade s end the fran Chise was trying to rebuild a cell or Dweller. The cubs presided Over a dramatic change in Chicago s lifestyle Wilh the installation of lights Al Wrigley Field ending a Long divisive debate within inc City and the sport. Tim am Dawd pm