European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Veeck brings breath of air to Stuffy Hall Surv Jay March 3, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 25 cubs hopeful on Sandberg by Mike littwin the Baltimore Sun somewhere a scoreboard is exploding arid a Man with a wooden leg is smiling. Just when you Start to wonder about the world they put Bill Veeck in the Hall of Fame and suddenly everything is All right again. This is Good news. They say there Isnit enough of it in the papers. Maybe that a because there Arentt enough Bill Weecks. He was full of Good news and strangely wonderful ideas that washed from his brain like Waves onto the Shore. He was a different kind of baseball owner. He Wasny to Rich for one thing. He Wasny to made for a business suit either. In fact what he most loved to do was to join the fans in the bleachers and order a couple of rounds of brew. He was different mostly because he truly loved the game even if those who ran it did no to necessarily love him Back. Its understood that your Typ Icalan incr does no to love exploding scoreboards or nights in which the fans Are invited to destroy disco records right there on the Field. Today a owner a yesterdays too a likes it orderly. He likes it Safe. Bill Veeck did no to care for safety. If he had he might not have lost that part of his leg in the Pacific Back in world War 11, and if he had he might not have been the first american league owner to employ a Black player. That was Larry Doby who came to Cleveland after Jackie Robinson went to Brook commentary Lyn. He blazed his own trails but to less publicity. Veeck was there to Blaze with him. And if Veeck had played it Safe he never would Nave sent Eddie Graedel the midget out to Bat for the St. Louis Browns. A the Guys in the suits who look and act like accountants thought that Veeck had made a travesty of the  even tried to have the record expunged As if it never happened. Veeck thought it was entertaining and he had the Radical idea that entertainment was the idea. Nobody was More excited than. Roland Hemond the orioles general manager to hear that Veeck at Long last had made Cooperstown. A i was afraid they a wait so Long that everyone would have forgotten a Hemond said from a car phone in Florida. A that would have been a  no one is going to forget Veeck though. That a the least of. It. He a the guaranteed most unforgettable character anyone Ever met. A the always said to let your imagination run rampant a he mond said. Hemond remembers Veeck a last stand with the White sox. A we were searching for an idea for opening Day a said Hemond. A a Young fellow who worked in the office pointed out it was 1976, the Bicentennial year. And Bill turned to me and said a Roland i done to know if Paul will go along with this but Bill Veeck he a the Only Man i know who knows the fourth stanza of the National  that was Paul Richards the manager. All Veeck wanted from Richards was to dress up in a revolutionary War uniform and carry the Flag on opening Day. Veeck would play the Fife. Another executive would play the drum. He just kept thinking. That s what he was Good at. He read two or three books a week and drank lots of Beer and told wonderful stories and never seemed to be depressed. They forced him out of baseball a couple of times. They did no to let their imaginations run rampant. They still done to. And in today a game there a certainly no room for a Bill Veeck who left the game of Good in 1980. Its too bloodless. Even with that wooden stump he was All flesh and Bone a a real life real person who died five years ago. Its too bad he did no to live to see them hang Iris plaque in a baseball museum because a museum is where he belongs. He was a Dinosaur. They done to make his kind anymore. And we re All poorer for. It. Mesa Ariz. A talks Between the Chicago cubs and Ryne Sandberg have failed to come up with a satisfactory com. Promise to extend the second baseman a contract but team it officials say they re still hopeful. Sandberg s agent Jim Turner is seeking a three year contract Extension Worth about $15 million. The cubs offer reportedly Hasni to topped $13 million. Sandberg set Friday As the deadline for negotiating an Extension but no agreement a had been reached As of Early saturday. He is still signed with the cubs for $2.5 million in 1991 and $2.1 million in 1992, the option year. A they talked to Andre Dawson when we were in fourth place last year in june. I expect us to be in first place and i done to want to be bothered by it a Sandberg said. A i want to get off to the Best Start i can and i want the team to get off to the Best Start possible a i am going to go All the Way through to �?T92 and play out my option if it s not done by Friday a he said. Cubs president Don Grenesko said if a Deal was t struck Friday the team could reach an agreement  Sandberg sometime during Spring training or perhaps even during or after this season. A we have let Ryno know How we Felt about him a Grenesko said. A we did do it with Andre Dawson during the season last year. So maybe we can consider doing it after tins year. But i still feel like we have from March until the end of Spring training to get it  but Sandberg countered a i done to know Why he Grenesko would say that. He s known for four months now what we plan to do and we re not changing  the cubs Are offering Sandberg the same Deal Tony Gwynn got a three year Extension Worth $12.25 million. Sandberg wants More like $ 15 million for three years. Another sticking Point is Sandberg a desire to up the Ante on the existing two years of his contract. The cubs have repeatedly said no. Van Slyke cites parable Bradenton fla. A Andy Van Slyke says baseball players who want to renegotiate their contracts Are like the Vineyard workers in a parable in the bibles new testament. Ricky Henderson Ryne Sandberg and any other player who wants to renegotiate his contract should read Matthew 20 1-15, according to Van Slyke. A a it san awesome passage and its about stuff like this a he told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. In that biblical parable a v a Vav r Umi to full. A Lockey can t sell message a. A. A a a. A a a. A a a a a. A. Vineyard owner one morning offers several men a Silver Coin each to work for the Day. He hires other workers at intervals throughout in the Day. At the end of the Day lie tells his Foreman to pay All the work cars a Silver Coin each. That does no to set Well with those hired first who rail against the owner. The owner reminds them they agreed to work Lor a certain wage arid tells them he May pay his other workers As he sees fit a a it a perfect a Van Slyke said. Iat i j by the associated press a hit the net a sounds simple does no to it but getting a shooter to put the puck on goal is easier said than done and the inability to do is responsible for Many a Grey hair on the Heads of ni1l  assistant Guy Charron gets castrated with trying to get players to. Buy. The notion that accuracy translates. Into goals.  mentality of Many players is a i have to shoot very hard to beat a goal tender or pick out a spot to beat a goal a Der a a Charron said a and actually if a Bercy Ould look at their goal production a lot of Lime it is just hitting the net. Y the puck can dribble Between the up i tenders pad or  of the trap. Per. But hitting the net is a Tough sell. A a Tot players done to buy that  Charron does t like to think How a Many times lies seen a player have a air 011 go of but try to pick a spot. Aiming for the highlight film is How he i l Xuac Ferizes the attitude of some play ers. Joc in Ouwendyk one of the leagues lost consistent scorers works hard on putting his shot on net. The Calgary Cen Ter often takes a bucket of pucks positions them at different locations and practices his accuracy. A a it a prettier to score goals when you hit the top Corner but a lot of times you do miss the net a in Ouwendyk said. A it is a hard thing to teach. A a it a a hard sell. The coaches Are always telling us hit the net but you Are always looking for the empty spots. Some times you hit them and sometimes you done to. Most times you  the nil does no to keep statistics for True shooting accuracy a shots that miss the net done to count. The Best the league can provide is the percentage of. Shots on goal that go in. Last season for example Luc Rob Taille of the los Angeles Kings led the nil with a 24.8 shooting percentage. He scored 52 goals on 210 shots. Brett Hull of the St. Louis blues who scored a league High 72 goals came in at 18.7 percent. The no la Sall time scoring Leader Wayne Gretzky connected on 16.9 per cent r a when i am shooting the puck i am try in Quot to hit the net More than and thing else a Gretzky said. A i think that so Many times players try to get  velocity said Hull a you can to score unless you hit the net and that is a big part of my Success. Everybody asked me Why i get so Many shots on goal and i Tell them i done to miss the  Calgary a Sergei Makarov was the Leader entering the final month of the season with 24 goals on 77 shots 31.2 percent. Los Angeles 14.4 percent was the most accurate shooting team Minnesota 9 9 percent was last. A a what it comes Down to according to Toronto coach Tom Watt is attitude. A if a player wants to hit the net with his shot he can a a he said. A if he wants to pick a Corner its harder because the target is a lot smaller. Y a a it a the same for passing. If a player wants to hit a Guys stick , he Quot will. If he does t want to hell put the pass in the skates. Its just a matter of  a a natural goal scorers like Hull and former great Mike Bossy of the new York islanders hit the net consistently because they focus on it Charron said. A i really believe there is a certain focus in their game that they say a if i hit the net l will have More Success than if i  a Calgary a Joe Nieuwe Dyke a a hard thing to teach