European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 32 the stars and stripes sports wednesday september 14,1994 ton is owners do no this is failure. This is sheer flagrant blatant failure. When the baseball owners pull the plug on the season in the next Day or two they will be con firming one of the great Public miscalculations Ever committed in this part of the world. They will be forever redefining a sport a business a Way of life a National pastime As it used to be called but can never be again. They bought into a Century of baseball the Way Nouveau Riche gangsters and junk mail specialists buy into historic estates. Now they Are preparing to cheapen that heritage by closing it Down for this season for the foreseeable future. They must live with the consequences these Reinsdorff and Zeligs. The owners soiled their own Campground by Catling for an artificial device called a salary Cap by prodding the Union to strike in August. The Union is also at fault for not finding a Way Early in the game of letting the owners know they were serious about not accepting this salary Cap for not coming up with some kind of alternative. But make no mistake this disruption in baseballs the owners doing there is no guarantee of a 1995 season none at All. If the owners Don t Trust each other now to Dis tribute their huge profits More equitably Why should they Trust each other net Spring they have gotten themselves into this bind by spending foolishly in the past two decades and How they have asked their labor Supply to solve their problem for them. Ugly lays Are ahead. There arc unpalatable scenarios of strike breaking or rival leagues. I say neither will work. But first the Public must say never again to these owners. The George Vecsey commentary Only weapon the Public has now is to Cut off the Dole. These owners have sponged on us because allegedly responsible adults like me and maybe you Slob Breed at the very mention of opening Day and babe Ruth and bleachers and Henry Aaron and world series. Those magic words Don t work anymore. Congress has other chores of course but some where there must be time and Energy to repeal the antitrust exemption the baseball owners have en-joyed.-. And while we re at it every municipality should re examine its tax Laws and Public events policies. New York City has been thinking of upgrading the roads and train stations and parking around Yankee stadium for a Man from Tampa named Steinbrenner. In Stead How about a health clinic and a gymnasium and a soup Kitchen on stricken 129th Street in Man Hattan the subject of a haunting series in the new York times this past week How about taking police officers off traffic duty at Ball games and putting them in neighbourhoods so fewer children will be killed by stray bullets it is time to re examine our attitude toward baseball. Yes i Felt a wave of nostalgia toward base Ball last week. Yes i would have welcomed it Back but that to avoid this Gap in history we now face. In All our lifetime there has always been a world series. But if the owners can tinker with that we must ask ourselves just what we want from baseball. Do we want a Scab league yes the players will become desperate As they run out of Money As they run out of things to do. I noticed that Manny Rami rez the promising Young outfielder with the Cleve land indians arrested for impaired driving in Washington Heights in Manhattan the other Day when he should have been learning to hit a curve Ball. life is going to intrude itself on these relatively uninformed untrained uneducated sheltered pampered arrogant highly paid athletes soon enough. Some players will be desperate enough to Scab for the baseball owners. But i submit that the Union players by turning Down millions of dollars by standing up to the take it or leave it tactics of the owners have earned the respect of organized labor. I do not see Union workers letting the owners operate a Scab league next Spring. What about a rival league puh Leeze. The times did All of us a favor sunday by running a photo of Donald Combs his hair with buttered Toast Trump the once and future bogeyman of All upstart leagues. Sure Donald would love to dabble in a rival baseball league. Sure Donald would love to have his name in the paper. What else does he have to do but baseball fans won t have much to do with a , Wolcott Medicine show league. Come see Jojo the dog faced boy. Come see the bearded lady. Come see the new York Trumps. I Don t think so. No the Charm of baseball has. Always been its continuity. You take a Friend from France or India to a Ball game and you Point out that people have been playing in the same leagues in Many of the same Cit ies for a Century. Your Friend from overseas won t understand the infield Fly Rule Heck Mel Allen never could explain it either but your Friend from overseas can respect tradition can understand history. Now these owners Are about to sever history. They Are about to make immense mischief. They must live with it. When they go out in Public these owners must Brace themselves for the whispers or maybe even the audible heckling that will follow them the men who killed what a Way to go Down in history. What a failure. The new York times a r stories Golf Blair s Day by Marian Hamilton Mediterranean Bureau Naples Italy Paul Blair whose baseball career spanned 17 years 1964 1 so six world series and More recently three overseas Tours to military installations with he ambassadors of baseball claims that he has left the baseball world behind him. I m retired he said. I get to play Golf every Day. I get to come on these Tours i get to basically pick and choose what i want to he said he mostly works on his Golf these Days. I m Clown to a 5 Handicap now 1 am pretty Good he bragged. I make some speaking engagements for the orioles and i do some card shows Here and there but nothing As far As is but the 48-year-old.-Oklahoma native retired or not is far from finished wit baseball. For instance Blair has his annual tour with the ambassadors of baseball. This year the sex outfielder is travelling with Doug Flynn wearing his former Cincinnati reds uniform tug Mcgraw new York mets and Philadelphia Bill North Oakland John Stearns mets and Jimmy Wynn Houston. Blair laughed when talking about the War stories they Tell each other while contour. Basically now that we re out of the game we Veall become Hall of Farmers he said. We All hit 35-40 Home runs per year and we All became much better Ball players than when we actually played.". In addition he has definite opinions about this year s baseball strike. It is a shame he said. I just can t understand How intelligent people can t come to an agreement. He acknowledged that Many people feel that the players Are a Little maybe there might be a Little greed in there said Blair but As for the salary Cap i can t understand Why they could t have come to an they could have said Well try the Sal Ary Cap for one or two years if it does t work then Well try something else sooner or later there s got to be some give and take. It should have never got ten to this Point it looks like it s going to end the season and that s terrible be cause the ones that really wind up losing Are the fans. Sooner or later something is Gonna Hurt the game Overall. You can t just keep walking out on the fans and disappointing the Blair has also found a new Batch of players to inspire. This Spring i a coach for the col Orado Silver bullets a women s baseball team he said that very interesting and went really Well. I think there s going to be a future there for the ladies we had some girls there who could really play. Once they get the hang of the game of baseball and get some proper instruction they re going to be pretty Blair feels that will eventually make it to the major leagues. Baseball is the Only sport that s fair he said. You can be 7-2 or you can be 5-2, and you can play the game of base Ball. In basketball if you re not 6-5 or Tal Ler you Don t have much Chance of win Ning and in football if you Don t weigh 260 pounds and run the 40 Yards in 4 seconds Flat you can t play that game. I Don t think too Many women want to be 260 pounds.". Former Oriole batting Star Paul Blair hits he Hopes to continue coaching the women next year. They just finished their season and they Haven t exactly decided what they re Gonna do he said but i be got my Fin Gers crossed hoping i la be and he also keeps up with his other team the Baltimore orioles. The orioles Are always going to be a team Blair said. When you play for a team for 13 years and have the kind of Success i had with the team they re Gonna always be a team. Jmajor league alumni photo the links conducts clinics these Days. Would like to see More world championships although it does make me feel a Little Good about it because they Haven t quite kept up the same Pace that we did when i a but Blair still says he is retired and his reason for taking life easy is very firm. In 1970 i got hit in the Eye and from then on i promised myself i going to enjoy life i t going to let anything bother me he said. I just going to80 out and do the Best i could every sin Gle Day. I m not going to worry about i i
