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GRIFFIN DAILY NEWS MAGAZINE
All The Fuss Is
Embarrassing Kaline
By MILTON RICHMAN
UPI Sports Writer
NEW YORK (UPl)—Above
everything else, Al Kaline is a
professional and the one thing a
professional never wants to be
is embarrassed.
Right now Al Kaline finds
himself embarrassed. Nearly as
much as he was last year when
he got so mad about striking
out that he broke his finger by
accidentally slamming his bat
on it.
Al Kaline has an extra kind of
pride. Special professionals like
Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays,
Johnny Unitas and Arnold
Palmer all have the same kind
and guys like Sandy Koufax,
Joe DiMaggio and Joe Louis
had it before them. They all
feel the some way. They know
it isn’t a felony to lose but they
don’t ever wish to look bad
losing. In other words, they
never want to be embarrassed.
The thing embarrassing Ka
line now Is the fuss everybody
Is making over where he’ll play
for Detroit in the World Series
with St. Louis less than two
weeks from today.
Al Kaline embarrasses easily
because he’s sensitive. He
appreciates people are happy
for him that he’s finally on a
pennant winner after 15 years
but he wishes they’d stop
fussing over where he’ll play.
Actually, he couldn't care
less.
The important thing with Al
Kaline, if you know him, is that
the Tigers will be in the series.
That’s the big thing with him,
no twhether he’s going to play.
That’s why he did what he did
Tuesday night when he walked
into manager Mayo Smith’s
f- ...
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SHORT GAlN—Rutgers’ football team will try anything—for victory as well as a gag.
Above, Mike Unger, 3%, lugs the pigskin between 6-5, 245-pound Rich Koprowski (left)
•nd 6-1, 240-pound Dave Zimmerman, outstanding Scarlet offensive linemen. Mike is
the son of school sports publicist Les Unger.
8
office and told him to play the
two kids, Mickey Stanley and
Jim Northrup, in the outfield
along with Willie Horton.
Kaline On Third?
There had been some talk
that Kaline, who played first
base as well as the outfield for
the Tigers this year, might be
used at third base against the
Cardinals but that was mostly
talk.
Mayo Smith tried to explain
what he meant when he first
mentioned the possibility of
Kaline playing third. He wasn’t
ruling out the World Series but
he was thinking more in terms
of trying his 33-year-old outfiel
der at third base next spring.
As matters stand now, Smith
probably will start Stanley,
Northrup and Horton in the
outfield and Kaline will be his
fourth outfielder, his second
first baseman and his first
pinch hitter although Gates
Brown is no slough in that last
department either.
One thing is sure. Kaline is
going to play sometime and
somewhere during the series.
He won’t be shut out. But even
if he was he’d take it much
better than those making all the
fuss.
“Naturally, I'd love to get
into a World Series,” he said
before tire Tigers clinched last
Tuesday, “but it won’t be a
case of life or death if I don’t.”
Kaline played right field in
the Tigers’ 6-2 victory over the
Yankees Thursday and the two
singles he collected as Denny
McLain reeled off his 31st
victory upped his average to
.285.
That ain’t hay, especially
these days. It’s considerably
better than the averages of both
Northrup and Stanley, too, but
the two younger outfielders
have contributed tremendously
to Detroit's success and are
doing so well now that it’s
perfectly understandable why
Smith would like to have them
both in the lineup.
Stanley can also play short.
As a matter of fact that’s
where he played Thursday
against the Yankees, so Smith
has that possibility op’n to him
also for the series.
Regardless of how the whole
thing turns out, there’s no need
for anybody to feel sorry for Al
Kaline. He’s happy about the
Tigers winning, he’s doing fine
and he’s perfectly content to let
nature takes its course.
"I’ll play anywhere Mayo
wants me,” he says.
When you get right down to it,
what else can he say? What
else do you say when you're a
professional like Kaline?
The Tigers have still another
professional who hasn’t been
heard from much lately. He’s
also looking forward to the
series particularly since he’s 36
and not likely to get another
close look at one. He played
third base for Detroit Thursday,
got himself a base hit in two
tries and knocked in a run, but
there’s little chance he’ll get
into the series unless somebody
gets hurt and the Tigers put
him on their series eligible list.
If they don’t, Eddie Mathews
will simply have to get along
with the memories of those two
other World Series he was in
with the Braves.
He’ll do it if he has to,
though. He’s a special profes
sional. Like Al Kaline.
SP6 R T S
BETWEEN YDLPN’ME
$
Gary Player Remembers
SBO-a-Month Days
By MURRAY OLDERMAN
NEA Sports Editor
Several years ago, when Joe Ktiharich was coaching
at Notre Dame, one of his young players wanted to quit
. ’n S{ l uaf l and study for the priesthood. Joe
talked him out of it. The kid went on to become the
varsity quarterback and a Heisman Award winner. Now
.?. n P l, nrte’s back with Kuharich as his quarterback
with the Philadelphia Eagles....
Maybe nobody noticed, but when Gravson Kirk resigned as
president of Columbia University, there went the last of the
original signers of the Ivy League pact outlawing spring prac
tice in football. Time to rc-evaluate? . . .
Before Gary Player went out to plav two rounds of
golf and collect $50,000 for his effort, in the recent
orld Series of Golf, he told some dinner companions,
‘l’m still amazed to be thinking I’m playing for this
kind of money. I started out in South Africa making
SBO a month.” ... His companions, noting that Gary
hadn’t even bothered to wear a tie. said, “You still dress
like you’re making SBO a month.” . . . (Note: actually,
the little South African’s a natty dude, despite his all
black outfits on the course.) ...
Julius Boros put the money-making potential in golf In true
perspective: “If it weren’t for this game, Lee Trevino would
be selling tacos in Texas, I'd still be a bookkeeper in Hartford,
Conn., and Nicklaus and Palmer would be piloting prop
planes.” . . .
Sometimes you wonder why the guys even bother to
play for a living. Lance Alworth, the flashy flanker of
the San Diego Chargers, is well on his way to being a
millionaire after a lucrative stock option deal with a
fried chicken syndicate. He has also gone into the sing
ing business, having cut his first folk record . . . and
now Denny McLain, having just become a cover boy, is
1 Peddle life’s memoirs at the grand old age
McLain, by the way, frowns at the traditional measure of
a pitcher’s effectiveness—earned run averages. Not that
Denny’s got anything to be ashamed about—he’s right up
among the American League leaders in stinginess. “But they
pay off,” be says, “on how many you win.” ...
In the San Diego Chargers* AFL opener against the
Cincinnati Bengals, all-league offensive tackle Ron Mix
was called for holding and the Chargers were penalized
15 yards. It was only the second holding penalty called
against Mix in his nine-year pro career.. ..
Between you’n’me, Pancho Gonzalez doesn’t concede that
old age stops him in tennis, only fatigue. “When you’re tired,”
he sighs, “the ball looks like six of them coming at you, and
you don’t know which to hit.” ...
New Family
Continued from page one
Coming to Griffin was not as
much of a change for him as it
was for the rest of his family.
He attended Gordon Military
College at nearby Barnesville
and graduated in 1951. Later he
attended Auburn University be
fore entering the Army to serve
in the Airborne.
Mr. Davis’s administration ex
perience began with the city of
Columbus where he was a clerk.
The Griffin city commissioners
found out about his potential ab
ility and it wasn’t long before
they got together and Mr. Da
vis became a Griffinite.
Before joining the Columbus
city government, Mr. Davis was
associated with an oil additive
company and involved in a 13-
state operation.
The Columbus position In city
government gave him an op
portunity to be near his family.
His previous Job necessitated a
Sat. and Sun., Sept. 21-22, 1968
good deal of travel and took him
away from the city much of
the time.
Mr. Davis was active in civic
affairs in Columbus and is mov
ing in that direction in Griffin.
He has become a member of the
Griffin Exchange Club and al
ready has been put to work on
the Spalding County Cancer So
ciety’s board of directors.
The Davis' are Baptists and
have been attending the First
Baptist Church.
"There have been quite a few
loose ends to tie up between
here and Columbus but 11 hI n k
most everything has been taken
care of now and we are ready
to go,” Mr. Davis said.
Mr. Davis’ parents, Mr. and
Mrs. R. T. Davis, will visit them
this weekend. Mrs. Davis’ father,
D. A. Reid, has not visited the
family here yet but it’s likely he
will. Mr. Reid is a widower.
Mr. Davis’ dad is an engineer
for the Central of Georgia Rail
way.