Newspaper Page Text
Page 7
— Griffin Daily News Wednesday, July 5,1972
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ATLANTA—Braves’ newest pitcher Denny McLain (r) seems to have the correct pucker for
bubble blowing as pitcher Phil Niekro puffs one out. McLain received a standing ovation last night
when he strolled from the bullpen to pitch the second game of a doubleheader. Atlanta won the
first game, 5-1. The second was called after seven innings because of rain. The score was tied 3-3
at the time. (UPI)
McLain given
big welcome
By DAVID MOFFIT
• UPI Sports Writer
ATLANTA (UPI) - Denny
McLain, who had fallen from 31
-game major league winner to
minor league exile in less than
four years, was stunned by his
Atlanta Stadium welcome.
« After all, how many guys get
a standing ovation from more
than 50,000 fans while walking
from the bullpen to the dugout
’ after warming up; especially a
pitcher who had exactly one
victory to his credit midway
through the season.
“I never heard anything like
it,” the 28-year-old righthander
said. “Not even in Detroit after
. I had won 30 games.
“I was so high in the first
inning I could have gotten the
Saints in Heaven out.”
" The last few years have not
been pleasant ones for Denny
McLain. He had been suspend
, ed by baseball Commissioner
Bowie Kuhn; his fast ball had
lost its hop; and he had been
traded first to Washington and
• then to Oakland and, the
unkindest cut of all, had been
shipped down to Birmingham
(Ala.) of the AA Southern
League.
“I never did figure out why
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Oakland sent me down so
quickly,” McLain said. “I won
my first game, lost a couple of
close ones and then had two
bad ones —and away I went.
“That’s what made tonight
(Tuesday) so important to me,”
he continued. “I needed desper
ately to prove I belonged.”
McLain started the second
game of a Fourth of July
doubleheader between the At
lanta Braves and the Chicago
Cubs. And although he got no
decision because the game was
rained out in the top of the
eighth with the score tied 3-3,
Denny impressed his new
Atlanta teammates and the
fourth largest crowd the Braves
have pulled into Atlanta Stadi
um these past seven years.
If the Braves hadn’t been so
generous with their free tickets,
it could have been their largest
Atlanta crowd since in addition
to the 50,597 paid, thousands
more had to be turned away at
the gates. And they were there
to see Denny McLain.
McLain, pitching for the first
time in seven days, was a bit
high at times but he only faced
sx batters over the minimum
in seven innings and didn’t
walk a one. He went to three
balls on only three batters and
got all three of those out.
“I’m normally a high ball
pitcher although at times I was
a bit higher than I intended,”
McLain explained. “My control
will get better. I realize that
I’m going to have to bring the
ball down since this (the
National League) is a low-ball
league.”
“I was really impressed,”
said Braves catcher Paul
Casanova who used to play
against McLain in the Ameri
can League. “His fast ball
wasn’t the fast ball he had in
1968 and 1969 (when he won 31
and 24 games respectively) but
it was sure a lot better than it
was last year (when Denny was
10-22).”
Next to McLain, the happiest
man in Atlanta Stadium Tues
day night was Brave manager
Luman Harris.
Not only had the Braves won
the first game, 5-1, on a route
going performance by Ron
Reed, but McLain made a
better showing than even the
optimistic Harris had hoped
for.
“I wasn’t only surprised by
the way he looked,” said
Harris, “I was elevated. It was
terrific. The reason he was high
at times was because he hadn’t
pitched in a week. That’s
enough to throw you off. I liked
his attitude about going out and
trying to beat them.”
McLain was asked how he
felt about his Atlanta debut.
“I’ve had more debuts this
year than most have in a
lifetime,” Denny replied quiet
ly. “I’m tired of debuts. I’d like
to stay somewhere for awhile.
“My goal? To pitch consist
ently well. I just want to get
’em out, to keep the club in the
ball game.”
When the rain came, the
Cubs had runners at third and
first with no one out in the top
of the eighth.
“It seems to me,” said
McLain with a grin, “that that
was a good place tq call it quits
for the night.”
Money raised
for fund
Graham Bell, president of the
Pike County Touchdown Club,
announced today that the Ricky
Haygood benefit softball game,
played recently in Forest Park,
Ga., between Delta Air Lines
team and W.P.L.O. radio
station raised $407.00 for the
Ricky Haygood Fund.
In a benefit game sponsored
by the Young Christian Athelete
Association of Jackson, Ga.,
$500.00 was raised.
Ricky remains a patient at
Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Ga.,
he was home last weekend in a
wheel chair to attend church
services of his home church,
Zebulon Baptist Church.
Fourth largest crowd sees Braves
By DAVID MOFFIT
UPI Spirts Writer
ATLANTA (UPI) - The At
lanta Braves are looking for
ward with great anticipation to
next Monday.
Monday is an off day and aft
er having played 22 baseball
games in 17 days without a
break, an off day will look
mighty good.
The Braves played their third
doubleheader of the past 11
days Tuesday night and since
the second of those two games
was rained out in the eighth
inning, they’ll play their fourth
tonight and their fifth on Fri
day.
The Braves meet the Chicago
Cubs in tonight’s twin bill. They
beat the Cubs 5-1 behind Ron
Reed (6-7) in Tuesday night’s
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opener but the second game
was tied 3-3 when it was called
so that was seven wasted in
nings.
A Fourth of July crowd of
50,597 paid (fourth largest in
Atlanta Stadium history) turned
out Tuesday night to see the
doublehader between the Braves
and Cubs and a halftime fire
works display. But mainly the
crowd turned out to see former
31-game winner Denny McLain
make his Atlanta debut.
It could have been the largest
Atlanta Stadium crowd ever.
But the Braves, not anticipating
such a turnout, had allowed
several thousand in free and
then had to turn away thou
sands more who would have
paid to get in if there had been
room.
The crowd was disappointed
that Hank Aaron injured his
wrist the previous night in
Houston and didn’t play. Aaron
hit his 656th career homer and
raised his career RBI to 2,000
Monday and many would like to
have seen him bat.
Rico Carty also was unable
to play but Paul Casanova and
Mike Lum made up for the ab
sence of Aaron and Carty by
hitting seventh inning homers to
give the Braves that first game
victory.
But the huge crowd made it
obvious tha the man it really
came to see was Denny Mc-
Lain since it gave him a thun
dering, standing ovation when
he walked from the hullpen to
the dugout just before the sec
ond game began.
“I never heard anything like
it,” McLain said later. “Not
even in Detroit after I had won
31 games.”
Dusty Baker’s double drove in
the tying run in the sixth inning
of the first game and Casanova
put Atlanta ahead for the first
time in the game when he led
off the seventh with his first Na
tional League homer. Two outs
later Lum’s three - run homer
cinched it.
The Cubs had three hits, all
singles, but no runs off McLain
the first three innings of the
nightcap but Billy Williams
doubled and scored on Joe Pepi
ton’s single in the fourth. Jose
Cardenal homered in the fifth
and Ron Santo led off with a
triple and scored on a sacrifice
fly in the seventh.
Santo’s hit was really only a
poor fly behind first that Ralph
Garr couldn’t quite reach and
then kicked all the way to the
stands.
Casanova singled home a run
in the second and Baker and
Earl Williams singled home
runs in the fifth to account for
the Braves’ scoring.
The rain came at an oppor
tune time for the Braves since
the Cubs had runners at third
and first and no one out in the
top of the eighth when the
game was called.
Cubs Manager Leo Durocher
protested the game, charging
the ground crew was negligent
in its unsuccessful efforts to get
the infield tarp down. But it
was still raining long after the
game was called.