Newspaper Page Text
Nolan Ryan
gets things
under
By IRA BERKOW
NEA Sports Editor
NEW YORK — < N E A i -
There is a downy gentleness
about Nolan Ryan that is
belied by his savage fast
ball.
Ryan once studied to be a
veterinarian and a friend
says that a fitting image
would have Ryan cradling a
small puppy in his arms.
But Boston manager Ed
die Kasko, whose team
struck out 16 times in one
recent twilight game against
Ryan, said that sending a
batter to face Nolan Ryan
at dusk is the same as cap
ital punishment.
Nolan Ryan, a tender
faced chap with soft brows,
has created an excitement
on the California Angels not
seen since the last rumblings
of the San Andreas fault.
“We don’t know what he's
going to do next,’’ said team
mate Jeff Torborg. Angels
catcher. “How many will he
strike out? Will he pitch a
perfect game?”
(Or, and Torborg was too
delicate to say, will he turn
wild recidivist and walk four
in a row, walk in a run, hit
three batters and hurl balls
six feet over everybody’s
Football’s miracle man
world’s oldest folk hero
By 808 ORTMAN
Copley News Service
When he was in high school,
George Blanda regarded foot
ball as just something to occu
py autumn afternoons. “My big
sport is basketball,” he re
called, "and I’m also crazy
over track. In fact, I’m the
whole track team.”
So 32 years after shaking the
coal dust of Youngwood, Pa.,
from his heels, George be
comes a football byword in ev
ery corner of these United
States as he establishes himself
as the greatest miracle maker
in 2,000 years.
Wells Twombly delightfully
recounts this improbable
sports saga in the book “Blan
da, Alive and Kicking,” a de
tailed account of how George,
“after only 20 years in profes
sional football, became an
overnight sensation.”
During a professional career
that started with the Chicago
Bears in 1949, George has had
more lives than Lazarus. Obit
uaries were written about him
in 1959 after the Bears retired
him at 31 and again when
Houston released him follow
ing the 1966 campaign. “My
wife,” he mused, “says my ca
reer is ‘death and resurrection’
over and over again.”
“He should be dead,”
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control
head and into the screen as
he’s done as recently as
spring training?)
“It’s really something,”
said Torborg. “Like the
game against the Red Sox
where he struck out the side
in the first three innings.
All of us in the bull pen were
up and pressed against the
fence. And we’re listening to
the radio, too. That’s the
kind of excitement there was
when I was with the Dodgers
and Sandy Koufax was pitch
ing.”
Ryan, a 180-pound right
hander, has been leading the
league in strikeouts and per
forming the most sensation
al feats, such as striking out
three batters in one inning
on nine pitches.
“The batters say the same
thing about Nolan’s pitches
as they did about Sandy’s,”
said Tor burg, Oh, I just
heard that one.’ He throws
with the same velocity, al
though Sandy’s curve was
the best in baseball.”
Bully, especially since he
has previously been com
pared to a certain un
bridled fellow from Borneo.
The New York Mets in ef
fect gave up on Ryan after
four years. Last December
he was traded in the deal
claimed Twombly, “but he
isn’t. He has been around so
long, a snapshot of him taken
outside Wrigley Field in 1950
wearing a wide-lapel suit and
fat tie looks stylish.”
As it developed, destiny was
seeking George all those years
and finally found him in Oak
land in the fall of 1970.
Ironically, that season
started with the Raiders plac
ing the grizzled quarterback
place-kicker on waivers. “It
wasn’t as embarrassing for me
to be put on waivers as it was
for me not to be claimed,” con
fessed Blanda.
“It’s a good thing I didn’t
quit,” he observed in retro
spect. “They wouldn’t be writ
ing about Blanda’s miracles.
They’d be saying, ‘What ever
happened to George Blanda?”’
To signal his return to the
roster, there was no thunder
nor lightning, not even a star in
the East. As a matter of fact, in
the second game of the season,
George blew a 32-yard field
goal in the closing seconds of a
27-27 tie with San Diego.
Then came that magical five
week period that established
George as the uncontested hero
of the geriatrics set until
Frasier, the sensuous lion,
came along and scandalously
started doing his thing.
tor Jim F r e gos i. Ryan,
“sick" with the tag looped
around his neck which read
“eternal prospect,” was
happy to leave.
He knew that he would
get opportunities in Califor
nia that he could not get in
New York. First, he needed
mound time to work out his
control problems. But the
Mets, contenders, could not
afford such on-the-job train
ing. The Angels could.
Although Ryan is intelli
gent and a sensitive 25-year
old, he is also introspective
and countryish. He needed
some coddling, some talking
to. And the late Gil Hodges,
for all his strong qualities as
a Met manager, was net dis
posed to coo velvety things
into players’ ears. Ryan ad
mits that’s what he needed.
Ryan only had one winning
Met season (6-3) in four.
Though his strikeouts were
always impressive, they did
not save him from going
from starter to bull pen by
midseason, each season.
But things changed. Ryan
says that the baby born to
him and his wife this winter
has helped settle him down.
His first miracle was a minor
one, three touchdown passes in
a 31-14 win over Pittsburgh.
Then he kicked a 48-yard field
goal with three seconds re
maining to tie Kansas City, 17-
17, and a 52-yarder to beat
Cleveland, 23-20. Time remain
ing? Three seconds, naturally.
Congratulated by coach John
Madden, who is eight years his
junior. George blushed becom
ingly. "That wasn’t my longest
field goal,” he said. “I got a 55-
yarder once in Houston.”
When George shot down Den
ver, 24-19, with a pass in the
last two minutes, even first
string quarterback Daryle la
monica started wearing a
“George Blanda for Mayor”
button. When San Diego came
around again the Raiders again
let George do it. This time he
did, a 16-yard field goal with
four seconds left to shatter a 17-
17 tie.
“There will be no Miracle
VI,” Twombly wrote, “at least
not in sequence. George is fi
nally established as a folk hero.
That’s all destiny had in mind.”
For George, though, it wasn’t
the end. He still is on the Raid
ers’ active rolls, even though in
a few months, when he reaches
45, he will be eligible for a pen
sion of $450 a month.
“I don’t know if I can legally
collect it,” he said, “but I’m
sure going to find out, because
that’s 150 more a month than
George Halas gave me the year
after I got out of University of
Kentucky.”
Twombly tells about Blan
da’s experiences with Bear
Bryant, who “was just as mean
as my old man,” and Papa
Bear Halas, who was even
meaner and so parsimonious he
made Scrooge seem like a
wastrel. Then there were the
good days and bad in Houston.
The worst was the day the
overaged quarterback was
fired. It was April Fool’s Day,
1967.
Fox traded
KANSAS CITY (UPI)-Jim
Fox, a 6-10 center, Wednesday
was traded by the Kansas City-
Omaha Kings of the National
Basketball Association to the
Seattle Super Sonics in ex
change for 6-5 Don Kojis and 6-
9 Pete Cross, both forwards.
LOAN
APPLICATIONS
BY PHONE
227-7213
Personal
FINANCE CO.
118 North Hfll St.
Griffin, Georgia
Mrs. Norma Lenhart, Mgr.
Morgan thinks that some
little mechanical things in
his motion — like turning his
head too far to first base
when throwing hard—helped.
And he gets his curve over.
Most important, agree
Morgan and Ryan and Tor
borg, is Ryan’s confidence
He feels now that he can hit
a spot, say low and outside
to Bobby Murcer, where
once he might be six feet
off target. “My wife could’ve
done better," admits Ryan.
"But now I feel I can do al
most anything out there and
it’ll be right.”
Some pitchers, when they
lose confidence, say that the
plate looks smaller than ever
to them. “But not Nolan,”
said Steve Jacobson of News
day, who knows Ryan well.
“It was he who felt small
er."
No longer. Hitters will now
attest that Ryan is his full
6-2, and looming larger.
(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN.)
Berry to start
against Steelers
GREENVILLE, S. C. (UPI)-
Bob Berry, the Atlanta Fal
cons’ No. 1 quarterback, will
make his first start of the pro
fessional football exhibition sea
son against the Pittsburgh
Steelers Aug. 19.
Coach Norm Van Brocklin an
nounced Wednesday that Berry
would be at the helm for the
club’s first appearance at home.
Hart and Dick Shiner han
dled the quarterbacking for the
Falcons’ opening exhibition
game against San Diego.
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Nolan Ryan in action.
Bradshaw
to start
PITTSBURGH (UPI) — The
Pittsburgh Steelers of the
National Football league an
nounced Wednesday that Terry
Bradshaw, who has been
recovering from a leg injury,
will start at quarterback this
Saturday when the club meets
the New York Jets in Seattle.
Page 13
| Leaders |
National League
g. ab r. h. pct.
Cdeno, Hou 92 371 77 130.350
Wilms, Chi 104 405 66 137 .338
Mota, LA 81 264 42 88 .333
Garr, Atl 97 395 62 127 .322
Snguiln, Pit 97 372 42 119.320
Alou, St.L 94 366 42 117 .320
Baker, Atl 80 265 31 84 .317
Brock, St.L 102 435 54 137.315
Strgll, Pit 96 340 55 107 .315
Lee, SD 68 251 35 79 .315
American League
g. ab r. h. pct.
Rudi,Oak 102 415 70 134 .323
Shblm.KC 89 299 41 94 .314
Carew, Min 93 352 41 108 .307
Berry, Cal 76 268 32 82 .306
— Griffin Daily News Thursday, August 10,1972
Allen, Chi 104 351 68 107 .305
Pniela, KC 102 388 52 118 .304
Otis, KC 98 372 50 113 .304
Fisk, Bos 84 289 53 88.304
May, Chi 102 360 65 107 .297
Krkptrk.KC 79 255 34 74.290
Home Runs
National League: Colbert, SD
31; Stargell, Pitt 27; Bench, Cin
25; Williams, Chi and May, Hou
24.
American League: Allen, Chi
28; Cash, Det and Jackson, Oak
21; Killebrew, Minn 19; Fisk,
Bos, Murcer, NY and Epstein,
Oak 18.
Runs Batted In
National League: Stargell,
Pitt 89; Colbert, SD 84; Bench,
Cin 80; Williams, Chi 74; May,
Hou 72.
American League: Allen, Chi
82; Murcer, NY 64; Jackson,
Oak 61; Scott, Mil 60; Darwin,
Minn 58.
Pitching
National League: Carlton,
Phil 18-6; Jenkins, Chi 15-10;
Nolan, Cin 13-3; Sutton, LA 13-
6; five tied with 12 victories.
American League: Wood, Chi
19-11; Lolich, Det 18-8; Perry,
Clev 18-10; Palmer, Balt 15-4;
Bahnsen, Chi 15-11.
SECOND HEAT
COPENHAGEN (UPI)-The
second heat of the European
soling championships Wednes
day was won by champion Paul
Elvstroem of Denmark despite
changing winds from one to
eight meters.