Newspaper Page Text
s The Summerville News, Thurs., Dec. 14, 1972
8-B
’73 Atlanta Braves
Season Prospectus
BY EDDIE MATHEWS
The 1973 Braves team ap
pears on the surface to be com
pletely different from the team
we fielded last year, but let me
start by emphasizing that no
change has been made for the
sake of simply changing We’ve
done what we felt was im
portant and necessary to im
prove the Braves . . . not with
out a lot of thought and
analysis.
We’ve kept the basic
strengths the team had a year
ago but have built our pitching
staff, improved our catching
and provided the opportunity
that Jim Breazeale deserves to
play first base. This has been
done while still maintaining
our team speed and youth.
Going position by position,
the trade of Earl Williams to
Baltimore gave us a young
player who wants to catch with
more catching experience than
Earl had. I’m not saying that
farl didn’t do a good job for
someone who did not start out
as a catcher; what I’m saying is
that Johnny Oates is a good
young catcher who has played
the position all of his career
and does all the things a
catcher should d 0... things
that come with experience like
backing up first base, getting
the jump on runners and
working with his pitchers.
If Hank Aaron’s legs will let
him move back to right field,
Breazeale will have an oppor
tunity to play first base He’s
young and untried right now,
but based on his play in the
minor leagues and what he
showed last year for the Braves
with the bat, I think he’s
capable of doing the job for us.
If not, we can move Aaron
back to first and play Mike
Lum in the outfield.
At second base, we’ve re
placed Eelix Millan, who we
traded away for pitching, with
David Johnson Dave is a first
class second baseman and is the
same age as Eelix (29), lending
maturity to the infield like
Felix did Both players are
excellent second basemen, but
Dave gives us more punch. If
Breazeale hits 10 homers for us
next year and Davie hits eight,
then we've only lost ten home
runs out of our starting lineup
by trading Earl Williams. The
18 is a pessimistic projection,
but I think it proves a point.
Besides. I don't believe homers
win that many ball games
We're not going to sit back and
wait for a home run to win
Our players now are more
versatile and can do a lot of
other things like bunting, steal
ing and hitting behind the
AB
II /
L FIRST I
I DAY I
■ OF WINTER I
H Winter is called "Beauty and the Beast.” The
H Iwauty is the snow and glistening icicles. The |H
W beast is the bitter cold and howling winds. Is M
your home ready for winter’’ It can be with a low ■/
cost home improvement loan We cut the red
tape, and arrange all the details. See FNB
■/* Chattooga County's Only Homo-Owned Bonk
■ NATIONAL IIANKXI
I OF CHATTOOGA COUNTY/■
Iff Ites In Summerville and
■ .Member FDI.C. and Federal Reserve System
OrEN WEDNESDAYS AND SATVRDAYB |
in til 2 x2__^z ■
runner.
We’ll have a healthy battle
at short between Marty Perez
and Sonny Jackson and possi
bly youngster Leo Foster.
Marty had an off season in
1972, but he has the ability to
play the position. Sonny
looked real good playing short
toward the end of last year,
and Foster is young and just
needs time. I have confidence
in all three and will probably
end up playing whoever looks
best in spring training.
Darrell Evans is young and
constantly improving at third
base. He has his confidence
now and should continue to
get better.
Ralph Garr has finished
second in the major leagues in
hitting for two straight seasons.
He has speed and I expect at
least the same type of per
formance from him.
There’s nothing I can say
about Dusty Baker in center
field other than he’s going to
be a super player. He hit .321
and drove in 76 runs for us last
year, and he’s only 23 years
old.
And, of course, Hank Aaron
rounds out the outfield
We’ve added four good
pitchers to our staff in Pat
Dobson, Gary Gentry. Danny
Frisella, and Roric Harrison,
and hopefully a fifth in Jim
Panther.
With an exception of
Dobson, they all are young
Dobson, at 30, lends maturity
to the staff. He not only has
been a 20-game winner, but
he’s been through a pennant
race and World Series and
knows what it’s all about.
Right now it looks like Phil
Niekro, Ron Reed, Gentry and
Dobson will be our four
starters with Jimmy Freeman,
Ron Schucler or possibly one
of our veterans as a fifth.
Harrison led the International
League in victories and strike
outs two years ago, had a 2.30
ERA last year and will be in
the wings.
With the number of pitchers
we have competing, we should
have a strong starting rotation
If one doesn’t do it, we’ll find
someone who will.
We’ll have Frisella as a short
man. Also, Joe Hoerner has
been an excellent short relief
pitcher over the years Hope
fully, he’ll retain that form for
us next year along with Cecil
Upshaw, who has also been a
good short relief man.
One of our biggest problems
will be trying to give all our
pitchers a fair chance in spring
training. We have 20 on our big
league roster, and ones 1
haven’t mentioned like Tom
House, Tom Kelley, Pat Jarvis,
Denny McLain, Mike McQueen
and Adrian Devine have all
shown evidence that they
could help us. We’re short of
lefthanded pitching, although
Hoerner should be better this
season and House has done real
well the last two years in triple
A ball. McQueen is a young
lefthanded youngster who
hasn’t had much opportunity
to pitch. He could come along.
With Mike Lum and Oscar
Brown backing up Hank in the
outfield, we should have pinch
hitting strength. There are a
couple of kids in the minor
leagues who could help us on
the bench, but I don’t plan to
force feed anybody. And we
possibly may pick up another
player or two in deals before
the season starts.
In summation, let me
emphasize again that we sin
cerely mean business in the
changes that have been made.
Eddie Robinson, myself and
several other people in our or
ganization have put a lot of
time into analyzing our needs.
We feel we’ve maintained our
youth and run production
while improving our pitching
and defense Pitching and de
fense are becoming more im
portant all the time, and first
class pitching is a very impor
tant part of good defense.
Cadet Mitchell
Enters ROTC
For Training
Cadet David C. Mitchell, son
of Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Mitchell
Jr., Menlo, and a graduate of
Chattooga High School is cur
rently enrolled in the Army
Reserve Officers Training
Corps (ROTC) program at
Jacksonville, Ala State Uni
versity.
In the freshman and sopho
more years of ROTC at Jack
sonville State University, the
cadet is introduced to manage
ment principles and leadership
development In his junior and
senior years, he continues with
leadership development, organ
ization and management, and
administration.
In addition to the self
confidence, experience, and
knowledge he gains, he is paid
a tax-free subsistence allow
ance of SIOO each month
during his junior and senior
years
Lipton
TEA BAGS
100 QQc
Count
Dinty Moore
Roost Beef
with Gravy
... 79 c
Dinty Moore Meatball
STEW
24-oz.
69 c
Betty Crocker
Cake Mixes
18 1 /2-oz. Box
3 SIOO
For
Pillsbury
BISCUITS
4 Pack
41 c
Ballard
BISCUITS
6-Pack
57 c
Pillsbury Extra Lite
BISCUITS
4-Pock
41 c
Ty-D-Bowl Bowl
CLEANER
12-oz.
89 c
Fantastic
REFILL
32-oz.
79 c
COMET
CLEANSER
Regular Size
2 For
29'
■ uiTh WH!filH
HOME OF I
the I
FRIENDLY I *l] H jj'L !W
Swift's Premium *
BONELESS
Manhattan, $1 28
Savoy or ESSEX STEAK... , Lb. *1
Hermel S4S9^MSSB S
CANNED HAM 1 »<* •
Hormel Smoked Link O ft C
SAUSAGE | lb. 03
Selecto ft ft C
SLICED BACON w- 03
Hormel ft ft C
SLICED BOLOGNA 0 J
Oscar Mayer "7 ft r VXm
ALL-MEAT WIENERS, lb fO c Ml
Oscar Mayer TF Q C
PURE BEEF FRANKS Y lb 78
J ewe l
SHORTEN! M(
Eagle
MILK
ill ImH«1 IJ * Regular
ALCOA FOL
PARKAY
DOG FOOC ■•••
ABl DwjF ift 3ML NF A A. ■■ ”
FRUIT COCKTAIL c.a 4 ^1
WESSON OIL Bottle 88
Van Camp ftftf* Martha White "A
CHILI uh-28 c pinto beans
25-lb. $lB9 Mb. JQC \
FLOUR I "tw
uavkeiMairr QQ C Morton H ' use
MAYONNAISE «L 03 canned MEATS i
cleanser rk s " 2 for 29 c 49 c M
Downy Jkk .^^29
FABRIC SOFTENER g-»* 6I C ,
a