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Sports by Ly Phil Clark Homers are flying in the Major League There are several theories on why there are so many home runs being hit in the Major League this year. Is the ball juiced? Not likely. If it were, everybody would be hitting home runs, not just the so called home run hitters. Skip Carey of the Braves broad cast crew said the other day that he believes a lot of the home run con troversy has to do with the interpre tation of the strike zone by today's umpires. Carey contends, and he sees a lot ot games, that the umpires have taken away the area from the bell to the armpits, or letters. Anything above the belt is not called a strike anymore. Thus, the hitters can zero in on the area from the waist to the knees. Given that advantage, most home run hitters will jerk it our. That's Carey’s theory. But, it makes sense if, indeed, that is the case. Let's watch a few games, looking particularly for this trait. But, the most accepted theory on the prevalence of homers is the de cline of pitching. With expansion, some 22 new pitching jobs opened up, and the talent was already thin in the pitching corps. At any rate, the hitters are whacking the daylights out of the ball. Gary Sheffield of the Marlins had 11 homers through games of last Sunday, as did Matt Williams of the Giants. There were an addi tional hatful who tut eight or nine in April. But, I’ll tell you something. There are a lot of young sluggers out there who can flat out hit the ball a long way, juiced up or not — guys like Frank Thomas of the White Sox, Juan Gonzalez of the Rangers and Ken Griffey of Seattle. Andres Galarraga of Colorado will hit a lot of homers, playing 81 games at Denver, as will the reju venated Ellis Burks. Both sluggers had nine in April. Today's group of young stars might never be compared to the 1950 legends such as Aaron, Mays, Mantle, Killebrew, Robinson and others, some of whom continued to whack long balls into the 60s. Todays starts might not play long enough to break any records. Too much money too quickly elim inates the need to play a dozen years or more. But, if guys like Thomas, Gonzalez and Griffey have the de sire, the doors are open. Thomas, a Columbus native, is just 25. He played baseball at Auburn, and even played a year at tight end while Bo Jackson was still there. Thomas is just the fifth player in Major League history to hit better than .300 and have 20 homers, 100 RBI, 100 runs scored and 100 walks in three consecutive seasons. Think about that for a few min utes. Those are amazing statistics. The other four to do it are Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams! And, Thomas is not alone. Grif fey and Gonzalez are both a year younger at 24, and both are rolling up impressive numbers, though Griffey says he is not a homer run hitter. But, you couldn't prove that by Griffey's 1993 season, could you? I mean, he did hit 45 out of the park. Already Gonzalez, in just his fourth season, has won the last two American League home run titles, just edging Griffey last year with 46. While Berry Bonds is generally considered the best player in the big leagues, he is 29. One wonders how many more years he will play. Bonds has made so much money, he certainly doesn't have that as an incentive, the young guns are gaining on him, and they apparently won’t let up, although Gonzalez is off to a slow start this year. The ball isn't juiced up. It’s just a few of the outstanding young hit ters making lots of noise. It’s the same young hitters who have dom inated for the past several years, when there was no talk of the juiced up ball. Resurgent Talton dispatches Terrell 'mm Lon Talton continued his strong second half, throwing a two hitter against Terrell In the GISA playoffs. PHS sends five to state By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor Although Perry High School came in third at the region meet Thursday, Coach Mike Vick ers will send six runners in five events to the state meet in Jefferson May 13-14. "We did about as well as we thought we could do," said Vickers of his team's perfor mance. "Dodge County and Appling County had too much speed for us." The Indians won the region title, finishing the meet with 127 points. The Pirates at tempted to scuttle the Indians, however, they fell 10 points short. Perry finished the event with 77 points. Vickers said a key to the performance of Dodge County and Appling was the field events, where Perry is thin. Tarvis Felton qualified in two events, taking second place in the 800 meter run and second in the high jump. Felton completed two laps around the Panther track in 2:05 minutes. His high jump was 6’6", which is four inches higher than his season start, said Vickers. The Panthers just missed having two quali fiers in the pole vault, with Tcrruya Williams and Terrance Hill having vaults of 12 feet, tied for second. However, Hill was given third place Graffiti remains undefeated By JIMMY SIMPSON Special to the HTJ Family Footwear ended a four game losing skid, and Graffiti Hair Salon managed to keep its record unblemished, after posting wins Thursday in girl's junior softball league action at Ochlahatchee Field. The Family Footwear girls used a strong offensive showing to out distance First Family Finance by a 13-2 score. Graffiti used a six-run first inning to its advantage while holding*onto an 11-2 win over Pennington 111 Plumbing. Graffiti stands atop the league charts with a 5-0 mark. Pennington 111 holds onto the second spot with First Family, both having compiled 2-3 marks. Family Footwear, with the win, goes to 1-4 on the year. Gaining credit for their play in Thursday action was Ashton Collins and Jessica Pennington for Pennington 111, Amanda Ramirez and Michelle Harris for Graffiti, Lee Anne Sexton and Lesley Brannen for Family Footwear, and Whitney Dcyampcrt and Blairc Brown for First Family. In Tuesday action, Graffiti plated 16 runners cn route to a 16-8 win over Family Footwear, while Pen nington 111 reached the winner's cir cle with an 18-5 victory over First Family. Pennington 111 sparked by a strong defensive effort, including the play of Alicia Powell. Katie Beth Yclton and Heather McWhorter were standouts on the First Family group. Graffiti was led by Heather Tucker and Britney Simpson. Family footwear was paced by Rhonda Denton and Anna Harold. honors due to missed attempts. Boris King continued to rack up wins in the discus, becoming region champ with a throw of 144 feet, four inches. The 1600 meter relay team qualified with a second place finish of 3:27, three seconds better than their best time on the season. Vickers said the team had been inconsistent, finishing some races with times near 3:40. Additionally, Fred Ragan just missed quali fying in the discuss with a fourth place throw, and John Martin finished third in the 1600 me ter race, missing the state by two seconds. "We had some good times in certain events," said Vickers. "I'm satisfied with the results." Vickers said that he was somewhat disap pointed in the season his thinclads have had in 1994. "It hasn't been bad," he said, "but, it hasn t been good, either. 1 thought that we would make a move and be a real good team." Vickers said some of the problem behind the track team's start could be traced back to the success of the basketball program, giving the track team a late start. He said the team was also hit by key injuries. "It was a very unusual year," said Vickers. "It seems like we could never get going. We had a lot distractions." j 4* .wHk M Fll I Jijf OT-;’ i * % sBIIBIkv '-■ - * -»«■ irf ■ m I HIP Bill Hobbs, new golf pro at Perry Country Club, shows the proper form on his swing. Physicals slated for May 21 Physicals for all area high school and middle school athletes will be give May 21 at Perry High School. The cost of the physical is $5. Chip McCarty, head trainer for Perry High School and Westfield, said that anyone wanting to partici Houston Times-Journal By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor Lon Talton used just 87 pitches to dispatch Terrell Academy 3-1 in the first round of the GISA state playoffs Thursday afternoon in less than 100 minutes. The win sets up a quarterfinal game with powerful Stratford Academy, which used six round trippers from five batters to clear cut Pinewood Academy 18-2. Stratford Academy, 23-0, holds two wins over Westfield in the reg ular season. Stratford used a late in ning explosion against the bottom of the Hornet pitching staff to win at Stratford 10-1. Westfield was only behind 4-1 going into the sixth inning of play. At Westfield, Stratford exploded at the plate, win ning 20-0, after scoring eight runs in both the first and second inning. The Hornets scored their runs without the aid of a hit. Terrell "outhit" the Hornets 2-1, with Moody collecting both hits for Ter rell and Thad Hawk getting a fifth inning single to break up the no hitter. Westfield would score all three of its runs in the third inning. Billy Kitchens, Jeff Dehem and Matt Shepley drew walks to load the bases with one out. Hawk hit into a fielder's choice for the second out, as Kitchens was gunned down at home. pate in sports at Perry Middle School, Houston County High School, Westfield or Perry High School must gel a physical. He said that there would be no makeup day. The physicals will start at 6:30 a.m.. and will be given by doctors Please see Physicals, page 9A page 6A Saturday, May 7,1994 "Houston Times-Journal Shepley strayed too far off sec ond for comfort of Terrell pitcher Richard Massey. Massey threw to second to pick Shepley off. How ever, his throw went into center field, allowing Dehem to score the first run of the game for the Hor nets, tying the game at one. Troy Nuss walked to load the bases. Lon Talton then hit a dying flair to centerfield that bounced out of the centerfielder's glove for an er ror. Shepley and Hawk scored on the play to give the Hornets the 3-1 lead, a score that would hold up for the rest of the game. Terrell would threaten in the sixth and seventh innings. But, Tal ton would shut down both threats. After striking out the lead-off batter in the sixth, Dismukes reached on a Hornet error. Webb followed by walking after five pitches. "We came close to pulling him," said Bert Brown, head coach of the Hornets, who said that he decided to stay with Talton for one more bat ter. The next Terrell batter, Webb, batting in the number four slot of the order, hit a pop-up to second for the second out. Talton got the final out of the inning on a tap back to the mound. "If there was a big point to the game, that was it," said Brown. "He ■v H v w jjjp* J jf *I John Martin crosses the start/flnlsh line In first after one lap in the 1600 meter run during the region track meet Thursday afternoon. Hobbs joins P.C.C. By VETO F. ROLEY Sports Editor New Perry Country Club golf professional and general manager Bill Hobbs is excited about the fu ture of Perry Country Club. "The club has undergone some stressful situations in the past two years," said Hobbs, referring to a 1992 fire that burned the clubhouse down. Because of the fire, Hobbs said that club membership has de clined slightly in the past two years. Since the fire, Perry Country Club has rebuilt its clubhouse, re built the bunkers and resprigged the course, with the back nine to open later this year. "It was an opportunity at a growing club," said Hobbs. "Within the next two years, this place will be turned into one of Central Georgia's finest golf courses." Another factor that brought Hobbs to Perry was Southern hos pitality. "In pursuing the position down here, I heard a lot of com ments that the people of Perry were good people," said Hobbs. And, said Hobbs, the words that he heard were true. "Everybody has been super nice," said Hobbs. "They are doing whatever they can to help. It's been an easy transi tion." Hobbs said his stay at Perry Country Club will be service ori ented. "Everything we do is for the members," he said. "We want ev eryone to feel like this is an exten sion of home. We want our mem bers to make themselves at home, have a good time and enjoy them selves. "Golf is a game anybody at any age can play," said Hobbs. "One of the jobs of a golf professional is to promote the game of golf and the had thrown 70-75 pitches at that point, and we thought he might be getting tired." In the sixth, Moody doubled with one out. However, Talton re sponded by getting the next batter to look at a called third strike for the second out. The final out in the inning came when Miller tapped to Shepley who threw to Lance Wal ton, stranding Moody at second. "We got two components to day," said Brown. "We got good pitching and good defense. We didn't get the third one (hitting). "If you do not hit the ball, but have pitching and defense, at least you have a chance. That's what we got today." Even though his team didn’t col lect but one hit, Brown said there were a couple of balls that could have given the Hornets a good day at the plate. Jake Walls hit a shot to left in the third that Brown said could have gone for a homer if Walls had got ten under the pitch. In the second, Clay Smith hit a fly ball to deep center that was held in by the wind. Shepley also flirted with two dou bles, stinging two balls just on the foul side of third base. However, it was Talton who car ried the day, allowing a two-hitter, striking out seven and walking one. Please see Hornets., page 9A future of the game. We are here to work with anybody and promote the game of a lifetime." Up next for Hobbs and Perry Country Club is the Perry Classic, which is scheduled for July 18-19. Hobbs said Perry Country Club would host over 100 professionals and 40 amateurs in the tournament, which draws players from across the state. "We also have a membership drive going on," said Hobbs. "We want to get the membership built back up now that we have a new clubhouse." Hobbs said he was also currently recruiting and interviewing for the position of assistant golf pro at the club. Please see Hobbs, page 9A Shelton and Brown conquer P.C.C. scramble The team of Danny Shelton and J.D. Brown shot an even par 36 over the first nine holes of the Perry Country Club to win a P.C.C. Men's Golf Association afternoon scramble Thursday. Second place was a little more crowded as three teams came into the clubhouse one stroke behind the pace of Shelton and Brown. How ever, the deadlock was decided through a regression starting at the third hole. John Reid and Ken Ray took home second place honors after holding par on the third hole. Rod ney Bridges Jr. and Jerry Tigner bo geyed the hole, as did Jerry Kimsey and Bob Jahns. James Rich, head of the P.C.C. Please see MGA, page 9A