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Show by Jim Murray Mnnirirsay aDM Spqpirttg ', - 1- mmmmmmmmmHmm .... - . ,1 Hank Greenberg Remembered Thursday, June 5, 1980 Pa.e 9 Muckers Celebrate Dry Weather With Win A funny thing happened to the Park City Muckers last weekend. Or rather, a funny thing didn't happen. It didn't rain. For the first time in the last six games, the weather cooperated for the Muckers, and they celebrated by stopping the University of Utah 12-6 on a dry City Park field Saturday afternoon. Conditions weren't exactly perfect. There was a cold wind and the clouds looked menacing at times, but it must have seemed like heaven to those players who had shivered through two miserable weekends in Colorado Colo-rado and Idaho. However, the day started on a somber note as the U. of U. scored a converted try early in the game to go ahead 6-0. With the Muckers deep in their own end, fullback Rick Phaler attempted to punt the ball to touch. The kick was blocked and recovered in the end zone by a U. of U. player. About five minutes later, John Sundquist made the score 6-4 with a nifty defensive play. As he remembered re-membered it later, the U. of U. strong-side wing was trying to pass the ball to a teammate at about midfield. Sundquist was in the right place, picked off the pass, and headed for the goal line. "I managed to run all the way without running out of gas or falling down," he said. The try brought the Muckers to within two points. The conversion attempt was wide. With about 20 minutes played in the half, Park City went ahead for good. This time, the punch was provided pro-vided by the Mucker forwards, for-wards, as they drove the ball over from a scrum on .about the five-yard line. Sundquist said forwards Craig Herrin, Dave Mueller and Tony Flaherty all were instrumental instru-mental in the play. Bill Hart was credited with the try, but missed the conversion from a sharp angle. At the half, the Muckers were ahead 8-6. The third Park City try, coming midway through the second half, was very similar simi-lar to the second. Again the Muckers showed the power v - r ' ttt V " SI; t-,.. tv? z Vr 'f-. 14 I w,..m.,...,T.;....-...-' .:j',i.A..t..-......A ,,,1...ML,A, f Yfc,,,,,, ,,.,n t John Sundquist, at the left of the picture, is about to pick off an errant U. of U. pass and run for the Muckers' first try. of their forwards, ramming the ball over from a scrum near the goal line. This time Herrin fell on the ball for the try. The conversion attempt was wide, but the 12-6 lead stood up the rest of the game. Sundquist said Skip Schirf was out of the lineup, forcing the Muckers to shuffle the roster to fill the fullback position. Several players were in unfamiliar spots, but seemed to make up in enthusiasm what they lacked inexperience. He said the U. of U. backs contributed to their own vdemise. "They were making some mistakes in the back line. They kept passing the ball and trying to get around us." A 20-minute exhibition game was played at the end of regulation time involving substitutes from both sides. There was no scoring. The Muckers' upcoming schedule, still tentative at this point, calls for a game June 14 at Park City against the Snake River side from Zebra between now and June 1U. Caldwell. Idaho. The Muck- After six games over the "I think evervones ready ers also may travel to Idaho ast throe weekends, the not to plav this weekend." Falls June 1.5 to plav the team has no games planned Sundquist said. z jr "fv si:., .9. V 9 W JS mBk IC - - - " i. I hate to be the one who trifles with the dreams of glory of dirty-faced little kids, but you know the line in the record book which says that Henry B. Greenberg hit 58 home runs, third-best-all-time, in 1938? Uh-uh. Forget it. Hank's 58th home run that year was an inside-the-park affair at St. Louis and Greenberg was out by five feet at the plate. The catcher knew it, the crowd (what few there were) knew it and Greenberg knew it. Only the man who mattered, the umpire, didn't know it. The affair so rankled the St. Louis Browns' catcher that 42 years later he still couldn't sleep at night thinking about it. and he sent Greenberg a letter wondering if he still had that photo. You picture the luckless fellow buttonholing people all those years and argueing, "I had Greenberg out, you know. I swear it. He really only hit 57 home runs that year. What Hank Greenberg remembers most about that year of 1938 was that he still had almost a week to catch Babe Ruth's season record of 60 homers. He still had one final game in Cleveland where, unfortunately, the fences were a sleeper jump from home plate, and Hank ripped two 400-foot outs and one 420-foot 420-foot double that bounced twice on its way to the fence that day. Hank Greenberg was probably the greatest right-handed slugger who ever lived, but he admits he would have been embarrassed to break Babe Ruth's record. "Babe Ruth was in a class by himself and remains so," he insists. "Ruth was genius, the rest of us were good." Hank rues his experience of 1937 more. That was the year he had driven in 183 runs, one short of Lou Gehrig's league record, when he came up to the last game of the year reasoning that opposing Cleveland would be trying out some rookie pitcher. Instead, Cleveland's fire-galling right hander. Johnny Allen, who had reeled off 15 straight victories, one short of the league record, took the mound. Allen went after the record in a scorching 1-0 duel, which he lost, and Greenberg saw nothing but unhittable fast balls all day. Hank was not only the all-time right-handed slugger, he was the all-time Jewish slugger and the New York Yankees coveted him as a youngster growing up in Manhattan. Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert grew ecstatic at the prospect of Babe Ruth and Hank Greenberg in the same lineup. "But the day of the tryout. I saw Lou Gehrig," Hank recalled. "He looked like he had 50 miles of shoulders. I told Don Sturges (left) is ready in case he's still going. Want to be a 1 0? Find out how at Prospector Athletic Club This coupon entitles bearer to 1 FREE WEEK LIMITED ONE COUPON PER PERSON, COUPLE or FAMILY at the PROSPECTOR ATHLETIC CLUB SINGLE COUPLE FAMILY 1 BRING THIS COUPON TO THE CLUB TODAY AND EXPERI ENCE THE FINEST IN ATHLETIC FACILITIES OPEN 7 days a week 649-6670 7a.m.-10:30 p.m. Last day to start week is June 1 0th SPECIAL "SUMMER" ONLY MEMBERSHIP OFFER INITIATION FEE $100 plus dues Single $45 full facility Couple.' $50 full facility Famiiy $55 full facility JUNE 1 DEC. 1 only. Then initiation may be applied to joining. I he Yankee scout. Paul Krichell, 'How can I play Inst base with that guy around?' You know what Krichell. toluene? 'He's on his way out.' he says. That was 1929. About 10 years, f)0(i home runs and 1,000 HBIs later, it "took a catastrophic illness to get Gehrig out," Hank Greenberg played for Detroit whom he led to four World Series in a career which was shortened to 11 years because Hank spent nearly five years in the service in the war. Greenberg batted .301, .339, .328, .348, .337, .31:"). .312. .340 and .311 in his full years in the big leagues. He came walking out of the Army in 194f). dropped his duffel bag, picked up a bat and led the Tigers to the World Series that year w here he batted .304 with two home runs, seven runs-batted-in and seven runs scored. For all this accomplishment, the most money Hank Greenberg ever made in a year in his prime was $.".foo. In 193,"). he won the league MVP. batted .328. led the league in home runs and runs batted in with 170. But he broke his wrist in the World Series that year -and. the next year, the club gave him a $1 a year contract ! They didn't want to tie up their cash in case he couldn't play. Hank did become the game's first $100,000 player. In the twilight of his career, Pittsburgh's John Galbreath offered him $75,000 in cash and $25,000 in company stock, or he could take a potential Kentucky Derby colt from Galbreath's Carby Dan Farm. Galbreath also moved in the fences and created "Greenberg Gardens" in the Forbes Field ball park Hank hit 25 home runs into the garden but his years in service had taken their toll and he had to retire at the end of the year. Hank Greenberg will be 70 years old next New Years, but he will be the favorite in the Dewar's Sports Celebrity Tennis Tournament at the Hotel Riveria in Las Vegas June 16-19 where he will be expected to outplay such 20-year-olds as Magic Johnson, as well as footballers Ottis Anderson, Walter Payton. Lynn Swann and Archie Griffin and 'he likes of Dr. J.. Hick Barry and Paul Westphal. When Hank Greenberg hit his first major league home run. Magic Johnson's father wasn't even born. Dave Parker gets nearly $50,000 per home run. Hank Greenberg got $90 per home run in 1938. Does Hank have any regrets that he was born too soon? "Only one regret," he says. "I wish Johnny Allen had come up with a sore arm the last day in 1937." 19K0, 1.os Angeles Times JFlojo Sandals Surfers 1st choice 1 only $4.95 j i w Open Mon.-Sat. 10:30-6:00 n m f n a nix wr III ir anLs rt-wt a n in,n nuMIC OA4 CAQ 0100 iu ranrv Mvcnuc rMni iiit, uimh oiuou rnwnt gvi-utj-jiM With the Saab, you don't have to give up performance, economy, utility or luxury. Just a few misconceptions. Saabs offer the unique pleasure of driving in the face of conventional wisdom. Which holds, for example, that a big car on the inside has to be a big car on the outside. Or that a car with top grades in performance is doomed to flunk gas mileage. Or that a sedan can't possibly hold as much cargo as a station wagon. The engineers at Saab take exception to all this. 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