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Show -f BiiltlflHIHfc f m 1 ,rCi The newspaper Thursday, January 7, 1982 Page B5 by Jim Murray Moniriraiy nun Spirits R?ewpaper What does it take to make the baseball Hall of Fame? A . Basketball P.C. team wins Coalville tourney by John Sundquist Last week, a team composed com-posed of various players from the Park City Recreation Recrea-tion Department Basketball League took first place in the first annual North Summit Holiday Basketball Tournament Tourna-ment in Coalville. In the championship game between Park City and Henefer, a pair of free throws by Kelly Mutcher with no time re maining on the clock clinched clinch-ed the victory and the tournament for Park City. Don Skinner, the North Summit High School basketball basket-ball coach, at Coalville had decided to host a basketball tournament over the Christmas Christ-mas Holidays, and invited teams from Park City, Henefer, Kamas, Evanston, and four teams from Coalville. Coal-ville. The tournament lasted three nights from Dec. 28 to Dec. 30, and was held in the Coalville High School gym, The Park City team was sponsored by Jim Lynn of Wasatch Homes, who sponsors spon-sors a local team in the Recreation Department League. Team spokesman Kelly Mutcher thought the tournament was worthwhile and exciting. "We were glad to be invited to it. Everyone Town race rescheduled They'll try again next Monday. That was the word from the Park City Race Department De-partment after high winds forced the postponement post-ponement of the first Town Race of the season, scheduled to begin at 9:30 Monday on Clementine. Those who have regis tered lor the race need not register again. However, the Race Department will reopen registration on Saturday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and Sunday between 9 a.m. and noon for those who were unable to meet the first deadline. The first Town Race will be used to classify skiers according to their ability. There will be individual awards but no team trophies. Copies of the rules and entry blanks have been distributed to local bars and restaurants. More information can be obtained ob-tained by calling the Recreation Department at 649-8111. got to play a lot of basketball and go against some good teams." To win the tournament, the team had to beat three other clubs. The first game played Monday night was against one of the Coalville teams. Playing for Park City were Bill Hart, Fred Grambau, Tim Mutcher, Kelly Mutcher, Mut-cher, Bill Snell, Craig Sanchez, San-chez, and Kevin Holtzclaw. "The first game was real physical," said Kelly Mutcher, Mut-cher, "but we adjusted to it with no problem. The referees, refer-ees, who were from Coalville, Coal-ville, were not calling many fouls." Bill Hart sank a pair of free throws with 18 seconds left to carry the team to a 50-49 win. Tuesday night's game against Kamas featured a change in officiating. The referees were from the high school level and the game slowed down somewhat. "They kept the tempo of the game picky," added Mutcher, "and called quite a few more fouls than the night before." Park City was behind most of the game until about ten minutes to go, when the momentum changed. The final score was Park City 57 and Kamas 50. The final game matched Park City and Henefer. The referees were again changed, chang-ed, this time back to the Coalville officials. "We play a better physical game then a controlled one," said Mutcher, "because our size is an average of 210 pounds and 6'2". It was a much better game than the second. Henefer hit on their first eight shots and we were behind by ten for most of the first half, and three at the half." Park City had been in a zone defense since the start of the tournament, but three minutes into the final game they switched to a man-toman defense. With 20 seconds to go in the game the score was tied at 55. "They brought the ball down the court," said Mutcher, Mut-cher, "and set up for a shot. It was off the rim and Tim got the rebound and passed off to me. I was fouled with no time left on the clock, and was awarded a one and one." Kelly Mutcher was able to make both free throws for a final score of 57-55. For Ihe three games, the high Park City scorers were Bill Snell with 57 points and Kelly Mutcher with 55. Payday downhill to be held this weekend Ski racers from through out the Intermountain Division Divi-sion will be in town this weekend as the Park City Ski Area hosts the Payday Downhill. According to Vicki Beck, spokesperson for the Park City Ski Team, the two-day event is a Junior Olympic qualifier for JII (14-and 15-year-old) and JIII (12-and 13-year-old) skiers The race also will be open to JIV (10-and 11-year-old) and JV (9 and under) racers. Competition will begin Sat urday and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Meanwhile, the older members of the Park City Ski Team have been in Sun Valley this week for downhill competition Tueday and Wednesday. Among the local skiers were Matias Alvarez, Marco Alvarez, Robert Ay-res, Ay-res, Scott Williams, Kim Beattie, Sue Ellen Hillard, Andrea Peterson, Tori Pill-inger, Pill-inger, Jason Lawson and Rolfe Sandberg. Race results were not available at press time. x ' V ' ' irrr---3 C- ' X , D-J tr , 7 As ''; mm i" 1 F Does a lifetime .260 hitter deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? What about a pitcher- whose lifetime won-lost percentage was .471, who won only 81 games and lost 91? What if I tell you the lifetime .260 hitter broke one of baseball's most-hallowed records, did something not Ruth, Aaron, Gehrig, Mays or any other Hall-of-Fame has ever done hit 61 home runs in a single season? What if I tell you the pitcher did something Cy Young, Sandy Koufax, Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove or any other pitcher couldn't do pitch a perfect game in the World Series? Sports' version of the proverbial eye of the needle, the sportswriters' judgment of who does and who does not qualify for immortality if upon us. We had all better hope St. Peter is not so picky. What if I tell you Cy Young, who only won 511 games, did not go in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot? What if I tell you Joe DiMaggio didn't? Would you believe Ty Cobb wasn't unanimous? Well, you get the picture. Standards are falling all over the world. But not at Cooperstown. In sum, the proposition is, does a single incandescent achievement invite inclusion in the exclusive wing of baseball's Valhalla? The answer is, probably not. Roger Maris stroked his 61 home runs in a single season. The only batting feat comparable is DiMaggio's 56-game batting streak. Or Ruth's 60 homers. But, even when he was doing it, the top power in the game, the guy who invented the Hall of Fame, was pouring cold water on Maris' achievement. Commissioner Commis-sioner Ford Frick added an asterisk to his record because it was not set in the 154-game season that Babe Ruth set his record of 60 in. Which is silly. Because, author Leonard Koppett pointed out that same year when Sandy Koufax broke Christy Mathewson's National League strikeout record, nobody mentioned that Mathewson set his record in a 140-game season, or 14 fewer than Sandy. The scribes overlooked Don Larson's mark of a world series no-hitter. They overlooked Johnny Vander Meer's pitching two no-hitters in a row one year. Johnny ended up his career under .500 too, with 119 games won and 121 lost. Still, Johnny did something no one else has ever done, or probably ever will. Sorry, Johnny. The Hall of Fame ballot contains a stern warning: "Voting for members of the Hall of Fame is one of the most important responsibilities we (baseball writers) have. It is an honor not to be taken lightly and deserves your most serious thought." Nothing is harder on a man on his first cursade than to have his favorite candidate for the Hall of Fame and not be able to smuggle him past the watchdogs of baseball, who require a 75 percent approval for admission, and permit eligibility for only 15 years. Andy Lewis, of Bele Mead, New Jersey, must have spent a fortune phoning, writing, imploring or wiring baseball writers on behalf of the man he feels is overlooked. He' even gets up graphics to illustrate his point which is this: There are only 37 retired players who, in their baseball careers, amassed over 2,500 hits and over a 3(K) batting average. Thirty-three of them are already in the Hall of Fame. A 34th, Henry Aaron, will be his year. Only three are not. Two of them are turn-of-the-century players (George VanHaltrenand Jimmy Ryan) and only one racked up his stats in the modern era of the game, if sophisticated relief pitching, scientifically-engineered fielding mitts and night baseball. Richie Ashburn deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, Brother Lewis asserts, nay insists. This is Richie's last year of eligibility and the swift, graceful center fielder of the old Philadelphia Phillies hit .308 and got 2 574 hits in his career. Of the 91 non-pitchers in the Hall, Advocate Lewis points out, 54 of them amassed less than 2,500 hits. Twenty of these 54 wound up . with less than a .300 batting average. Ok;iy, some of them were sluggers, and were walked many times in their careers. Well, Richie Ashburn walked almost as many times as Henry Aaron and in eight fewer years. Richie had 1,198 bases on balls. Only 23 players in history had more. Richie was a "slap" hitter? He hit only 29 career homers? Well, Lewis points out, Lloyd Waner got only 27 homers and only 2,459 lifetime hits. And he's in the Hall of Fame Lewis' point is that Richie Ashburn played center field in the same era as Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider. Also, they played in New York. He played in Philadelphia. But he won two league batting titles. That's one more than Mays or Mantle ever won, and two more than Snider ever won. Twenty members of the Hall of Fame finished with less that 2,500 hits, and with less than a .300 batting average, as well. A dozen of them accumulated less than 2,200, reader Lewis argues. I symphathize with him. I have a shopping list of my own favorite guys I have been trying to get into the hall for years. But some baseball writers feel they have exhausted their charity if they elect one new member a year. This year, both Henry Aaron and Frank Robinson should go in. The voters will need a long vacation after that agonizing decision. If Joe DiMaggio couldn't go in on the first ballot, why should Richie Ashburn go in on the 15th? I suggest crusader Lewis undertake something easier like getting Ronald Reagan elected to the Politburo. (c) 1982, Los Angeles Times, Park City Conoco Complete Winter Service Batteries, Snow Tires Jump Starts, Service calls. 649-9331 North Park Avenue 8 COXIX)MMUMS Vw Phase 1 Unit No. 140 Unit No. 142 Unit No. 148 $210,000 $215,000 $210,000 DON BRADY ASSOCI ATES Owner anxious. Name your terms. Call Bill Kranstover, Huntsman Christensen. lean your jeans on us. 649-7220 Interior Dlgn, Residential and Commercial, Furniture Packaoea available starting at $5,000. Park Meadows Plaza Building, Park City, Utah. Box 1678 801-649-4044 |