Show There is no joy in Mudviile — mighty Hanks has been rained out Tom Hanks baseball fen and movie star is cruising the freeway to Dodger Stadium for tonight’s game hoping to outrun the rain clouds gathering over Hollywood “They’ll be able to play at least six innings” he predicts peering out the windshield of his new black Dodge Caravan at the dark sky “I root for extra innings for rain delays anything that will keep me at the ballpark” Chances are if Hanks isn’t on a movie set he’s at a stadium And tonight it’s the LA Dodgers vs the San Diego Pladres Hanks reaches into the van’s back seat and pulls out a battered Cleveland Indians cap “This is what baseball is about” he says of his favorite team “Cleveland has no built-i- n national affection factor which clubs like the Dodgers and the Cubs have People in Denver don’t say ‘Hey how about those Indians? “But they are not completely anonymous either like the Mariners which even the people in Seattle don’t care about Cleveland can finish last and the local crowd still loves ’em” Hanks — who grew up rooting for the Oakland A’s — began loving the Indians when he spent several seasons with Cleveland’s Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival sharpening his timing in The Taming of the Shrew and Two Gentlemen of Verona Lazy afternoons were spent in the right field section of Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium “watching baseball in an intimate theater” Tonight Hanks pulls into Dodger Stadium wearing his Indians cap to hide his famous face it works about as well as pitcher Joe Niekro hiding his emery board The parking attendant flashes immediate recognition He tosses her a compliment as he drives away: “You have a beautiful stadium” Five minutes and four later Hanks eases into Section 227 covered seats behind third base He’s clutching enough hot dogs and diet drinks to give Babe Ruth convulsions And rain is turning the infield tarp into a lake “We’re out at Dodger Stadium and this is a sad bleak day for baseball” reports sportscaster Hanks grabbing an imaginary microphone Then between bites another sports analysis: “The great thing about baseball is that you don’t have to be holding the ball to make things happen The ball can be rolling around in the outfield and three runs can score “In basketball the only action comes from the guy with the ball I don’t understand basketball I don’t understand any sport where you can score 100 points and lose Hockey? I don’t understand why they’re enclosed in glass Football? Again you have to hold the ball” Hanks rarely carried the ball in school “I tried to play soccer and run track but it didn’t thrill me to run the 440 and then work on my ‘starts’ for a half-hoBy high school the guys on the baseball team had been playing orgaur nized ball for years I was pretty good at yelling from the sidelines We all knew our place” The stadium organist suddenly breaks into Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head and the loudspeaker echoes the inevitable: Tonight is an official rain-o- ut just the 13th since 1962 “They would have never called it in Geveland” says Hanks dejectedly As he stands to go a couple visiting from DG nerWashington vously approach “Meeting you is a lot than seeing the ers” says the ge man lifting a car from around his ne “Mr Hanks you the funniest guy i the movies” rain-soak- ed Hanks politely poses with the tourists tips his cap and slowly walks toward the exit No runs no hits just rain — Stu Schrtiberg Let’s get one thing straight -Tom Hanks is not wacky Nor does he accept being called kooky zany or just plain silly Forget that he’s playing with a o and that an unopened box of crayons sits on his office coffee table and that one wall features a United States map with pins in a yo-y- half-doz-en cities for no apparent reason There are logical explanations “The yo-y- o belongs to my assistant” insists Hanks who claims to be a boring guy “The crayons are there for my children when they visit and the pins in ” the map Wait a minute now while Hanks digs for a punch fine “ those are cities where Pm thinking of running for office” Pollsters might list Hanks as the favorite He certainly is a front-runnat the box office as his new movie Big opens this weekend and he has two more comedies in the wings He definitely is the favorite of his bride of five weeks actress Rita Wilson And don’t forget the critics who affectionately liken the to everyone from Cary Grant to Jack Lemmon “Where do they get the nerve to compare me to Mr Grant?’ a dumbfounded Hanks wonders “An awful lot of movie legends are looking down from the heavens and shaking their heads say‘ ing This guy? You’ve got to be kidding’ ” Equally unjust he insists are attempts to portray him as a funnyman “Photographers say ‘We’d like to capture you in your natural state Here why don’t you start by ” holding a rubber chicken’ OK Mr Unwacky Guy why kid are you playing a trapped in the body of a toy company executive in Big? And playing a wannabe stand-u- p comic m Punchline due this fall? And starting this month to film a comedy tentatively titled 'burbs in which a backyard vacation turns into suburban chaos? Well the reason for burbs is er high-volta- ‘ USA WEEKENDJUNE 1988 Tom Hanks pnotos groomng By Margaret Kjmira Ooutier styling by Qzabeth Kjsselbadt Visages Style LA |