St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 29

SECTION Sepi. 27,1983 ClassifiedPage 6-14 General NawaPaga 14 SILOUIS POST-DISPXTCH Kovin Horrigan InJD 2s IM jvnn Sporta Comment The Great God Baseball Has Its Way Again By Rick Hummel Of the Pot-DIpatch Staff Bob Forsch is 9-12 now after the second no-hitter of his major league career. "I don't think it makes the season any more palatable," he said. "But the last time I threw no-hitter, I didn't have a very good season, either." Forsch, on Monday night at Busch Stadium, became only the ninth pitcher in modem major league history to accomplish the following: win 20 games in a season, pitch for a World Series champion and throw two no-hitters. The others In the select group are Sandy Koufax, Allie Reynolds, Bob Feller, Carl Erskine, Ken Holtzman, Christy Mathewson, Warren Spahn and Cy Young.

Forsch's first no-hitter came in 1978 when he had a 11-17 record, worst of his career. "Maybe It's part of having a bad season," he said. Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog had suggested only Sunday that the 33-year-old Forsch consider going to the Florida Instructional League to work on a knuckleball as his off-speed pitch. Forsch said Monday night that he wasn't considering that prospect, although Herzog said, "I still think he's got to work on something to make his other stuff better. When you haven't got control, you'd better have something." But, Herzog said, "That was a great clutch performance." The no-hitter, a 3-0 victory over the Montreal Expos Forsch retired the last 22 men to face him extended the Forsch major league family record to three no-hitters.

Bob's brother, Ken, pitched a no-hitter with the Houston Astros. He now is with the California Angels. Bob Forsch's first no-hitter was also pitched here, on April 16, 1978. "A lot of people said that it (the first no-hitter) was said Forsch. "This one I don't think there was any question about." Cardinals center fielder Willie McGee made good catches on Andre Dawson in the first and on Tim Raines' in the second.

After that, said See CARDS, Page I V'' The idea was to attend a meaningless baseball game In meaningful company. Bill Kinsella was In town, the man who wrote "Shoeless Joe," one of the best baseball novels ever written, and an ardent baseball fan. We would watch the Expos take on the Cardinals, talk about writing and baseball and maybe I'd get a column out of it. Kinsella had written in his novel Was It really a voice I heard? Oi was It perhaps something Inside mt making a statement that I did not heat with my ears but with my heart? Why should I want to follow this command But as I ask, I already know the answer. I count the loves In my life: Annie, Karin, Iowa, Baseball.

The great god Baseball. THE GREAT GOD BASEBALL has a way of spoiling your plans, of making you heed its own imperatives. There is no such thing as a meaningless baseball game. For someone, each game is magic moment. Last night, that someone was Robert Herbert Forsch.

"I'm more interested in fantasy than baseball," Kinsella said along about the fifth inning, about the time when the zeroes in the Expos' hit column started mounting on the scoreboard. "It's just that baseball lends itself to fantasy so well." The fantasy Monday night was that Bob Forsch, 8-12 in this unhappy Redbird year, would pitch a no-hit, no-run ballgame. This was a pitcher who'd been sentenced to the bullpen earlier in the summer for the felony offense of losing his control. This was a pitcher with a nasty tendency to throw home run balls. This was a pitcher who was experimenting with a knuckleball, the last best hope of men whose arms have lost their zip.

But Baseball, the great god Baseball, smiled on Forsch Monday night. No runs, no hits, one error, one hit batsman. Two baserunners. You can put the knuckleball Idea on the shelf for a while. "rve got a good one at 40 feet," Forsch said of his knuckler.

"The trouble is I've got to throw it 60 feet. I don't think I'm ready for that right now." Who's going to argue? For one he "resurrected the excitement of 1982 at Busch Stadium. There were but 12,000 paying customers in the seats, but it's nice to know that the front-runners missed this one. Anyone who paid his way in on a Monday night to watch the Expos and the Cardinals deserved this one. THE FANS DID THEIR BIT to pump up Forsch.

Beginning in the seventh inning, when he mowed down the heart of the Expos order Andre Dawson, Al Oliver and Tim Raines the fans were cheering every pitch. In the eighth inning, the fans were on their feet. And in the ninth, it was enough to make you flash back 11 months. From "Shoeless Joe:" Watch the players, white against green like froth on waves of ocean. Look around at the fans, count their warts just as they count ours; look al them waddle and stuff their faces and cheer with their mouths full.

We're not just ordinary people, we're a Bob Forsch displays graceful form In his no-hitter Monday against Wayne CrossllnPost-Oispatch Montreal. Winged itaissies TaEie Horn stiff upper lip while his beaten red-hulled sloop flew the Stars and Stripes at half staff. It was an occasion for tears and cheers a dark day for American pride, an elixir for the national ego of a distant continent of some 15 million people who sometimes feel forgotten at the bottom of the world. And it was a day on which this staid old seaport resort went deliriously mad over a band of leather-tough, free-living Australians who absconded with one of this country's most prized possessions America's Cup. For a few wild hours, everybody seemed to don the green and gold, sing "Waltzing Matilda" and become an Aussie after the final race in the best-of-seven series.

Australia II, down 3-1, won the last three races. "We finally got rid of that darned said. "This is an historic moment." In a few moments, the young man in the gray suit in the telephone booth gritted his teeth and glanced up at his friends who knew the words they were about to hear. "Australia just crossed the line," he said softly. One of the listeners turned and walked quickly into the dark bar down behind red-velvet drapes from where the America's Cup gleamed inside a glass case on an oak table.

"Damn," somebody grumbled. At the Royal Perth Yacht Club, which sponsored the Australia challenge, an all-night vigil turned into a dawn victory celebration as club members showered each other with champagne. "It's just indescribable. I'm drowned in said Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. "We are a nation of zombies today.

I'm sure there's been about 10 million sitting up like I have right throughout the night," Hawke said. "I suppose people never thought you could get so excited about a long yacht race." Australians in taverns in the Earls Court area of west London nicknamed "Kangaroo Valley" foresook their favorite lager beer to celebrate with champagne. "The Yanks thought they had it sewn up, but Bondie's boys showed them," said a reveler in a reference to Alan Bond, the Australia II syndicate head. And in Newport, the winning skipper, John Bertrand, wept unashamedly. His heart-broken American rival, Dennis Conner, kept a MONT RIAL () CARDINALS (1) abrhM abrhM 4 0 0 0 L.

Smith If 4 1 1 Froncona rf Trlllo 2b Dawson cf Oliver lb Raines If Carter Soeier 3b Salaiar is Roof ph Flvnn ss Rogers Cromartie ph Schatzeder Burrls Reardon Crowley ph Totals MONTREAL CARDINALS 4 0 0 0 Lvont 7b 3 0 0 0 Oberktell 2b 3 0 0 0 McGct cf 0 0 0 0, 3 0 10 4 0 21 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Porter 2 0 0 0 Von Slyke 3b 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 Green rf 2 1 oo 3 0 0 0 3 1 It 3 0 0 0 4 i 0 0 0 Adducl lb 1 0 0 0 O. Smith ss 0 0 0 0 Forsch 10 0 0 1000 00 00 00 00 0 0 0 0 1000 20 0 0 0 Tefals 2 Jt3 SOS Mt SOO I SOt KM Mx 1 Game-winning RBI Smith (7). Oberktell. Left Montreal 2, Cardinals o. 2B L.

Smith. 3B Oberktell. SB McGee (38), Von Slyke (IS). IP HER BB SO Rogers (L, 1712) Schatzeder Burrls Reardon Cardinals Forsch (W, 9-12) (Schatzeder pitched sixth.) 5 0 2 1 to 9 I the 0 0 0 0 In HBP bv Forsch (Carter), by Schatzeder (Van Slyke). Wendelstedt, Tata, Klbler, Frpemmlng.

2:15. A 12,457. And Then PHILADELPHIA (0) CARDINALS (S) abrhM abrhM McBrlde cf 4 0 0 0 Brock If 3 0 0 0 Bowa ss 4 0 0 0 Templeton ss 4 1 1 0 Schmidt 3b 3 0 0 0 Morales rf 3 110 Luzinskl If 2 0 0 0 Simmons 4 120' Hebner lb 2 0 0 0 Hernandez lb 3 1 0 0 Moddox cf 3 0 0 0 Reltz 3b 3 111 Boone 3 0 0 0 Scott cf 2 0 0 0 Slzemore 2b 3 0 0 0 Freed ph 10 13 Lerch 2 0 0 0 M'ph'y pr-cf 10 0 0 Garber 0 0 0 0 Tyson 2b Johnstone ph lOOOIorgph Phillips 2b Forsch 3 0 0 0. 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 400 10 Totals 27 0 0 0 Totals 31 5 PHILADELPHIA ON 000 MO I CARDINALS 000 103 tlx-l Lerch, Reltz, Bowa. DP Cardinals 1.

-Left Philadelphia 2, Cardinals 7. 2B Simmons, Templeton, Freed. SB Hebner. IP RER BB SO Philadelphia Lerch (L, 1-1) Garber Cardinals i Forsch (W, 3-0) 0 0 0 2 (Lerch pitched to two batters In the eighth. HBP by Lerch (Reltz).

Weyer, Wendelstedt, Rennert, Montague. 1: 56. A 11,495. i Cup," a National Guard corporal said under his breath as the radio blared the news that Australia II had crossed the finish line 41 seconds ahead of Liberty, thus ending a 132-year possession of the bottomless silver pitcher by the United States. And with the loss of the Cup went the longest winning streak in the history of sports.

It didn't martc the end of an era. It marked the end of an age. i When a schooner named America beat a fleet of British vessels In a race around the Isle of Wight for a potbellied silver cup that cost $500, British pride was shattered. I At the time, Britain was undisputed queen of the oceans. Her people were' lordly and condescending.

They looked See CUP, Page linebacker is way behind on hitting condition. Junior concurred. "I really don't think I can go a full game," he said. "Runningwise, i probably could, but there's more to a football game than just running. You have to hit and continuously hit.

Right now, I don't think my body is In shape to go a full game of contact." Assistant head coach Floyd Peters said he would use Junior sparingly at middle linebacker against the Chiefs. "We're going to play him as much as we can without taxing him and getting him tired and risking an injury," Peters said. "These guys have played four exhibition games and four season games. Now that's eight games and two months of live experience and reaction time that he doesn't have. I've come off injuries before and you feel like everybody else Osee JUNIOR, Page! iig Red I i Compiled From Newt Services NEWPORT, R.I.

When they began to gather in the dark wooden bar of the New York Yacht Club late Monday afternoon, Liberty was leading, and they were smiling. Old men and young men in dark suits with striped ties appeared to have stepped out of a Brooks Brothers advertisement. But there is no TV set in this old stone building that opened in 1901 at 37 West 44th Street; no radio, either. In a nearby wooden booth with an old brass "coin telephone" sign above it, a young executive was listening to his wife describe what she was watching on TV at home. "It's almost over," he said.

"Australia's way ahead, way ahead." His four listeners shook their heads. One began walking toward the bar. "Get me a drink, too," another How They Stand mm J. Seizor view fJevj Posittioii Foir a ritual, as surely as sacrificing a goat beneath a full moon Is a ritual. It was like old times in the clubhouse, too.

"This is the first good i thing that's happened to us in two months," said pitcher Dave LaPoint. Pet. GB 8T Pet. OB ST Philadelphia 87 70 .654 W11 x-Baltlmore 86 69 .619 W1 Pittsburgh 82 74 .626 AY, L1 Detroit 89 67 .671 7Y W1 Montreal 80 77 .510 7 L1 New York 87 68 .661 9 L1 CARDINALS 78 81 .484 11 W1 Toronto 88 71 .648 11 W2 Chicago 70 87 .448 17 L1 Milwaukee 82 74 .626 1414 LI New York 63 93 .404 23 Yt L1 Boeton 75 81 .481 21 Vt L1 Cleveland 68 88 .436 28tt W1 Pet. OB8T' Pet.

QB ST' Lot Angeles 89 67 .671 W1 x-Chlcago 95 81 .609 W6 Atlanta 85 70 .648 3tt W3 Kansas City 76 80 .487 19 W1 Houston 81 74 .523 7Yi W1 Texas 75 81 .481 20 L2 San Diego 77 79 .490 1 2 L6 Oakland 71 86 .465 24 LI SanFranclaco 76 81 .481 14 L1 Minnesota 67 89 .429 28 W1 Cincinnati 72 84 .462 17 LI California 67 90 .427 28H L6 ST: WlnLQM streak Seattle 68 98 .372 37 L1 j. V. LaPoint even Joined in the post-game Interview of Forsch, holding a beer-bottle microphone in front of Forsch, reviving a bit of the old "John Cosell Show" that had livened up the clubhouse last year. But Forsch demurred when LaPoint tried to pour champagne over his head. "Hey, don't waste it," he said.

"Where'd the champagne come from?" someone asked. "Oh, I went out to the 7-Eleven to get It in the sixth inning," LaPoint said. "I put a raincoat on over my uniform." "Really?" asked a gullible scribe. And LaPoint rolled his eyes. It was nostalgia time.

People remembered other no-hitters they had seen. Forsch and coach Dave Rickets were the only Cardinals present still in uniform who'd been there for his first no-hitter, in April 1978. Forsch remembered that one all too well, for the carping engendered by an official scorer's ruling that a hard hit ball to Ken Reitz at third had been an error. "IT'S IN THE RECORD BOOKS, but some people say it was flawed," Forsch said. "Now they know I'm capable of pitching a no-hitter." By John Sonderegger Of the Pott-Dlspatch Staff E.J.

Junior hopes he has crossed his final bridge over troubled waters and the Cardinals hope they will find smooth sailing the rest of the National Football League season with their top linebacker back in tow. i His suspension was lifted Monday by Commissioner Pete Rozelle after 63 days of enforced absence and a salary loss of at least $30,000. Junior rejoined the team Monday In time for meetings and a light workout. Rozelle also lifted the suspensions of Greg Stemrick of the New Orleans Saints, and Ross Browner and Pete Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals. All four players had be suspended July 25 for at least te four regular season games because of their involvement with illegal drugs.

-1 At a news conference after practice Monday, Junior said, "I feel like I've been overseas for seven years in a war and I've come back and nothing's changed." During the suspension, he said, he spent a lot of time running and lifting weights and getting after-care treatment at the Hyland Center. He said he no longer needed to be treated for addiction to cocaine, but he had sought treatment for "a lot of emotional pain and frustration that I was going through." "Instead of going around tearing up furniture in the house or punching a hole in the wall, I had sought an outlet with after-care. It's easier to relieve frustrations by getting them out in the open and talking about them with somebody who understands." He was going for treatment once a week during his suspension. "But now that the season is beginning for me, I think I'll only go once every two weeks," he said. "I don't think I'll have that many frustrations now that I'm playing again." However, he said that he knows he could be walking into "a hornet's nest" at Busch Stadium.

"One of the things a lot of people are going to (gxpect me to do is go out Odell Mitchell Jr. Post-Dispatch The Big Red' E.J. Junior at a newt conference Monday. x-Cllnched division title ST: WinLoss streak Cleveland 7, New York Toronto 3, California 2(10 Innings) Kansas City 6, Seattle 2 (St. Louis Times) Detroit (Morrlt 19-12) at Baltimore (McGregor 18-6), 6:35 p.m.

Boston (Hurst 12-11) al New York (Keough 4-7), 7 p.m. Cleveland (Sorensen 11-10) at Milwaukee (Caldwell 1 1 -1 1 7:30 p.m. Texas (Smlthson 9-14) at Minnesota (Williams 10-1 3), 7:35 p.m. Toronto (Leal 13-11) at California (Forsch 11-1 2), 9:30 p.m. Chicago (Bannister 15-10) at Oakland (Codlroll 13-12), 9:36 p.m.

Kansaa City (Qura 11-17) at Seattle (Beattle 9-14), 9:35 p.m. Cardinals 3, Montreal Philadelphia 6, Chicago 2 Lot Angeles 12, Cincinnati 9 (10 Innings) Atlanta 6, San Francisco 2 Houston 5, San Diego 3 (St. Louis Times) Montreal (Lea 15-10) at 8t. Louis (Stupar 11-10), 7:36 p.m. Philadelphia (Carlton 15-16) at Chicago (Reutchel 1-1), 1:20 p.m.

Los Angeles (Honeycutt 2-3) at Cincinnati (Russell 4-3), 4 p.m. New York (Lynoh 10-10) at Pittsburgh (DeLeon 7-2), 8:35 p.m. San Francisco (M. Davit 3-3) at Atlanta (Barker 1 -3), 6:40 p.m. San Diego (Lollar 7-11) at Houston (Heathcock 1-1), 7:35 p.m.

Montreal at St. Louis, 7:35 p.m. Philadelphia at Chicago, 1 :20 p.m. New York at Pittsburgh, 8:35 p.m. San Francisco at Cincinnati, 8:35 p.m.

Atlanta at Houston, 7:35 p.m. Whitey Herzog remembered the first no-hitter he'd seen, the one that catapulted Bo Bellnsky of the and turn this team completely around. They may think it's a one-man job, and I really don't believe that's possible. I'm only human and can only do so much." Asked if he were prepared to handle the pressure that the fans were likely to place on him, he smiled and said he was. "If I can't, I'll go see my therapist," he said.

Coach Jim Hanifan said Junior would be eased back into the lineup. In all probability, Junior will not start Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs. "I think it's realistic that he could play Sunday, because E.J. has kept up with what we're doing on defense," Hanifan said. "We were able to send game plans and films to him.

He wouldn't be that far behind on the mental thing." Even though Junior is in good physical condltijon, Hanifan said, the 1 California Angels into his very brief moment in the spotlight. Herzog saw Jim BIbby pitch one for the Texas Rangers, and Jim Colbom pitch one for the Kansas City Royals. Darrell Porter caught that one, just as he caught the one Monday night. "I wasn't really excited," Porter said. "I was just trying to savor the moment." So were we all, those of us gathered for this meaningless game, this pagan ritual to the great god Baseball.

A Chicago at Oakland, 2:1 5 p.m. Detroit at Baltimore, 6:35 p.m. Boston at New York, 7 p.m. -Cleveland at Milwaukee, 7:30 p.m. Texas at Minnesota, 7:35 p.m.

Toronto at California, 9:3.0 p.m. Kansas City at Seattle, 9:35 p.m. II i i i.