WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2002
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 8B
Field sees release, Royals roster
The Associated Press
HAINES CITY, Fla. — Nate Field has gone from almost being out of professional baseball to being on the Kansas City Royals roster this spring.
The Montreal Expos released Field on March 29, 2000, after two years in their minor league system.
"The day I was released was one of the worst days in my life." Field said yesterday. "Things happen for a reason, and it has worked out for the best."
He signed with Sioux City in the Northern League, where he went 3-0 with a 1.93 earned run average in 11 games.
The Royals bought his contract from Sioux City on June 29, 2000, and in 2001 he led the Wichita Wranglers with 19 saves and struck out 67 in 73 innings. He was added to the 40-man big league roster in November.
The opportunity is definitely present for Field with the Royals. Field, who went to Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan., and Barton County Junior College in Great Bend, Kan., has been impressive. In three games, Field has had one save, not allowed a run, struck out two and walked none in three innings.
"This is the first time a lot of these guys (on the coaching staff) have seen me," said Field, a 26-year-old right-hander. "I just want to open some eyes. All you can ask for is a chance."
Field played shortstop more often than he pitched in college, hitting .350 as a senior at Fort Havs, but also logging 13 saves.
"In four years of college, I barely had 100 innings of pitching." Field said. "I had success on the mound, but I didn't have mechanics."
He was not drafted, but the Expos signed him as a free agent.
"I've bounced around a lot," Field said. "I took little bits and pieces from all the coaches, and I just finally found something that worked for me. I try to pitch aggressive and keep the ball down. I've had success with that."
Field will probably open the season with Class AAA Omaha, but appears on the verge of pitching in the majors. Brian Murphy, as assistant to the general manager, said he likes the way Field pitches consistently low in the strike zone.
"If you would have asked me two years where I'd be today. I would have said the pitching coach at Fort Hays State," Field said. "When I was with Sioux City, they said the job was mine."
Baseball artifacts become natural history as exhibit takes treasures on 4-year tour
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — In a setting usually reserved for dinosaurs and meteorites, baseball settled comfortably into the Museum of Natural History yesterday.
The Hall of Fame's Baseball As America exhibit opens to the public on March 16 and runs through Aug. 18, the first stop on a nine-city, four-year tour that will take selected memorabilia from Cooperstown around the country.
Join the sixy-six Hall of Famers gathered for
Twenty-six Hall of Famers gathered for
the press preview. Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter were in wheelchairs. Bobby Walker walked gingerly. Steve Carlton, always a man of mystery, wore dark glasses.
Some of them clearly were wowed by what they saw — everything from Shoeless Joe Jackson's shoes to Jackie Robinson's jersey, from the cornerstone of Brooklyn's Ebbets Field to a row of seats from the long-gone Polo Grounds.
Robinson's shirt had some impact on Monte Irvin, who did not make it to the majors until 1949 because of baseball's
policy of banning African-American players. He was 30 years old by then, his best days already spent in the Negro Leagues.
"I'm sorry I couldn't have come up 10 years sooner," Irvin said, his hand cradling a cane. "I was scouted in 1936. I was ready for them. They weren't ready for me."
Included in the exhibit was a baseball found in the rubble at the World Trade Center following the Sept. 11 attacks and the Doubleday ball thought to be used in
baseball's first game in 1839. There are bats, including the one Babe Ruth used to hit his 60th home run in 1927 and the one Roger Maris used for No.61 in 1961.
"This exhibit mirrors the mission of the Hall of Fame," said Jane Forbes Clark, chairman of the board for the Hall. "It honors great heroes. It connects generations. In the 62 years the Hall has been open in Cooperstown, we've had 12 million visitors. We expect four- to five-million people to see this exhibit in the next four years."
LaFrentz, Pierce added to United States team
The Associated Press
Still looking for a few good big men, the United States added center Raef LaFrentz along with guard Andre Miller and forward Paul Pierce to the squad that will compete at the World Championships in Indianapolis this summer.
Jason Kidd, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, Michael Finley, Shawn Marion, Antonio Davis and Jermaine O'Neal were previously named to the team, to be coached by George Karl of the Milwaukee Bucks
Two more roster spots, along with one alternate, remain to be filled by the USA Basketball selection committee.
Duke guard Jason Williams was given one of the alternate spots yesterday, and another college player is likely to be chosen for the other.
LaFrentz, Davis and O'Neal provide the United States three big bodies that can play center or power forward.
"Looking at the roster, it's pretty safe to say we'll select one more front court player and possibly two," said NBA vice president Stu Jackson, the chairman of the selection committee.
The World Championships, the first ever held in the United States, will be held Aug. 29-Sept. 8 at Conseco Fieldhouse and the RCA Dome. Several NBA players
will be competing for foreign teams in the 16-nation field,including six players from the Mavericks.
In addition to LaFrentz and Finley, Steve Nash will play for Canada, Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Bradley for Germany and Wang Zhizhi for China.
China can play a frontline of the 7-foot Wang, 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming — expected to be a top lottery pick in this June's NBA draft and 6-foot-11 Menk Bateer of the Denver Nuggets.
Burke Yugoslavia, the European champion, has a front line that includes NBA players Predrag Drobnjak and Vladimir Radmanovic of Seattle and Zeljko Rebraca
and Ratko Varda of Detroit, along with shooting guard Peja Stojakovic of Sacramento, an NBA All-Star.
Other NBA players in the tournament include Pau Gasol of Spain, Todd MacCulloch and Jamaal Magliore of Canada. Hedo Turkoglu of Turkey and Andrei Kirilenko of Russia.
"It's not just one team. I think every country will be strong," LaFrentz said. "The quality of international basketball has increased, and the USA is definitely a team with a target on its back."
Strawberry back in jail for breaking treatment center rules
The Americans won the gold medal with a team of NBA players in 1994 in Toronto.
The Associated Press
OCALA, Fla. — Darryl Strawberry was jailed yesterday, his 40th birthday, for breaking a rule at the drug treatment center where he had been serving two years of house arrest.
Florida Department of Corrections officials did not provide details of the violation.
The eight-time major league All-Star did not leave the program or test positive for drugs, said Joe Papy, supervisor of probation services in Tampa.
Strawberry was being held without bond in the Marion County Jail and was kicked out of the drug-treatment program at Phoenix House, a residential
facility about 80 miles north of Tampa. He was scheduled to appear Wednesday morning at the Marion County Judicial Center.
"They just said I was discharged from the program," Strawberry said outside the jail.
Strawberry said he had not been accused of fighting or other infractions at the center.
the center. Strawberry was sentenced in May to two years of house arrest at the center following a four-day, cross-state drug binge
prison for violating his probation, which he has already violated five times.
Strawberry faces up to 18 months in
Strawberry's lawyer, Joseph Ficarrotta, was surprised by the arrest and did not immediately have details.
Just before the arrest, Ficarrotta was arranging to get Strawberry into the next phase of the program, then back home to Tampa.
Strawberry's original sentence stemmed from a 1999 conviction for drug possession and solicitation of prostitution.
Strawberry now must return to Tampa to appear before Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Florence Foster, who has offered him many breaks but warned him his chances were running out.
Last month, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said he would give Strawberry a player-development job with the team after he was released.
Steinbrenner left a spring training game in Dunedin without commenting on the arrest and spokesman Rick Cerrone said the Yankees would not comment until they had details of what occurred.
occurred. Strawberry won World Series titles with the New York Mets in 1986 and the Yankees in 1996 and 1999. Along with drug problems, he has undergone operations for colon and stomach cancer. Recent tests showed no signs of the disease.
Ankiel's elbow hampering chances to make season opener
The Associated Press
JUPITER, Fla. — Rick Ankiel won't pitch in a game again until at least next week, jeopardizing his chances of making the St. Louis Cardinals' opening-day roster.
St. Louis hopes Ankiel will be able to face battles in a simulated game by early
next week.
The 22-year-old left-hander, bothered by elbow tendinitis, has made just one start in spring training, giving up six runs in two innings on March 3. The following day he complained of elbow pain, and he hasn't appeared in a game since.
"I think what we decided was don't look too far ahead," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said yesterday. "Let him throw tomorrow, see how he feels. Let him throw Friday, and if everything's OK he faces hitters on Monday, and then we'll see how he feels."
The Cardinals would like Ankiel to make three or four starts to tune up for the season, and there's less than three weeks until the April 1 opener against Colorado.
"Time's running out," general manager Walt Jocketty said. "There's no sense in rushing it. If he's not ready, we'll figure out
from there what we do."
The Cardinals have seven candidates for the starting rotation, which is headed by Matt Morris, Woody Williams and Darryl Kile.
In addition to Ankiel, Bud Smith, Andy Benes and Garrett Stephenson are battling for spots.
Benes, coming off knee surgery following his worst season, has been impressive in three spring starts, allowing three runs in 10 innings. Stephenson, who had reconstructive elbow surgery 11 months ago, has thrown 62-3 scoreless innings.
Ankiel hasn't fared well since throwing
nine wild pitches in four innings during the 2000 playoffs. In the postseason opener against Atlanta, he became the first major league pitcher to throw five wild pitches in one inning since Sept. 15, 1890, when Bert Cunningham did it for Buffalo of the Players League.
Last year, Ankiel was 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA in six starts for the Cardinals, walking 25 in 24 innings. He then went 0-2 with 20.77 ERA in three starts for Triple-A Memphis and 5-3 with a 1.33 ERA in 14 starts at Johnson City of Appalachian Rookie League.