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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, December 13, 1969
Atlanta pitcher wants commissioner job
By MILTON RICHMAN UPI Sports Writer
NEW YORK (UPI)—The year's two biggest upsets were perpetrated by a pair of Greek boys.
One of them, Aristotle Onassis, shocked the world by marrying Jacqueline Kennedy, and the other one, Spiro Agnew, shocked himself by winning the Vice Presidency.
Now here comes another young fellow of Greek ancestry (an open admirer of the other two by the way) with a shocker of his own.
His name is Milt Pappas, he's a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, and he'd like to be the next baseball commissioner. That's right, the next baseball commissioner.
Milt officially threw his hat in the ring at his home in Baltimore and if he ever gets the job, forget about the two upsets by those other Greek boys. This will be bigger than both of 'em.
Pappas proved he wasn't kidding about the commissionership when he sat still for some questions Tuesday. He said he'd try answering them all. And he did.
Q. Are you serious about this?
A. Very serious. I don't
think this is anything to fool around about.
Q. What makes you so qualified for the job?
A. I think it's the most important one in baseball and I'd like someone to get it who knows the players' side, the owners' side and the fans' side. Basically, a young man is needed. Someone to grow with the job.
Someone who has imagination and can speak without having to go to all 24 owners. The next commissioner should be a man who sits in on all player-owner negotiations. As a player representative for five years, I have. I honestly feel I know both sides from seeing and being in on so many negotiations.
Q. Don't you imagine people would laugh if a ball player was named commissioner?
A. They might at first but they wouldn't after they became accustomed to him. After a while, if he did a good job, he wouldn't be laughed at. They laughed at Mike Burke when he first took over the Yankees, didn't they? They don't laugh at him anymore.
E. Where do you think Bill Eckert failed as commissioner?
A. The man wasn't brought up in baseball. He was thrown into an office he knew nothing
Fencers travel to Illinois
KU fencers will encounter a talented array of opponents when they enter the Illinois Intercollegiate Invitational tomorrow in Champaign-Urbana.
"The only tougher tournament is the Nationals," Ken Muller, a KU epee fencer, said.
Muller took a fourth place in epee in this meet last year. Player-coach Steve Keeler was awarded a fourth in men's foil to mark the first time that two KU fencers have reached the finals in the Illinois Invitational.
At least seven fencing squads will compete in tomorrow's meet, Muller said. Some of the colleges represented by teams include: University of Missouri, Kansas City; Iowa State University; Wayne State University; the University of Wisconsin and the University of Illinois.
Each of these teams will enter four fencers in the tournament's three events - epee, sabre and
men's foil. Individual awards will be given out to the top finishers.
KU's fencers showed strength in two of these events in last Saturday's dual meet with the alums even though the alums held a slim 14-13 edge in bouts.
The men's foil trio of Steve Keller, Bob Daly and Mat Begert won five of nine bouts with the alums.
The epee team of Pat Christman, Dave Christiansen and Earl Clark registered a 6-3 record in their bouts with former KU fencers. Christman, Christiansen and Clark each posted two victories against one setback.
The KU alums, however, trimmed the varsity on bout victories 14-13 by winning seven of nine nabre bouts.
With last Saturday's triumph, the KU alumni team maintained its dominance over the Jayhawk varsity team for the fourth straight year.
Chiefs seek title against Denver
By STEVE SMILANICH UPI Sports Writer
The Kansas City Chiefs hit the warpath across the plains into the Rockies this weekend shooting for a record number of season victories and the American Football League's Western Division championship.
The Chiefs tangle with the Denver Broncos Saturday afternoon in the Mile High City and are heavy favorites to whip the Broncos. A victory would assure the Chiefs of a tie for the division title and push their regular season victory output to a record high of 12.
On Sunday the Chiefs will be glued to their television sets watching the other half of the Western Division title-deciding finale at San Diego pitting the Chargers against the defending champion Oakland Raiders.
A combination of a Kansas City triumph and an Oakland defeat would give the Chiefs the division crown and the right to meet the Eastern winner New York Jets in the AFL title game at Shea stadium Dec. 29.
If both Kansas City and Oakland win they would end up tied with 12-2 records and a playoff game would be played in Oakland the weekend of Dec. 21-22.
The Jets tuneup for the championship playoff by taking on Miami in the Orange Bowl while Boston closes its disastrous campaign on the road against Houston.
about. He had to be told everything. That wouldn't have been the case had he been a baseball man. He wouldn't have had to go to committees for everything. I don't blame William D. Eckert. I blame the club owners for putting him in that spot.
Henry...please come home! Mother has given me a new fabulous FIAT 1100-R so I don't need yours. So Henry, please come home! Why don't you stop in and make friends with a fabulous FIAT ...and watch it turn into love!
PERSONAL
Q. What ideas do you personally have for improving baseball?
A. For one thing, I'd consult the players before trying to change the rules. Now there's talk about lowering the mound. Did they ever take into account that a pitcher can hurt himself physically by throwing from a lower one? Then there's the question about two 12-club leagues.
Better Baseball
Why not have three leagues of eight clubs each instead? An eastern division, a central divi-
Midwest Imports 1035 Minnesota Ave. Kansas City, Kansas
day and age. By doing something different it has more appeal. You have to think ahead. Why be conservative all the time?
Q. What do you think the commissioner's chief function should be?
Chief Function
sion and a western division. I think inter-league games are vital for the improvement of baseball, and I also think the fans should be polled about their ideas on how the game could be played quicker.
A. To have baseball's best interest at heart and to be able to see both sides, the players' and the owners'. I don't think you need to be a U.S. Supreme Court judge to do the job right.
Q. Say by some miracle you did become commissioner, would you quit pitching?
A. Definitely. The commissionership is no part-time job. Come to think of it, though, that would be something, wouldn't it? Player-commissioner. I mean.
Q. What do you think of your chances of getting the job?
Q. You do favor changing the baseball structure from the traditional to the modern, more progressive, don't you?
A. I'd have to say yes. Baseball is just like anything else in this
A. Not too good. I realize the owners are the ones who make the choice and it's going to be a long, long time before they're ever going to go for a ballplayer.
Georgia defense is nation's best
NEW YORK (UPI)—Georgia's unbeaten, once-tied Bulldogs led the nation's major college football teams in scoring defense this year while Miami of Ohio ranked second in three major departments, it was disclosed today by the National Collegiate Sports Services.
The NCSS figures showed that Georgia 8-0-2 allowed 12 touchdowns, 12 extra points and four goal fields in 10 games for a total of 98 points and an average of 9.8 per game.
Arizona State led in rushing defense with 570 yards allowed on 403 plays for a 1.4 yard-perplay average; Kent State led in pass defense, allowing an average of 107.6 yards per game for 10 games and Wyoming led in total defense with an average of 206.8 yards allowed in each of 10 games.
Miami was second in rushing defense 77.5 yards a game, in total defense 232.4 yards per game and scoring defense 9.9 points a game.
Rose awarded
CINCINNATI (UPI) - Outfielder Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds was named winner of the 1968 "Hutch Award" in balloting by major league baseball writers and broadcasters.
The award is given to the major league player who best typifies the fierce competitive desire and spirit of former major league manager and pitching star Fred Hutchinson, who died of cancer in 1964.
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