Wednesday. November 4,1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
Yankees' coach keeps winning
Torre recognized as manager of year after Series victory
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Joe Torre, whose patient style and calming influence helped guide the New York Yankees to a record 125 wins and their 24th World Series championship, won The Associated Press manager of the year award yesterday.
"It's nice to get recognition," said Torre, who won the AP NL manager of the year award in 1982 while with Atlanta. Since 1984, only one award has been given for both leagues.
Torre, who won his second Series in three years with New York, received 85 votes from a national panel of writers and broadcasters. San Diego's Bruce Bochy finished second with 48 1/2 votes, followed by the Cubs' Jim Riggleman (20 1/2), Houston's Larry Dierker (10) and Boston's Jim Williams (8).
"During the season we went through, you have one purpose in mind — to win the World Series," Torre said. "All of a sudden, the awards come along, and it's like a cherry on top of a great season. I was just along for the ride."
But Torre did more than just ride
his players to an AL-record 114 wins during the regular season and an 112 postseason mark, capped by a sweep of the San Diego Padres in the World Series.
In the media maelstrom of New York and with a meddlesome owner like George Steinbrenner, Torre didn't flinch when the team started 1-4. He exhibited remarkable patience and kept his team focused on each game even though the Yankees ran away from the rest of the American League by Memorial Day.
"When you go to the All-Star break with 61 wins, you realize this
has a chance to be a pretty damn good team." Torre said. "I was cautious because it's hard to hold the edge that long. It's a man-er's in-ho
"I don't care how good you are, to win as many games as we won is an incredible accomplishment," he said.
always be concerned and cautious
and never look too far forward.
Torre played a major role in that feat by juggling his deep lineup, letting players know their roles, and even calling a team meeting to admonish his team after a particularly lethargic performance at
Joe Torre
"During the season we went through, you have one purpose in mind—to win the World Series. All of a sudden, the awards come along, and it's like a cherry on top of a great season. I was just along for the ride."
New York Yankees manager
Tampa Bay in September.
Torre said his job was little more than writing out a lineup card, making pitching changes and patting guys on the back every once in a while. But his players know that baseball's best team didn't operate on autopilot.
"For the most part, he lets us play," Bernie Williams said during the World Series. "He has a very good idea of what everyone in the room can do and he doesn't expect anything less from us. He doesn't expect anything more from us than to play to our capabilities, and if we're not, he's going to let us hear about it."
Because of Torre's leadership and an extremely talented team, the Yankees won more games — regular and postseason — than any other team in history. Torre said winning more games than any other Yankees team was the ultimate achievement.
said he hasn't seen a better team in his nearly 40 years in baseball.
As for their rank in history, Torre
"You look at the Oakland A's clubs that won a few world championships in a row and the Cincinnati club in '76 that was always a standard for me, I think we have better pitching than they have," he said. "We have to take a backseat to no one in my lifetime."
All of the top five vote-getters led their teams into the playoffs. Bochy won his second division title in four years as a manager, winning a teamrecord 98 games and leading the Padres to their first World Series in 14 years.
Riggleman's Cubs earned the NL wild-card berth and made the playoffs for the first time since 1989. Dierker, in his second year, won his secondNL Central title for the Astros. Williams, in his second year in Boston, earned the AL wild-card berth.
Padres lose Stewart to Toronto Blue Jays
The Associated Press
TORONTO — Dave Stewart has accepted the job of assistant general manager with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Stewart, 41, the pitching coach of the San Diego Padres in 1997, considered an offer from Florida but chose the Blue Jays,
for whom he pitched in 1993 and 1994.
The four-time, 20-game winner helped Toronto win the 1993 WS.
the 1993 World Series after capturing the ALCS MVP award against the Chicago White Sox. He has always had a fondness for Toronto, where he continues to be involved in local charities.
Stewart's goal is to one day become a general manager. He was hired by San Diego as a special assistant in 1997 and took the job of pitching coach after the 1997 season only after he was promised that he would still keep his front office duties.
"I'm excited about the possibilities, but I'm not excited about leaving San Diego," the
41-year-old Stewart said Monday. He said part of his decision has to do with where his 16-year-old daughter would be most comfortable.
His pitching staff was a big reason the Padres reached the World Series this year, where they were swept by the New York Yankees.
With Stewart overseeing a staff bolstered by the addition of ace Kevin Brown, the Padres' pitching staff improved dramatically, from a franchise-worst 4.99 ERA in 1997 to 3.63 this year, third-best in the NL, Atlanta and Houston, which had higher team ERAs than San Diego, were both eliminated by the Padres in the playoffs.
"I had no idea that we'd have the success we had as a staff," said Stewart, who was known for his steely glare when he was a pitcher.
"That was a beautiful thing as far as that I've concerned. For me, I think I've not only gained a relationship with the guys, but I have a personal relationship with them. That's why that worked this year. I got to know my guys."
ABL hopes NBA lockout will help women's basketball
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — No. 23 in the red-trimmed Chicago uniform creates just the right amount of backspin and sinks a smooth jumper.
The Condors hope to lock in fans while the Bulls' players are locked out. Their home arena, the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion, is about two miles from the United Center.
Sound familiar? This time it is not Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls. It is E.C. Hill of the Chicago Condors in the American Basketball League, the newest women's pro-basketball team in town. In fact, it is the only team playing right now.
"Iam sympathetic to the guys; it's unfortunate, but then it couldn't happen at a better time," said Hill, who wears the familiar No. 23 as a tribute to Jordan and Chicago, her hometown. "When you expand into Chicago, you take the good and the bad."
Coach Jim Cleamons, who spent seven years as an assistant coach for the Bulls, said his team was trying to take advantage of the lockout and thought fans would like the women's games.
"If you want the dunks and other things, obviously they
don't have the ability to play above the rim, even though they will play more competitively for 40 minutes than men do."
Cleamons, who also coached the Dallas Mavericks, is part of a heavy Bulls' influence on the first-year team, which starts play Friday against Nashville.
The general manager is Allison Hodges, wife of Craig Hodges, the former Bulls 3-point specialist and now a volunteer assistant for the Condors.
There is also the familiar triangle offense, created by Bulls assistant Tex Winter, a complex series of offensive moves and options designed to get the best shot and confound the best defense.
"We run a lot of the triangle, and we are still trying to get the basics down right now," said Hill, who has played overseas and spent last season under coach K.C. Jones in New England.
Cleamons, who played for nine-years in the NBA and was part of the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers championship team, was fired by the Mavericks last year after less than 1 1/2 seasons and a 20-78 record.
Now he is looking for a place to teach and somewhere to be happy with players who will listen to what he has to offer.
"I am coaching these ladies the same way I coach the men," he said. "The only basic difference here is that they have an agenda, they want to please, they want to be successful, where a lot of the men once they reach the NBA, they think they've already arrived."
"These ladies have been all over the world trying to earn a living and now they have the opportunity to come back home and they certainly appreciate the opportunity before them, something a lot of men take for granted."
Cleamons' roster includes Yolanda Griffith, runner-up for last season's MVP; Joanne McCarthy, the sister of TV personality Jenny McCarthy; and 1984 Olympian Cathy Boswell.
The Bulls' Randy Brown and ex-Bulls guard Pete Myers show up once a week to scrimmage with the Condors. Pippe, the Celtics' Antoine Walker and Toronto's Charles Oakley also have made practice appearances.
"We appreciate them taking the time," Hill said.
Inspection unfair manufacturers say
The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. — Setting up a possible legal showdown with equipment manufacturers, the U.S. Golf Association adopted a controversial test that could make the next generation of golf clubs illegal.
In a related effort to limit the distance that players can drive a golf ball, the USGA also said Monday it would like to update two methods for testing balls.
"These measures will not take balls or clubs out of golfers' bags," USGA executive director David Fay said, asserting that the best players will be affected the most, not the average players.
Club manufacturers, however, have maintained the new test for clubs is not needed because the current crop of high-tech drivers has not changed the game, despite the hoopla surrounding ultra-long hitters such as Tiger Woods and John Daly.
The metal woods, which cost up to $500, have been embraced by many of the nation's 25 million golfers and are credited for sharply increasing club sales to $1.7 billion wholesale in 1997.
The manufacturers also claim the test stifles innovation, is technically flawed and does not measure how golf balls really are struck.
At a September forum near the
USGA's Far Hills headquarters, manufacturers also left little doubt that unless the association withdrew its proposal they would sue.
Ely Calaway, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Callaway Golf, which makes the Big Bertha line, called the club test wrong and bad for golf.
"We know that some people have been peddling the idea that new technology has made the game too easy, particularly for the professionals," Callaway said. "We think that nothing can be further from the truth, as shown by the scores this weekend at the Tour Championship at East Lake Country Club and by the handicaps of average golfers."
Fay said the USGA staff and outside experts considered the manufacturers' critiques of the clubtesting procedure and concluded the test was scientifically valid.
The test was proposed to determine whether clubs violated a provision added to "The Rules of Golf" in 1984 that barred clubheads from having a spring-like effect, which could propel a ball farther.
Current clubs, some designed by rocket scientists and aerospace engineers, use lightweight graphite shafts and titanium to provide a forgiving, oversized clubhead on a longer stick that makes it easier for players to hit the ball farther and straighter.
Fay said the test was developed because the USGA opposed added distance resulting solely from enhancements in equipment with
"We know that some people have been peddling the idea that new technology has made the game too easy, particularly for the professionals. We think that nothing can be further from the truth ..."
Ely Callaway
Founder and CEO of Callaway Golf
no improvement in the player's skill level.
"If history tells us anything, it is that added distance inevitably will lead to longer golf courses, escalating costs and slower play." Fay said.
The USGA executive committee unanimously approved the measures on testing clubs and balls Saturday during its meeting in Far Hills, Fay said. Thirteen of the 16 members attended, and one of the absent members voted by proxy, he said.
Clubs that do not conform to "The Rules of Golf," published by the USGA and its European counterpart, "The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew," Scotland, cannot be used by pro or amateur golfers in competition.
Fay did not know if the European counterpart intended to incorporate the tests, since rules on clubs and balls could be considered independently, but said he hoped it did.
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