SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday. October 19, 1994
3B
Bucks, top draft pick still talking contract
Robinson, club have $40 million difference
The Associated Press
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks took the unusual step yesterday of going public with their contract offer — $60 million guaranteed over nine years — to top draft pick, Glenn Robinson.
They went even further by confirming exactly what Robinson's asking for: $100 million over 13 years. That's four years and $40 million more than the Bucks want to pay, coach and general manager Mike Duneleay said in a news conference that was billed as a chance to set the record straight for fans.
"I hope at some point sanity will come into play." Dunleave said.
Robinson, the nation's leading scorer with Purdue last season, has missed the first two weeks of training camp.
Dunleave made the club's latest offer to Robinson last week. Robinson and his agent, Charles Tucker, countered with a proposal for "an inflexible 13 years" and $100 million, Bucks vice president John Steinmüller said.
"We feel it is unreasonable," said Steinmiller, who added that the Bucks weren't trying to pressure Robinson by disclosing contract details.
Tucker didn't immediately return a telephone message left at his East Lansing, Mich., office. He has never confirmed that Robinson wants $100 million, but has said that Robinson is seeking a lifetime deal.
Steinmiller called the club's offer the highest ever made to an NBA rookie. While the proposal isn't as lucrative as second-year guard Anfernee Hardaway's nine-year, $70 million contract with Orlando or as long-term as veteran forward Larry Johnson's 12-year pact with Charlotte, Steinmiller said the Bucks were guaranteeing a record amount of years and dollars.
"It is aggressive. We feel it reflects how we feel about Glenn Robinson and his importance to this organization," Steinmiller said. "Glenn Robinson deserves such an offer."
The contract offer calls for a first-year salary of $2.9 million and yearly increases of 30 percent, the maximum that the NBA allows. Steinmiller said that the pact was guaranteed, with no incentive clauses or performance goals.
Steinmiller called the offer "significantly above market value." He said the team had come up from its original offer but was at its upper limits financially.
"As we know, there is a limit to the risk we could take for our franchise," Steinmiller said.
Steinmiller said the Bucks were continuing negotiations and were not going to trade their rights to Robinson.
"There's a greater chance of Madonna starting at point guard opening night than of a trade for Glenn Robinson," he said.
Felipe Alou named manager of year
Expos manager gets National League title
NEW YORK — Under other circumstances, Felipe Alon might have been trying this week to lead the Montreal Expos to their first World Series.
The Associated Press
He wound up a winner Monday,
although not in the way he wanted.
Alou, whose young Expos had the best record in the majors when the players went on strike, was a near-unanimous choice as National League manager of the year.
"This is very gratifying," he said from his home in the Dominican Republic. "But I would trade this for a playoff spot. The one regret I have is that we didn't complete the regular season."
Alou received 27 of 28 first-place votes. Dallas Green of the New York Met, a team that bounced back from
the worst record in baseball in 1993,
got the other first-place vote.
"I'm glad that our players produced the manager of the year," Alou said.
Alou, 59, was hired as manager on May 22, 1992, after Tom Runnells was fired, and the Expos have shown steady improvement since then. They went 70-55 under Alou in 1992, 94-68 in 1993 and were 74-40 this season when the strike began Aug 12.
The Expos, who trailed Atlanta by 81/2 games in mid-April, led the Braves by six games when the season stopped. Had the season continued, the second round of the National League playoffs would've been held this week.
"I believe a lot of people realize that after three years of solid progress we have a super club," Alou said. "Unfortunately, it didn't produce a flag, but we saw the development of our young players."
Alou, whose even-handed style made him a favorite of his players, said watching prospects progress
into big league talents was his favorite part of the job. Along the way, he's gotten to see his son, Moises, become an All-Star outfielder for Montreal and his nephew, Mel Rojas, become a top reliever for the Expos.
Alou received one second-place vote and finished with 138 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
"I thought to be manager of the year, you had to manage Barry Bonds," Alou said.
Instead, the Expos had an offense built around Moises Alou, Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom and 23-year-old shortstop Wil Cordero, and a pitching staff featuring starters Ken Hill and 23-year-old Pedro Martinez.
The Expos succeeded this season despite losing pitcher Dennis Martinez to free agency and trading second baseman Delino DeShields last winter. The team also has recently lost several key people in the front office, including general manager Dan Duquette, to the Boston Red Sox.
Montreal is facing the possible loss of Walker to free agency this offseason, and may have trouble signing high-salaried reliever John Wetteland and Grissom.
"A lot of people thought we couldn't win when we lost someone like Dennis Martinez," Alou said. "But we still have some outstanding young players and tremendous talent still coming up from the farm system."
Alou, the first Dominican manager in the majors, is the second Montreal manager to win the award. Buck Rodgers was National League manager of the year in 1987.
Alou, a three-time All-Star outfielder, played briefly for the Expos in 1973. He joined the Montreal organization as an instructor in 1976, managed successful Expos teams in Class A, Double-A and Triple-A.
The award was announced two weeks earlier than last year because of the shortened season. The American League manager of the year was scheduled to be announced today.
Aluminum may rule, but wooden bats persist
Bv Ed Reinke
The Associated Press
Co. since 1884.
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — It's the smell that catches your attention as you walk into the factory. You raise your nose a bit to gather in the scent, like an Irish setter who has just caught wind of a pheasant.
It is the aroma of scorched wood.
While major league baseball park around the country sit idle because of the player's strike, Hillerich & Bradsby continues to turn Louisville Slugger wood bats at a rate of 1.4 million a year.
From the plant just across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky., most bats end up in the hands of amateur players. But the finest pieces of lumber still make their way to places like Busch Stadium, Camden Yards and Fenway Park.
The freshly lasted white ash is scorched to help seal the grain. The new bats also are branded with names like Griffey Jr., Mattingly, Gwynn and Bagwell — the current crop of baseball hitting heroes. They are the latest in a long list of names that have been branded into bats by the Hillerich & Bradsby
Only a handful of other companies still produce wooden bats. Much of the market has shifted to aluminum. Hillerich & Bradsby makes about 300 different models of professional bats now. But their files are packed with over 20,000 specification
cards of the great — and not so great — sluggers of the past 110 years.
today's hitters prefer lighter bats, with thinner handles and larger barrels. Babe Ruth set his home run mark with a 42-ounce bat. Hank Aaron broke it with a 33-ounce model.
Nearly all of today's bats are turned from northern white ash. Its strength and resiliency translate into the power and drive required by today's hitters.
Hillerich & Bradsbysy about 5,000 acres of timberland in Pennsylvania and New York. Combined with the purchases of additional timber from other sources, the company uses some 40,000 trees to produce a season's worth of bats.
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Attention Pre-Education Students
Pre-Education advising sessions for the Spring semester will be held October 19 and 20. Space is limited! Only those students who have signed up in advance in 117 Bailev Hall will be admitted.
Wednesday, October 19
Location: Kansas Union Parlors
7:00-8:15 p.m. (Elementary, Elementary/Middle, Middle)
8:30-9:45 p.m. (Middle/Secondary, Secondary)
Thursday, October 20
Location: Kansas Union Jayhawk Room
7:00-8:15 p.m. (Middle/Secondary, Secondary)
8:30-9:45 p.m. (Elementary, Elementary/Middle, Middle)
Bring: Permit to Enroll, a Catalog, and a Timetable.
This play is our entry in the original scripts competition of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival XVII.
Sault Scott, Pinkett, Tara Graves, Josh Dine, Kevin Corner, Steve Bryce
Hollander, Sandra Gray, Randall Grays, Karen Cline Winger & Charles Whitman
Directed by Paul Stephen Lim / Designed by Kaye Miller
8 PM Oct. 20-22 and 2:30 PM Oct. 23
General Admission $5
Lawrence Arts Center (9th & Vermont)
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