Royals' success to center on strong outfield and pitching
FORT MYERS, Fla. (UPI)—Talk to the Kansas City Royals folks for any length of time and you'll find yourself talking about their highly promising young outfield of Lou Piniella, Amos Otis, and Pat Kelly.
From left to right, it looks like this:
Piniella, a righthanded hitter who was "rookie of the year" in the AL last year at 25, is the solid starter in left field. Manager Charlie Metro thinks that in 1970 "he'll certainly be one of our better hitters."
Otis, 22, also right handed, is installed in center field. He was obtained from the New York Mets in exchange for third baseman Joe Foy and the Royals think they have come up with a real star.
The Royals also are convinced they've got a future star in Kelly, a 25-year-old lefthanded hitter. Metro calls him "the most improved guy down here this spring—all around improvement."
The infield is set only at second, where ex-Red Soxer Jerry Adair, who hit 250, holds forth,
Jayhawks headed for Texas Relays
The University of Kansas track team begins competitive battling for watches at the 43rd annual Texas Relays with seven individuals and five relays entered, but without NCAA shotput champion Karl Salb.
and shortstop, where Jack Hernandez, despite his low average last year, has been designated "my shortstop, period" by Metro. First base is a platooning proposition between lefthanded Mike Fiore, 274, and righthanded Bob Oliver, 254.
It was decided late this week by track coach Bob Timmons that Salb would remain home to concentrate on his studies while a majority of the track team would travel to Austin. Last year, Salb led teammates Steve Wilhelm and Doug Knop to a sweep in the shotput and finished fourth in the discus.
This will be the first competition for the Jayhawks since their crushing 99-55 defeat to UCLA last Saturday in Los Angeles. The track team will remain at less than full strength as distance man Roger Kathol is still suffering from poison oak and half-miler Dennis Stewart is ailing with a leg problem. Spinner Marvin Foster will also not compete because of an ankle injury.
Not all is gloomy as the Hawks approach this weekends competition. Jim Neihouse and Mike Solomon, who preformed their best at UCLA, will be running legs on some of the relays. Neihouse won the 880 with a career low of 1:49.0 and Solomon finished third in the mile with his personal best of 4:06.0.
Last year at Austin, KU won the 880 relay, finished second in the distance medley and four mile and was third in the sprint medley and two-mile.
Preliminary line up for this year's competition is:
440 relay — Frank Johnson, Phil Reaves, Julio Meade, Mickey Mathews
Paul Schaal, who hit .374 at Omaha and .263 for the Royals, has the inside track at third base, but Ed Kirkpatrick, Fred Rico, Dennis Paepke, Bill Harris, and Oliver Ally are contenders.
880 relay — Johnson, Mathews,
Reaves, Meade
6 KANSAN Apr. 3
1970
SENIORS LAST CHANCE Jayhawker Senior Picture Sunday April 5 3-5 p.m. Jayhawker Office
Metro has a four-way scrap going for the No. 1 catching job among John "Bucky" Martinez, .229, Jim Campanis, .157, Ellie Rodriguez, .236, and Paepke, who hit 5 at Omaha.
Four-mile relay — Neihouse,
McElroy, Doug Smith, Solomon
Sprint Medley relay — Johnson
(220), Meade (220) Randy Julian
(440), Brian McElroy (880)
Distance Medley relay — Neihouse
(880), Meade (440), Smith
1,320), Solomon (mile)
Pole Vault — Jan Johnson, Bill
Hatcher
Long Jump — Reaves
Javelin — Sam Colson
Three mile — Jay Mason
Shotput — Wilhelm, Knop
Discus — Knop, Wilhelm
The Royals appear a bit better fixed for relief pitching than for starting pitching, Veteran righthander Moe Drabowsky, who was 11-9 with a 2.94 earned run average and 11 saves last year, is the top fireman and could get a lot of help from Bob Johnson, who came from the Mets' organization where he was 13-4 at Memphis. Righthander Wally Bunker, 12-11 was the staff's top winner last year and figures again to be the No. 1 starter. Others in the front firing line are lefty Bill Butler 10-10, Dick Drago 11-13, Dave Morehead 2-3, Roger Nelson 7-13, Mice Hedland 3-6 and
But if the Royals, who got off to a staggering start in spring training by losing 12 of their first 17, are going to catch fire, it's the outfield that will have to strike the matches.
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Griff's will give you a 10$ drink Free with the purchase of one of our tasty Fish Sandwiches for only 35$. Come in this weekend and take advantage of this SPECIAL.
International Club presents...
the second of its exchange programs with Haskell Institute. Be a guest of the International Club this Friday night when members of Haskell Institute will perform native American dances before an international audience. At the Union Ballroom, 7:30 p.m., April 3rd.
Admission Free Everyone Invited Sponsored by International Club
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by FREEMAN