It’s about time for sports fans to display some clout

By Ray W. Kelly of the Courier-Post

PHILADELPHIA – It's finally here. The sports world has entered the Golden Age of Clout. Everybody has power and influence that he's just itching to throw around. Everyone, that is, except the average fan.

For some strange reason, he thinks it's a pleasure and an honor to spend his money and time to get at the very end of the VIP line. He might be the only one in sports who doesn't stick up for himself.

Think about it. While the fans are up north freezing and fretting, for example, baseball players are spending as much time preparing for a strike as they are getting ready to perform. At the same time, the owners, who can't even force themselves to stop spending like drunks at an auction, keep sending wave after wave of lawyers and accountants against the indestructible Marvin Miller.

Umpires cry foul when someone else's strike is settled more easily than their own. Their picket line, if you recall, was aimed squarely at a general public who thinks it has no other choice than to accept another round of lumps. "

Oh, there's a little satisfaction in watching the dust fly when the umpires, suddenly confronted with a taste of today's violent world, demand retribution and vow they will resort to vigilante tactics if they aren't satisfied with the final outcome.

But the umpires don't have their favorite teams uprooted and moved to another city. They don't watch helplessly as their childhood heroes take a hike to another league. And they don't have to take out a loan to buy the kids a hot dog and soda.

Television pulls the purse strings tighter around the necks of teams that have become dependent upon their annual financial fix. And, as if by magic, traditional starting times and dates of even the most sacred events are altered. For the "good of the game," of course.

Agents who would make 007 look like Maxwell Smart are everywhere, terrifying executives with machine-gun bursts of small print and cementing their clients so solidly in place that it takes an armored division to send them from one team to another.

Down on the farm, the only ones who cry themselves to sleep at night are the coaches, who try to teach a kid how to bunt and are informed in no uncertain terms that they are violating the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and Magna Charta.

Fans around the country are getting scoreboard advertising rammed down their throats without a whimper while 25 guys who would probably play ball for nothing inform the front office that the entire team wants a 20-year, no-cut, no-trade big league contract whether the team finishes in last place or not. Otherwise, everyone is going to Canada.

One minute a peanut farmer is telling the country to forget the Olympics. And the next, some banker is deciding that he is the best judge about how much a football coach should earn for turning chicken pellets into Chicken Delight.

As for the chicken himself (the one in San Diego), even he has the gizzard to fight a heavyweight legal brawl over the disposition of his feathery butt while the feelings of the chicken's following were ignored.

All the while, pacifists in every stadium are told how great they are. And like dogs getting their bellies scratched, they roll over and play dead.

The Phillies game that started at 7:35 p.m. Monday and ended at 3:1 1 a.m. Tuesday is a classic example of how the true interest of the fans is so easily misplaced.

When a crowd of 28,000 trudges into the dismal night to watch a team as bad as the Giants play the Phillies, it deserves a little bit more than five hours of waiting for an umpire to decide if it's raining.

The players, of course, were outraged. The Phillies' brass, which did not have the final say in the debacle, lost more in image than it gained at the gate. If baseball is a business, then the umpires shouldn't have been so obsessed with getting the game into the record books. The people are what should have mattered.

Out of all those fans, only two decided they'd had enough and filed suit in court on behalf of the other 27,998 losers. But they've got little chance of success. Already the offices of the commissioner and representatives of the National League, the Players Association and umpires are burying the entire matter in an often-used grave called, "We haven't heard anything."

Of course no one has heard anything. No one is going to hear anything until the sporting fans of America learn to speak with one voice.

Wouldn't it be interesting if every fan kicked in a dollar and hired Marvin Miller and F. Lee Bailey to represent their interests?

Within a year, it would be sunshine, easy chairs, free refreshments and a lifetime, 50-yard line, center-court, behind-the-dugout seat for everyone!

Phils Float on Lefty’s Arm, Bombs by Schmidt and Bull

Philadelphia 3, San Diego 1

By Harry Hoffman, Press Sports Writer

PHILADELPHIA — “Cy Young must have looked something like that to get an award named after him,” Philadelphia Phillies’ Manager Dallas Green said, referring to his own pitching ace, Steve Carlton, who brought his season record to 11-2 with a 3-1 win over San Diego Saturday night at Veterans Stadium. 

However, Cy Young or not, Green still chose to pinch-hit for the two-time Cy Young Award winner in the bottom of the eighth inning with runners on first and second and two men out. 

“I'm looking for another run or two in that situation. It was not a matter of my feeling Steve was tired, although he did wade through a rather tough eighth inning (ex-Phil Dave Cash driving in the lone Padre run),” said Green, who didn't get a run in return for the move. “It’s my job to make those kind of decisions on this team, so I make them." 

Danny Ozark, strong man that he is, shied away from pulling Carlton in any kind of similar situation during his long tenure as Phils manager. Green obviously shies away from nothing. 

While Carlton was striking out a season-high 13 batters and spacing nine hits to retain his No. 1 ranking among pitchers in both leagues, the Boffo twins supplied the offense. 

Greg Luzinski hit a towering drive over the left-field barrier in the third inning for home run No. 15. That came with Mike Schmidt on first after drawing a walk from loser Steve Mura, 0-2. 

Schmidt was the leadoff man in the fifth inning when he bashed a hanging curve over the same barrier for his 20th homer, tops in both leagues. Schmidt also improved his major-league leading runs-batted-in total to 49.

“Everyone knows, especially the pitchers, I’m not a real great curve ball hitter. So I’ll take every homer I can get off a curve," Schmidt said. “I'll tell you this, Mura is a real nice pitcher. If the Padres don’t want him, we’ll take him real fast.” 

That may sound like tampering. But it is just an expression of fact from the team’s top offensive player, who realizes the Phils are still in dire need of additional front line pitching if they are to challenge Pittsburgh and Montreal for the top spot in the Eastern Division. 

Last night, the Phils picked up a game on both the teams in front of them. They pulled within 3½ games of division-leading Montreal and 1½ games behind the second-place Pirates. 

By striking out 13, Carlton equaled a National League season standard reached twice by Houston’s J.R. Richard. Carlton still has a sizeable overall lead with 118 whiffs to 98 by the bullet-throwing Astro. 

Tug McGraw came on in the ninth inning to record his fifth save. 

“Another reason I took Steve out is to steal an inning for him whenever I can. When you got a guy as consistent as he is, you try to keep him strong,” Green said. “He got a real tough one during that rain game Monday night. So if you can save him a few pitches tonight, you try to do it.” 

Carlton, using his slider for the strikeout pitch most of the time, fanned seven in the first three innings. 

“Maybe his fastball wasn’t as strong as usual. But when you can break off sliders like he was doing tonight, it makes the fastball look that much tougher,” Green said. 

Carlton has won six in a row. In his last eight starts, he has six victories and two no-decisions. His earned-run-average is down to 1.77, placing him second behind the 1.50 of Richard. 

Carlton wasn’t around to talk about his tremendous feats. He never is. But right now, his pitching is talking loud enough.