Reading Eagle - June 3, 1980

Phils Select Catcher, Mets Select Strawberry

NEW YORK (AP) – The New York Mets selected highly touted outfielder Darryl Strawberry as the No. 1 choice in baseball’s summer free agent draft today.

Strawberry, who also pitched for Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, bats and throws left.  He hit .372 and was 4-1 as a pitcher in his junior year, and batted .400 this season as a senior.

Toronto, choosing second, selected shortstop Gary Harris of Hoover High School in San Diego.

Atlanta followed, selecting left-handed pitcher Kenneth Dayley of Portand (Ore.) University.

Oakland picked left-handed pitcher Michael King of Sioux City, Iowa, then San Diego took Jeff Pyburn, an outfielder from the University of Georgia, whose father, Jim, was a former major leaguer.  Pyburn played quarterback at Georgia.

Seattle chose shortstop Darnell Coles of Rialto, Calif., and San Francisco selected first baseman Jesse Reid of Lynnwood, Calif.

The Chicago White Sox followed with the selection of outfielder Cecil Espy of San Diego.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, choosing No. 9, selected Ross Jones, a shortstop from Hialeah, Fla.  Cleveland selected shortstop Kelly Wayne Gruber from Austin, Texas.

The Chicago Cubs selected right-handed pitcher Donals Schulze of Roselle, Ill.

Minnesota, with the 12^th choice, picked Jeffrey Reed, a catcher from Jolier, Ill.  Philadelphia selected another catcher, Henry Powell, Jr. of Pensacola, Fla.

Texas grabbed Timothy Make, a right-handed pitcher from Huntertown, Ind.  St. Louis chose right-handed pitcher Donald Collins of Newport News, Va., and Kansas City selected right-handed pitcher Frank Wills of Tulane University.

California went for left-handed pitcher Dennis Rasmussen of Creighton University.  Detroit picked third baseman Glen Wilson of Sam Houston State University.

Cincinnati selected right-handed pitcher-shortstop Ronald Robinson of Woodlake Hills, Calif.  Pittsburgh picked shortstop Richard Renteria of Southgate High School in Southgate, Calif.  Atlanta chose James Acker, a right-handed pitcher from the University of Texas.

Montreal chose University of Arizona outfielder Terry Francona, son of ex-major outfielder Tito Francona.  The Mets, with their second and third choices of the first round, picked outfielder William Beane of Rancho Bernardo, Calif., and catcher John Gibbons of San Antonio, Texas.

Milwaukee picked outfielder Dion James of Sacramento, Calif. and Baltimore completed the first round, picking outfielder Jeff Williams of Cincinnati.

At the start of the second round, Toronto announced the signing of its No. 1 choice, Harris

Pirates Beat Phils, 9-3

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Cool heads prevailed, and so did the Pittsburgh Pirates, in the latest renewal of one of baseball’s hottest rivalries.

“Everybody is keyed up, and we really go at each other, but it’s just good, hard baseball,” Manager Chuck Tanner said Monday night after the Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 9-3.

The previous Monday night in Philadelphia, both benches emptied and a few punches were thrown after Bert Blyleven of the Pirates was struck by an alleged retaliatory pitch.

Before the game here, the league office warned both sides that the first warning would be waived on brushback pitches and that such a pitch would bring immediate ejection for the thrower and the manager.  The same had applied in the final three games last week in Philadelphia.

But there were no incidents here as the Pirates made the most of Don Robinson’s eight-hit pitching and some costly Philadelphia errors.

Intense Rivalry

“This is an intense rivalry.  The two best ballclubs in the National League are going at it head-to-head,” said Philadelphia catcher Bob Boone.

“But things that have happened in the past are in the past,” he added after the Phils dropped three games behind the Pirates in the National League East.

‘I said to Dave Parker tonight, “Let’s just play baseball,” said Phillies Manager Dallas Green.  “I think we can keep things under control and keep things calm enough to play the game the way it should be played.”

Robinson, the beefy Pirate righthander who opened the season on the disabled list with a sore shoulder, went the distance for his second win in three decisions.  Robinson, rookie second baseman Vance Law and Dave Parker also drove in two runs each.

“Starting in the seventh inning, I was getting cramps in my left arm,” Robinson said.  “The, in the ninth inning, I got a cramp in my right forearm that kind of made my hand curl up.”

Hurried to Mound

Pirate trainer Tony Bartirome hurried to the mound and rubbed out the cramp before Robinson retired the last three Phillies in order.

With Tim Foli on the disabled list, Dale Berra started at shortstop for the Pirates.  Law played second base for the second game in a row while Phil Garner rested an ailing back.

“At the start of the game I was a little nervous, a little tense.  I know what a big series this is,” said Law.  “But after the first few pitches I settled down.”

The Phillies held a 3-2 lead through four innings.  But the Pirates, capitalizing on two errors by third baseman Mike Schmidt, erupted for five unearned runs in the fifth off losing pitcher Randy Lerch, 1-7.

The Pirate fifth include RBI singles by Parker and Law, who also tripled in the Pirates’ two-run first inning.

Schmidt muffed a grounder by Don Robinson as one run scored in the fifth.  With two out, he made an errant throw past first base that allowed two runs to score.

Robinson, who also singled home two runs in the Pirate sixth, yielded a two-run double by Boone in the first inning and a run-scoring single by Bake McBride in the second.

Bill Madlock, continuing to play while appealing his suspension for a run-in with an umpire, had a double in four appearances for the Pirates.

In the Phillies locker room, Lerch kept his chin up despite his seventh defeat in eight pitching decisions.  He had no complaints about the errors by Schmidt, which opened the way for the Pirates.