Allentown Morning Call - October 6, 1980
Schmidt at peace with himself
By Ted Meixell, Call Sports Writer
MONTREAL – Mike Schmidt was relaxed.
Oh, sure, Mike Schmidt is ALWAYS relaxed. But. as he chatted amiably with reporters in the Phils' dugout before yesterday's season finale against the Expos – one he'd personally rendered meaningless with one mighty swing of the bat about 18 hours earlier – you could tell this was different.
He was totally at peace with himself, the inner contentment was apparent in his eyes.
"Yes. I guess you could say we're shy – that might be the word," he said in reference to himself, Garry Maddox. Bake McBride and several other teammates. "We sure wouldn't win any popularity contests for promoting ourselves. In fact, this is the first opportunity I've taken to sit with a bunch of reporters and promote myself."
The Phils' fourth National League East pennant in five years was safely tucked away. So too, it would seem, was the N.L. Most Valuable Player award for Mike Schmidt. He discussed the things he feels have led to his vast improvement as a hitter and the dynamics of hitting. He discussed the emotional side of baseball.
He discussed Mike Schmidt the author – he's writing a book, one that will be published shortly before spring training next year and entitled. "Always on the Offense." And he discussed Dallas Green the manager and Mike Schmidt the future manager.
He pointed to a series just before the 1979 All-Star break as the beginning of his increased success as a hitter. "That's when I made the decision to move back off the plate," he said. "As a power hitter, a guy who likes to get his arms extended, I was always much too vulnerable to being pitched inside.
"The Dodgers convinced me of that. They used to pound me in here," he said, gesturing with his hands at a point just in front of the "P" on his uniform. "Those pitches always looked so good, but I had to open up real quick to hit them and I hit a lot of foul home runs. I couldn't understand it. But, prior to the Dodgers coming to town that time, I backed off the plate about eight inches and said, 'Okay, NOW pitch me inside.'
"Now that same pitch is very comfortable. Sure, I'm so vulnerable on the outside-low pitch, it's pitiful. But when I get it, I have to keep my left shoulder in and stride into the ball like Brett (George) and Carew (Rod) do. I've become a better 'mistakes hitter,' pitchers' mistakes. And I've cut down on the number of games when I don't get any hits at all."
The Phils' slugger has always been a streak hitter, sometimes blowing very hot. sometimes cold. "You know, he said, I've accomplished some things even when I wasn't hot – some walks, an occasional base hit. But sometimes I got so hot, that when I wasn't it looked to some that I was doing nothing.
"But just when you think you've got this game all figured out, it'll put you back in your place in a hurry. Like I've been on some tears that when I walked up to the plate I just knew I was at least going to first base. There was one in particular, but the first thing you know we had that fight with Kison (Bruce) in Pittsburgh, I hurt my hand – and the streak was over.
"So I try never to get too high or too low just because of my respect for the game of baseball. Right now, for example, I'm going real well. But I could've gone 0-for-20 the past week and I'd still feel I could go out and hit seven home runs in" five games and put us right in the World Series. If you take that attitude toward the game, I think, it minimizes the frustrations."
Schmidt's intense study of the dynamics of hitting, as he calls it, "the dynamics of hitting an object – a baseball, a golf ball, a tennis ball – with the right form and technique," has led to the book. He's been working on it for a couple years with co-author Barbara Walder.
"It's a teaching tool," he said, "my views of the techniques of hitting. There's also a lot about my own career and the players I've played with and against. And there's a lot about today's athlete, the high-priced, high-salaried player – how I see him as compared to the old-timer who didn't have the opportunity to make so much money."
A reporter changed the subject to managing. Was he surprised to hear that Dallas Green would "prefer not to manage next year" if the Phillies win. the World Series?
"Not really," Schmidt said. "I don't know how he feels, what traumas have been in his life because of the job. And," he added with a grin, "there ARE traumas involved in managing this team.
"Dallas seems to me to be a very strong-willed guy who wants to conquer a challenge."
How do you feel he's handled the challenge? "I'll give him an A-minus," Schmidt responded. "I think if you look at it closely, there've really been no major changes (since the Danny Ozark regime). He started out real tough, but we've compromised. For example, I know he likes to see all his regulars take infield practice all the time. I think he realizes now I HATE to take infield practice. We compromise on that, and it's worked out well.
"Dallas rates an A-plus for the way he's handled his pitchers; that's been his strongest suit. But at times, he's been a little too truthful with the press (a reference to Green's penchant for laying his thoughts on the line for the media, even when it means negative ink for players on occasion), so, overall, give him an A-minus.
"A guy asked Schmidt if he could close his eyes and envision himself managing in 1995.
"I'd love it," he replied, never batting an eyelash. And then he trotted off for a television interview.
● ● ●
NOTES "I'd be inclined not to manage next year if we win it all," Green said before sending his rookies out to play out the string with the Expo jayvees. "If we lose… well, I would feel that I hadn't accomplished what I'd set out to do. If I didn't come back I'd at least like to have a lot to say in who was chosen... Green has named probable Cy Young Award winner Steve Carlton to open the League Championship Series against either the Dodgers or the Astros tomorrow night (8:15 p.m.) at Veterans Stadium. Dick Ruthven will go in the second game. "After that," he said, "it depends on who we face.
Green acknowledged that the Phils have petitioned N.L. President Chub Feeney and Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for the purpose of having sensational rookie pitcher Marty Bystrom added to the playoff and World Series roster. Would he figure in the starting rotation if approved? "He very well could," Green said. "He's pitched just super for us in pressure situations and he's shown the club and me that he can handle the pressure. And that's the name of the game in a five-game series."
The Phils would have to place another pitcher on the disabled list to make Bystrom, 5-0 in September, eligible. Perhaps more importantly, they'd have to convince Feeney or Kuhn that the guy going on the D.L. was legitimately injured.
Shortstop Larry Bowa ended his boycott of the media following Saturday's clincher. He appeared very relieved – certainly more relaxed than ' he's been in weeks. And the press guys were glad to welcome back an old friend.
White’s home run gives Expos 8-7 win
MONTREAL (AP) – Jerry White slammed a three-run home run with two out in the 10th inning to lift the Montreal Expos to an 8-7 victory over the National League East champion Philadelphia Phillies yesterday.
Chris Speier started the rally by beating out an infield single against loser Warren Brusstar, 2-2. Pinch-hitter Willie Montanez singled him to third before White unloaded on a 0-1 pitch.
The blow made a winner of reliever Charlie Lea, 7-5, who hurled the final two innings and allowed two runs in the top of the 10th.
Philadelphia had taken a 7-5 lead when Montreal shortstop Jerry Manuel's two-base throwing error allowed Ozzie Virgil to score one run, and the Phils added another run on John Vukovich's single.
Opinion: In a proud ‘region’ of champions
Proud? You bet we are.
Eastern Pennsylvania hasn't been known as the region of champions. That honor has been reserved for Western Pennsylvania, specifically for Pittsburgh, "City of Champions." But take a look at what's been happening around here lately.
● Larry Holmes, the unbeaten "Easton Assassin," came home Saturday to a hero's reception any lingering doubts removed that he is the premier heavyweight boxer in the sport today. Last Thursday night he became one of the few to beat the legendary Muhammad Ali and the only one to knock him out.
Holmes is a low-key man and he got what he wanted, a low-key reception. But in defending his World Boxing Council title successfully for the eighth consecutive time he was anything but low-key. That eighth win broke the record of Joe Louis and it was convincing: Holmes won every round of the match that was halted when Ali failed to answer the bell for the 11th.
Typically, Holmes walked to Ali's corner after the fight. He said: "I told him, 'I love you and respect you.' I told him, 'You can come to my house and I hope I can come to yours. If you need any help, please call me.'"
He displayed his "class" when he told reporters after the fight, "I'll always respect the man (Ali)," the man with whom he sparred for three years before his own career began flourishing.
Holmes may be the brightest of the Eastern Pennsylvania stars, but he's not the only one.
● Just a few weeks ago we saluted the Lehigh Valley-based Pennsylvania Stoners. They defeated the defending champion Sacramento Spirit, 2-1, on Sept. 18 in Allentown School District Stadium to win the American Soccer League championship in their second year of competition.
● And on Saturday night the Philadelphia Phillies did what many of their strongest partisans, including thousands from the Lehigh Valley area, thought was impossible. They won their second consecutive victory over the Montreal Expos to clinch their fourth National League East baseball championship in five years.
They didn't do it in classic fashion. The Phils committed five errors. But after tying the rain-delayed game 4-4 in the ninth, "The Tug & Mike Show" took over. Tug McGraw retired nine of the 10 Expos he faced as relief pitcher, and Mike Schmidt hit his 48th home run of the season for the 6-4, 11-inning victory.
The Phils have fared poorly in past playoffs but they now have the opportunity to try a fourth time. They'll open against the winner of today's cliff-hanger between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League West championship at 8:15 p.m. tomorrow in Veterans Stadium.
● You may have forgotten, but earlier this year two other Philadelphia teams, the Flyers and the 76ers, took championship playoffs down to the wire. The Flyers were runners-up in the National Hockey League, as were the 76ers in the National Basketball Association.
● Finally, if neither Dick Vermeil not his Eagles are talking Super Bowl now, they're playing superior football. They brought their record to 4 wins, 1 loss, yesterday with a convincing 24-14 triumph over the Washington Redskins. They have 11 tough regular-season games to go, but we like their style.
Champions? Eastern Pennsylvania has a lot of them this year, and we'll join in cheering them on. Thanks, Larry Holmes, Pennsylvania Stoners, Philadelphia Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and 76ers, for a lot of sporting thrills.