The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 22

B-6 The Daily Pantagraph, Aug. 24, 1980 8 George, even 'Baseball Men' like Brett pitchers grooving the ball to the batters' as today, but it had been 11 seasons since Bill Terry hit .401 for the Giants. And statisticians already had proclaimed it a relic of the past. Pressure Neither was there the extensive media attention in Williams' day, but there was sufficient pressure to buckle a man, especially one with the dogged pride and ego of Williams. Brett is performing in a brighter, broader spotlight but he doesn't seem consumed by that same fierce drive for immortality.

If he hits .400, fine. If he doesn't, there will still be enough cheeseburgers and snuff to go the Boston clubhouse worker. They stopped a couple times for ice cream for Teddy and scotch for Sunday was cold and wet and Williams was tired and miserable. There were only 10,000 in the chilled stands, drawn by curiosity of a .400 average. No help When Ted first came to bat, the Philadelphia catcher, Frankie Hayes, said, "Ted, Mr.

Mack told us if we let up on you, he'd run us out of baseball. I wish you all the luck in the world, but we're not giving you a damn thing." (This, too, has been known to happen, "The night before the doubleheader, Joe Cronin offered to take me out of the lineup to preserve my .400," said Williams. "They used to do that. Jimmy Foxx lost a batting championship to Buddy Myer one year when he sat out the last game and Myer got two hits." (They still do it, Ted. Carew has spent a few closers on the bench to avoid risking a league leading average.) In typical Williams reaction, Ted told the manager to hell with it, if he couldn't hit .400 all the way, he didn't deserve it.

But he was so nervous, he stayed up all night walking the streets of Philadelphia, accompanied by Johnny Orlando, By Blackie Sherrod Dallas Times Herald DALLAS According to those who know him best, George Brett is brave, trustworthy, loyal, clean, unselfish and reverent and will play when hurt. He is an honest laborer. He will get his uniform dirty for you and stick his nose in the way of a bad hop if that's the only way he can stop it. He doesn't manufacture ills- when a flame-throwing lefthander is due to pitch for the other team. By consensus of baseball men, he is the best all-around player in the game today and if anybody is entitled to hit around.

Of the memorable .400 hitters of all time, because of the circumstances, Williams was the grandest of all. His is a tale often told, how he came to the last day with the numbers secure in his pocket. "In the last 10 days of the season, my average had dropped almost a point a day," Williams once remembered: The Boston-Philadelphia game on the final Saturday was rained out and a doubleheader scheduled on Sunday. Williams' batting average was exactly .39955, which rounded off to three numbers as .400. sweet spot on the final day.) Williams singled his first time up, homered his second time," added two more singles.

At the end of the first game, his average was .404, an admirable and excusable time for a hot shower and a celebration. But that wasn't Williams. Ole bullhead insisted on playing the second game and got two more hits in four trips. In major league history, there have been 19 hitters who reached and clung to that lofty rung but none did it with such style. At the risk of being naive, you'd like to think Brett would do the same.

ZZZZZZZ3 IWlfE Sale prices end August 30th Most items at reduced prices CzULnJ.lklS' i 4 Ask about Sears credit plan Sears Best exterior latex WeatherBeater paint .400, it should be him, by gum. Usually, baseball men guard their heritage with grim jealousy. Modern players, they say, couldn't ride in the same Pullman with Ty and Honus and Shoeless Joe, so they don't wish to see their names get equal billing in the record books. They got nervous when Pete Rose, even with his oldtimey image, made a run at Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak. Some will never forgive Hank Aaron and Roger Maris for making the same paragraph as Babe Ruth.

No respect Batting scientists have thought, for years, that Rod Carew would be the next .400 hitter, if such a human has not become extinct as the dodo bird. But Carew doesn't command the same respect as Brett. There are critics who claim Carew is overly self -centered, that he babies his batting average with the tender care of an orchid gardener. If a tough left hander such as Ron Guidry is scheduled to oppose the California Angels, say the critics, Carew sometimes develops strange ailments that relegate him to the bench for an afternoon. Of course, you hear this about several other hitters also, but not about George Brett.

Before the last Kansas City-Yankee series, Reggie Jackson explained why he was so eager for the games. "They say they got a man hitting .570. I want to watch the man hit," he said, eyes wide in mock awe. "I've never seen a .570 hitter before." Jackson was making his little joke, intimating perhaps that too much attention was being given one of those freakish batting spurts. Brett had collected 23 hits in 40 at-bats immediately after the All-Star game.

Still threat But now at this late date in the season, Brett still carries the most serious threat by far to a .400 average in 39 years. Ted Williams was the last, as you have been reminded repeatedly, with his .406 in 1941. When Brett began this series assault on Texas Ranger pitching with three straight singles, his numbers became .40683. Brett got his first two hits on his first two pitches and you were reminded of the complaint from a Baltimore pitcher: "Not only can't we get him out, we can't even get ahead of him in the count." Two subsequent blanks left him at .404 after the series opener (Even after being blanked in the second game Tuesday night, he was still at but memory can find no hitter since Williams at the magic figure as late as Aug. 20.

In 1977 when Carew staged his nearest miss, he had left the .400 plateau in mid-July and was down to .381 by now. Williams stood .405 on this date in 1941. "I had a high of .436 in June," Ted was to remember later. "Then down to .402 in late August, then up to .413 in September. When the weather got cooler, I slumped." A .400 average wasn't the rarity then Metamora returns six for boys cross country METAMORA Six lettermen, including co-captains Tracy Hayes and Larry Finch from a year ago, return this fall for Coach Gene Jones' boys cross country squad at Metamora High School.

Hayes, who has lettered the past two seasons, is one of five senior lettermen. Other senior lettermen include Pete Conklin and Kevin Fay, both of whom are two-year lettermen, while Jeff Miller and Mitch Williams both lettered last year. Finch, a junior, is the only non-senior lettermen. The Redbirds, who have 28 boys out for the team, lost four runners to graduation, including last year's top performer Guy Sasso. Jones welcomed back five runners who lettered last year to the girls team.

Seniors Pat Devine, Adelita Dimas and Gail Gebhart all lettered a year ago, as did juniors Lynnette Heinold and Amy Kapraun. Eleven girls are on the squad. The schedule: 1 VARSITY SCHEDULES Aug. 28 Washington (boys and girls) 4:30 p.m. Aug.

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13 At Morton Pumpkin Festival (boys and girls) 10 a.m. Sept. 16 At Chllllcothe IVC (boys only) 4:30 p.m. Sept. 23 University High (boys only) 4:30 p.m.

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Oct. 11 Woodford County Invitational (boys and girls) 9:30 a.m. Oct. 13 At Decatur Invitational (boys and girls) II a.m. Oct.

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