I I I COMIC Chargers' By TONY GROSSI 1 4 STAFF WRITER The San Diego Chargers are growing tient with new linebacker Chip Banks, who discreetly indicated he might hold out new contract. Banks told a San Diego reporter on Wednesday, "I'm at a loss for words. I'll have thing to say if I'm there. If I come, I'll have comment. I'm talking to 1 my Banks was scheduled to make $700,000 1987, according to the contract he signed the Browns after a five- holdout last mer.
When San Diego coach Al Saunders heard Banks' statements, he said he would Banks immediately. Saunders was unable reach Banks at his Atlanta home. BILL LIVINGSTON Negative statistics revealing he makes morning sports right, to fan read that arises that the every race might goes to the swift, that the people who play our games are different from you or me. Nowhere does the difference seem more pronounced than in the National Basketball Association. The game played by most fans bears only scant resemblance to the garne of Dominique Wilkins and Michael Jordan.
It is some consolation, granted, that Larry Bird, who has won three straight Most Valuable Player awards, is earth-bound. Still, Bird funnels his creativity through passing lanes that haven't been explored by any forward since Rick Barry was in his heyday. No, we who lust to say, "I could do that," must look elsewhere. We have to turn less to the cream and more to the dregs of the league. There, the guy who just locked his keys in his car, the fellow who ran out of gas on the way to the big meeting, the alert chap who backed out of the garage with the door down, can find solace.
The NBA contains its share of Ziggys, too, and, believe it or not, they all aren't named Melvin Turpin. It always amuses me that the NBA sniffs haughtily at these special "negative" statistics I compile every year. "We don't keep that kind of stuff," the league would say. And indeed it doesn't. You can search the Official NBA Guide long and hard each year, for example, and never find any turnover totals.
Same with the Player Register. NBA players, as their records are compiled for posterity at least, are beyond human frailty. And yet the properly selected "negative stat" can illuminate a record with the seductive light of what might have been. Should Indiana's Chuck Person win Rookie-of-the-Year honors over the Cavaliers' Ron Harper, as he seems likely to do, analysts need look no farther than Harper's staggering turnover rate to see why. The negative stat tells you what might have been had Harper played with more care.
But unless you scrupulously save the year-end statistical mailings from the league, you would have no way of knowing five years from now that Harper's league-high error total burdened his first year with a ball and chain. Enough of censorship and cardboard competence. As the batteries in the old calculator falter, SEE Dosage LOUISVILLE, Ky. he Indians' pitching staff is a lucky horse's Dosage ability to Indexes get a measure winning mile and a quarter and not a human's ability to burl major league horsehide. If the complicated mathematical pedigree gauge was applicable to Tribe arms, the majority of our beloved featherhead hurlers would be allowed on the bench only in street clothes.
A seat in the bullpen would require black tie and tails. Their team earned run average of 5.60, caused by the friction of bat on poorly thrown ball, has started a lot of fires this spring. Luckily, none of them have burned cash on STINN CHEVROLET. OP 4, 6 THE PLAIN DEALER SPORTS 4 i Banks hints at holding 4 impa1 Browns say has Saunders reportedly was upset that the for a Chargers' front office apparently did not cover themselves in the event Banks refuses to report. some- Sources said if Banks did not report to San a Diego, the Browns would be required to compensate the Chargers with a future draft in choice, believed to be a minor late-round with pick.
sum- "We're not interested in any compensation," said Steve Ortmayer, director of football operof ations for the Chargers. "We're interested contact only in Chip to But if Banks held his ground and did not report, he would still be the property of the they don't want Browns. The Browns do not want him back. "If he didn't report," said Browns President Art Modell, "he would not play for the Cleveland Browns. We would have to have a resolution another way another trade to another team.
We would not want him coming back after we tried to trade him a second time. Once is bad enough." Banks returned to the Browns in 1985 after they had swapped him to the Buffalo Bills in the deal that gave Cleveland the draft rights to quarterback Bernie Kosar. The Browns were forced to give 1 up their No. 1 pick in the 1985 draft as compensation to the Bills. Harold Daniels, the Los Angeles-based him back agent of Banks, denied the Chargers were unhappy about the trade.
Daniels said he was unaware Banks was considering holding out for a new contract. "He'll go to San Diego," Daniels said. When Banks negotiated his contract extension from the Browns last year, he used the services of an attorney in Atlanta and not Daniels. Daniels said yesterday that he still represented Banks. On the day of the trade, San Diego owner Alex Spanos was ebullient.
"It's the greatest trade you can make," he crowed. "I couldn't have made this deal with anyone else but Art And furthermore, Harry Reds manager Pete Rose gives umpire Harry Wendelstedt an earful after a call at the plate in yesterday's game in Cincinnati. The Reds defeated the Atlanta Braves, 9-8, in 11 Free agents expected to re-sign NEW YORK (AP) Tim Raines is expected to re with the Montreal Expos today, while Rich Gedman and Ron Guidry are close to rejoining the teams they tried to leave, ending their unsuccessful efforts to find new homes. A meeting between Raines and the Expos was scheduled for 12:01 a.m. today, the first day since Jan.
8 on which free agents can negotiate with their former clubs. Gedman seemed certain to reclaim his slot on the catching-poor I Boston Red Sox and Guidry is likely to return to the New York Yankees' pitching staff. The futures of Bob Boone and Doyle Alexander Index picks Derby BOB ROBERTS RAILBIRD AT THE DERBY 1. 8 4 For the At the FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1987 out Modell. Someone else would have backed out.
Modell was reluctant to make the deal. His people convinced him." "That's a mischaracterization," Modell said yesterday. "I made the trade myself with Alex Spanos after much consultation with my people. I was for the deal. We were all on the same page." On another matter, Modell responded to critics of the Browns' draft who contend the club failed to fill any of its most pressing needs.
3 "We're not a bunch of morons," he said. "We'll prove it on the playing field. I'm convinced beyond a measure of doubt we have improved ourselves. I think there will be some new faces in the starting lineup." Hopes renewed Indians buoyed by winning ways 4: By BOB DOLGAN 'STAFF WRITER The Indians are looking better. With six victories in the last 10 games, the boys are beginning to talk with renewed hope.
The tight victories over Chicago in the last two games apparently reminded them they are only six games under .500 with 140 to play. "We've got good signs," outfielder Mel Hall said. "Two tough wins in the last couple of days. Before, we were down on ourselves." A couple of weeks ago, in the dark days of a 1-10 start, Hall gloomily forecast the Tribe had to dig itself out of the hole by the end of April or they could forget this season. Well, here it is.
April has passed. May has arrived. The Indians are 8-14 and games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, who have won 18 of 21. "Sooner or later, they've got to start losing," Hall said. "If we can cut (the deficit) in half going into June, we'll have a shot.
But we've got to be somewhere in sight." Pitcher Tom Candiotti also looked at the merry month of May as a key. "If we can be near .500 by the end of our next homestand (May we can take off," the Candy Man said. "It hasn't been pretty so far, but at the end of the year, you want 95 victories. That leaves you 67 losses. We have only 14 losses, so we still can lose 53.
It's a long season." The Indians start a five-game trip tonight in Kansas City, a continuance of a sequence of 14 straight games against weaker West Division clubs. "There's a big difference facing the first five batters in the New York Yankees lineup and facing the first five in the Chicago White Sox lineup," said the realistic Ken Schrom. "If we can win seven out of 10 or eight out of 10 a couple of times, we'll be' in a contending position," General Manager Joe Klein said. "We're only five games behind Toronto. In the end, they'll be the team to beat." All this is very cheery talk from a club whose pitching staff still stands on the brink of disaster.
The Indians have the worst earned run average in the American League. And two starters are nursing arm troubles. Greg Swindell came up with a stiff elbow in the eighth inning Wednesday. He insisted it was not serious. "It tightened up on me, but the arm didn't hurt at all," Swindell said, indicating he went out as a precautionary measure.
"Once it gets stiff, you start compensating and you might get hurt." Yes, but what if it keeps getting stiff? "He's fine," said Klein. Candiotti hurt his elbow last Sunday and manager Pat Corrales says he might have to miss his next start on Sunday. "I should be OK Sunday," Candiotti said, though he admitted he was "real worried" when he was injured Sunday. "When you've had elbow reconstruction like! I had five years ago, you've got to worry," he said. Klein says he is not concerned about the starting pitching.
"We've had quality starts in nine of the last 10 games," he said. The relief pitching is the big worry. We've got to get Ernie Camacho straightened out. He's had bad stints like this before." Klein has been under pressure to make a trade for more pitching since last season. He won't be swayed.
"Our plan is to keep our people," he said. "We'll make a minor deal if it will help, but we don't want to trade a regular." 7.. were unclear. The California Angels have filled Boone's catching spot with Butch Wynegar. The Atlanta Braves have not shown interest in Alexander.
1 Andre Dawson, Lance Parrish and Bob Horner, the other three premier free agents, have found new teams. Dawson left Montreal and signed with the Chicago Cubs at a substantial pay cut; Parrish departed Detroit and joined Philadelphia for less money; and Horner left the Braves and signed with the Yakult Swallows in Japan. Dave Kingman, Tom Seaver and Lonnie Smith are among several others who became free 7.. They haven't missed a Derby winner since 1972. More impressive is their boast of their system locating every Run for the Roses champion since 1929.
Wonder if these guys can pitch? "We never have claimed that Dosage is a method for breeding better horses," said Rasmussen. "However, Dosage, with extraodinary results, does suggest what type of horse it will be in respect to distance." Simply put, the Dosage Index doesn't tell you who will win the Derby; it tells you who can't win the Derby. Of the 17 horses entered tomorrow, only Avies Copy, Gulch and SEE Derby agents when their teams did not offer new contracts. Those players can go anywhere, but clubs may wait until June 1 to sign them. Then it will not cost them a draft pick.
Even the free agents who return to their clubs may face salary cuts. Raines, the 1986 National League batting champion, turned down a three-year, $4.8 million offer and the Expos left the proposal on the bargaining table. "That doesn't mean that it will be the same," Expos' General Manager Murray Cook said. Said manager Buck Rodgers, "When Tim Raines signs, we'll stick him in the lineup right away." They 113TH KENTUCKY PP, HORSE 1. Cryptoclearance 2.
War 3. Alysheba 4. Templar Hill 5. Capote 6. Gulch 7.
Masterful Advocate 8. Leo Castelli 9. On The Line 10. Demona Begone 11. Momentus 12.
Candi's Gold 13. Shawklit Won 14. Bet Twice 15. Conquistarose 18. Aves Copy 17.
No More Flowers DERBY FIELD TRAINER JOCKEY ODDS Scotty Schulhofer Jose Santos 5-1 Wayne Lukas Herb McCauley. 8-1 Jack Van Berg Chris McCarron 6-1 Paul Seefeidt Greg Hutton 30-1 Wayne Lukas Angel Cordero Jr. 8-1 Leroy Jolley BIll Shoemaker 4-1 Joe Manzi Laffit Pincay Jr. 6-1 Leroy Jolley Jacinto Vasquer Wayne Lukas Gary Stevens 8-1 Phil Pat Day 8-2 Wally Dollase Don Brumfield 30-1 Eddie Gregson Sandy Hanley 50-1 Frank LaBoccetta Richard Migilore 20-1 Jimmy Croft Woody Stephens Eddie Maple 30-1 David Kassen Mickey Solomone 30-1 Happy Alter Walter Guerra 50-1 in Louisville, where the Kentucky Derby will be renewed tomorrow for the 112th time. For a horse to wear roses, his equine ERA has to be.
considerably lower. Such is the handicapping gospel, according to Dr. Steven Roman, a research manager with Shell Oil, and Leon Rasmussen, the Daily Racing Form's breeding columnist. UPI Derby entry Cryptoclearance gets the No. 1 post position..
