Al McGuire Found Secret to Winning in the Scheduling

In Al McGuire’s last 10 seasons as the basketball coach at Marquette, the Warriors had an average record of 25-4 per season. The reason, of course, was that Marquette had good players. Also, McGuire made sure they played against the right teams. He offered these scheduling hints in the publication Basketball Times:

--Look for schools on probation, especially if part of the penalty is a loss of scholarships.

--If you want to play a school with junior college transfers, play them early, before the players are used to the system.

--Book road games when the student body is on Christmas vacation or has exams.

--Schedule a school with a national reputation in football, but none in basketball.

--Book road games in the city arena, not the campus snakepit. In other words, play St. John’s at Madison Square Garden, not Alumni Hall.

McGuire said it was all right to play teams from major conferences but added: “Go for the bottom-half teams. Especially go for a team which is normally a basket case, with players who two-hand dribble and have underwear hanging out of their pants.”

After announcing the rehiring of Earl Weaver as manager, Baltimore Orioles owner Edward Bennett Williams cited Weaver’s .596 winning percentage, the best among managers with at least five years of experience.

“Nobody alive comes close,” Williams said.

Wrong. Sparky Anderson is close at .580. Also, he has won three World Series, to one for Weaver, and is the only manager to have won in both leagues. Don’t ask him to trade records.

Add Weaver: Said Gary Roenicke after the Orioles won their second straight game under their old manager: “We are much more relaxed now. Everybody on the team is excited and looking forward to coming to the ballpark. That hasn’t happened in a while. It’s a playoff or World Series atmosphere.”

In the last five years, Baltimore has been in one World Series. The year was 1983. The manager was Joe Altobelli.

Who says pitching is the name of the game? Last season, Pittsburgh led the National League with a 3.11 ERA and finished last in the NL East. This season, San Francisco leads the league at 2.80 and is last in the NL West.

Said Jamie Easterly of the Cleveland Indians, explaining a home run he gave up to Minnesota’s Tom Brunansky: “I tried to throw a sinker to him--and it sunk about 390 feet away.”

Billy Martin, claiming he’s being misquoted, started taping his interviews with the media Saturday in New York.

“This way, I can sue if I’m not quoted accurately,” Martin said after the Yankees lost to the Detroit Tigers, 10-8.

The other day, Martin was quoted as criticizing General Manager Clyde King and former manager Yogi Berra for their alleged mishandling of spring training.

He has since said that he “never said those things.”

On Saturday, Martin placed a switched-on tape recorder on his desk after the game.

“Maybe I’ll sell them to a newspaper one day for a million dollars,” Martin said of the tapes.

Quotebook

Angel Manager Gene Mauch, flabbergasted that weak-armed outfielder Rudy Law of the Chicago White Sox threw out a runner at home: “That man hasn’t thrown anyone out since the flood.”