National League : He Gets a Cap to Replace One Taken in Beirut

When George Lazansky of Algonquin, Ill., was presented with a Cub cap by Manager Jim Frey before throwing out the first ball on the Fourth of July at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, it was to replace the cap he had lost while being held hostage by terrorists on TWA Flight 847.

Lazansky and his wife, JoAnn, went on a tour of the Holy Land. Before leaving, he went into a souvenir shop and bought a Cub cap.

“I wore it on the tour, and when we were on the plane with the terrorists I lost it,” Lazansky said. “It was taken away from me . . . along with my camera, my watch, jewelry, money and just about anything of value.

“A couple of weeks went by, and I was in my apartment in Beirut under guard, and this soldier walked in with his machine gun, wearing a Cub summer baseball cap. And I thought, ‘That’s gotta be my hat.’ I didn’t say anything about it because I knew he wouldn’t give it back to me.

“It wouldn’t have been worth an argument, to lose my life over a baseball cap. I’m sure it’s the only Cub cap in Beirut.”

Dick Williams of the San Diego Padres, who will be managing the National League All-Stars on July 16 at Minneapolis, wants it known that if it were solely up to him, both Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser would be on his pitching staff.

But the decision on which eight pitchers will represent the NL is not Williams’ alone to make. The other league managers were polled for their choices, and league President Chub Feeney has considerable input as well.

“You should see some of the strange selections that have come back,” Williams told Barry Bloom of the San Diego Tribune. “Guys have left off Hershiser and Valenzuela.

“Well, as far as I’m concerned, if I’m picking them, both of those guys have got to be on my team.

“But I only have one vote in this thing, and I want everybody to know that. I’ve already sat down with Chub Feeney and discussed some of the possibilities and I can tell you right now, there are going to be a lot of people upset.

“It’s not all up to me. I get into enough trouble myself that I don’t need to take the blame for this. Just give me the picks, and I’ll put ‘em out on the field. Then I’ll take my lumps afterward.”

Williams said three relievers will be selected. Montreal’s Jeff Reardon and San Diego’s Goose Gossage are obvious choices. Mark Davis of the Giants also appears to have a good shot at being selected, for two reasons: the NL needs a left-hander in the bullpen, and somebody from the Giants has to make the team.

Williams, perturbed at the usual injustices in the voting--Darryl Strawberry of the Mets, for example, stands to be chosen as a starter even though he’s been hurt most of the season--would like to see the selection process changed. He’d like the media to be involved, along with the coaches and managers, and the fans.

“If they all had one-third of the say in it,” Williams said, “then I think you’d get the right guys on the team.”

That’s why he’s the Wizard: Cardinal shortstop Ozzie Smith has made only three errors in his first 75 games. At that pace, he would finish with seven for the season, which would break the National League record of nine set by Larry Bowa of the Phillies in 1972.

But can he tackle, too?: Cub second baseman Ryne Sandberg took exception to the rolling block thrown by Dan Gladden of the Giants while breaking up a double play Thursday.

Gladden didn’t go out of the basepath, but he went in high, shaking up Sandberg, who required treatment from trainer Tony Garofalo.

“I don’t think it was clean at all,” Sandberg said, “because it had nothing to do with breaking up the double play.”

When a reporter said to Cub publicist Ned Colletti, “Well, that’s the National League,” Colletti shot back: “That’s the Big Ten.”

Maybe Howard Cosell will lend his toupee: A week before, Gladden said the problem with the last-place Giants is that “we’re gutless. We don’t have any hair.”

It’s all relative: After the Mets lost their sixth game in a row, part of a streak in which they’d scored only 12 runs in eight games, third baseman Howard Johnson said:

“I look back to April and I wonder how we won all those games. It was like when we were 35-5 in Detroit last year and we’d look back and wonder, ‘How did we ever lose?’ ”

Add HoJo: Johnson, hitting below .200, is no longer being platooned at third base. Ray Knight is playing there regularly.

Walt Terrell, the pitcher the Mets gave up to obtain Johnson from the Tigers, has won nine games for Detroit.

“Yeah, I watch what Walt’s been doing,” Johnson said. “I’m only human. You don’t ever want to think your old team can win without you.”

If it’s any consolation to Johnson, Terrell was traded once before, from Texas to the Mets, who also obtained pitcher Ron Darling. In return, the Rangers got Lee Mazzilli, who is now with the Pirates. This season, both Darling (with 7) and Terrell (9) have at least as many wins as Mazzilli has RBIs (7).