Baseball / Ross Newhan : Morgan Tells Why He Turned Down Chance to Manage Astros

The recent inspection of baseball’s pathetic record in regard to employing blacks in management positions prompted a review of Joe Morgan’s reasoning for rejecting the opportunity to become the fourth black manager.

Morgan, the future Hall of Famer and former second baseman of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine, turned down managerial offers from the Houston Astros in 1984 and in 1986, when Hal Lanier was hired and led the Astros to the National League’s Western Division title.

Morgan said that he passed on the Astros’ offers because they refused to give him a voice in personnel decisions.

“I was in San Francisco when Tom Haller ruined Frank Robinson and I didn’t want that to happen to me,” Morgan said.

The reference was to decisions by Haller, then the Giants’ general manager, either to trade or to allow such players as Reggie Smith, Darrell Evans and Morgan himself to leave, spiritually destroying what was a contending team under Robinson.

Now, Morgan said, it is unlikely that he could be lured into a management position--on or off the field. He owns three Wendy’s franchises, does cable TV with the Giants and has part-time jobs with ESPN and NBC.

Morgan said he would vote for Willie Stargell, now a coach with the Atlanta Braves, as baseball’s second black general manager.

“If there was ever a guy with the mentality and personality to be a general manager, Willie’s the guy,” Morgan said.

Bo Jackson, the former Auburn football star, disputed calls by umpires Greg Kosc and Larry Barnett in Kansas City’s season opener and later said, “Those two guys went to the University of Alabama and hold a grudge.”

Kosc went to Texas El Paso. Barnett went to the Joe Brinkman Umpiring School.

Incidentally, the decision to open the season with Jackson in left field triggered the following events: Kevin Seitzer moved from left field to first base, Steve Balboni moved from first base to designated hitter, Juan Beniquez moved from DH to the bench, and Jorge Orta moved from the bench to the 15-day disabled list with a reportedly fictitious side pull.

Forced to put relief ace Willie Hernandez on the disabled list Thursday, Detroit Tigers General Manager Bill Lajoie wasn’t happy with the pitcher.

“Sore arms are not common,” he said. “He wasn’t in shape. He did nothing this winter. He came into camp and as soon as he tried to extend it, he hurt it. The burden falls on him.”

The burden also falls on a bullpen of Eric King, Mark Thurmond, Nat Snell and Bryan Kelly, who have combined for 13 major league saves.

It was a year ago that the San Jose Bees made headlines by attempting to corner the market on baseball’s outcasts. Among them: Steve Howe, Mike Norris, Ken Reitz, Daryl Sconiers and Derrel Thomas. Sconiers has returned for ‘87, joining former major leaguers Marty Bystrom, Charlie Moore, Steve McCatty and Roger Erickson, plus 11 Japanese players and one Australian.

The Atlanta Braves opened the season with an infield of Gary Roenicke at first base, Glenn Hubbard at second, Andres Thomas at short and Ken Oberkfell at third. They had a combined total of 196 homers in their careers, contrasted with 215 by missing free agent Bob Horner.

Add Horner: Reportedly set financially and now headed for Japan, he refused to consider an offer of $3,001 a month to serve strictly as a designated hitter at home games for the Baltimore Orioles’ double-A team at Charlotte, N.C.

The offer included a $500 bonus if Horner broke the league home run record of 42, a $100 bonus if he broke the club home run record of 32 and a chance for wealth and travel on the pro wrestling circuit if he could get his weight up to 245 pounds, which didn’t figure to be a problem.

Club owner Frances Crockett is a promoter with the National Wrestling Assn.

Chicago White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen has a simple goal: “I want to hit within 100 points of Wade Boggs.” Maybe not so simple. Guillen batted .250 last season, Boggs .357.

New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner predicted that Don Mattingly’s $1.975-million arbitration victory could become an albatross.

Those may have been feathers falling from Mattingly’s potent bat after a 1-for-13 opening series in Detroit. Mattingly stranded 12 runners, 7 in scoring position.

The Yankees seemed to set a pattern for the season, winning two of the three games despite a staff earned-run average of 7.55.

And why are the Yankees wearing jackets and ties on all trips this year?

“It’s the difference between Penn State and Miami,” Steinbrenner said.

In the wake of his two homers and a double during the New York Mets’ opening two-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Darryl Strawberry talked of his divorce, saying, “Look, I have a lot of anger in me. . . . I’ve lost my family. Sometimes you don’t realize how much a thing can hurt until it’s gone. I’ve also lost a friend.”

The latter reference was to Dwight Gooden, now in drug rehabilitation.

Add Mets: The St. Louis Cardinals traded for Tony Pena. The Philadelphia Phillies signed Lance Parrish and traded for Mike Easler. Now the Mets are without Gooden and Roger McDowell. How does Manager Davey Johnson view it?

“If we can get off to a fast start, it will disillusion a lot of clubs,” he said.

How did the Texas Rangers and the Baltimore Orioles celebrate the 122nd anniversary of the end of the Civil War Thursday night?

How else? With a pitching matchup of Mason and Dixon. That’s Mike Mason of the Rangers and Ken Dixon of the Orioles.

Add Orioles: That $4-million contract extension that Scott McGregor received two-plus years ago continues to haunt Baltimore. McGregor has started 68 games since, pitching 5 innings or fewer in 21 of them. He lasted only 2 innings in his first start of the season Wednesday night.

It took only two straight season-opening victories over the devastated Montreal Expos to leave the Cincinnati Reds euphoric. An average of nine runs a game can do that. The Reds seem to think they can keep it up.

“You can’t pitch around anyone on this team,” Eric Davis said. “If you do, the next guy is capable and ready to break your back.”

Fulfilling expectations, Davis reached base his first six trips to the plate this season and seven of nine times against the Expos.

Said Dave Parker, who hits ahead of him: “Eric Davis has arrived. Everybody is going to have to deal with him. Teams are going to have to make a choice whether they want Dave Parker or Eric Davis to beat them.”

Add Reds: Mario Soto, now on the disabled list, is scheduled to pitch in an exhibition game Thursday and then come off the disabled list to face San Diego April 21. The Reds can hit. Can they pitch? Soto holds a key.

The Minnesota Twins’ bullpen compiled a 5.51 earned-run average last year, baseball’s worst. The beleaguered Ron Davis is now gone. Jeff Reardon, a legitimate stopper, was acquired from Montreal.

In a three-game, season-opening sweep of the Oakland A’s, the Twins’ relievers pitched 8 shutout innings, yielding 3 hits and 1 walk while recording 6 strikeouts, a 2-0 record and 1 save.

Ironically, Reardon pitched only one inning. A rookie, Joe Klink, and three retreads, George Frazier, Juan Berenguer and Keith Atherton, will share the load.

Numbers: The Milwaukee Brewers experienced the biggest attendance drop of the opening week, drawing 52,585 for the opener and 7,412 the next day. . . . The Chicago Cubs’ Rick Sutcliffe had opening day’s worst pitching line: 2 innings, 4 hits, 5 earned runs, 7 walks, 0 strikeouts. . . . Although he is embarking on his 18th season, only once has Tom Paciorek had enough at-bats to qualify for a batting title, and that was in the 1981 strike season. . . . Responding to a landslide vote of 602-68 in a Chicago Sun-Times poll, Cub second baseman Ryne Sandberg shaved his mustache. . . . Minnesota pitcher Mike Smithson didn’t need a poll. He opened the season by shaving a beard he grew in spring training. “It was something to get the writers off my back about how badly I pitched last year,” he said, referring to a 13-14 record. “They would ask about my beard instead of my pitching. It did the job.”