Baseball : Chicago’s Teams: One May Move Away, the Other Is Moving Up

Carl Sandburg saw it as a city of big shoulders. Charles Dickens might look at Chicago and say it is a city of two tales.

First, there are the White Sox, in fifth place in the American League’s Western Division, facing a rebuilding project that could take several seasons and uncertain whether it will happen in Chicago or St. Petersburg, Fla.

Eddie Einhorn and Jerry Reinsdorf tried to convince their colleagues of the seriousness of their stadium situation at an owners’ meeting Tuesday.

It is not clear whether they can get the 10 votes necessary to forsake the Chicago market, though they would have an ally in Commissioner Peter Ueberroth. He has said he would not stand in the way of a move, which must have left White Sox fans wondering about baseball’s spiritual commitment to its various communities. The White Sox, after all, have been a part of the Chicago scene for 88 years.

The Illinois legislature is expected to make its final financial proposal regarding a new stadium sometime this month. The White Sox could be in Florida next year, though they would have to play at Al Lang Field because the St. Pete dome definitely won’t be ready, thanks to a recent slash in state funding.

The Chicago Sun-Times, battling a powerful rival in the Tribune and its publicity valuable ownership of the Cubs, ran a full-page list of Chicago-area legislators Monday under a headline that advised readers: “Tell these lawmakers to Save Our Sox.”

Then, of course, there are the widely popular Cubs. Holy cow! America’s real team. Newly re-dedicated to Wrigley Field, where light towers are now in place on the roof of the grandstand on the left-field side. The right-field lights will be installed during the Cubs’ current trip, and the first night game will be played sometime in late July.

But the illumination is not the only indication of a bright tomorrow. In fact, the publication Baseball America has labeled the Cubs “the team of the future.”

It is generally acknowledged that the Cubs boast baseball’s best young talent, a tribute to minor league director Gordon Goldsberry and a legacy of the Dallas Green regime.

Now there are indications that the future has been linked to the present. The Cubs are judiciously blending their young talent with a respected veteran nucleus.

First baseman Mark Grace, 23; left fielder Rafael Palmeiro, 24, and center fielder Dave Martinez, 24, have become regulars. Catcher Damon Berryhill, 24, is up and pushing Jody Davis. Shawon Dunston, 25, has begun to display a long anticipated stability at shortstop.

With four pitchers on the disabled list--Rick Sutcliffe, Al Nipper, Bob Tewksbury and Scott Sanderson--the Cubs’ have a rotation that averages 24 years of age and may soon rival the Mets’ as the best in baseball.

There are 22-year-old Greg Maddux, who leads the National League in wins; 22-year-old Jeff Pico, who shut out the Cincinnati Reds in his big league debut Tuesday; 25-year-old Jamie Moyer, who may have the best changeup since Andy Messersmith, and Calvin Schiraldi, 25, and Les Lancaster, 26, both progressing.

Cub coach Joe Altobelli, who managed the Baltimore Orioles’ Rochester, N.Y., farm club when that system was an assembly line of talent, said the other day that the Cubs’ crop “is as good a young group as I’ve ever seen in one place at one time.”

Added Manager Don Zimmer: “The best thing about it is that I don’t have to tell these kids how to go about their jobs. When you’ve got veterans like Andre Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Vance Law, Goose Gossage and Rick Sutcliffe, the kids just follow the example.”

Relief ace Gossage contrasted it with San Diego after the Padres had won a division title in 1984 and elected to go with a youth movement.

“The Padres threw the kids to the wolves,” he said. “Here you have a blend of veterans and kids. Nothing beats experience.”

Palmeiro, bidding for a batting title, said he has enough experience to know that 1988 could prove to be more than on-the-job training for the young Cubs. He said he has enough experience to know that the race in the National League East isn’t over.

“The Mets can’t play good the whole year,” he said. “It’s not possible.

“They’re going to have a losing streak. We win seven or eight in a row, they lose three or four, we’re right there. We’re just putting it together.”

Is there need for consistency between and within the leagues, or what?

National League President Bart Giamatti suspends Kevin Gross for 10 days for scuffing a baseball and marring the game’s integrity, then suspends Pete Rose a whopping 30 days for shoving an umpire after some provocation, then suspends Pedro Guerrero for 4 days for throwing a potentially lethal bat.

American League President Bobby Brown reflects on Giamatti’s suspension of Rose for 30 days and suspends Billy Martin for only 3 days for kicking at and throwing dirt on an umpire, the second time Martin has been cited for the same offense this year.

The first cost him only $300, about what it costs for a round at Lace.

Though he continues to display a Pollyanna approach to the Reds’ offensive struggles and the accusations of apathy among some of his players, Rose has been approached by some of his veterans and urged to toughen up on some of the younger players, reminding them that the team’s statistics are more important than their own.

Will the Dodgers ultimately miss Bob Welch?

“It’s only June, they haven’t had time to feel his absence yet,” Rose said. “(Tim) Leary and (Tim) Belcher have pitched well, but the Dodgers knew they could count on Welch in August and September. He’s been through the wars.”

Is Angel owner Gene Autry getting itchy?

“We have a damn lousy club right now,” he said Friday. “We can’t get a run and we can’t hold a lead when we get one. It’s boring to sit there and listen. I’ve been through this before and it’s not fun.”

The warnings and ejections during the recent series of brushback incidents between the Dodgers and Mets prompted Don Drysdale to growl and say: “If the game becomes any more namby-pamby, they may have to put the ball on a batting tee.”

The latest turmoil to hit the Toronto Blue Jays involved the recent release of Juan Beniquez, who was hitting .293 overall and .333 in his last 12 games. Beniquez reportedly had refused to play third base when asked recently and was accused of undermining batting coach Cito Gaston by giving tips to the young Latin players.

Beniquez went out firing, blaming Manager Jimy Williams for the Blue Jays’ problems.

“When you’ve got a club as good as ours, you don’t play with the players’ minds the way they did in the spring,” he said, alluding to the aborted move of George Bell to designated hitter and Lloyd Moseby to left field.

General Manager Pat Gillick responded by reminding that Beniquez had played with 8 of the 14 American League teams.

“I’ll let his record speak for itself,” Gillick said. “Some guys are tolerable in a winning situation and intolerable in a losing situation.”

Fans responding to newspaper and TV polls in Toronto voted against the retention of Williams, which probably means he will survive the season.

The Blue Jays are the only major league team to have never fired a manager during the season and would not want to look as if they bowed to public pressure.

A possible successor? Lou Piniella, also being rumored as possible successor to John McNamara with the Boston Red Sox.

On the Toronto polls, Chicago White Sox Manager Jim Fregosi said: “Great. It’s only a man’s career we’re talking about. It happened to me once (when he managed the Angels). A Los Angeles newspaper ran a poll and my kids kept calling in and saying, ‘Fire the bum! Fire the bum!’ They were under a lot of pressure at school. They’d walk into their classroom and get booed.”

Fregosi was serious about the poll and kidding about his kids.

Dave Stewart of the Oakland Athletics went into Friday night’s game against the Minnesota Twins having gone winless in his last four starts. Said Manager Tony LaRussa: “Once in a while, even Sinatra has to clear his throat.”

What do Lee MacPhail, Gabe Paul, Al Rosen, Cedric Tallis, Gene Michael, Bill Bergesch, Murray Cook, Clyde King, Woody Woodward, Lou Piniella and Bob Quinn have in common? All have been Yankee general managers under George Steinbrenner, who is his own general manager.

Bob Horner’s failure to hit a home run in May only made Tom Brunansky’s contributions with the St. Louis Cardinals more meaningful. Brunansky’s 19-game hitting streak ended Saturday and he has driven in 36 runs in his first 39 games with the Cardinals, who were 26-13 in that span.