Back-to-Back No-Hit Pitcher Vander Meer Dies

Johnny Vander Meer, the Cincinnati Reds’ pitcher who threw the only consecutive no-hitters in major league history, died Monday at 82 of an abdominal aneurysm.

The left-hander threw his first no-hitter on June 11, 1938, beating the Boston Braves, 3-0. Four days later, he no-hit the Dodgers in Brooklyn, 6-0.

“His double no-hitter for the Reds always has been, and always will be, one of the greatest individual achievements in baseball history,” said John Allen, the Reds’ managing partner.

The twin no-hitters made Vander Meer an instant star, but his lifetime statistics were ordinary. He pitched for Cincinnati from 1937-49, with two years out for military service during World War II, then finished with the Chicago Cubs in 1950 and Cleveland Indians in 1951.

He had a 119-121 record with an earned-run average of 3.44.

In 1938, the year of the double no-hitters, he was 15-10 with a 3.12 ERA.

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An autopsy on the body of professional wrestler Brian Pillman was inconclusive, and it could be days before further tests determine the cause of death. The 35-year-old former Cincinnati Bengal linebacker was found dead Sunday in a suburban Minneapolis motel.

Tennis

The United States and Sweden, opponents next month for the Davis Cup title, were selected as co-top seeded players for the 1998 competition.

The draw for 1998 will be made Wednesday in London by the Davis Cup Committee of the International Tennis Federation.

Jennifer Capriati’s comeback took another setback when she was beaten by unseeded Karina Habsudova of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-1, in a first-round match at the Filderstadt tournament in Germany. . . . Arnaud Clement, a 19-year-old Frenchman, upset second-seeded Sergi Bruguera of Spain, 6-2, 7-6, in the opening round of the CA Trophy tournament at Vienna, Austria.

Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer won his opening match in the Heineken Open at Singapore, defeating Scott Draper of Australia, 6-4, 6-2. Sixth-seeded Martin Damm of the Czech Republic defeated Jan Kroslak of Slovakia, 6-7, (2-7), 7-6, (7-5), 6-1. Fourth-seeded Mark Woodforde of Australia, was upset by Sweden’s Mikael Tillstrom, 6-4, 6-4.

College Athletics

The dreaded “death penalty,” which the NCAA enacted in 1985 as the ultimate weapon against cheaters, is now rusty, having been used only once.

An investigation by The Kansas City Star also found the number of another hurtful punishment--television bans--has dropped as television contracts grow fatter for NCAA schools and conferences.

According to The Star, during the 1970s, in a typical year the NCAA gave out an average of 12 one-year TV bans. But when a flood of television revenue in the 1980s left college sports awash in money, television bans began to drop.

The NCAA can also hand out the “death penalty.” A program is entirely shut down for one or more seasons, with all games, practices and granting of scholarships banned for that period.

That happened to Southern Methodist University in 1987-88. All football scrimmages, games and even most practices were banned. The NCAA member schools had overwhelmingly voted in the death penalty at a special convention in 1985, and everybody believed the ruling body was going to get tough and dismantle programs that repeatedly violated rules.

But after SMU, the NCAA never deployed the death penalty again.

Boxing

Heavyweight Andrew Golota has returned to his home in Chicago after being released from Atlantic City Medical Center.

Golota, 29, collapsed in his locker room after his first-round TKO loss to WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. He underwent a CAT scan, which was negative, before being released on Sunday.

Tommy Morrison requested through his lawyer that he be allowed to contest drunken driving charges, stemming from an August traffic accident, before a jury on four misdemeanor counts. The trial is tentatively scheduled Dec. 29.

Former boxer Mitch Green bolted from the New York courtroom where his $25-million lawsuit is being heard regarding the beating Mike Tyson gave him in a 1988 Harlem street fight. He returned 30 minutes later. . . . Jose Badillo of Puerto Rico was picked as the new opponent for Naseem Hamed, who defends his World Boxing Organization featherweight title Saturday night. Colombia’s Victor Llerena agreed to step aside for an unspecified payoff.

Miscellany

New Mexico State point guard Antoine Hubbard has been indefinitely suspended from the Aggies’ basketball team for undisclosed reasons, the school said. . . . Construction will begin in the spring on the Kansas City Kansas Superspeedway that will be able to accommodate both NASCAR and Indy car racing, according to officials of the three agencies involved. It will open in 2000 on a 1,000-acre site in Wyandotte County.

Jim Colbert, the Senior PGA Tour’s player of the year the last two years, will play his first competitive round since he had prostate cancer surgery in June in the Gillette Tour Challenge today in Bermuda. . . . Ron Polk was appointed coach of the 1998 U.S. national baseball team, nearly five months after resigning after 22 seasons at Mississippi State’s coach. . . . World champion swimmer Samantha Riley clocked the third-fastest time for the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1 minute 07.66 seconds at the Australian national championships in Brisbane.

Both teams involved in the duel for the land speed record posted their fastest times yet it the Black Rock Desert near Reno. Royal Air Force pilot Andy Green pushed the Thrust SSC to 714.427 mph in one direction, then to 727.86 mph on the return trip. That’s faster than the 714.144 mph Green averaged in his two runs Sept. 25, but didn’t set the standard because he did not make both dashes within the allotted one hour required for a record. Craig Breedlove’s Spirit of America went 531 mph Monday, far short of Green’s effort, but Breedlove’s fastest dash this year.