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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 1983)
Page 8 Portland Observer, August 17, 1983 G&G Sport Talk Plum ber ft Concrete W ork by Ron Sykes Sports Editor College baseball leami with 'melting p ot" rotter» win more game» than team» with all-white or all-Black line-up», according to a well-known college professor who conducted the first survey to ever examine the racial make-up o f col lege baseball program» Some fan» around the Pacific Northwest will look at »ucceuful, all-white team», »uch as Pacific, Lewi» and C lark, etc., and will cer tainly argue this point. But one .hould be realistic and remember hat the Pacific Northwe»t i* not a -taven for Black», let alone Black Mary Decker won the 3,000 and 1,000 meter racaa In tha World Track and Raid Cham- pionahipa. Carl Lawla won the gold medal In the long Jump end helped the USA 4x400 teem set a new world record. From a purely humanistic view point, it's encouraging to know that teams comprised o f people of d iffe r ent ethnic backgrounds and cultures can effectively work as a unit. It is a well-known fact that white males clearly dominate college base ball. Ninety percent o f all college baseball players are white, 6 percent Black and 2.7 Hispanic. And college baseball is much like the professional game. Black play ers are usually starters if they're in the team. The odds o f a Black play er being selected for a team when he will not be a starter are slim. There's some strange reason for this weird phenomenon: either col lege baseball coaches are just not giving scholarships to marginal Black players or they would much prefer to save those spots for whites. The professional teams offer very little difference. Rosters for the 26 major league clubs in 1983 were esti mated at 69.3 percent o f all players being white, 19.9 percent Black and 10.3 Hispanic. The position group which shows the greatest disparity between Gonzalez: Stevenson's substitute W ho is the man who will substi tute for Teo filo Stevenson in the Pan American Games? Oorge Luis Gonzalez, 21, is the 1983 Cuban national champion in the super heavyweight class, with a lifetime record o f 90 wins and 12 losses. Gonzalez came to boxing natural ly since his father was once an amateur boxer. However, his first sports training was in baseball A pitcher in the 14-15 age group, he left baseball because o f pain in his shoulder and turned to boxing. Launching his career in 1979, he won the Cuban Student Games in 1981. Later that year he lost in the final match in the national cham pionships to Angel M illan and was named sub-champion. That same year he lost his only match with Résidentiel and com m ercial Also bonded Hours: Mon.-Sat. 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. college and the p ro s ...y e s . you guessed it — the outfield. You can watch baseball at the col lege level all day and will rarely see a Black player in the outfield The re cent college world series was a prime example. Arizona State was the only team in the four team final with a Black outfielder. Almost 85 percent o f all college outfielders are white. But only 40 percent o f all major league outfielders are white. W hy the big difference? It seems that the Black athlete is not using the colleges to enter pro fessional baseball. Seemingly, the good Black playeri are going direct ly to the minor leagues. Portland's Darryl M otley is a good point to focus on. Motley turned down an offer to Arizona State and instead signed with K .C . n i e g r B Y io n w i n » y o m w w oaseball player». It ha» been reported that the win- ling percentage» for team» with at east one »tarter from each o f three alcgories . .Black, white, and His- p a n ic .. were higher. "T here it no real explanation for hat from thia d ata." itate* Charles Henson, an assistant professor of recreation studies, "b u t I suppose that team» with a racial mix have more highly developed programs with wider recruiting bases." The belief here is that geography would have a lot to do with the team's make-up. Where the college or university is located can deter mine how many Hispanic» or Blacks would be involved. Survey» have found that ethnical ly diverse teams had a .603 winning percentage. Next in order were (earns with one to five Black starters ind the rest white. .594. All-white starters had a .540 winning percent- ige and all-Black teams, o f which there were five surveyed, had a .467 winning percentage. All-Black leagues, even with an abundance o f talent, usually suffer due to lack o f good coaching. The fundamentals aren't usually there until the Black player enters the low minors or transfers to a good four- year university. Sad, but true. Doing business since 1946 Very reasonable prices Stevenson. In his debut in foreign competi tion, in 1982, Gonzalez won the silver medal at the Swiss youth tourney and the silver at the Sparta- caids in Hungary. He won the gold medal at the Central American and Caribbean Games in the Dominican Republic. In 1982, Gonzalez again lost to M illan in the final bout of the national championships. That year, in Cuba-USA competition, he defeated Pal Bagley, W . Thompson and Craig Payne. the U .S .'s Craig Payne. Gonzalez, who is 6*6” and weighs 216 lbs., looks forward to a world championship and, after Stevenson tries for his 4th Olympic Gold in Los Angeles in 1984, an Olympic gold. A bachelor, he studies at the Manuel Fajardo sport school in Havana and hopes to be a trainer after retirement from the ring. For recreation, he enjoys dancing, the beach, and watching baseball, bas ketball and volleyball on television. This year, Gonzalez was crowned national champion o f Cuba. He won the gold medal in tournics in Hungary and German Democratic Republic and defeated Ulli Kaden (G D R ) who had beaten Stevenson the previous year. He again defeated Gonzalez has a rough road ahead, his first match in the Pan American Oames being with Tyrell Biggs, the U .S .’s world champion. But Biggs was knocked out by Stevenson in November. 1982, and Gonzalez plans to match that performance. DOUBLE YOUR TALK TO NEW YORK, NEW YORK. $4.14 \Y1 k - ii urn call long distance Ix'twtrn Friday at llpm aixl Snndav a, Spin, urn'll save a whopping 60 . Which means urn can talk n>ne than twice as long fur vmr money. So reach out this weekend. Aixl give a lug hello to the Ikg Apple. Pacific Northwest Bell In 1938. black boxar Hanry Armstrong held the feather weight, w elterw e ig h t end light weight championship titles, all at the tame time. 133 N.E. G raham St. « 281-1779 Montgomery Ward The Beauty Salon s42 curl reformer on sale for 33.50 Haircut and styling included. Let us help you find a look th at’s easy to maintain, suitable to your ltfeatyle and gentle on your budget Tinted, bleached or long hair slightly higher A d v e rtis e d price good th ru Sept 17, 1983 D a c k a r doaa It again M ary Decker, the greatest middle distance runner in the world, showed her stuff by claiming two gold medals in the first-ever W orld Track and Field Championships. Decker won the 3,000 earlier in the week, then captured the 1,500 in a close and thrilling race against the USSR. Decker destroyed Soviet run ner Zam eira Zaitseva in a fierce stretch run which left the lass from the Ukrane lying helplessly on the Tartan track in Helsinki. It was being said by experts, or so-called experts, that the American champion could not run with the stronger Europeans. That has now been dispelled, as Decker, from Eugene, Oregon, showed one and all that she's clearly the best. Decker, as usual, went out and led throughout the first three laps. However, coming o ff the curve on the fourth lap Zaitseva suddenly cut in front o f M ary, breaking her mo mentum. But she regained her poise and momentum and literally destroyed the Russian in the last 10 meters. It was at the tape that the U .S. runner carved the heart out o f the Russian as she sped past for the victory. Kudos to M ary Decker. Jantzen Beach • 283-4411 Open Sundays THE BEEPER PEOPlf. 7 1 3 S .W . 1 2 th S treet C all 2 2 4 -B E E P fo r a free d em o n stratio n . Street Beat by Lanita D uke and Richard B row n The talk o f a state sales tax has be come a hot topic since 1981, when the Street Beat team first asked this ques tion, “ Are you for or against a state sales tax?” Medals roll in The U .S ., which is expected to run away with the Pan American Games, moved to the forefront Tuesday with 13 gold to Cuba's 12. Cuba's 60-kg class weightlifter, Daniel Nunez. 24, set a new world record (breaking his own world record set in 1982) with a 304 pound snatch. He also broke Pan Am eri can records in all three categories while earning gold medals in the snatch, the jerk and the press. In the hotly contested basketball competition, Cuba defeated Dom i nican Republic in overtime; Puerto Rico defeated the world champion Canadian team; and the U.S. beat Brazil. The U .S .’s flurry of medals came in shooting. Cuba's W orld Cup championship baseball team beat Dutch Antilles and their soccer team beat Chile, while Guatemala beat the U.S. U .S. boxer McCraig won a 4-1 decision over a Panamanian, while Cuba suffered two defeats. Luis Delis. 119 lbs., was decisioned by Juan M olina o f Puerto Rico and world champion Rafael Sainz lost a controversial decision to Rafael Ramos o f Puerto Rico. Cuba will protest the Sainz decision. Patricia Simmons Machine Shop " I don't want a sales tax. Everything is too high now. It is fine to reduce property taxes but they are going to get us in the long run. W e all have to buy fo o d ." Ruth Tally Houaawtfa " I ’m against it. It hurts and penalizes the low income. It gives the businessmen a big tax break. I don't think our proper ty taxes are too high here in Oregon. I think we have to pay our share o f everything in order to take care o f the things we have to take care o f ." crease in the property taxes rather than the sales tax. The people that are buying homes can afford to pay that tax. But w ith a sales tax everyone gets hurt — the handicapped, the el derly and the poor.” Nellie Crockett Hospital Worker " I don't feel too hot about it. Everything is so high and expen sive. I w ouldn't vote for it. It is too expensive.” Steve Wlnalow Unamployad " I ’m against it. I don’t want to pay any extra money. Since I don’t own a house, 1 wouldn't worry about the effect a sales tax would have on property taxes. Right now, I just can't afford it ." Bruce Pottorf Engineer " I 'm confused about it. I would like to see a way o f taxing tourists in order to help reduce our property taxes. I f a sales tax were introduced, it really wouldn't lower our property taxes. W e would get taxed double.” J
