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.
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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.
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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