Royals
strengthen
for 1991
despite
Bo's loss
By Matt Larsen
Staff Reporter
It's springtime... time for tans,
shorts, skipping class and base
ball. With Kansas City a mere 31/
2 hours from Lincoln, the pros
pect of watching a live major league
game complete with hot dogs, beer
and organ music is entertaining.
This year, the Royals are look
ing to pick up the pieces of their
disastrous 1990 season when they
finished sixth in the American
League West. Although the West
looks even tougher, Kansas City is
predicted to finish second or third
and is the pundits' pick to chal
lenge the Oakland A's and the
Chicago White Sox for the divi
sion title.
Steve Fink of the Royals' media
department said pitching, speed
and defense will be the Royals'
strengths this year, and their
younger players will make big
contributions.
"Our young guys will bring a
lot of excitement to the team," Fmk
said. "Brian MacRae, who is the
son of former Royals' star Hal
MacRae, came on strong at the
end of last season and is now our
leadoff hitter.
"At second base, rookie Terry
Schumpert will be taking over
Frank White's position," he added.
"He's a lot of Fun to watch, plays
good defense and can do a lot with
his bat."
Backing up the youngsters will
be the Royals' solid core of cxperi
cnced veterans, he said. George
Brett is coming off his third bat
ting title, and a big year is ex
pected out of DannyTartabull, he
said.
But most of the excitement is
centered on the off-season addi
tion of veterans Kirk Gibson and
Mike Boddicker. In his first at-bat
as a Royal, Gibson tripled, then
went on to score a run and dri ve in
another to lead Kansas City to a
win over Cleveland.
Fink said the biggest key to the
Royals' success in the pitching
ricn AL West will be the effective
ness of their pitchers. Bret Saber
hagen got his first win of the sea
son Monday and hopes to con
tinue his winning ways for a full
season.
Boddicker won 17 games for
Boston and contributes another
experienced arm, Fink said. With
consistent performances from
Storm Davis, Mark Gubicza, Kevin
Appier and closer Mark Davis,
the Royals could reach the domi
nant form that eluded them last
year.
Already the Royals have been
part of baseball's biggest story of
the year so far: the Bo Jackson
saga. The Royals released Bo and
his media monster in spring train
ing because of uestions about the
soundness of his hip. Manager John
Wathan replaced Bo with a pla
toon of Jim Eisenreich and Gary
Thurman, two consistent players
who lack Bo's awesome physical
ability.
But Fink believes the loss of Bo
could help the team in other ways.
"We have a lot of outstanding
players, so hopefully the focus will
shift to some of the other guys,"
Fink explained.
Wathan said there is a lot more
emotion in the clubhouse and the
team is closer this year than in the
past.
Season ticket sales are down
slightly to 15,200, but opening day
was sold out. General admission
seats at Royals Stad ium are $4 and
club box seats are $11. Every
Monday and Thursday is Royals'
day, and view-level seats are half
price at $3.50.
-
■RE
NL EAST
Chicago Cubs
Montreal
New York Mets
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
St. Louis
AL EAST
Boston
Toronto
Detroit
Cleveland
New York Yankees
Baltimore
Milwaukee
NL WEST
Los Angeles
San Diego
Cincinnati
San Francisco
Houston
Atlanta
AL WEST
Chicago White Sox
Oakland
Kansas City
Seattle
Texas
California
Minnesota
—
I
I
I
V
NL EAST
Chicago Cubs
Pittsburgh
New York
Montreal
Philadelphia
St. Louis
AL EAST
Toronto
Boston
(Take your pick
of the rest.)
NL WEST
Los Angeles
Cincinnati
San Diego
San Francisco
Atlanta
Houston
AL WEST
Oakland
Seattle
Chicago
Kansas City
Texas
California
Minnesota
Ami* DeFrain/ Dally Nabraakan
Cubs'
charisma
draws
national
appeal
By Chris Hopfensperger
Senior Reporter
Something during the mid-1980s
made the Chicago Cubs into
America's baseball team.
Part of it was the Cubs finally
winning a pennant in 1984. Some
of it was WGN broadcasting Cubs'
games nationwide almost every
uay. And a lot of it was the nation
wide controversy over finally light
ing up Wrigley Field.
All of that, and more, led to the
Cubs' immense national popular
ity. rheir reputation, however, has
not been without penalties to the
fans.
Frank Maloney, director of ticket
operations at Wrigley Field, said
tickets to see the Cuds live have
gotten harder to come by.
"After we won the pennant in
1984, it changed here, Maloney
said. "Since then things have re
ally changed."
One of the biggest changes are
the lights. The front officers deci
sion to finally put lights on Wrigley
Field spurred a controversy tnat
culminated with the first night
game on Aug. 9,1988.
Tickets for the night games are
some of the hardest to get a hold
of, Maloney said.
"Weekends and nights are pretty
much gone," Maloney said. "If you
want a ticket, I would suggest any
weekday 1:20 p.m. gamer
Ticket prices for Cubs' games
run from $6-$15, he said. The cheap
est seats are located above the
famous ivy-covered outfield walls
among the bleacher bums. Ter
race reserved seats are $8, upper
deck box and terrace box seats are
$11. The most expensive seats are
in the field and club boxes.
Maloney said the Cubs' fans
have their own brand of fans,
making it easier to share the Windy
City with the White Sox of the
American League.
"The team is really, really popu
lar so v\e don't have to compete
with them," he said. "Chicago's a
big city and Cubs' fans are Cubs'
fans."
The Cubs don't have to be
winning to bring the fans in either.
Last year, when the Cubs went 77
85 and fell to a fifth place finish,
tickets were still hard to come by.
'There's so many Cubs' fans
out there that there is always a
good crowd," Maloney said.
This season, however, the fans
may not have not worry about
following a slumping team.
Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson
and Mark Grace could lead the
team back to reclaim the National
League East crown it grabbed in
1989, if they get support from a
bullpen that was decimated by
injuries last summer.
The team's pitchers finished last
in the division with a combined
4.34 ERA, and six Cubs' pitchers
spent a total of 285 days on the
disabled list.
During the off-season, the Cubs
tried to shore up their pitching
staff. Free-agent Danny Jackson
signed a deal to add to an unpre
dictable bullpen.
Greg Maddux, 15-15 with a 3.46
ERA last season, has the ability to
win the Cy Young Award if he can
pitch an entire season. Last year,
ne led the club in wins, complete
fames and innings pitched, but
etween May 11 and July 14 he
was 0-8 with a 6.15 ERA.
Rick Sutcliffe, who underwent
shoulder surgery last year, is still
undergoing reha oil itation and was
placed on the 15-day disabled list
April 2.
Mitch “the pitch" Williams is
the real-life version of Charlie
Sheen's “Major League" Wild
Thing. He led the Cubs last season
with 16 saves, but it was nowhere
near the National League leading
36-save performance in 1989.
When Williams wentout with a
knee injury last season, he was
replaced by Paul Assenmacher,
wno finished with a 7-2 record, a
2.80 ERA and 10 saves.
Offense has not been a problem
for the Cubs.
Dawson came back from knee
surgery last year to post the best
average of his career. He hit 27
home runs and 100 RBIs on the
way to a .310 batting average.
Grace, the Cubs first baseman,
finished seventh in the league in
batting by posting a .309 average.
Sandberg, who ended his er
rorless streak at 123 games, hit
.306 last year, including 40 home
runs and 100 RBIs.
Once again the Cubs begin the
season witn enough talent to make
a drive at the elusive World Se
ries.
Maybe this year the road's name
is Waveland Avenue.
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