The Ol' Coach Sez

by Gus Moorhead

By the Ol' Coach
with the help of his wife

SPORTS TRIVIA: Which of the following pitchers has had the most 20-win seasons (with eight) since 1960: Tom Seaver, Ferguson Jenkins, Jim Palmer, or Roger Clemens?

WABASH STUDENT HAS INTERESTING PROJECT: The Ol' Coach had a visit a couple of weeks ago from a nice-looking, well-mannered young man, who is pursuing a degree from Wabash College. Colin Lanam is working on a video project as part of a $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment that allows Lanam and 10 other Wabash students to study culture and quality of life around the Hoosier state.

Lanam's project has to do with research on how the Milan and Crispus Attucks state basketball championships influenced their communities. "I want to try to show how this was important to these two teams. These two teams proved there was so much more to the story than basketball," Lanam said.

We became involved in Lanam's project because of our friend and former student Howard Hewitt. Howard works for Wabash College as part of their public relations/communications program. He had suggested the Ol' Coach as a good candidate for an interview because of his coaching at Versailles during the Milan glory days.

In addition to the Ol' Coach, Lanam has interviewed several Milan players, including Bobby Plump and Ray Craft. He has also talked with Roselyn McKittrick and visited the Milan '54 Museum.

The front page of the June 28 issue of The Paper (Montgomery County) contained a story and photo of the Ol' Coach being videotaped by Lanam. The story described Lanam's project: "Milan won the state championship and there were only 100 kids in the entire school. Crispus Attucks had to overcome the racism problem. It's amazing to me where using basketball is the common trait between the two schools."

Lanam's 20-minute video will show the culture of the two schools, emphasizing the way they dealt with adversity, but were able to accomplish their goals through winning the state basketball championship.

HOME RUN DERBY IS AWESOME DISPLAY: Monday
night's Home Run Derby in Detroit was quite a show as Bobby Abreu hit an astounding 24 homers in his first turn at bat. He set a record that will be hard to beat. Abreu, who is from Venezuela, plays right field for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Batting left-handed, Abreu homered on his first swing and continued until he had erased the record Miguel Tehada set last year when he hit 15 homers in a round. Abreu's 517-foot shot above the back row of right-field bleachers was the third-longest drive in the 20 times this event has been held. Sammy Sosa is first with a 524-foot homer in 2002, and Frank Thomas is second with a 519-footer in 1994.

To help celebrate their countryman's home run record, Johan Santana and Miguel Cabrera ran to the plate to drape Abreu in a large Venezuelan flag. It was quite a sight.

BRET BOONE JOINS THE MINNESOTA TWINS: Former Reds' player Bret Boone, who was recently dumped by the Seattle Mariners, has joined the Minnesota Twins. Although the Mariners' decision to get rid of Boone really hurt him when he was informed July 3, he will see significant playing time with the Twins and get to be part of a pennant race again.

Boone had his best season with the Mariners in 2001, when he finished third in the American League's MVP vote and batted .331 with 118 runs, 37 homers and 141 RBIs. Though he won his fourth Gold Glove last season, Bret Boone began to slump about the same time the Mariners did. They went 63-99, their worst record since 1983.

We always liked Bret Boone when he played for the Reds ­ just as we did his younger brother Aaron, now with Cleveland, and his father Bob Boone, who is a part of the Washington Nationals' organization.

GROUP MAKES BID TO BUY THE REDS: Sunday's Cincinnati Enquirer had a lead story on the sports page about a group of friends in Cincinnati who are making a bid to buy the Cincinnati Reds. According to John Fay, an Enquirer staff writer, Rick Steiner, who is a Broadway producer who grew up and still lives in North Avondale, said that he is part of a group that has been approved by Major League Baseball to make a bid for the majority stake in the club.

Other members of the group are Rocco Landesman, president of Jujamcyn Theaters; Dan Staton, a venture capitalist investor and former head of Duke Realty; and entrepreneur John Osher.
Three of the Reds' limited partners put 51.5 percent of the club up for sale in March, and those are the shares that Steiner's group would like to have ­ plus more, if that is possible.

Carl Lindner, the Reds' chief executive officer, controls about 37 percent of the club, along with his family and Great American Insurance Company. The limited partnership agreement allows the 85-year-old Lindner to control the club for life.

Explaining that his group has great respect for Lindner, Steiner told the reporter that they would not purchase the stock without Lindner's blessing. When he was asked why he and his friends would want to buy a baseball team, Steiner said, "We're huge fans. It's every boy's dream when he stops playing to own a team."

Of course, anyone wanting to buy a team must also be able to put up the necessary cash. It is estimated that the 51.5 percent stake in the Reds is worth around $100 million. The Milwaukee Brewers sold in January for $223 million.

All four members of the group are apparently multi-millionaires ­ so what do you do when you have more money than you know what to do with? You buy a baseball team.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WINS ALL-STAR GAME: Mid-July brings a break in the major league baseball season as outstanding players from both leagues join forces for the annual All-Star game. This year's game on Tuesday night was played in Detroit with intermittent rain causing some problems for fans.

The Reds only representative ­ Felipe Lopez ­ played third base for a couple of innings late in the game and got a hit ­ a single. This didn't help the National League's cause very much, however. They lost to the AL 7-5. MVP was the Orioles' Miguel Tejada, who got a home run his first time at bat.

ANSWER TO SPORTS TRIVIA: The pitcher to post the most 20-victory seasons since 1960 with eight is Jim Palmer, who won 20 or more games from 1970-73 and 1975-1978. Ferguson Jenkins won 20 games seven times since 1960; Tom Seaver and Roger Clemens did it five times during that span.