ATLANTA -- Heard in the dugouts and other items left on base at the World Series:
Baseball fans have been spoiled by two consecutive exciting World Series. It's too bad not many youngsters on the East Coast got to see much of the games, five of which went down to the final pitch before being decided.
They end well past most young people's bedtimes.
Game 6, a spine tingler, took four hours and seven minutes to complete and did not end until almost 1 a.m. EDT. That's even too late for many newspaper deadlines.
It's a problem baseball will have to confront in the next contract negotiations with television.
There's an entire generation of youngsters being tuned out of baseball. ...
Baseball could be headed toward a 'wild card' playoff system in order to get more television dollars. There are plans on the drawing board to shorten baseball's regular season but extend the playoffs by adding 'wild card' teams similar to the NFL's playoff format. ...
Terry Pendleton of the Atlanta Braves has been to four World Series now and has yet to win a championship. Pendleton was a member of the 1985 and '87 St. Louis Cardinals and the past two seasons was with the Braves. Teammate Charlie Leibrandt also has the dubious honor of losing all four of his World Series decisions, tying a record for futility set by Brooklyn's Don Newcombe. ...
This is going to be a winter of economic belt-tightening by the 28 major league clubs. Several teams, including the Oakland Athletics, Cincinnati Reds and New York Mets, will be cutting their payrolls by at least $10 million. The expansion teams, the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies, have decided to operate under very tight payrolls. ...
Devon White's catch in Game 3 off David Justice was considered the turning point of the Series. Those who watch White play every day, however, took it matter-of-factly. 'We used to see him make one of those a week when he was with the Angels,' said Rick Weinberg, an editor at Sport Magazine and a former Angels' beat writer. ...
Although domed stadiums are looked upon with disdain by baseball purists, it would have been ugly to play Games 3, 4 and 5 at Toronto's old Exhibition Stadium. If not for the SkyDome, Game 3 would have been rained out and the entire Toronto series played in near freezing conditions. ...
Toronto may be the cleanest city in North America and certainly one of the more efficient. 'It's New York City run by the Swiss,' said actor Peter Ustinov. ...
They need some help with their baseball history, though. Hall of Famer Duke Snider's name was flashed on the SkyDome scoreboard spelled 'Snyder.' The next night it was corrected. ...
Braves' manager Bobby Cox lost complete faith in relief pitcher Jeff Reardon after he failed in Games 2 and 4. The situation in Saturday night's Game 6 called for Reardon, not Charlie Leibrandt, to face Dave Winfield with two outs and the winning run in scoring position.
Winfield doubled to knock in two runs and Cox's explanation was that Leibrandt, a left-hander, does well against right-handed batters. Winfield, though, was having trouble with breaking pitches away throughout the Series and that's about all Reardon throws these days. .. .
Look for Francisco Cabrera to be among the first players taken in next months expansion draft. Scouts for the expansion clubs had to be impressed with the way Cabrera peformed in his limited appearances in the postseason.
He was the hero of Game 7 of the NL playoffs when his two-run single in the ninth inning gave the Braves an improbable 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. He nearly came through again in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the World Series when he crushed a rising liner to left that Candy Maldonado barely caught with a last second lunge. Cabrera's ability to get good swings under pressure will increase his value. ...
Pat Gillick, general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, had this to say about his club becoming the first Canadian team to win a World Series.
'Without being arrogant I always thought that we would do it before the Expos. They're a great organization but I always felt that way.'
