Letters
Baseball Awards
Jim Fregosi over Dusty Baker as National League Manager of the Year (INSIDE BASEBALL, Oct. 4)? You've got to be kidding. Sure, Fregosi deserves credit for leading the Phillies to the pennant, but all that business about his handling of Philadelphia's free spirits is overrated. Baker took the Giants, who were supposed to finish no higher than fourth in their division, and guided them to 103 wins.
Let's hope that the voters have better hindsight than your writer Tim Kurkjian.
GARY PITZER
Sacramento
In naming Yankee catcher Mike Stanley this year's "Biggest Surprise," you wrote that only four other catchers in American League history have also hit .300 or better with 25 home runs in the same season. I can find only three of them: Bill Dickey of the Yankees, who did it in 1937 and '38; Yogi Berra, also of the Yankees (1950); and Carlton Fisk of the Red Sox (1977). Who's the fourth?
LEO GARVIN
St. Louis
•Baltimore's Chris Hoiles, who this year batted .310 with 29 homers.—ED.
Boomer and Gunnar
Gary Smith's feature on New York Jet quarterback Boomer Esiason and his son, Gunnar (We're Going to Beat This Thing, Oct. 4), was as on target as one of Boomer's touchdown passes. Cincinnati is a sadder place since Boomer's departure. Many fans here still love him, and we wish him and his family the best, in spite of that one fool radio caller back in 1987.
MARK QUARRY
Cincinnati
What a moving tribute to three generations of an American family. It is obvious that watching how his father, Norman, dealt with adversity helped Boomer learn how to deal with his own. Norman is a glowing example of how important it is to be a positive example to your children.
LAURA L. SCHIFFBAUER
Mentor, Ohio
After reading your story about Boomer and Gunnar Esiason, I've decided to root for the Jets. If their success will give Boomer a better forum for raising funds for cystic fibrosis, I can't think of a better reason to become a fan. As a father of two, I'd like to express my gratitude for their good health by helping Boomer beat this thing. Would you please print the address of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation?
CHUCK HADDEN
Arlington, Va.
•Donations may be sent to the NFL Quarterback Challenge for Cystic Fibrosis, P.O. Box 96055, Washington, D.C. 20090-6055.—ED.
The Ryder Cup
The U.S. victory in the Ryder Cup was one of the most exciting and absorbing sports events that I've ever seen, and I eagerly awaited SI's commentary. What I got was a weak piece by Rick Reilly focusing heavily on the missed three-foot putt by the unfortunate Italian, Costantino Rocca (Euro-Crash, Oct. 4).
Heroes and goats were plentiful at the Ryder Cup, but for some reason Reilly chose to vilify Rocca. Years from now the "chunky former plastics worker from Italy" can tell his grandchildren that he played in the Ryder Cup and almost beat one of America's top golfers. Reilly can tell his grandchildren that he trashed another human being.
JOHN N. PIONZIO
Vernon, Conn.
Even if Rocca had won his match, the U.S. would have retained the Cup. Considering his circumstances, Rocca should have been applauded just for being there.
R.F. GOTTSACKER
Edina, Minn.
In the first two paragraphs of his article Rick Reilly insults four professions and an ethnic group. By trying to be cutesy, he promoted the image of golf as an elitist sport played by white Anglo-Saxons who don't have to work for a living. As a professional landscape gardener, I was particularly irked by Reilly's opening comment: "You never leave the baby with the gardener." Maybe Reilly's opening line should have read: "Never leave the biggest golf story of the year to a chump."
SCOTT C. WILSON
Shapleigh, Maine
A Moon Is a Moon
What a terrific article on Warren Moon (Father Moon, Sept. 27). He truly is a role model. I had to laugh, though, when I read that Felicia Moon is married to a neatness freak whose closets are "color coded, everything arranged to perfection." I, too, am married to a man whose closet is color coded, and who won't let a piece of dust sit on the carpet until the next vacuuming. Do you think it has something to do with the name? I also am married to a Moon—Mark, not Warren.
NANCY G. MOON
Jupiter, Fla.
PHOTO
ACME NEWSPICTURES INC.
Four fifths of the American League catchers' .300-25 club (from left): Dickey, Berra, Fisk, Hoiles.
PHOTO
AP
[See caption above.]
PHOTO
DICK RAPHAEL
[See caption above.]
PHOTO
JOHN IACONO
[See caption above.]
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