F6 Wednesday, Jan. 16,1980 The Fresno Bee •
Members of the crowd at Monday night's Hot Stove Dinner dig into their food before listening to the star-studded list of guest speakers
Fans' boos nothing new to Giants' Spec
By bob McCarthy
Bee sports writer
"I'm not prejudiced," smiled
Reggie Smith, "but Italians have a
tendency to be huggy-huggy, kissy-
kissy."
Smith didn't have handsome Jim
Fregosi in mind when he made those
comments during the 31st Fresno Hot
Stove baseball dinner. He was, of
course, referring to his boss, the
embraceable Tom Lasorda, and his
outpouring of affection for anyone
wearing Dodger Blue.
"That's Tommy's attitude," Smith
told 2,600 listeners in the Fresno
Convention Center's Exhibit Hall. "I
didn't mind as long as it wasn't on
the lips, because that's the kiss of
death."
Tom Haller, the former Giant
catcher who's now serving as the
club's field director of player personnel, said he ran into different problems when he went out to the mound
to talk with Giant pitchers.
"I didn't say much to Juan (Mari-
chal) because I couldn't speak Spanish," quipped Haller. "And I didn't
say much to Gaylord (Perry) because he always had two fingers in
his mouth."
John McNamara knows something
about rude welcomes, too. In last
season's opener at home against the
San Francisco Giants, he heard the
boos cascade down from Riverfront
Stadium when he went out to retrieve
battered starter Tom Seaver.
"We'd given up our sixth and seventh runs and the fans weren't happy," McNamara recalled. "Johnny
Bench turned to me and said,
'How're you enjoying your debut?'"
Spec Richardson is another who
has heard the boobirds and the Giants' general manager heard more of
them — an unusual Hot Stove dinner
reaction — when he bravely mentioned his unpopular trade involving
Bill Madlock.
"I've been booed before and I'll be
booed again," he laughed. "But I'm
sure all three pitchers we got in that
trade will help us. We also got three
free agents and all it cost us was
some of Bob Lurie's gold."
Bobby Fontaine, San Diego's general manager, scoffed at reports that
slugging outfielder Dave Winfield
will seek a $20 million, 10-year contract with the Padres.
"We have great feelings for Dave
Winfield," said Fontaine. "The figures in the paper aren't so and we
haven't discussed figures with him.
But we know we're going to have to
meet a competitive market to sign
Dave Winfield."
SF owner Bob Lurie, who said the
collapse of the Giants' touted pitching last season was "a great disappointment," said he does not foresee
a players' strike over baseball's basic agreement delaying the scheduled
April 11 openers.
"I don't think there'll be a strike,"
he said. "We may start the season
without a basic agreement but I think
we'll start on schedule."
Giant slugger Jack Clark said
brushing shoulders with such immortals as Willie Mays and Sandy Kou-
fax has given him insight into what it
takes to be great.
"You can see the greatest coming
out, just being around them," he
said. "They've kept themselves in
shape and treated people right."
A special guest was former Fresno
State star Augie Garrido, who guided
Fullerton State to the national championship last spring in Omaha and
was named college baseball's Coach
of the Year for the second time in
three seasons.
"In 1959, Pete Beiden took us to
Omaha and he thought we could win
it," reflected Garrido. "My contribution to that team was to throw the
ball halfway up the backstop and
help Oklahoma win the national
championship. Incidentally, I re
ceived my degree from Fresno State
about a week ago in the mail."
FSU's Bob Bennett, whose Bulldogs captured the Northern California Baseball Association title for the
second time in three years last
spring, was presented the Hot Stove's
Coach of the Year award. Randy
Scarbery, the former Roosevelt High
sensation who broke into the majors
(Chicago White Sox) last season as a
reliever, was named Player of the
Year.
The John Euless Award, presented
for meritorious service to local youth
baseball, went to, Leon S. Peters.
president of Valley Foundry and
Machine Works and a man who has
been involved in a wealth of youth-
related projects in the Fresno area
# for many years. , ,
^■^Soup Caruthers, president of the
Greater Fresno Youth Foundation,
presented foundation grants of $1,000
each to the American Legion, Spartan League and Babe Ruth baseball
programs.
Bill Thompson, general chairman
for the dinner, said he was pleased
with the program despite the absence
of several big-name players who
backed out of earlier commitments to
attend. The dinner was a sellout for
the fifth consecutive year.
