U.S. sport marred by controversy in 1987

Press, 4 January 1988, Page 16

U.S. sport marred by controversy in 1987

NZPA-Reuter New York New champions were crowned in all four major United States team sports in 1987, but labour unrest, alleged conspiracies and controversies involving drugs, violence and plain old fashioned cheating competed with the heroics. In baseball, the Minnesota Twins won their first World Series, overcoming 150-1 preseason odds by beating the St Louis Cardinals.

The season began with charges from players that owners had conspired to hold down salaries by refusing to bid for athletes looking to change teams. Owners denied the charges but an arbitrator in September ruled they had acted in collusion. When the season got under way, it was the players who engaged in questionable practices. Cheating became a raging issue. Pitchers were accused of

scuffing, cutting and otherwise tampering with baseballs and hitters were closely watched as an increase in home runs brought charges that bats were doctored in order to make balls fly further.

Billy Hatcher of the Houston Astros was embarrassed in September when his bat splintered and exposed a cork filling. He also received a today suspension. Labour problems were, of course, .most acute in the National Football League where a players’ strike and a hard-line stand by owners made 1987 the year of "substitute” football. The owners sacrificed the quality of play and integrity of the championship season for the long-term importance of winning the strike by carrying out a threat to field teams of "substitute” players. The strike collapsed after a month.

New, although distinctly familiar, champions were crowned in the National Basketball Association as Earvin "Magic” Johnson led Los Angeles Lakers over the defending champions, Boston. The Lakers have won four of the last eight championships.

But the N.B.A. had its low points too. Past and present members of the Phoenix Suns were indicted on drug charges and Mitchell Wiggins and Lewis Lloyd of the Houston Rockets were banned from the league for drug use. In the National Hockey League, superstar Wayne Gretzky spearheaded the Edmonton Oilers to a third Stanley Cup in four years as skill overcame muscle and the Oilers beat Philadelphia Flyers in seven games. But the league’s controversial de facto acceptance of violence in the game continued to plague the sport.