The Best of<br>As Sam Sees It

One of my all time favorite baseball players has been given his release by the St. Louis Cardinals. Fernando Valenzuela had very little success this season with either the Cardinals or the San Diego Padres.

Valenzuela was one of the most complete players in the game during his prime. He was a superb pitcher with excellent control. He helped himself by fielding his position with exceptional skill. He was far from an automatic out at the plate and was frequently used as a pinch hitter when not on the mound. He was an accomplished bunter who almost always moved the runner over, and ran the bases himself with intelligence and skill, if not speed.

The 173-152 record Valenzuela posted during his career is not a Baseball Hall of Fame-type statistic. However, for this writer there were a few short years when Fernando was the best. He will be missed.

Speaking of the Baseball Hall of Fame, I just recently read that Arizona Governor Fife Symington’s attorney John Dowd represented Major League Baseball against Pete Rose. He succeeded in getting Rose, the game’s all time “hit king,” barred from baseball and out of the Hall of Fame.

Rose was a gambler, and far less than a saint. He gambled with his own money, though, and was a real “self-made” (if flawed) man.

He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame, if nothing else.

Frankly, Dowd’s present client looks more flawed than Pete Rose from here.

My first experience with women’s professional sports came on a trip to Phoenix to watch the A-1 Queens play a team from New Orleans. It was my first professional softball game, but not my last.

Many Arizonans my age will remember at least a few of those talented ladies. Charlotte Armstrong had the perfect name for the dominating pitcher she was. (I like Debbie Doom, who pitched for UCLA a few years ago, as another “perfect name” performer.) Dodie Nelson was not only an accomplished player, she was probably one of the most attractive women in Arizona.

New Orleans featured a feared slugging third baseman named Lottie Jackson. Her brother Randy was starting at that same position for the Chicago Cubs.

These women could play. They proved it by playing exhibition games against some of the best male players in many towns around Arizona. It is very likely they made a stop or two in Winslow, just as they did in my old hometown of Casa Grande. The Queens usually won, and they did so against male pitchers who were as good as they come.

It has always been a mystery to me why women’s professional softball didn’t make it big as a popular sport. The women were that good, and the sport was faster and just as exciting as baseball.

It was very big in Arizona. Two former Arizona governors were known for their skill as softball players. Democrat Rose Mofford from Globe played with the semi-pro Cantaloupe Queens, turned down an offer to play basketball with the All American Redheads and likely could have had a career in softball had the sport been more profitable. Republican Paul Fannin was one of the better male fast-pitch hurlers in the state before he turned to politics.

Why couldn’t women’s softball have gotten the support, television contract and press hype that has accompanied the Women’s National Basketball Association debut? It would have made a difference.

The WNBA will probably succeed. It had the advantage of building on college programs that furnished players with name recognition. It also has that all important television contract, and the backing of the makers and shakers.

Women’s sports have improved greatly in recent years. More women and girls are competing at every level, and that is a very positive development.

Personally, I would prefer to see the men’s game in basketball. They can run faster and longer, and jump quicker and higher. Both men and women will improve, but the talent gap is real and will always be there.

On the other hand, I would just as soon, if not rather, see a successor to the A-1 Queens than the Diamond Backs. Softball is a better and faster game than baseball. With the good male players channeled into baseball and the rest playing the dull slow-pitch game, you might have a hard time finding a men’s team that could compete with a top-notch women’s softball team.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Winslow Mail on July 25, 1997.

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