A Slugfest, On and Off the Field

Ever battling, the Yankees oblige their "win-or-else" boss

Graig Nettles delivered the New York Yankees to the World Series in a suitably Yankee way. When he was through batting out the Oakland A's in three straight play-off games for the American League pennant, the third baseman scuffled with Teammate Reggie Jackson for good measure.

Though New York Owner George Steinbrenner and Oakland Manager Billy Martin flapped at the umpires and each other every now and then, that was nothing compared with the flapping in the wives' section of Yankee Stadium. There Ginger Nettles and the seasoned wives' corps whipped bedsheet banners around in a whirlwind. PLAN A ALL THE WAY, read one, referring to the first of the Steinbrenner A, B, C "scenarios." Under Plan A, most of the team would return next year; under Plans B and C, varying numbers of players would be jettisoned to make way for new talent. To make a strong case for Plan A, a direct outgrowth of Steinbrenner's "win-or-else" philosophy, the Yankees merely have to take the World Series.

Nettles, 37, who knocked in three runs each game and was named Most Valuable Player in the playoffs, thoroughly upstaged any possible Billy-Reggie-George melodrama. Graig is not much for the sort of public theater these three seemed to enjoy when all were together in New York City. Nevertheless, Nettles found himself center stage at the team's victory party in Oakland. Angry that several guests of Jackson's had been rude to his family, Nettles confronted his teammate, and the two got into a spirited shoving match. "It's nothing new for this team," Nettles said. "I hope it's forgotten."

Nettles felt frisky on the field too. "So many players play into their late 30s and 40s," he said. "I don't see why 37 is too old. People are better athletes than they used to be because of better nutrition and better training. People have to get the age thing out of their minds. Some are old at 28, and some are young at 40."

"Look at Pete Rose," suggested Lou Piniella, 38. "Pete led the National League in hits this year at 40." Actually, it was enough just to look at Piniella.

When Jackson left the second game after the second inning with a strained calf muscle, Piniella replaced him in the outfield for a time and batted well in the clutch. Lou undercut a three-run homer in a seven-run fourth inning that pretty much put an end to all the talk about Billyball.

It is Piniella's theory that ballplayers reach a mental "danger point around 35 or 36," and if they get through it, provided they have taken reasonable care of their bodies, they can go on for ages. "It's just something regular that happens when you reach a certain age," agreed Bobby Murcer, 35, a self-mocking sort whose clubhouse chair is a rocking chair. "They put you on the back burner." The Yankees' new slogan: "Veterans Power."

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