20th & Victoria 564-4466 OLN5324 MORE CASH FOR BOTH to catch new Jim Coleman Don Fehr. counsel for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association, said it was his understanding that Goetz ruled Fisk a free agent because the Red Sox missed the deadline. The Red Sox recently offered Fisk a multiyear contract that would have paid him. including incentive clauses, almost $500,000 a season. While Fisk \sas winning his freedom. Cerone was winning an arbitration that will result in a salary of $440,000 for 1981. The Cerone award was the highest this year, topping the $395,000 won earlier by California Angels first baseman Jason Thompson. The Yankees had offered $350,000 to Cerone. who batted .277 with 14 home runs and 77 runs batted in last season* The Red Sox. meanwhile, signed five players, including Glenn Hoffman, who is expected to replace the traded Riek Burleson at shortstop. The Red Sox also signed out- fielder Gary Hancock and pitchers John Tudor. Bruce Hurst and Keith MacWhorter. In other baseball developments. the Angels said seven players had either signed or agreed to terms: infielders Butch Hobson and Dickie Thon. pitchers Steve Renko. Don Aase. Chris Knapp and Mike Witt and outfielder Tom Brunansky. Infielder Junior Kennedy signed a one-year contract with Cincinnati Reds, thus avoiding arbitration that was scheduled for Thursday. Chicago White Sox announced the signing of second baseman Tony Bernazard and catcher Marc Hill. Right fielder Ellis Valentine, coming off an injury-plagued season with Montreal Expos, agreed to terms for 1981. Pittsburgh Pirates announced that outfielder Mike Easier signed a multiyear contract. "We will make an effort, that's the bottom line,” said Red Sox general manager Haywood Sullivan. “I think we've still got a pretty good chance to sign him ... he wants to stay here and we want him here. ••Hopefully, we’ll get together very soon.” Fisk. 33. would have become a 10-year veteran with the Red Sox during the 1981 season. But he sought free-agency after the Red Sox mailed bim his 1981 contract last Dec.22. two days after the deadline. Two of the best catchers in major league baseball were on the receiving end of some good news last week. Carlton Fisk won his battle with Boston Red Sox for free agency and Rick Cerone won his salary arbitration with New York Yankees. The results mean more money for both. After the ruling by arbitrator Ray Goetz, the Red Sox promised an all-out effort in trying to re-sign their veteran backstop, a longtime favorite in Boston. LOW HAVE THE MIGHTY FALLEN DEPARTMENT: Although Torontonians continue to be mystified and monumentally disgruntled by the stumbling performances of their professional hockey team. they can take some meagre consolation from the recorded evidence that this isn’t the WORST Maple Leaf team of the past 25 years. No, sir! These Toronto hockey players admittedly are in desperate straits, threatened by the probability of missing the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, they still have some considerable distance to fall before they can erase the ineptitude-record of the 1957-58 Maple Leafs who had only 21 wins, 38 losses and 11 ties in a 70-game schedule. Mind you, these present Maple Leafs are zeroing-in on a couple of ignominious targets. With 22 games remaining, they are threatening the Toronto club-record of 41 losses, established in the 1972-73 season of 78 league-games. They came close last year when they had 40 losses in the 80-ga me schedule. The irony of the present situation is that, traditionally, Toronto has been the second-most-successful franchise in the history of the National Hockey League. Over the past 50 years, the Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cur) 11 times, a performance which has been excelled only by the Montreal Canadiens. The immediate requirement of these Toronto hockey players in a massive infusion of team pride. It’s a good thing that Conn Symthe didn’t live to see this sorry crumbling of a great sporting tradition. The Old Man must be revolving in his grave. Some names familiar When the Canadian Football League teams conduct their draft of Canadian college players today, there’ll be some familiar names on the list . . . linebacker Wayne Harris, Jr., is graduating from University of Calgary ... Angelo Mosca Jr. has been attending Concordia in Montreal. . . Mitch Chuvalo, son of former Canadian heavyweight boxing champion George Chuvalo, is graduating from Guleph University. Tiny Thompson, the old Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender who died last week in Calgary, got his nickname because he was the biggest kid on his team in midget hockey ...Back 50 years ago, 5-foot-10 goalie was a comparative rarity ... In fact, really tall players were few in pro hockey... However, ‘‘the care and feeding of infants” now has produced a generation of giants . . . Take a look at the current NHL rosters: Willie Huber is 6-5; Bobby Smith, Pat Ribble and Dean Talafous are 6-4... At six-feet-three, there are such players as: Peter McNab, Bill Hajt, Mike Ramsay, Willie Plett, Charlie Simmer, Jerry Korab, Larry Robinson. Rod Langway, Serge Savard, Clark Gillies, Paul Holmgren and Behn Wilson... Anyhow, Tiny Thompson preferred to be known by his nickname because he didn't particularly like his given-name of Cecil. And, Tiny would have been dwarfed in this era when we’ve had such goalies as 6-feet-4 Ken Dryden. Company's team loaded With Edmonton ex-quarterback Don Getty becoming chairman of Interprovincial Steel Pipe, that company now is loaded with football talent.. . Former All-Canadian defensive end Bill Baker is sales manager; Jackie Parker is a public relations executive for Ipsco and Eagle Keys, former head coach of Edmonton, Saskatchewan and B.C. Lions, works for an Ipsco subsidiary in Vancouver ... Although Dale Hawrycnuk is expected to be the number one choice at June’s NHL draft meetings, many pro scouts report that Bobby Carpenter, of the U.S. team, outplayed Hawrychuk at the world junior tournament in West Germany ... Carpenter, who attends St. John’s Prep in Boston, is expected to be the highest drafted American player in the history of the NHL... Presently, that honor belongs to Mike Ramsay who, in 1979, was Number Nine ... Mike has been playing outstanding hockey for Buffalo Sabres in his rookie season. Saskatchewan still is the ‘‘football capital” of Canada ... Although the Roughriders have won only eight of their 48 league-games over the past three years, they have sold 14,365 season-tickets for the 1981 campaign ... And, their season-ticket sale doesn’t end until April 30 ... St. Louis Blues, who attracted a crowd of 19,468 for a recent game against Philadelphia, are certain to set an all-time club scoring record ... The “high” for the Blues is 269 goals in the 1974-75 season ... Before they skated onto the ice at Montreal last week, Red Berenson’s players had scored 250 goals in their first 55 games of the current season. WAS $6650 baseball BOSTON (AP) - A salary arbitrator’s decision involving another catcher for another team could weigh heavily on Boston Red Sox’s efforts to resign Carlton Fisk, baseball’s latest free agent. Boston general manager Haywood Sullivan said Thursday the American League team would do all it could to keep the seven-time all-star in the wake of baseball arbitrator Raymond Goetz’s ruling that Fisk is free to sign with any team he chooses. ‘ He wants to stay here and we want him here,” Sullivan said. “Hopefully, we’ll get together very soon.” But another Red Sox official wasn’t convinced about the club’s chances when it was learned a short time later that catcher Rick Cerone had won his salary arbitration case for $440,000 a year from New York Yankees. "No one in baseball puts Cerone in Fisk’s class and it looks like we’ll have to go a lot higher than we figured.” the official said. Toronto Blue Jays, who once owned Cerone. are interested in Fisk. •‘We’ve talked to his agent,” says Javs vice-president Pat Gillick. “I can’t say much except to say there is considerable inter- est in Mr. Fisk," said Fisk's agent. Jerry Kapstein. from San Diego. “I had a good discussion with the Toronto club. "We both feel they are a team of the future. It was a very productive discussion. Mr. Fisk and I have a great deal of respect for the Toronto organization.” Fisk, who has played his entire nine-year major league career with Boston, was the subject of a grievance filed by the players’ association contending he should be declared a free agent because the Red Sox mailed him a 1981 contract last Dec. 22 — two days after the deadline. 1979 PLYMOUTH HORIZON 2 Dr., 4 spd. economy eng. h.b., roily wheels, radio & defroster. TEST DRIVE TO APPRECIATE. NOW cWhere you’d send a friend, Variety of background for Montreal soccer MONTREAL (CP) - The Manic, Montreal’s new entry in the North American Soccer League, is beginning to look more like the United Nations every day. The team added to its varied ethnic background Wednesday by signing up midfielder Tony Towers and forward Gordon Alec Hill, a pair of British veterans. giving the club representation from 11 different countries. After struggling to a 10-22 won-lost record and placing 22nd in a 24-team league last season as Philadelphia Fury — before the franchise was purchased by Molson Breweries Ltd. for an estimated $2.5 million — the team needs all the talent it can acquire. •‘My concept of fielding a winning team is to get the best players you can possibly get at each position,” said Manic coach Eddie Firmani. And Towers, 28, and Hill, 26, who played for Birmingham City and Queen’s Park Rangers respectively last season, seem to have the type of credentials Firmani wants. ”We picked Towers for his technique, and Hill has played over 200 games in the First Division. He’s a winner and has always been one of the leading goal scorers in Britain," Firmani said. "He likes to play on firm surfaces and I feel the conditions in the North American Soccer League will suit him. We’re looking for players who are able to handle the ball without difficulty on artificial surfaces." The addition of Towers and Hill brings the Manic’s roster to 21 players, 15 of them under contract. Under NASL rules, the Manic can carry a maximum of 13 imports and a minimum of nine from North America. There are currently nine North Americans on the roster. Roger Samson. team general manager, said at the moment the team is seriously negotiating with three players from France. Of the three, two play in the First Division. "There are two other players from elsewhere up in the air as well. 1 don’t want to say anything right now because it might jeopardize our negotiations,” Samson added. That’s the last thing the Manic needs considering the team’s problems in starting even preliminary negotiations with most European players. "They’re asking $450,000 and often $700,000 to come over here,” said Firmani. "The salary demands are a big obstacle." In the meantime, Samson and Firmani are preoccupied with preparations for the Manic’s first training camp, which will run from March 13-27 at the Dade Community College in Miami. Firmani, known throughout the NASL as a disciplinarian, had a word of warning for the players attending the twice-daily practice sessions. Cross Country McBride, B.C. February 17-22 Each year Shell Canada sponsors the Canadian Amateur Ski Championships. The Shell Cup is our way of helping Canada’s amateur skiers and national ski teams compete with the world. Shell 38 — THE CITIZEN, Prince George — Wednesday, February 18, 1981