Word: luzinski
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Dates: during 1975-1975
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...particular grips with the Reds have nothing to do with mundane arguments over their lack of right-handed power-hitting. It doesn't bother me that Joe Morgan should and will become "The Sporting News" MVP, even though Greg Luzinski may be more deserving. I don't care if the Reds' management has a habit of ruining young pitchers' arms--even if they take time out to reincarnate them a la Gary Nolan...
Gentle Giant. Son of an electrician in Chicago, Luzinski lit up North Side Hamlin Park from the day he first stepped up to bat. In high school, he also played linebacker and fullback, and led his team to two undefeated seasons. The football recruiters, envisioning another Dick Butkus, swamped him with offers. Says he: "John McKay called to ask me to come to U.S.C. the day I signed with the Phillies." The club's pitch included a bonus of about...
...Luzinski looks more the linebacker than the leftfielder. But he is a gentle giant. Second Baseman Dave Cash, a Tom Thumb by comparison, calls him "fat boy" with impunity, and Shortstop Larry Bowa gets away with announcing that "if Dave and I were playing for the Reds, Johnny Bench would have 120 runs batted in by now." But Bowa also remembers the time he goaded the Bull once too often. "He came at me, I ducked, and he hit John Vukovich instead. Then I ran into the bathroom and locked the door...
...Luzinski prefers to direct his aggression at a baseball. "I enjoy crushing it and hitting it out of the yard," he says. His 26th home run this season, over the center-field fence of Busch Stadium in St. Louis, was hit so hard that Fellow Slugger Allen could remember only one other with which to compare it. Says Allen: "My first year in the Eastern League there was a guy who could shoot a ball high from a cannon, jump into a Jeep, drive to center field, jump out and catch the ball. One night someone asked...
...steal a base every series if I got the green light," he says. He rarely gets it because Manager Danny Ozark prefers not to risk injury to the man who rings up so many of his team's runs. With Cash and Bowa preceding him to the plate, Luzinski has ample opportunity to drive in runs. "We have cruisers and PT boats," says Catcher Bob Boone of the Phillies' attack. "But Greg is the battleship and he gives our navy respect...