Sam Of 1,000 Ways

The day after the Oakland game McDowell stood in his underwear in front of his locker, dressing slowly. "Hoot, did I ever tell you the one about the Kamikaze pilot?" he said. Hoot Evers, then a Tribe coach and the man who helped sign McDowell out of high school, looked up from his newspaper.

"No, Sudden, you never did."

"Well, this Kamikaze pilot was the ace of the squad because he made 12 successful missions." said McDowell.

"I see," said Evers, shaking his head, and he went back to reading his paper.

"Sudden, did you see this in the paper?" Dean Chance walked over to McDowell and handed him a newspaper which he began to read as Chance talked.

"What the hell am I gonna do?" said Chance in mock panic. "My financial adviser, Denny McLain, is $400,000 in debt."

Sam finished the paper and handed it back to Chance. "Why don't you call him in Detroit and ask him the odds on tonight's game?" said McDowell very seriously.

"Maybe I will," said Chance with a grin, "maybe I will."

"Call him collect," added McDowell. "Tell Denny I said he wouldn't mind."

McDowell finished dressing and was about to go out on the field, where he plays second base during batting practice. (Dark used him at second one game this year. "I could be a great second baseman," McDowell has said.) Cy Buynak, the Tribe's stubby little clubhouse man, came over and demanded to know why McDowell hadn't listed his telephone number on a form Cy needed. McDowell told him he didn't know his telephone number.