Scorecard

FINLEY AGAIN

Now it turns out that Charlie Finley, the contentious owner of the Oakland A's, may have decided to hold Dick Williams to the letter of his contract because of a conversation he had during the World Series with Frank Cashen, general manager of the Baltimore Orioles. Finley knew that Williams, who had a year to go on a long-term contract, was going to quit, and he began to look around for a new manager. One who interested him was the Orioles' Earl Weaver.

"Charlie called me at home on Saturday, the next to last day of the Series," Cashen told Bob Maisel of the Baltimore Sun. "I wasn't home, but the message said Charlie would call back. He did the next day, the final day of the Series. He intimated to me, or at least I got the impression, that he had already given the Yankees permission to talk with Williams and that he was seeking permission to talk with replacements. He wanted to talk to Earl Weaver.

"I said to him, 'Charlie, I'm not going to do it. I believe in the sanctity of the contract, and we have a binding contract with Earl for next year. He was offered a good one-year contract, and he accepted it. I don't intend to get into a bidding contest with you. I know you give multi-year contracts, which would put us at a disadvantage. I'm not going to give you permission to talk to him.'

"But," said Cashen, "I told him that I would call Weaver and tell him of the conversation. If Earl wanted to resign and talk with Finley about managing the A's, I would not stand in his way. I did call Earl and tell him that, and also that I refused Finley permission to talk to him about managing as long as he was under contract with the Orioles.

"Earl thanked me but said he had signed with us in good faith, was happy here and did not want to talk with Finley about managing the A's. That's the whole story."

Except that Finley subsequently told Williams he was holding him to the letter of his contract despite his resignation and that he would not release Williams to sign with the Yankees unless Oakland received compensation.

ABSENTEE LANDLORD
Oklahoma can't go to a bowl game despite its undefeated (once tied) record because it is on NCAA probation for recruiting violations, but its fans are savoring a perverse kind of bowl victory anyway. In fact, Oklahoma this season appears to be more of a bowl champion than in years when it did play in one of the postseason spectaculars. For instance, unless North Carolina State beats Kansas by 28 points in the Liberty Bowl, Oklahoma will be the winner there, since it knocked off Kansas 48-20 during the regular season. Similarly, Auburn had better beat Missouri by 28 in the Sun Bowl, for Oklahoma defeated Mizzou 31-3 a while back. As for the once highly respected Cotton Bowl, there is little doubt about Oklahoma's preeminence. When Texas and Nebraska meet, the memory of their games with Oklahoma will cast a deflationary pall. Nebraska was shut out 27-0 by the Sooners; Texas was trampled 52-13.

MAKING IT

Pro basketball players as a group are currently the best-paid athletes. Specific evidence of this was unearthed by Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sportswriter Don Fair, who recently got hold of a copy of the Seattle SuperSonics' salary list, much to the distress of the team's management. Salaries are supposed to be secret—and no wonder. For a team that is winning only about a third of its games and is trying to stay out of last place in its division, the Sonics are really dragging down the bread. Jim McDaniels is on a seven-year contract that will pay him a total of $1,870,000, or an annual average of $267,000. Spencer Haywood is being paid $1.5 million over six years, an average of $250,000, although Haywood recently received a salary boost that will put him closer to $300,000 a year. John Brisker is at $1,025,000 for six years. All are on no-cut contracts. Coach Bill Russell's salary was not on Fair's list, but he is reported to be getting a quarter of a million a year. Lowest-paid Sonic was the since retired Pete Cross, at a subsistence-level $42,333.