19th Hole: The Readers Take Over

THE STRIKE
Sir:
In the short time since the baseball strike began I've noticed some drastic changes in my life and in my mental and physical behavior. I'm having fewer headaches and stomach problems. I'm losing less hair. I'm getting more sleep as a result of not worrying or staying up to listen to games on the West Coast. I have money in my pocket that would otherwise have been used to pay for tickets, tolls, parking, scorecards and hot dogs. I spend more of my time at work doing my job, because I don't have to keep sneaking off to get scores. I've rediscovered the opposite sex. So, what's bad about the strike? I'm miserable!
GEORGE FALKOWSKI
Scotch Plains, N.J.

Sir:
Historians may one day record that grown men once played a little boy's game, with many of them being paid millions of dollars to hit a ball with a bat and run around a diamond, until they decided to go on strike. Then the historians may have to add that when the strike was over, a strange thing happened. The fans decided to go on strike, and the game was over—this time for good.
PHILIP SCHACCA
West Hempstead, N.Y.

DEFENDERS OF THE CITIES
Sir:
This letter is in response to the third-rate comment by Mark Coffman of Goree, Texas (19TH HOLE, June 15), who wrote, "How can you consider it a perfect game if it was played in Cleveland?" The Indians' Len Barker, who pitched that perfect game, seems to have found something in Cleveland that he didn't have when he was playing in Texas. Barker was traded to Cleveland by the Rangers after he had a 1-5 record in the 1978 season. Since joining the Tribe he has had a 6-6 record in 1979 and led the league in strikeouts in 1980 with a fine 19-12 record. Maybe Cleveland isn't perfect, but many people. Barker included, seem to prefer it to other places.
MATT HLEBAK
Youngstown, Ohio

Sir:
I am very disappointed that the letter from Mark Coffman was even considered for publication in your usually tasteful magazine. Cleveland has been getting bad press for too long from people who are talking through their hats. How many cities have sold 77,000 seats to an All-Star Game? With respect to Coffman, what's a Goree, Texas anyhow?
STEVE DRUHOT
Middlefield, Ohio

Sir:
Any game played in Cleveland is perfect when our Indians are on the field!
KATHY GOODWIN
Willoughby, Ohio

Sir:
Thanks for Jim Kaplan's enjoyable profile of racquetball's Dave Peck (A Peck of Pounds, but No Bushel of Laughs, June 15). Peck has always been one of our sport's finest ambassadors. However, I take exception to Charlie Brumfield's less than gracious remark about Peck's hometown of El Paso.

As Dave's sponsor for the past two years, we at Ektelon have found the people of El Paso most cooperative and proud of their city, as they should be. After all, Peck, Lee Trevino, who got his start in El Paso, and UTEP's national championship track team were the subjects of three articles accounting for 16 pages of the June 15 issue of the top sports publication in America.

Good for you, El Paso!
ROBERT MCTEAR
Vice President and General Manager
Ektelon
San Diego

Sir:
Clive Gammon's remark about Jacksonville, Fla. and Calgary, Alberta being NASL cities that "seemed to have been chosen by a computer with a sense of humor" was out of line (Manic but Not Depressive, June 15). As of June 7, the Jacksonville Tea Men were 13th in attendance out of 21 teams. That puts them ahead of such out-of-the-way places as Chicago and Los Angeles. And if Gammon had been following the Tea Men a little more closely, he would have known that they have beaten the Cosmos and the Rowdies, two of the league's so-called name teams.
JOHN CORLISS
Jacksonville

LEE TREVINO
Sir:
What a tremendous article about a man who still remembers where he came from ( Lee Trevino, Midnight, Room 170, Holiday Inn, Pensacola, Fla., June 15). In a world in which almost everyone seems to want to conform, it's nice to see that Trevino is still the person he was when he started. He has always been one of my favorites because of his golf personality; now he's my favorite because of who he is.
LESLIE VOSICK
Dayton