Scorecard

TWIN KILLING

A weird thing happened to Nathaniel Crosby, Bing's 15-year-old son, when he failed to qualify for the California State Amateur golf championship last week. Playing at the San Francisco Olympic Club, Nathaniel drove into the rough on the 14th hole, where he found a Titleist I. Unfortunately, he discovered it was not his ball only after he had hit it out into the fairway.

Young Crosby then asked for a committee ruling and stood aside while waving the next foursome through. It included Mat Palacio, who also was playing a Titleist I and who rashly hit the ball Crosby had played when he came upon it.

The combination of errors cost each a two-stroke penalty. Crosby eventually took a 10 on the hole and Palacio, the 1936 state champion who also failed to qualify by one stroke, a seven.

"I'm young and there will be other chances," Nathaniel said. "From now on I'll put a special mark on my golf ball."

NAME THE RASCAL

Newspapers in San Diego and Dallas gave baseball fans an opportunity to finger the culprits responsible for the failure of the Padres and Rangers to improve their 1976 records, despite the purchase by each club of two free agents. San Diego spent $3.25 million for Gene Tenace and Rollie Fingers, and Texas bought Doyle Alexander and Bert Campaneris for $2 million. When the teams faltered, the San Diego Tribune and the Dallas Times Herald started polling.

In San Diego Club President Buzzie Bavasi was named chief goat on 1,111 of 2,000 ballots returned. Manager John McNamara was second with 211 (he had been fired two days before), followed by Pitching Coach Roger Craig (205), owner Ray Kroc (114), Director of Player Personnel Bob Fontaine (58), the pitching staff (35), disgruntled First Baseman Mike Ivie (32) and the entire team (22). The media drew a total of 60 raps.

The Times Herald survey was conducted on a Friday night at Arlington Stadium, after the Rangers had lost five of their last seven games. Of 142 fans queried, 38 found fault with Manager Frank Lucchesi, while 37 blamed the entire team. The rest of the ballots indicted Executive Vice-President Eddie Robinson, 26; owner Brad Corbett, 20; everybody, 18; the media, 2; and General Manager Dan O'Brien, who had but one critic.

While the San Diego and Texas polls evolved from team failures, the Baltimore Orioles are taking a survey to discover why quality performance isn't reflected at the box office. Contending for first place in the AL East, the O's have drawn almost 70,000 below their attendance at this time last year. The problem is an old one in Baltimore, where the Orioles have not reached their attendance breakeven point of 1,100,000 in the last eight seasons despite five division titles, three American League pennants and a World Series championship. The pollsters expect to interview between 12,000 and 15,000 Baltimore fans. By the end of the season, if not sooner, the Orioles hope to have a better understanding of who comes to their games and how their numbers can be increased.