Letters

THE KID
Thanks for Peter Gammons's fine article on Robin Yount (Forever a Kid, April 30). Last winter, along with thousands of other Milwaukeeans, I sat on pins and needles while Yount was deciding where to continue his career. I am delighted that he stayed with the Brewers.

Using a couple of different formulas, I have estimated that Yount should reach 3,000 hits either in September 1991 or April '92 and—should he play long enough—break Pete Rose's career record of 4,256 in 2000 or 2001.
ALAN K. MICHAELS
Milwaukee

You too lightly dismissed the curious career record of Robin Yount's older brother Larry, who in his only major league appearance came in to relieve, threw a few warmup pitches—thereby becoming an official player in the game—hurt his arm warming up, was removed from the game and never played in the majors again.

By coincidence, the older brother of another major leaguer, Tom Paciorek, also had a fleeting but statistically unusual major league career. On the last day of the 1963 season, after having been called up from the Modesto ( Calif.) Athletics, John Paciorek went 3 for 3 in his only game in the majors, with the Houston Colt .45s. Of the 62 players who have batted 1.000 for their big-league career, the elder Paciorek is the only one with as many as three official at bats.
STEVEN GOLDBERG
New York City

St. Louis had Stan the Man. Chicago had Mr. Cub. Milwaukee has the Kid.
WALDO SCHLABOWSKI
Chicago

SHINING CHATTANOOGA
The view from Lookout Mountain is one of the most breathtaking scenes in the world—the city of Chattanooga nestled in a valley divided by the Tennessee River.

Famous for the Choo Choo and for Civil War battlefields, Chattanooga hasn't always been able to boast about a clear view from Lookout Mountain, but as William Oscar Johnson wrote in his story, Back on Track (April 30), it can now add to its distinctions its environmental turnaround of the past 20 years. Today Chattanooga really does shine, not only with cleaner air but also with the enthusiasm and activities of environmentally conscious citizens. Chattanooga is on the right track, and so is SI with such outstanding coverage of the environment.
ALBERT GORE JR.
U.S. Senator, Tennessee
Washington, D.C.

One of the many things I admire about SI is its commitment to stories about the environment. A good example of this is the article about Chattanooga's inspirational success in cleaning up its air and water. However, in the same issue, Robin Yount presents a different environmental model. This highly paid athlete likes to race ATVs and motorcycles in the Arizona desert, a pastime that is not only extremely dangerous (my sister's elbow was shattered in an ATV accident), but incredibly destructive to a fragile ecosystem. It rips up topsoil and vegetation, devastates animal habitats and pollutes the air.

I grew up in Southern California, not far from the Mojave Desert, and as a kid I rode my bike and, sometimes, a motorcycle across the hills, as Yount recalls doing. Most of that land is gone now, having fallen victim to development companies much like that in which Yount and his brother are involved.

No one has the right to destroy the environment in the name of recreation, and to present Yount's off-road activities as positive, or even neutral, strikes me, in the wake of Earth Day, as offensive.
MICHAEL J. BURKE
Davis, Calif.