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PAO»14 There n COMWIiOQ MMKH. INC. Here by Stove K. Walz f Robert Urich The youngest player to don a major league uniform this year is 20 year-old Chisox catcher Rick Seilheimer. The hard hitting kid made the jump up the ladder very quickly and is expected to solve the White Sox problems behind the plate for a long, long time. New York--Are today's ba­ seball players quicker or are the pitchers more deliberate? I'd say that today's athletes overall are _ more compact and possess more speed than the stars of yesteryear, while pitchers are a unique breed unto themselves. Jim Kaat, once a very deliberate pitcher, changed to a ho-windup motion in the latter part of his career and not only helped his record but kept baser- unners from stealing base after base. Some pitchers have perfect­ ed pickoff motions which keep runners off stride, but by the same token the opposition has studied - and timed pitchers windups to get the proper jump. To support the increased speed theory the major league baseball office here has found that if players continue to steal bases at the present rate, they will break the record of 3,403 swipes setback in 1911. In addition to that, five players have legitimate opportunities to reach eighty or more thefts, a feat performed but nine times in modern baseball history. Ron LeFlore of the Expos. Omar Moreno of the Pirates, Dave Collins from the Reds, Rick Hen­ derson, the agile athletic and Royal swiper Willie Wilson all fall into that category of potential. • * and Robert Urich, who used to be a football star during his college days in Florida, will be seen this fall in an ABC docu-drama based on the life of Pittsburgh Steelers grinding running-back Rocky Bleier. The story details how Rocky made a courageous comeback from a Vietnam injury to football stardom. Art Carney portrays Steelers owner Art Rooney, while ex-Jets star « Steve Tannen portrays quarter­ back Terry Hanratty. Howard Cosell, Joe Greene, Dwight White and John Stallworth will star as themselves in the film. Minor league attendance figures have skyrocketed this year with two of the Yankees (no surprise here) affiliates leading the way. The 'AA' Nashville Sounds, featuring home run king Steve 'Bye Bye' Balboni, have drawn close to 500,000 fans (that's just about what Oakland drew in the majors last year), while their 'AAA' club, the Columbus Clippers, have drawn over 450,000 fans. Both teams were in first place when this story went to press. Denver, an Expo 'AAA' affiliate, has also drawn well over 400,000 fans, making that major western city the leading contender for either an American or National League franchise.