"For years we sent the World Series runners-up to Japan as a consolation prize. The baths, the geishas and the sake restored the losers' morale. We weren't concerned about the morale of the Japanese, who were struggling in those days, and glad to get any kind of major league product. It's different now that the Japanese are a power, and make better radio and TV sets than we do. They want the best in baseball, too. We can get away with sending the second string, Spiro, to visit the dictators in Greece, but Japan is a vibrant democracy that won't settle for No. 2. If Nixon allows the Orioles to make the trip, you can expect student riots, accompanied by chants ("We want Clemente san!") and banners ("Boog — Stay Home With Rest of Yankees — We Got Enough Sumo Wrestlers"). Don't think the President isn't aware of this. If there's one thing he's sharp on, it's sports. Why do you suppose he sent Secretary of State Rogers to the seventh game? To lend moral and official support to the Orioles, who were supposed to be our best team and thus had been given State Department approval for the tour. Unfortunately it was the all over again — the wrong side won, and it was another defeat for the State Department, too."