Sabathia Story

JSOnline.com TUESDAY: JULY 8, 2008

FINAL: METRO

Shift in Civilization Video game seeks a wider audience Cue

New Bucks forward Jefferson says he’ll fit in with Redd Sports

2008 PULITZER PRIZE WINNER FOR LOCAL REPORTING

Sabathia mania hits Brewer Nation

Afghan blast kills 41 at embassy

In Milwaukee, Mahal finds a loving and eager mom

Teammates, fans and the pitcher himself excited about trade

Attack fuels doubts about Karzai’s power

By TOM HAUDRICOURT [email protected]

CC Sabathia expressed a somewhat unusual concern for a pitcher making the switch from the American League to the National League. “I’m more worried about my (batting) average going down,” he said. Yes, Milwaukee fans, the big lefthander can swing the bat a little, sporting a career .300 batting average with two home runs and seven runs batted in. But that’s not why the Brewers acquired him in a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Indians. The Brewers are counting on Sabathia’s arm, not his bat, to lead them to their first playoff berth since 1982. General manager Doug Melvin offered a succinct reason Monday morning for his dogged pursuit of the best pitcher available on the market. “We’re going for it,” Melvin said. Sabathia said he’d be more than happy to help the Brewers end that drought, even if he bolts afterward for bigger dollars through free agency. While expressing some sadness over leaving the Indians after eight years with the club, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner said he was excited to join the surging Brewers. “I know this is a good team,” said Sabathia, who arrived in the late afternoon and was introduced to local media before the Brewers’ game against Colorado at Miller Park. “And a good clubhouse, I hear.” Sabathia, 27, is expected to add to the team’s chemistry, well-docu-

By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and ALAN COWELL New York Times

Kabul, Afghanistan — A huge blast from a suicide car bomb at the gates of the Indian Embassy in Kabul killed 41 people and wounded more than 130 on Monday in the latest sign of a sharp deterioration in Afghanistan, where combat deaths have surpassed Iraq’s in the past two months. It was the deadliest suicide car bombing in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001. It comes as Afghan and Western officials have noted with alarm the weakness of the government of President Hamid Karzai and the growing strength of Pakistani militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Among the victims of the attack, the first in seven years on a regional diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, were at least four Indian citizens: the Indian defense attache, a political counselor and two other Indian officials. Six Afghan police officers were also killed. Many of the rest appeared to be civilians. That the Indian Embassy was attacked raised suspicions among Afghan officials that Pakistani operatives allied with the Taliban had used the bombing to pursue Pakistan’s long power struggle with India. Please see AFGHANISTAN, 4A

JACK ORTON / [email protected]

Baby orangutan Mahal looks up to his surrogate mother, M.J., at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Mahal turned 1 in April.

Please see TRADE, 10A

At last, a sight to behold

JSOnline.com Will the addition of CC Sabathia help the Brewers end their 26-year playoff drought? Submit your comments in our moderated forum on our Brewers page at www.jsonline.com/brewers or discuss it with other fans in our Brewers Blog at www.jsonline.com/links/brewersblog

By JAN UEBELHERR [email protected]

M

She’d asked for the shopping list from the Colorado zoo where the baby orangutan Mahal was born. Stringing the fire hoses was the real work. The tangle of hoses at various heights and angles would ensure that Mahal could safely maneuver around all three orangutan exhibits at the Milwaukee County Zoo. The zoo also changed a door between two exhibits, replacing plexiglass with a metal grid so that Mahal and his next shot at a mom could see and touch each other. Khan had traveled to Mahal’s birthplace, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs, where the little orangutan had been through so much. Both parents rejected him at birth. His beloved surrogate died in her sleep, and a final reunion with his mother ended in abuse. Khan would act as a critical bridge for Mahal between the Colorado keepers and a new mom in Milwaukee. Her objective in Colorado: Get to know Mahal. A minute after laying eyes on her, Mahal reached out. Three minutes later, they were wrestling on the floor.

GARY PORTER / [email protected]

New Milwaukee Brewers pitcher CC Sabathia answers questions during a news conference at Miller Park Monday.

WORLD

ilwaukee zookeeper Trish Khan stocked up: bottles, nipples, bottle warmers, baby formula, an inflatable mattress. More fire hoses.

LAST OF THREE PARTS

The story of Mahal is more than just a tale about a cute, motherless zoo baby with a string of bad breaks. It’s about our relationship with animals — the power we hold over them, the role of zoos and the preservation of species. It’s a story of survival.

JSOnline.com Go to www.jsonline. com/mahal for more, including: 䡵 An illustrated bedtime story 䡵 A coloring page 䡵 A drawing contest Find out more on page 7A.

Please see MAHAL, 6A

50¢ CITY AND SUBURBS $1.00 OR HIGHER ELSEWHERE

Audrey Warner arrives early at a nearly empty parking lot. The cubicles outside her office at Robert W. Baird & Co. are likewise vacant as she begins her workday. Warner works four days a week as a marketing manager for Baird. One of those days, she works from home. On the days she commutes to downtown Milwaukee, she works an early schedule to avoid traffic and cut down her time traveling 18 miles from Muskego. Commuting in Milwaukee is easier than in a lot of metro areas, but Baird has helped Warner make it even more convenient, which is why she turned down other offers to join the investment firm six years ago. “I interviewed at lots of great companies, but they wanted me full time. And I said, ‘You know, I won’t be as good of an employee as if you give me the flexibility to be able to start early, leave early, or work fewer days per week,’ ” Warner said. Commuting is a driving factor in whether married women work, according to new research from the University of Chicago. The ease of getting to and from jobs in metropolitan Milwaukee has helped it rank second on-

Comics 3E Crossword 5E Deaths 4B Editorials 8A

Movies 2E Stocks 4D Sports on TV 6C TV listings 6E

Boosting Lincoln Ave.

A paper tiger

Waukesha County reports more heroin overdose deaths than in any recent year, and area officials say heroin use is on the rise, an increase attributed to people graduating from painkillers to the stronger opiate. 1B

INDEX

By JOEL DRESANG [email protected]

BUSINESS WORLD

Painkillers blamed for jump in heroin use

Iraq’s prime minister proposes that negotiators include a timetable for the departure of U.S. troops in any security agreement. 3A

Accessibility is key to keeping women in work force, study says

Please see WORKING MOMS, 10A

LOCAL

Withdrawal schedule

Milwaukee-area commute times work for moms

WEATHER TODAY’S TMJ4 Map: Back of Sports

Faked photos of a rare tiger send the Internet roaring and spark a furor in China. 3A

Longtime south side bike shop Ben’s Cycle has expanded twice in recent years and is being honored for its new showroom. 1D

TODAY

TOMORROW

70/85

62/78

Morning storms, then partly cloudy

Mostly sunny, a bit less humid

A WORD

Quirky (KWURK ee) Peculiar. adj. 2E

10A Tuesday, July 8, 2008

FROM PAGE ONE

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Milwaukee near top New research ranks the Milwaukee area second for working women among the top 50 metro areas. Participation rate of non-Hispanic, white, married women % with high school MARRIED diplomas WOMEN

R O Y T C

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

IZE

D

FA

! E C N A R A E CL A U T H O R

RANK

JACK ORTON / [email protected]

From page 1

WORKING MOMS

SAVE 50% Employees

OFF! months interest

FREE! see store for details.

recliners sofas leather sofas reclining sofas tables & lamps

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . starting at . . . . . . . . . . . . . .starting at . . . . . . . . . . starting at . . . . . . . . starting at

Hours on the road Americans spend more time commuting to work each year (100 hours on average) than they take for vacation (typically 80 hours), according to the Census Bureau. “Commuting certainly does take a big chunk out of your life,” said Joan Skimmons, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Fiserv Inc. Skimmons enjoys a 25-minute drive from her Oconomowoc home to the Brookfield headquarters of Fiserv, the financial data management company. That’s a little more than the 21.9-minute average for Milwaukee, according to 2003 census data. But for 12 years, Skimmons worked in metro New York, where com-

Women at work For more than 50 years, Milwaukee has had a higher proportion of certain women working than the national average. Participation rate of nonHispanic, white, married women with high school diplomas 100

Milwaukee metro average

80 60 40 20 0

up to

3129083

& ACCESSORIES GERMANTOWN: Hwy 41/45 & Hwy Q 262-345-0950

M-F 10-9, Sat & Sun 10-5 • www.la-z-boy.com/milwaukee

mented as one of the best atmospheres in the majors. The gentle giant — all 6 feet 7, 290 pounds of him — is beloved by teammates, past and present. “He gets along with everybody,” said Brewers reliever David Riske, a former teammate in Cleveland. “He’ll fit in perfect. He has so much respect for everyone, no matter who you are.” The Brewers’ staff was impressed at how quickly Sabathia made his way to Milwaukee after returning home from the Indians’ weekend trip to Minnesota. Sabathia said he wanted to join his new club as soon as possible and will make his Milwaukee debut tonight against Colorado. If the action at the Miller Park ticket offices meant anything, fans overwhelmingly approve of the team’s newest acquisition. The Brewers sold more than 27,000 individual tickets Monday, nine times the usual action , including 9,000 tickets for tonight’s game. When Sabathia was introduced to the crowd Monday night before the bottom of the third inning, those in attendance rose for a prolonged, standing ovation. He acknowledged the fans with a

17%

U.S. average

2 7% ’40

’50 ’70

Source: University of Chicago research

’80 ’90 2000 Journal Sentinel

muters have an average commute of 38.3 minutes, and 4.3% travel 90 minutes or more to get to work. The time and cost and stress it takes to get from home to work and back factor into decisions of whether and where to work, Skimmons said. And even at Milwaukee’s moderate commutes, employers are looking to make work more convenient. “With Fiserv, we’ve made it easier,” Skimmons said. “We’re looking for more women. We have flexible hours. Telecommuting makes it easier to work. So if you have children with schedules, you can still take care of them.” At Baird, the sorts of arrangements offered to Warner are not just nice to do, they’re part of a strategy to keep good employees, said Leslie Dixon, the company’s chief human resources officer. According to Dixon, 26% of Baird’s non-commissioned employees have flexible

GARY PORTER / [email protected]

sheepish smile and wave. With a near-sellout crowd expected tonight and expectations at an all-time high for both the club and the pitcher, Sabathia was asked how he’ll keep himself grounded when he takes the mound wearing No. 52. “I’m not going to say I’m not going to be excited, because I am,” he said. “But I know I have a job to do. Just go out and compete, stay under control. “I’m just coming in and trying to fit in and do my job. Baseball’s hard enough to play without added pressure. That’s something that I don’t think about or worry about.” One of the first players Sabathia met in the clubhouse was first baseman Prince Fielder, who at 5 feet 11 and 270 pounds is no longer the biggest man on the roster. “When I first walked in, he asked me if I needed to borrow some (uniform) pants,” Sabathia said. “He’s probably the only guy with a pair I’d fit in.” The primary reason Cleveland put Sabathia on the market was because he turned

77% 67%

299 TRADE $ 598 $ 998 Sabathia to $ 698 make Miller $ 99 Park debut

ALSO SAVE 50% OFF ON TABLES, LAMPS GREENFIELD: 7900 West Layton Ave. 414-282-6633

ly behind Minneapolis for the highest percentage of married women in the labor force. Using 2000 census data, researchers found that 77% of the non-Hispanic, white, married women 25-55 years old with high school diplomas in the four-county Milwaukee area either were working or looking for work. That’s up from the nationwide average of 67% and the low rate of 49% in New York City.

lies and value the ability to get home in a moment’s notice, said Laura Dresser, a labor economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “So much of being a mom, generally, is this logistics stuff — who’s going where when,” Dresser said. “Big commute times are really hard on logistics, like getting home when a kid gets sent home.” That can be particularly hard on low-income workers who have to commute to inflexible jobs far from their neighborhoods using unreliable transportation, said Ellen Bravo, an adjunct assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “Those most affected don’t have the option of not working — but these kinds of obstacles mean they often bounce from one low-quality job to another, with negative consequences for their income, their family and their own well-being,” said Bravo, former director of 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women.

From page 1

$

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . starting at

seek quick commutes

No pay while driving The wide range of women’s participation in the labor force from one city to another shocked researchers, said Dan A. Black, lead author of the report and an economist at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Researchers’ key explanation for the variation in participation rates: commuting time. “Really, one of the major costs in terms of getting to work is what economists refer to as the opportunity cost of your time,” Black said. “When you sit there stuck in traffic, if you think of having to pay yourself a wage rate for doing that, it gets pretty expensive pretty fast, and I think that’s really the deciding feature.” That’s especially true for women, who continue to be chief caregivers in most fami-

12

Minneapolis Milwaukee Greensboro, N.C. Rochester, N.Y. Albany, N.Y. Columbus, Ohio Denver Richmond, Va. Kansas City Washington, D.C.

U.S. average

Audrey Warner arrives at 6:45 a.m. for work last week at Robert W. Baird in downtown Milwaukee. Warner’s employer allows her to work an early schedule to avoid traffic and reduce time spent commuting.

SELECT ITEMS WILL BE MARKED DOWN THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE STORE!

METRO AREA

CC Sabathia stands with his new teammates for the national anthem at Miller Park before the game Monday night against the Colorado Rockies. He makes his Brewers debut tonight.

down a four-year, $72 million offer for a contract extension and said he didn’t want to negotiate further. In baseball parlance, he is considered a “rental,” because he’ll probably stay with the Brewers only until the end of the season. Asked where he stood on free agency after being traded, Sabathia said, “Same place. It’s hard enough to play this game as it is, let alone any other distractions. I’ll focus on that when it comes.” Sabathia said he expected to be traded, but he wasn’t certain what his new destination would be. When he learned the Brewers won the sweepstakes with a package built around top prospect Matt LaPorta, Sabathia said he smiled. “When I found out Milwaukee had a chance to get me, I was excited because I know some of the guys in the clubhouse and how good the team is.” Melvin said several factors converged to prompt the pursuit of Sabathia, who pushed the Brewers’ payroll toward $90 million with the remainder of his $11 million salary.

41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

Pittsburgh San Antonio Detroit San Diego San Francisco Houston Miami Los Angeles Honolulu New York

Source: University of Chicago research

IN LABOR FORCE

79% 77 76 75 74 73 73 73 72 72 67% 62% 62 61 61 60 60 59 57 54 49 Journal Sentinel

working arrangements; 32% of its female non-commissioned employees have such arrangements. And that doesn’t include employees who informally make arrangements to work outside of regular office hours. Jennifer Bartolotta, who worked in Chicago for 15 years before moving to Milwaukee in 2002, said most Milwaukeeans don’t realize how reasonable their commutes are. She recalls her last day at work in Chicago, driving 2 hours and 15 minutes to go 60 miles. Now she commutes 15 minutes from Elm Grove to Wauwatosa, where she’s director of strategic partnerships for Bartolotta Restaurant Group. Easy commuting allows some Bartolotta employees to work evening shifts even after putting in a full day at other jobs across town, Bartolotta said. The prospect of quick trips also allows Milwaukee workers the opportunity to attend classes, volunteer, and live a life for themselves beyond work, she said.

Life outside work “In Milwaukee, the fact that traffic is a non-issue allows women to pursue all kinds of things that they’re not able to do in a larger city,” Bartolotta said. “It’s still an affordable city to be able to go to work in, despite the fact that we don’t have light rail. If I were trying to woo somebody to Milwaukee, it would absolutely be one of the benefits of the city that I would be promoting.”

The club’s climb into playoff contention convinced him that the addition of a premier arm could push the team into post-season play. “It encouraged me and gave me the confidence to make this deal,” Melvin said. “A lot of times you’re basing this stuff on instincts and how your club is playing. “We just felt that we needed to go for it. There’s a lot of baseball left, and we’re playing well right now. We feel good about the team.” Owner Mark Attanasio said the money being put in the team this year probably would result in the Brewers finishing in the red after generating profits in 2007. But Attanasio said he felt committed to make the best possible move for a supportive fan base expected to reach the 3 million mark in attendance. “I look at this at trying to do what’s right for the team and not get all caught up in renting a player or whatever. The fans put us in position to do this as well. We’re trying to give something back to them as well.” The only controversy of the day involved the proper spelling of the name of the Brewers’ prized acquisition. Word came that no periods were to be used with his initials. Sabathia, whose given name is Carsten Charles, insisted he had no preference, however. So, how does he spell his name? “If I have to spell my name, actually, I use Carsten,” he said. “Very rarely do I write CC Sabathia.” That’s OK. Manager Ned Yost will be happy to do so tonight when he fills out the Brewers’ lineup card.