Columnist Sal DeFilippo: Run lines help baseball bettors add to stash

Sal DeFilippo

Monday, May 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

For the low-budget baseball bettor, the run-line wager is part of the gaming vocabulary.

The concept is simple -- instead of betting on a favored team to win, you bet on it to win by more than 1 1/2 runs, to improve your return.

A good example is today's Braves-Pirates game, where Las Vegan Greg Maddux, a four-time Cy Young Award winner generally regarded as the game's premier pitcher, is on the mound against Pittsburgh's Jason Schmidt, a zero-time Cy Young Award winner generally not regarded as the game's premier anything.

It's not that Schmidt isn't capable of shutting down the Braves -- in fact, he began his career in Atlanta and was one of its top prospects. But Maddux isn't supposed to lose to Schmidt, period, and the betting line reflects it.

So instead of simply betting the Braves for a minimal return, many bettors will bet the Braves to win by 1 1/2 runs or more for a better return on their investment. But if the Braves win 4-3 today, they lose. That's the price you pay to get paid a better price.

Of course, the run-line option is available both ways -- if you want to bet against Maddux, but don't have faith in a Pirates victory, you can bet on Pittsburgh plus 1 1/2 runs. The return isn't as high, but you can win even if the Pirates don't.

But suppose you're confident in a Maddux massacre, one of those 10-1 snoozers where Braves announcers Don Sutton and Skip Caray spend the last three innings discussing clothing, recipes, family matters and other topics not related to the game.

The Las Vegas Club sports book downtown is the only one offering a wager with a line of 2 runs in either direction. It has been that way since Mel Exber's book opened in late 1981.

"The way I understand it, Mel and Jackie Gaughan first came up with the run line in the '50s," said Tom Vitcenda, sports book manager at the Las Vegas Club. "When I came to town in the late '70s, there was no book here. The El Cortez (which Gaughan owns) offered the 1 1/2 -run bet and it was the only one. Then when Mel opened up here he offered the 1 1/2-run and 2-run bets."

Vitcenda said the 2-run wager did much of the business, but as more and more sports books began to offer the 1 1/2 -run option, the 2-run bet lost a lot of popularity.

On the 2-run wager, any game in which the favored team wins by two runs is a push and all bets are returned.

"Right now it is mostly the small bettors and parlay players that lay the two runs," Vitcenda said. "Some of the wise guys like to take the two runs -- since most run-line bets are set by individual books, there is a bigger variety of opinion and the numbers vary."

The book has to continue to adjust lines to entice betting. Many bigger players have been successful taking the two runs, so the numbers can change often -- not necessarily on a particular game, but more on the overall amounts bet with and against the two runs.

"Mel is not big on proposition bets, so this is kind of his prop bet, more or less," Vitcenda said. "He's been successful with it."

Run for the windows

A couple of interesting proposition bets may have you racing for the green.

Track and field stars Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey will race head-to-head in a 150-meter race at SkyDome in Toronto June 1, and some books are taking action.

At the Stardust, Johnson is a --200 favorite. At the Mirage, Johnson is --210 and Bailey is +170.

The Stardust also is taking action on how many major golf events Tiger Woods will win in 1997.

Woods broke every record imaginable in winning the year's first major, The Masters in Augusta, Ga. The three remaining majors are the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship.

Woods is listed 5 to 9 to end with one major win -- in other words, not to win any of the three remaining events. He is 4-to-1 to win one more crown, 15-to-1 to win two of the three remaining majors and a 30-to-1 shot to win all four events.

Betting closes June 11. Tiger doesn't need to tee off in any events for the bets to be valid.