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He’s a cut above the normal Rays fan

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Times Staff Writer

Never mind the Dodgers fans who don fake dreadlocks in honor of Manny Ramirez. Tampa Bay Rays fan Zachary Sharples is the real deal.

Sharples got a mohawk haircut, mimicking some Rays players, to show support for the team that’s playing Boston in the American League Championship Series.

One problem: Sharples, 12, is a seventh grader at Lincoln Middle School in Palmetto, Fla., where he’s in trouble for violating the dress code with his “Ray-hawk,” said Sharples’ father, Kevin Pennington.

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“My son is a die-hard baseball fan,” Pennington told the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald. “Now 500 to 1,000 people are walking around with mohawks. It’s not offensive.”

But Angela Essig, an official with the school district, said “a Mohawk is an unusual haircut and it draws comments from the kids. It’s hard for teachers to calm them down.”

Trivia time

Who is the all-time home run leader for Tampa Bay?

Never mind

Although the New York Yankees’ season is over, officials had planned one more closing ceremony for the old Yankee Stadium.

The event scheduled Nov. 8-9 was intended as a remembrance of the 85-year-old ballpark and to raise money for the Baseball Assistance Team (BAT), which helps former players, umpires and their families. But the team changed its mind, the Associated Press reported.

“The Yankees realized that the final event at Yankee Stadium should be a baseball game, which in fact took place on Sept. 21,” said spokesman Howard Rubenstein.

“Accordingly, rather than having a fundraiser, the Yankees will be donating $500,000 to BAT,” he said.

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Cub cut

Talk about adding injury to insult.

After the Chicago Cubs were swept by the Dodgers in the divisional playoffs last week, Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol suffered minor injuries in a car accident in the Dominican Republic.

A truck hit a car carrying Marmol, a cousin and a friend in his hometown of Bonao.

Marmol said in an e-mail to the AP that the car’s air bag deployed and he only suffered a cut and an “inflammation” of his forehead.

Trivia answer

Aubrey Huff, with 128. Huff now plays for Baltimore.

And finally

NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr., on his Chevrolet having an orange paint scheme for Saturday’s race near Charlotte, N.C.:

“Orange is just my favorite color. I don’t know why I prefer it, I just do. That’s like asking someone why their vision is 20/30 or whatever. It just is what it is.”

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james.peltz@latimes.com

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