Morning Briefing : Pitcher Has Prospects in and Out of Baseball

Minor league pitcher Rob Murphy is a longshot to make it with the Cincinnati Reds this season, but don’t worry about his future.

When Manager Pete Rose gave his pitchers a day off this week, most of them went fishing or golfing. Murphy went to Miami to attend a horse sale. He said his family has an interest in racing horses, and he wanted to buy another one.

“I want to add a 2-year-old prospect to my stable,” he said.

Philadelphia 76er Coach Billy Cunningham, after griping at Joey Crawford all game long, wound up on the same plane as the official the next day.

When Cunningham started to gripe again, Crawford warned: “I’ve never run anybody off a plane, so don’t tempt me, Billy.”

In their first meeting this season, St. John’s defeated Georgetown, 66-65. In the rematch, Georgetown won, 85-69.

“What was the difference?” St. John’s Coach Lou Carnesecca was asked.

“Seventeen points,” said Looie.

“I had no inkling this would be the year,” said Enos Slaughter after being named to the Hall of Fame, but Hall of Fame President Ed Stack, who had called Slaughter to inform him of his election, said: “The phone only rang once.”

Don January, to fellow senior golfer Miller Barber, who flies his elbow and loops the club head: “I’ve seen a lot of funky swings, but I’ve never seen a golfer skywrite before.”

Denny McLain, on trial for racketeering, told Steve Jacobson of Newsday that at one period of his life he made a living as a golf hustler.

“I was hitting five, six, seven hundred balls a day until my hands were sore, never playing less than 27 holes a day,” the ex-major league pitcher said. “I was taking home $40, $50, $60 a day to put food on the table.

“Tension was stepping on the first tee, playing for $20 when you know damn well you have only $10 in your pocket. A lot of things in life are tough, but that’s tough.”

The irony is that McLain was only 35 at the time. He’s still only 40, five years younger than Phil Niekro, who makes more than $1 million a year pitching baseballs.

Pittsburgh Coach Roy Chipman says Georgetown’s Pat Ewing is so intimidating that you can’t get him out of your mind.

“Hell, even when he’s out the game, you think he’s in,” Chipman told Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post. “We had a fast break once, and our kid triple-clutched, worrying about getting his shot blocked, and Pat was on the bench. You’re always wondering where he is. He may be the best center ever to play this game.”

Said Kansas Coach Larry Brown, explaining how forward Calvin Thompson suddenly exploded against Oklahoma State even though he had a case of the flu: “I think when he hit three shots in a row, that cleared his nostrils a little bit.”

From Wilt Chamberlain, still the most enthusiastic member of the Wilt Chamberlain Fan Club: “If I dropped down from Mars in the middle of an NBA court without anyone knowing who I was, it would take a week before they’d say, ‘Chamberlain is the best. Who is this guy Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?’ ”

Quotebook

Lee Trevino, golfer and TV analyst: “There’s an awful lot of money to be made in professional golf. I know both of my ex-wives are so wealthy neither of their husbands has to work.”