Sparky Makes Himself Understood

Every time Sparky Anderson speaks, his English teacher at Dorsey High blushes. When it comes to fracturing the language, Anderson is big league all the way.

Mike Downey of the Detroit Free Press recalls a game in Detroit last year when Anderson questioned a call by plate umpire Rocky Roe.

“Rock, where was that pitch at?” bellowed Sparky.

Roe walked over to the Tiger dugout and said: “Sparky, you’re a great manager. You have the possibilities of a dynasty here. I really think I could like you personally, too. But don’t you know you don’t end a sentence with a preposition?”

Anderson: “Well, hell, where was that pitch at, dipstick?”

The Notre Dame-Dayton game at Dayton is sold out today, and a lot of Dayton students are unhappy after being shut out.

Said Dayton Athletic Director Tom Frericks, complaining that there’s no perfect solution: “Some schools start by giving seniors first rights to the tickets, then juniors next. If they run out of tickets before the sophomores or freshmen, it’s tough luck for them.

“At UCLA, they just line up outside the arena on game day and show their ID. Then they run to get the best seat. They tell me they get three to four broken legs a year out of it.”

Not this year, Tom.

Trivia trap: If someone asks you the last time USC won a Pacific 10 title in basketball, don’t fall for it. The answer is, “Never.”

When USC won in 1960-61, the conference was called the Athletic Assn. of Western Universities. It was a five-school league that embraced USC, UCLA, Stanford, California and Washington. It was also called the Big Five.

In 1968-69, Washington State and the two Oregon schools came aboard, making it the Pacific 8. In 1978-79, the Arizona schools were added, making it the Pacific 10.

When pitcher Greg Minton of the San Francisco Giants was examined for a finger injury, it was found that he had high blood pressure.

“Was it high?” he said. “Yeah, I’d say 180 over 120 is adequately high. That’s not high, it’s dead.”

Would-you-believe-it dept.: Two-time Olympic champion Bob Richards is now the No. 3 pole vaulter in his family. Bob’s best was 15-6. Bob Jr., no longer competitive, went 17-6. Now comes 18-year-old Brandon who recently set a national high school indoor mark of 17-5.

Says Bob of Brandon, a student at San Marcos High in Santa Barbara: “I’ve seen him over 17-9 by a foot. Potentially, he’s capable of 19 feet.”

Said Spectrum publicist Larry Rubin, after a dunk by 265-pound Philadelphia 76er forward Charles Barkley moved a 2,240-pound basket support about six inches: “The last time that support was moved, it was by a forklift.”

Art Spander of the San Francisco Examiner, in a story on Bill (Spaceman) Lee, who is trying out with the Phoenix Giants, recalled that the pitcher asked for No. 337 when he broke into the majors.

Asked why, Lee said, “Because that’s Lee upside down.”

From Dallas Cowboys owner H.R. (Bum) Bright, whose personal worth has been estimated at $500 million: “Remember the Golden Rule. Whoever has the gold makes the rule.”

Quotebook

Former major league slugger Greg Luzinski, now the freshman baseball coach at Holy Cross High School in Delran, N.J., asked if he remembered his first day of freshman baseball: “Yeah, I went up to the varsity.”