If George Had Not Been There, Maybe Players Would Have

On their day off Monday, the New York Yankees were invited to an optional workout. Seven players showed up. Guess who wasn’t happy?

“I wasn’t pleased with it at all,” owner George Steinbrenner said. “I thought the players would show more support, respect, consideration for Yogi.”

Said Berra: “I told them to be here if they wanted to. They haven’t had a day off for a while. They needed it.”

Said Steinbrenner: “I would have made the workout mandatory. But, at this point, Yogi is running the team. I’m not the manager.”

Quiz Time: They were teammates in college but they are on opposite sides in the playoff series between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers. Who are they? (Answer below.)

From Ben Poquette of the Cavaliers, who meet the Celtics at home tonight after losing by three and two points at Boston: “The fans in Cleveland are twice as loud as the fans in Boston, and that should be worth four points--so we can win by two.”

Said Boston’s Kevin McHale: “They’ll throw 21,000 screaming fans at us. But I never yet saw a guy come out of the stands to sink a jump shot.”

Bob Lurie wants to get the San Francisco Giants out of Candlestick Park and now Roy Eisenhardt is talking about moving the A’s out of Oakland if attendance doesn’t improve.

Eisenhardt: People ask me if the Bay area is a two-team market. My reply is that I’m not sure it’s a one-team market.”

Ken Denlinger of the Washington Post, on the crowds of 7,170 and 9,612 for Philadelphia’s first two playoff games with Washington at the Spectrum: “For the playoffs, the 76ers have late-arriving crowds--like midway through the second round.”

Said Angel Cordero after riding Spend A Buck to victory in the Garden State Stakes: “He’s the fastest 3-year-old I’ve ever seen. I’d like to ride him wherever he goes. If he goes to Japan, I’d like to ride him.”

He’s not going to Japan, just yet. Next stop is Churchill Downs, where he’ll be among the favorites in the May 4 Kentucky Derby.

Add Derby: Former San Diego Chargers’ owner Gene Klein, who has contender in Tank’s Prospect, tells Jim Dent of the Dallas Times Herald why he’s having more fun in horse racing: “Because a horse doesn’t have an agent. And that agent doesn’t call you in the middle of the night to say his client wants to renegotiate, that he only wants to run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, that he wants more oats to eat.”

Note: Tank’s Prospect was named for Charger assistant general manager Paul (Tank) Younger, former running back and linebacker for the Rams, who played in the “Bull Elephant” backfield with Dick Hoerner and Deacon Dan Towler.

Would-you-believe-it dept.: Mariano Duncan, with two homers in the first 13 games for the Dodgers, already has hit as many as he did all last season in 125 games for San Antonio in the Texas League. The year before, he didn’t hit any homers in 109 games for Vero Beach in the Florida State League.

Quiz Answer: World B. Free of Cleveland and M. L. Carr of Boston. They were teammates at Guilford College in South Carolina. In 1972-73, Guilford won the NAIA title.

Quotebook

Cleveland reliever Jamie Easterly, reporting to Manager Pat Corrales after treatment for a rash: “The doctor told me I can’t run for the rest of the season. And I can drink only Chivas Regal.”