He Moves Up On Hit Parade

Don Baylor of the New York Yankees has been hit by the pitcher 188 times, only one short of the American League record held by Minnie Minoso.

Baylor figures about 30 of them were intentional. He told Ira Berkow of the New York Times that the first was thrown by Andy Messersmith of the Angels when Baylor was with the Baltimore Orioles.

“The first time I faced him I went 3 for 3, including the first home run of my career,” said Baylor. “The next time I went 3 for 3 and had a walk.

“That’s seven straight times on base against him. I didn’t think about it, but pitchers keep track of that stuff. The next time I faced him, he didn’t even take a sign from the catcher. He just wound up and hit me in the back. As I’m walking to first, he calls over, ‘Well, don’t you think it’s about time?’ ”

What did Baylor do?

“I stole second base and I stole third base,” he said. “I would have stolen home, too, but there were two outs.”

Add Baylor: When Dennis Leonard of Kansas City hit him in 1976, it precipitated a bench-clearing brawl.

“I went at him at a dead run, and he didn’t know which way to go, and headed for our dugout,” said Baylor. “I landed a punch, but it wasn’t on Leonard. It was on George Brett, who was trying to calm me down.”

Last Add Baylor: He said only once has he given the pitcher the satisfaction of showing he was hurt after getting hit.

“I got hit on the wrist, and halfway down the baseline I had to stop and call the trainer for a freeze,” he said. “The wrist was numb for a year afterward.”

The pitcher was Nolan Ryan.

Trivia Time: How did Charles Dillon Stengel get the nickname Casey? (Answer below.)

Eric Jenkins, a running back from Nevada Reno, complained he never got a chance after being cut by the San Francisco 49ers.

Jenkins is a police science major who intends to go into law enforcement work in his hometown of Sacramento. He advises Bill Walsh, who recently got a speeding ticket, to drive with care in the capital.

And if he doesn’t?

“I’m going to pull that sucker over and read him the riot act,” Jenkins said.

Said Eric Dickerson, when asked about the NCAA sanctions against his alma mater, SMU: “Oh, God, they ate ‘em alive.”

He didn’t say whether the sanctions were deserved but said: “Believe me, all of ‘em do it.”

From University of Houston football Coach Bill Yeoman: “I sometimes get impatient when things aren’t done right. I remember once yelling at one of my sons that he was acting like a 2-year-old.”

What’s wrong with that?

“He was 2 years old,” Yeoman said.

Rod Carew, explaining his remarkable vision, told Phil Elderkin of the Christian Science Monitor: “I can be driving down the street and, without turning my head from the oncoming traffic, read the inside wall clock in a gasoline station across the street. It’s a gift I’ve had for a lot of years, and one that has never diminished.”

Just Asking: Is Mary Decker Slaney the first athlete to set a world record under three different names? She first set the women’s mile record as Mary Decker. She broke it the first time as Mary Decker Tabb. On Wednesday, she broke it again as Mary Decker Slaney.

Trivia Answer: From his hometown of K.C. Stengel attended Western Dental College in Kansas City for three years before embarking on a baseball career.

Quotebook

Former Chicago Cubs shortstop Larry Bowa, on being signed by the New York Mets: “The best part is, I don’t have to face Dwight Gooden anymore.”