Whitson’s Victory Not So Unpopular

In the wake of the brawl in Baltimore, in which Billy Martin suffered a broken arm and cracked ribs, a New York reporter was overheard saying, “Ed Whitson should be nominated as Most Valuable Yankee.”

Wrote Joe Gergen of Newsday: “Such a nomination would not be unprecedented. Casey Stengel, the manager whom Martin most admired, once suffered a broken leg when hit by a taxi in Boston during his tenure with the Braves 50 years ago. Since the club was enduring another dismal season, a Boston columnist proposed the cab driver be named Boston’s Man of the Year.”

Trivia Time: Michael Spinks, by beating Larry Holmes, won the International Boxing Federation heavyweight title. Name the World Boxing Assn. and World Boxing Council heavyweight champions. (Answer below.)

Add Spinks: He told the New York Times he never was in love with boxing, and after the 1976 Olympics, he took a job at a Monsanto plant in his hometown of St. Louis mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms.

Spinks: “It took me until I began having problems like falling asleep on the job before I decided to fight. Heck, breathing those chemicals at Monsanto, I could have died faster than in the ring.”

In his debut on Monday Night Football, Dieter Brock had his problems, prompting some second-guessing by Joe Namath, but at least the new Ram quarterback emerged a winner.

The first Monday Night Football game was played 15 years ago in Cleveland. It matched the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets. The Browns won, 31-21, clinching the victory on a 25-yard return of an interception for a touchdown.

The pass was thrown by Joe Namath.

Said Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Chuck Noll when asked about the inconsistency of his team: “There are so many factors involved with your own team. Then you take the factors that involve the other team. What you get is a geometric explosion of the factors involved.”

Of course.

From the Christian Science Monitor: “Mike Scioscia of the Dodgers offers a pretty good argument as to why players get $44 a day in meal money when their teams are on the road: ‘The last time we were in New York and staying at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, I ordered a bagel, a croissant, a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee for breakfast. The bill came to $18.’ ”

Take-your-choice dept.: Says University of Georgia football Coach Vince Dooley: “I’d say that 90% of the coaches in our profession abide by the rules.”

Says Fort Worth oilman Dick Lowe, a TCU booster: “I think there are 91 Division 1-A schools, and my assessment is that 80 of them are buying football players.”

G-r-r-r!: Bill Fralic Sr. of Pittsburgh, father of the Atlanta Falcons’ rookie tackle, has this sign in his yard: “Forget the dog. Beware of the owner.”

From Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe: “Ted Turner made an offer to Tom Lasorda that would have paid him in seven figures to take over the entire messed-up Atlanta Braves situation.”

Trivia Answer: Tony Tubbs (World Boxing Assn.) and Pinklon Thomas (World Boxing Council).

Quotebook

Times staffer Dave Scheiderer, a long-suffering Cleveland fan: “The Indians are so far behind they’re already mathematically eliminated for next season.”