Slugger’s Chances for Home Run Record Were ‘Oh’ in a Million

Sadaharu Oh, the legendary Japanese slugger, holds the Japanese League record for home runs in a season at 55. He set it in 1964 while playing for the Yomiuri Giants.

Randy Bass, former major league player who now plays for the Hanshin Tigers, had 54 home runs going into the final regular-season game Thursday night against the same Yomiuri Giants.

According to the New York Times, Bass was never thrown a strike in five times at bat. He was walked four times on four pitches. He managed to single once when he reached across the plate to slap the ball into the outfield.

Were the Yomiuri pitchers under orders not to pitch to Bass, thereby preserving Oh’s record? The story didn’t say, but the manager of the team happens to be Sadaharu Oh.

Oh, oh.

Trivia Time: When Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in 1961, he was named the Most Valuable Player in the American League. Who did he succeed as MVP? (Answer below.)

From Seattle Seahawks defensive back Kenny Easley: “I don’t think I have a reputation as a hard hitter. I do the job the way I know how to do it.”

Maybe he hasn’t read the latest Sports Illustrated. In a poll of 200 NFL players, the former UCLA star was chosen as the league’s No. 2 cheap-shot artist. Gary Fencik of the Chicago Bears was rated No. 1, with Lyle Alzado of the Raiders No. 3.

When St. Louis reliever Todd Worrell struck out six consecutive batters Thursday night, he tied a record set by Hod Eller of Cincinnati in 1919 and equaled by Moe Drabowsky of Baltimore in 1966.

Some people believe an asterisk should be attached to Eller’s record, since it was established against the Chicago White Sox. That was the year of the Black Sox scandal, when eight Chicago players were accused of throwing games. The first two men Eller faced, Chick Gandil and Swede Risberg, were banned from major league baseball for life by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

Add Drabowsky: He tied the record in the first game of Baltimore’s four-game sweep of the Dodgers. Relieving Dave McNally, he pitched 6 innings of scoreless relief, striking out 11, as the Orioles won, 5-2.

His six straight victims in the fourth and fifth innings were Jim Barbieri, Maury Wills, Willie Davis, Lou Johnson, Tommy Davis and Jim Lefebvre.

Hayden Fry, coach of No. 1 Iowa, has taken seven teams to bowl games but says the bowl he remembers most was as a spectator 33 years ago in San Diego’s Balboa Stadium.

“It was called the Poinsettia Bowl and was played for the national service championship,” he said. “It was during the Korean War, and I was a high school coach in Odessa, Tex., and I had enlisted in the Marine Corps to keep from being drafted into the Army.

“As game time approached, it was pouring, and the stands were virtually empty. There weren’t even enough people for a crowd shot, so CBS sent out a call to the Marine Corps depot, and the MPs went to some local bars and ‘requested’ people to go to the game.

“It was a great, great event, but I don’t even remember who played. All I remember is that we sat at attention in a driving rainstorm and nearly drowned. We weren’t even allowed to get up to go to the rest room.”

Trivia Answer: Himself. Maris won the MVP award in 1960 after leading the league in RBIs with 112 in 136 games. He hit 39 homers, second to Mickey Mantle’s league-leading 40.

Quotebook

Bill Russell, on why he had some difficulty with his players as coach of the Seattle SuperSonics: “I tried to treat them like me--and some of them weren’t.”