Garden Spot in Looks Only for Reuss

They’ve got a fun-loving manager and the facilities are first-class, so you’d think spring training would be a picnic for the Dodgers.

That’s what Jerry Reuss thought. He told Frank Dolson of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “You think, ‘My God, this is a garden spot.’ They’ve got golf courses, they’ve got a swimming pool, they’ve got basketball courts, an outdoor barbecue, everything you’d want to have.

“It sounds like a paradise, but I’ll tell you something. I haven’t been out on the golf course in eight years here. I’ve been in that swimming pool once, and that’s when somebody pushed me in. You don’t have time. He works your butt off.”

“He” is Tom Lasorda.

Wait a Minute: From UPI: “NEW YORK--Walter Berry, who controlled the paint this season with the skill of a Rembrandt, is United Press International’s college basketball player of the year.”

Was that the guy they called the Dutch Dunker?

Trivia Time: What three coaches have taken teams to the NCAA Final Four and the NBA championship series? (Answer below.).

Promoting a Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ cruise to the Caribbean for $1,360, a Cunard press release said: “Top-line players will . . . offer football tips.”

Wrote Hubert Mizell of the St. Petersburg Times: “ Top-line? Did I miss a big trade?”

From Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “You will not find Ron Hassey in the Chicago White Sox’s media guide or the New York Yankees’ media guide. That’s because the Yankees traded him to Chicago at the winter meetings and the White Sox shipped him back right before spring training.”

Said Hassey: “Maybe I don’t exist. Maybe I should just take the year off.”

For What It’s Worth: Ed Manning, Kansas assistant basketball coach and father of Jayhawk forward Danny Manning, and General Manager Bob Ferry of the Washington Bullets, father of Duke forward Danny Ferry, were teammates on the 1968-69 Baltimore Bullets.

Ed Manning later played for Kansas Coach Larry Brown when Brown coached the Carolina Cougars in the American Basketball Assn.

How strong is Pete Incaviglia, the rookie from Oklahoma State who will open in right field for the Texas Rangers?

Says veteran Tom Paciorek: “The last time I saw a guy that strong, he was hanging onto the Empire State Building with Faye Wray in his arms.”

From Lou Piniella, new manager of the New York Yankees: “We’re in the toughest division in baseball. You can finish first or fourth and have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Just unemployment.

Woody Hayes, 73, gave the commencement address at Ohio State and had them cheering. A couple of excerpts:

--”There’s nothing comes easy that’s worth a dime. As a matter of fact, I never saw a football player make a tackle with a smile on his face.”

--On young people being afraid to marry: “I talk to girls and they say, ‘Well, I don’t think I want to have children.’ You know what I say to them? How did you get here?”

Trivia Answer: Fred Schaus, West Virginia and the Lakers; Jack Ramsay, St. Joseph’s and Portland; Bill van Breda Kolff, Princeton and the Lakers. Quotebook

Mike Easler of the Boston Red Sox, scoffing at suggestions that he gave himself an edge by becoming an ordained Baptist minister in the off-season: “The Lord helps in many ways, but you have to help yourself on the field. After all, the pitcher may be praying, too.”