Remember, Kids, to Err Is Human

It was bad enough losing the game, but Kansas City pitcher Dennis Leonard was wondering how he was going to face his Little League team after the New York Yankees beat the Royals, 2-1, Wednesday night.

The Little Leaguers attended the Dennis Leonard

game as guests of Leonard. He had coached them while he was undergoing rehabilitation for his injured knee.

Leonard: “I’d always tell the kids, ‘When you make an error, don’t worry about it.’ And then, boom, I make three of them.

“That’s embarrassing.”

Boo, Hiss: Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports this exchange between Indian Manager Pat Corrales and his son Jason:

Jason: “Dad, why do all writers dress like slobs?”

Corrales: “They’re all trying to be Ernest Hemingway. Did you ever see a picture of Hemingway? He was a fat guy with a big beard who dressed terrible.”

Trivia Time: In 1970, Bobby Bonds of the San Francisco Giants struck out 189 times to set a major league record that still stands. Whose record did he break? (Answer below.)

How-do-you-figure-it dept.: Wilt Chamberlain was the worst free-throw shooter in NBA history, hitting only 51% for his career. But when he set the single-game record of 100 points in 1962, he made 28 out of 32 from the line. At Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, when he set the still-standing one-game city record of 90 points, he hit 18 of 26 from the line.

Note: Overbrook won the game, 123-21.

Said Howard Schnellenberger, Louisville football coach, when asked about next season: “We’ll be 50% better. But when I look at last year’s West Virginia game, I wonder if 50% will be enough.”

Louisville lost, 52-13.

Dwight Gooden’s hero? For now, it’s Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls.

“Sixty-three points in a playoff game,” Gooden said, shaking his head at Jordan’s record-setting performance against the Boston Celtics. “Jumping as high as you can, slamming the ball anytime. I’d love that.”

Here’s a quote you might clip out for future reference: Said Houston Oiler Coach Jerry Glanville, explaining why he wants to draft a quarterback: “I plan to be around for 10 or 15 years. I don’t expect Warren Moon to be here that long.”

Two-sport star Bo Jackson, after visiting with the Angels, talked to the Birmingham Stallions of the USFL. Next week he’ll be talking to the NFL team that drafts him. He says he’s in no hurry.

Jackson puts it this way: “I’m in the supermarket shopping. I’m going to examine all the fruit before I pick one.”

From a column on Mac O’Grady, by Steve Duin of the Portland Oregonian: “At the 1985 Greater Greensboro Open, O’Grady picked up after nine holes and walked off. When somebody asked Vance Heafner, his playing partner, if O’Grady had withdrawn, Heafner said, ‘Yeah, from reality.’ ”

Trivia Answer: His own. In 1969, Bonds struck out 187 times. That broke the record of 175 set by Dave Nicholson of the Chicago White Sox in 1963.

Quotebook

Greg Kite of the Boston Celtics, to a group of writers who were complaining that they were running out of angles: “Why not start a rumor? Like saying that Tom McMillen is actually a Lyndon LaRouche candidate.”