Next Week, Watch ‘China Syndrome’

At the height of the Libyan crisis, Oakland A’s President Roy Eisenhardt told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was so depressed he decided to watch the late movie for an escape.

When he turned on the television, the feature was “Hellcats of the Navy,” starring Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis.

Would-you-believe-it dept.: According to Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, Dwight Gooden, in his three-year career, has allowed only three runs in the ninth inning--only one since midway through his rookie season.

Mel Stottlemyre, New York Mets pitching coach, told Boswell: “Someday, he’s going to give up a hit late in a game to lose, though I understand he never has--not at any level. If that happens, I pity the next team he faces.”

Trivia Time: What do George Raveling, Howie Long and Eamonn Coghlan have in common? (Answer below.)

Wait a Minute: Skip Caray of WTBS, introducing Curt Gowdy as a member of the announcing team for the Goodwill Games, said that Gowdy was an All-American basketball player at Wyoming.

Not quite. Gowdy was a member of the 1942-43 Wyoming team that won the NCAA title, but he didn’t play in the championship game.

From Polish radio commentator Bogdan Chruscicki, predicting that baseball will never catch on in his country: “Baseball was designed for American television--15 seconds of action and three-minute breaks for commercials.”

Word of Warning: Former Cleveland Indians Manager Frank Robinson once said: “In Cleveland, pennant fever usually winds up being just a 48-hour virus.”

Here’s the quote, and guess who said it: “The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money that’s in it--not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it.”

Ty Cobb said it in 1925.

Billy Jo Robidoux, rookie first baseman of the Milwaukee Brewers, hit the first home run of his big league career against the Texas Rangers on Ball Night at Arlington, Tex.

Said Robidoux, of the blast that brought a shower of baseballs from the stands: “I hit that ball so hard it multiplied.”

Pete Incaviglia has shown signs of living up to his notices after Texas Manager Bobby Valentine ordered him to give up a column he was writing for the Dallas Morning News.

Said Valentine: “You can’t write, think and hit at the same time.”

Said Steve Marcus of Newsday: “Incaviglia has improved his hitting since he stopped writing, but since he won’t be back behind the typewriter, the majors remain without a hard-hitting columnist.”

Add Incaviglia: “He’s had a much better start than Darryl Strawberry,” said Valentine, who was a coach with the New York Mets when Strawberry was called up from Triple-A in 1983.

Of Strawberry, Valentine said: “He looked awful at first. Everybody said he’d never hit.”

Trivia Answer: All three went to Villanova University.

Quotebook

Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, on the offbeat wardrobe of San Francisco Warriors owner Franklin Mieuli: “He never let success go to his wardrobe.”