It’s May Day for Brett and the Royals

Today’s the day: The Kansas City Royals aren’t too concerned about their slow start. They know when things--such as George Brett’s hitting--will start to fall into place.

Said relief ace Dan Quisenberry: “Brett usually starts to hit around his birthday--May 15. We all know that date.”

Said Brett: “I’ve got to change my birthday, that’s all there is to it. Almost every year, it’s the same thing. . . . If you can legally change your name, why can’t you have your birth certificate changed?”

Happy birthday, George.

New Seattle Mariners skipper Dick Williams, on why Billy Martin may be having a hard time finding a new managerial job: “If they could lock him up between games, he’d be all right.”

Said Milwaukee Brewers coach Larry Haney, after Angel outfielders Brian Downing and Gary Pettis collided twice in four days: “They’re going to have to put a bell around one of those guys’ necks.”

Trivia time: Who is the only football player ever to play for a national collegiate champion in one season and a Super Bowl champion the next? Answer below.

Everyone knows ballplayers consider it fun to play for Dick Williams, recently named to succeed Chuck Cottier as manager of the Seattle Mariners.

But how much fun?

Kurt Bevacqua, who played for Williams at San Diego, suggested: “Playing for Dick Williams is like being the chef for Moammar Kadafi.”

Talk about glowing endorsements, how about this one for heavyweight boxer Michael Tyson from Bob Greenway, HBO’s vice president of sports programming: “Michael comes into the ring with no robe, no socks and no nonsense. We see Michael Tyson as more than the next heavyweight star, we see him as a warrior in the truest sense of the word.”

Golfer Byron Nelson once won 11 consecutive tournaments. But, in his opinion, that streak was not his greatest feat.

“I think the 113 consecutive times I finished in the money was harder to do,” he said. “It proves I never quit trying and had a pretty good swing.”

Grand Prix driver Alain Prost won the Monte Carlo race for the third year in a row. Was he elated?

Said Prost after the race: “Really, winning three times in a row means almost nothing to me. The only thing is that if I won those races, then I got more points toward the world championship.”

Oh.

Doug Moe, coach of the Denver Nuggets, is just crazy about Michigan State guard Scott Skiles. Moe has a Skiles highlight tape that he watches often.

Although Skiles will probably be taken by the time the Nuggets get to make their draft choice, they invited him to Denver for a workout. Bad timing.

“I’d love to come but I’ve got a previous commitment,” Skiles told them. “I’ll be in jail.”

Skiles is serving a sentence in Michigan for driving under the influence.

Trivia answer: Tony Dorsett played for Pittsburgh’s national champions in 1976 and the following season led the Dallas Cowboys to victory in Super Bowl XII.

Quotebook

Veteran fight broadcaster Don Dunphy, asked what he thinks of Howard Cosell: “I try not to.”