Whitey’s Deal Was Busch

When Dick Williams first auditioned for a Lite Beer commercial, he was the manager of the Angels. He has since managed the Montreal Expos and the San Diego Padres and is currently with the Seattle Mariners, but he remains in the employ of the Miller Brewing Co.

In his first commercial, Williams teamed up with Whitey Herzog, then the manager at Kansas City.

“Whitey got canned by Kansas City and hired by St. Louis,” Williams told Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times. “St. Louis is the competition. They’re owned by the Busch family. That’s Budweiser. When Whitey joined the Cardinals, they had to take three of our commercials off the air.”

In the latest Lite Beer commercial, the one on the missing case of beer, you can see Williams standing next to Tom Heinsohn when Heinsohn says, “If he didn’t do it, who did?”

Williams: “There are 23 of us in that commercial, but only a few know who stole the case. Nobody told me, but I’ve seen all of the clues, so I know.”

Don’t bother to ask.

Add Williams: Of Rodney Dangerfield, he said: “Rodney’s gotten on the wrong side of a few of the guys. He’s a nervous wreck, for one thing.

“He sort of keeps to himself. When they break for lunch, everybody goes out together, except Rodney goes out with other people. That ticks the guys off. When they were shooting the tug-of-war a few years ago, Rodney came back from lunch an hour and a half late. They were so mad, they heaved him in the ocean.”

Trivia Time: What pitcher has won the most games in the major leagues in the 1980s? (Answer below.)

Greg Kite of the Boston Celtics claims he doesn’t get the same break from the officials that the big names do. Is there such a thing as a double standard?

In his book “Second Wind,” Bill Russell says: “Most of the established stars in the NBA had quirks that the refs let them get away with. For example, they tended to wink at my goaltending and the ‘Russell elbow.’ My strategy, which worked fairly well, was to get the referees to accept the flailing elbows as my ‘style.’

“And the referees let Bob Pettit take a whole bunch of little steps just before he shot the ball. I always protested Pettit’s steps, and one night a referee just laughed and said, “Well, maybe he was walking, but he didn’t go very far.’ ”

Eddie Gregg thinks Michael Spinks would do well to avoid a showdown with Gerry Cooney.

“In the long run, Gerry has too much power for Michael Spinks,” Gregg said Saturday after Cooney took him out in the first round.

Said Larry Holmes, who watched it on television: “Gerry still has punching power. You don’t have to prove that to me.

“Anytime a guy wants to go out and gamble with a puncher like Gerry, he’s making a serious mistake.”

Yes, Holmes wants to fight him again.

“The only fight out there for Gerry is me,” Holmes said.

Trivia Answer: Jack Morris of the Detroit Tigers with 106 wins. Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees is next with 99, followed by Scott McGregor of the Baltimore Orioles with 98.

Quotebook

Skip Bayless of the Dallas Times Herald, on the fact that the Boston Celtic roster is dominated by whites: “Red Auerbach would start five Red Chinese if he thought they were better than Bird and McHale and the rest.”