To Ol’ Diz, King’s English Was a Snap

Bob Forsch, after passing Dizzy Dean as the St. Louis Cardinals’ top winning pitcher with his 135th victory, said: “I remember when Dean and Pee Wee Reese did the game of the week. He used to say ‘slud.’ That made the game fun to listen to, everybody sludding.”

Other Dean specials:

--”He’s standing confidentially at the plate.”

--”The runners are returning to their respectable bases.”

--”I never keep a scorecard or the batting averages. I hate statics.”

--Defining “spart,” a word he used a lot: “Spart is pretty much like gumption or fight. Like the Spart of St. Louis, that plane Lindbergh flowed to Europe.”

--Responding to a charge he didn’t know the King’s English: “Ol’ Diz knows the King’s English. And not only that, I know the Queen is English.”

Add Dean: During a game in St. Louis, he noticed a commotion in the stands and said, “I don’t know what’s going on, but it has something to do with a fat lady.”

An executive of the station who happened to be in the booth frantically pulled Dean away from the mike and told him that the fat lady happened to be the Queen of the Netherlands.

Dean, after inquiring as to the whereabouts of the Netherlands, returned to the mike and said: “I’ve just been informed that the fat lady is the Queen of Holland.”

Trivia Time: What three U.S. golfers scored their only major tournament victories in the British Open? (Answer below.)

From senior golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez, who says that life begins at 50: “I’ve made over $123,000 so far this year. Four years ago, I was making $20,000 and spending $100,000. The IRS sent me a get-well card.”

For What It’s Worth: Bo Jackson is only the second Heisman Trophy winner to choose baseball. The first was Vic Janowicz, the 1950 winner at Ohio State. He played 83 games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1953-54 and batted .214. He was primarily a catcher.

Janowicz then played football for the Washington Redskins in 1954-55 before injuries in an automobile accident ended his career.

The Sporting News quotes New Jersey Generals quarterback Jim Kelly as saying that Doug Flutie will have a tough time beating out former Cal State Long Beach quarterback Todd Dillon for the No. 2 job.

Flutie: “If Jim wants to talk that way in the press, he’s going to have to back it up, because New York won’t let him forget.”

Dillon: “I think I have a little more zip on the ball than Doug, but he’s got a lot of people behind him. They’ve done a pretty good PR job for him.”

Dale Mohorcic, the 30-year-old rookie reliever for the Texas Rangers, is not a fan of former Pittsburgh Manager Chuck Tanner, now the manager at Atlanta.

Recalling his days with the Pirates, when he tried for three years to catch on in spring training, Mohorcic said: “Chuck didn’t know my name. One day, he said, ‘Well, Lefty, we’re going to send you down.’ I knew then where I stood.”

Mohorcic is a right-hander.

Trivia Answer: Tony Lema (1964), Tom Weiskopf (1973), Bill Rogers (1981).

Quotebook

Golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez: “The older I get, the better I used to be.”